Leaderboard

It's just a shame the Trojans never played in the Rubber Bowl.

What a heartbreaking time for Niko's family. Isn't it incredible that in such a time of great pain his family stays rooted in their faith and love. All my prayers go to him and his family. It makes me so proud to see the outstanding character our boys bring with them to Akron. I am proud to have worn the colors and to say "Once a Zip always a Zip."

Much love to Niko De Vera and his family during this most difficult time. No one has ever represented Akron Zips Soccer better than has Niko De Vera. Once a Zip; Always a Zip. ZNo mourns.

Adam Najem played the entire game in Afghanistan's 1-0 win over Bangladesh https://unb.com.bd/category/Sports/fifa-afc-qualifiers-bangladesh-lose-to-afghanistan/27928

I honestly don't know what to expect this season. I think we can potentially be pretty good in a pretty down MAC or we might struggle to even make it to Cleveland. Xeyrius sophomore year at Dayton was pretty great. His junior year was pretty terrible. Cheese at times showed flashes that he could be an All-MAC caliber player and at times was just invisible. LCJ I think can be good for us if he doesn't force too many low percentage shots. Hopefully a season of experience under Banks and Roscoe's belt will make both more comfortable on the floor. Riak should anchor what I expect to be a really good MAC defense. Hopefully he worked on some hand eye control as if he could just catch and dunk a simple dump off pass, I'll be happy. It's guess work what we'll be getting from anyone else.

Thoughts, prayers, and love to the DeVera family in this most difficult time. Thanks for posting @TennZip

He seems to be right on the upper fringe of what I'd call realistic (considering his rating). Only has offers to Cinci and Toledo at this point. We are the closest D1 school to him. Go for it!

Cameron Shirkey, Sr., P/PK, Bloom-Carroll High School Watched him kick a 48 yard field goal in week one of his senior high school season and is the best high school punter I have seen in quite a while. Seems to fill a potential need for the Zips.

Instagram post from Niko

Current. Otherwise, as you noted, we could add Mattocks ?? and Yedlin plus Lewis, Nagbe, Kitchen, and Bunbury who all spent some time with ?? USMNT. (Not counting youth levels) I apologize if I forgot any of our players who have had caps for the USMNT or any other nation’s top level men’s team.

Not to get off topic too far but during the last 2 seasons and the first two weeks of this season watching NCAA D1 football, it amazes me how bad the punting and kicking game os for lots of schools, including top 25 teams. Michigan may have won a national championship a few seasons ago if they even had a mediocre kicker. USC lost three games the last two seasons because of none of their top 3 kickers could hit anything over 30 yards as far as FGs go. There's a lot more, just pend a Saturday watching 3 to 5 games. I know lots of us has said if we had a child starting football we'd get him trained up to be a kicker, there's a sure-thing scholly waiting for them out there if they're just competent. Why do you (anyone out there in ZNO-land) think this is? With how much our kids get single sport specific training, how come there aren't more decent kickers?

On the other hand, at least we're not the Browns... We might have beaten them yesterday.

As I get older, I tend to eliminate things from my life that bring me misery. As such, I don't get why you continue to follow the Zips athletic program as it seems to bring you nothing but misery. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge you following whoever you want for whatever reasons, it just befuddles me a little. I guess maybe it's a loyalty to your alma mater or a hope for a return to the "good old times."

The positives out of the day - Beautiful weather! How often does that happen at a Zips home football game? Burkhart was great. To be honest, he had the type of game I'd have predicted from Boogie. It will be interesting to see if he's a 1-hit wonder, or he can back it up. He played well at Illinois, so I'm guessing he's going to have a nice season. While UAB isn't bucking for a New Year's Day bowl this year, they're not bad. Their QB was accurate. Their o-line gave him pocket time that Kato could only dream of having, It's amazing how good your passing game can be if you have all day to throw. UAB's D-line had good size. UAB drew 39,000 fans for their hope opener, and is building a $175 million dollar stadium. While Joe Akron isn't too familiar with them, they're a solid program. Even in what might be considered a down year. Kato never had all day to throw. He barely had 2 seconds from the snap to get rid of the ball. It's unbelievable that he could throw for over 300 yards under those circumstances. The Zips running game again disappointed. But the backs never had a gap to hit. Last season you could chalk up the Zips running issues to an unimaginative scheme. We tried a variety of different looks against UAB and nothing worked. Ineffective pass and run blocking gives you what we saw on Saturday. The Blazer D-line just pushed the Zips back and collapsed the pocket every time. Conversely, our D-line was easily fended off. Hope Council isn't hurt too bad. He returned to the sideline sans any air cast or crutches, so it seems like a minor ding. Keyondre White was on the sideline. Must be injured? Is the solution to Kato buying time to throw rolling him out? Seems like the obvious choice. It's either that, or the o-line needs to make some huge strides over the next couple weeks. Does Andre Williams get a chance to return some kicks? Hopefully the staff is just being cautious in bringing him back from his long layoff. His snap count needs to increase. Alvin Davis' name is not being called enough on the PA system. I realize the numbers game somewhat forces the staff's hand to play him at the corner (we have a little depth at safety, but none at CB), but we can't continue to get burnt deep. I would love to see Davis back at safety where he can make a bigger impact on the game. Tutu sat out 2018 as a gray shirt, so he deserves some patience as he acclimates to the college game. Hope he's a quick learner. I saw Wieland punt in HS and he was awesome. I don't know whether it's jitters...the 2 year layoff from playing...problems adjusting to the punt-on-the-run rugby-style kick...but he's gotta get it together. I never saw Fitchen kick in HS, but he's gotta get it together too. I've never seen such problems as the Zips have kicking the ball...or on special teams in general. There were bright spots Saturday - Lako and Bubba played well. Riley showed some resilience after getting off to a rough start. Jest had a great game. Scippio found the endzone for his first college TD. I thought we tackled well, and fought hard to the end. Kato is a gamer. Arth seems to me to be first and foremost a teacher. A very hands-on teacher. He now has 8 quarters of game film to start addressing our shortcomings. We'll see what he can do. To paraphrase Rick Pitino..."Andy Alleman ain't walking through that door...Brent Biggs ain't walking through that door...Rodney Coe and Jatavis Brown aren't walking through that door...". We are who we are...a team coming off a 4-8 season that lost 90% of it's defense from 2018. The final two 2017 games prior to the 4-8 season, we were down 35-0 to Toledo, and lost 50 - 3 to FAU. So anyone writing off Arth after losing to teams that were flat-out better than these rebuilding Zips...and funded beyond the Zips wildest imagination...should keep "I told you so's" to themselves. It just clutters the board. Go Zips. Beat the Chipps!

Dustin Burkhart has earned MAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the East Division. Burkhart had a career-best 217 receiving yards on the day. The last time an Akron receiver had more than 200 yards was in 2007 by Jabari Arthur, who had 223 yards. Burkhart’s 217 receiving yards rank second on UA’s all-time receiving yards for a game behind Arthur’s 223.

Said that earlier. Some of the problems with the football program have been caused by AD's looking for the next job. Williams is a football guy. Lets hope he has a better feel for Arth than some others have.

Heartbreaking, very sad news The 18 year old sister of Niko De Vera has passed away. I believe that she had been battling cancer. Sending my love, prayers and support to Niko and all of his family. May their tremendous faith and wonderful family memories lift them up and provide comfort during this unbearably difficult time. Zips Nation loves and cares for all of the De Vera family.