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You owe it to the team to give them the best chance to win games. If Gibson clearly gives you that chance, you play him.

Since you are an Akron historian...?...do you recall Lee Owens' first season? The Zips were 1-6, and Owens was disgusted with his QB play, so he pulled Greg Gromek's redshirt in Game 8...and the Zips subsequently won 3-in-a-row. Gromek subsequently blew out his knee the next season and used his redshirt for that reason. Say Gibson beats Kent...and beats Buffalo...and beats NIU...how do you not start him at BG? Yeah, it's a fairly improbably scenario considering we're 0-5...but it is the MAC. It's possible.

There seems to be a huge uptick in players transferring. There is no guarantee Gibson will even stay for 5 years. I'd say start Gibson if it's believed he gives us the best chance at winning.

Running game will still suffer, but Zach Gibson allows Arth to run more of his offense and the Zips shock the world and Kent State still sucks. Need some positive vibes for this program.

I guessed Mathison because it looks like Gibson will be at QB and l'm guessing again that they have worked together more than other WR's.

And yet...those same 16-17 year old recruits somehow give a crap about Jason Taylor being an NFL Hall-of-Famer who played at Akron? It's really not that hard to understand. Bowden THE NAME carries a hell of a lot more weight than Arth, Ianello, Faust, Brookhart could ever hope to carry...combined. That's just a plain, straight-up fact. The 16-17 year olds may not know the Bowden Name, and what that means...but their coaches, their administrators, even their parents would. It's not 1967, there is this thing called the internet. And as someone who teaches 16-17 year olds...with $600 computers in their pockets...its pretty easy to google. When you google Bowden, Auburn and National Championship would appear. When you google Arth you'd get...9-13 at EastJesus Tennessee University? If you're a 16-17 year old actively being recruited in football; you'll probably take the half a second to google the school that expresses interest in you.

Correct. The above-500 criterion applies only to at-large selections.

Where did you get this rule from? The NCAA website says conference champions get an auto birth

I was never on board with Bowden being fired. Yes, he had a bad end of season. To replace a coach with a national championship on his resume with an unknown is just dumb. That is my opinion and I am sticking with it.

Well, this is what counts, from here on out. The Mighty MAC. It starts Saturday at FES against what appears to be a very good Bowling Green Falcons team that will ride in at 7-3-1. After a 1-1 double overtime draw with Duquesne in Pittsburgh, they rattled off 3 wins in a row, most notably back-to-back clean sheet winners over Big 10 opponents, Wisconsin and Northwestern. They finished their Big 10 matches with a 2-1 loss to the Buckeyes. they've won their last 3 matches...over Canisius, Detroit Mercy and IUPUI. Lots of people talking about our upcoming match vs. Michigan State. Hey, guess what? They are having a disastrous season as well. That match for the Zips DOESN'T MATTER! The Cleveland State match - DOESN'T MATTER! What matters now, if anyone still cares, is this Friday vs. BGSU. Last year's match at BG ended in a double OT nil-nil draw in horrendous conditions. We win Saturday night - we're 1/5th of the way to a MAC Championship and another berth in the NCAAs. We have 3 of the 5 MAC matches at home, and that used to mean something. We have to make it mean something again. After Saturday it's up to Kalamazoo to face the now 6-4 Broncos who have become our biggest rivalry in the MAC now, due to some questionable physical play on their part n the past. They did beat Xavier last week 1-0. Then a Friday night FES appearance against SIU-Eds. They're 6-3-1 right now, and beat Butler a few weeks ago, and have won their last 4 in a row, all clean sheets. We've got our final match at home when we face a Huskies team that is 5-6-1 currently, and then the home finale vs. the Mountaineers, who are 6-4-1 right now. They knocked off the Suck-eyes (Yay!) 4-1 earlier. Notice all the teams have won at least 5 matches so far? THAT DOESN'T MATTER! We only need to worry about these 5 MAC matches at this point and win at least 4 of them (IMHO), to host the MAC tournament again at FES, and then we'll worry about winning those 2 matches to advance as MAC Champs. Bowling Green this Saturday - Chris Sullivan is their best player with 4 goals and 5 assists, with Copley's Chris Brennan right on his heels with 4 goals and 4 assists. Defender Achille Robin is tough and hasn't missed a single minute of a single match this season. Anthony Mwembia is the Keep, and he only has 1 sheet this season, and looks a little porous at times. Okay Zip fans, this is where it starts, right here (FES) right now (Saturday at 7).

MAC matters! Nothing else!

Well said @ZipsVoice although the first time you mentioned the match, you stated "...this Friday vs. BGSU". The match as you stated several additional times is SATURDAY, October 12th at 7 pm at FES, the same day that the 2009 Zips Men's Soccer Team is honored at the morning brunch as the "Team of Distinction". None of us are happy with the way this season has played out thus far, including the team, but that is past. As you said, the focus has to be on the MAC. All Zips Men's Soccer fans who can need to come out to the 3 MAC home games and get behind this team starting this Saturday. No excuses for our team; no excuses for us who support them. They need, appreciate, and respond to that support. Let's Go Zips!!! Let's get this done.

We have 7 games left & you will see Gibson in 3 of them barring him getting injured & he keeps his redshirt Not trying to be a jerk but we aren’t doing anything this year & the cupboards were left bare especially on defense, we had to hit Juco hard to just be competitive & we have no numbers in the defensive backs & 3 have hit the portal, it’s going to take some time We know Kelly is out of eligibility & I have no insider info but I could see since Kato was RS he could possibly leave as a graduate transfer if he stayed on pace for 4 year graduation Plus I thinking they are recruiting for an upgrade in lineman, much needed also My vote save Gibson’s RS

Charlie Frye started as a true freshman in 2001 (had a good year too - first full game start was at Ohio State and Frye played well despite a 28-14 loss) when Nick Sparks went down with turf toe against OU I believe. The rest is history-does history repeat?

Fearless Forecast™ Kato scores a TD, not lined up at QB.

Exactly. This team needs wins now. If Gibson gives you the best chance to win, put him in.

It's appalling to me that so many here have risked epic failure on an entirely new level (and that's saying a lot from a program that was recently 3-33 over a 3 year span) by firing a coach who recently had the most successful season of any coach in UA history (on 2 of 3 relevant measures: 1) most wins in a season, 2) bowl victory in a very entertaining game against a respectable program, but 3) not a MACC, but we did make the MACC and lost, finishing second). This is particularly ridiculous given the financial struggles of the University, which made national news for its unprecedented level of academic program cuts. But why stop there? Let's make note of being the worst D-1A program in the country by earning our first winless season in program history. Balsy is right, the approach from most of you here is to just roll the dice hoping to come up with a coach who gets us to that magical and unprecedented plateau of a Top 25 finish. That's delusional. You can't just be satisfied with new levels of success even if that bar is relatively low for UA Football? What's wrong with a few down seasons every once in a while? That's what happens when a great coach like Fleck leaves for greener pastures anyhow. What's wrong with continuity? Continuity matters. See Steelers versus Browns success. We are the Browns of college football. Y'all are enablers! (Not you, akronzips71.)

Well there you go. 0-12 is better than 11-0 if you are Akron.

Math, yes. WE just cannot finish in close like we did for many years.

Simply saying naked platitudes like "build it and they will come" or "the right staff" and not understanding/accepting your true circumstance, nothing will ever change. Going 0-12 is not change. Blindly casting dice and hope that you eventually strike a seven isn't a way to change something. Bowden's Staff when he first got here was definitely far above what a 2-22 team with one bowl appearance in 10 years could ever hope for. And things improved. From culture to results on the field. It just seems some people have delusions of grandeur.

Yeah this entire staff makes Milwee look like a genius.

At this point, it's a guess. Kato was in street clothes for Tuesday's practice.

Did anyone NOT expect that last corner for Butler to go in? Love the build up possession game but no one seems to be a finisher. The kid from Iceland had a great chance at the end but it was a halfhearted attempt and then he didn’t follow up the rebound back his way. Hate to be negative but spent 2 1/2 hrs in Mc D using WiFi to watch another loss.

let's hope that some of the non available (injured ) players from tonight.....can play against Bowling Green on Saturday night