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Relentless https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/2021/10/13/university-akron-earns-2-1-mens-soccer-win-over-penn-state-ryan-kingsford-dyson-clapier-jared-embick/6100443001/

@clarkwgriswold I see your bad juju video, and raise you a positive juju video... Ironically enough, the QB in your video no longer has JuJu...

Congratulations to our Zips on a well-played game last night...first home game I've missed since 2016 when I went to Europe. (You got me @fknbuflobo. Ugh.) I watched on the ESPN app while attending the USA v CRC men's WC Qualifier in Columbus (thanks Columbus Crew / Lower.com Field for the free wifi)...the only sporting event (USMNT WCQ or WC game) that could take me away from our Zips Men's Soccer team. Great night for the USA Men and Zips Men's Soccer with each getting 2-1 wins and DeAndre Yedlin getting into the US match for significant minutes. Keep it going Zips! Go Zips!!! Go USA!!!

What you have said above is one of the most incisive postings on this forum in several years. Bravo! We have three good Center Backs. Each of them is diminished when trying to play Holding Midfield. Carlo Ritaccio is not fully recovered. Jonas Buechte works well with Daniel Strachan because he follows Danny's lead. We could try a three CB line, but that would entail changing our preferred system (easier said than done). I would add that Carlo Ritaccio is still a very influential leader on the team, whether or not he is starting.

I almost posted after the Georgia State game a critical post on Embick's lineup but deleted it before I posted it since he knows more than I do. The gist of it was we can't start Carlo, Strachan and Jonas with one of them as the holding midfielders as it was hurting us linking up from the back. My preference based on what I have seen this year was Carlo on the bench until he is fully healthy or even waiting to take over for Strachan after graduation next year. Today Carlo didn't start and came in with about 5 minutes left while we were protecting the lead.

While the game was going on, I looked at the interactive RPI report. Penn State was 22 ; Akron was 28.. There are still about 10 west coast games to be played later tonight But as of right now, Penn State dropped to 28 in the RPI. Our zips played very well tonight and they are currently sitting at 21 in the RPI. 2 huge games next week....Michigan and BGSU. I sure hope that the zips athletic department heavily promotes the BGSU game. Zips have to get a win in that game....and they need the students and community to come out and support the Zips.

2-1 wins for both the Zips and USMNT tonight. I'll take both! To those who watched, what was different for the Zips tonight?...lineup? rest? motivation? Seems that the Georgia State may have been a trap...it happens to the best of teams. When playing well, we're a Top 10 team, just gotta stay focused.

Reading this thread I get the feeling that most posters on this thread should, if they are not already, become members of the optimist club. I'm not ready to sign on at this point, but if the Zips pull off the upset over the Red Turds I may apply for membership.

I really don't know what to think about this game. There are so many things going on. For example: Is the D for real? Is Gibson for real? Does Gibson even start? Do we have a running back? Do we have an O-line? And those are only the questions I have about Akron! As for Miami, who is the QB? Who is the RB? Who is catching passes? Will the playcalling be conservative again? Is the defense actually decent? Both teams are in somewhat similar places so far this year, at least in MAC play. Both fanbases are kind of fed up with the quality of play and in general are pessimistic about where things are going. Looking at Miami, they have been in a really weird place the last 5 years or so. Ever since they began the 2016 season 0-6 and then won their final 6, they've been in what feels like a MAC football purgatory of both being a very good MAC team, yet a very underwhelming and not scary MAC team. They won the MAC title in 2019, but not one time has that program seemed like a championship program. All I can really say about them is they have some of the better players in the league, and have for a few years, but they're just not that impressive. With that said, if they repeat their embarrassment of Akron from last year, I would not be the least bit surprised. Chuck Martin, though perhaps on his way down there, built that program up slowly and with a foundation of very good talent, eventually leading them to that MAC title. At the same time, he has been prone to big time hiccups just as much as he is big wins, with Akron nearly pulling out the upset here in 2019 as 30-point underdogs. For Akron, and Tom Arth specifically, there is a big opportunity in this game to further create an identity for the program. Last week was the first time I could look at that sideline in 3 seasons and say that I was happy with what I saw. I'm curious as to what the motivation was going into that game, or what it was during the catastrophic first couple of drives when it looked like BG was going to run away with it. As fun and as dominant a win as that was, I'm still not really sold on this team. It was almost too fluky, specifically with the amount of turnovers, and as Captain said, BGs point total in regards to field position. The second half was a lot more promising from an offensive standpoint, as Akron really did dominate. But, it all came out of nowhere and not a soul expected it. Was it a fluke? Damn, I hope not. I remember the final year of the previous staff. Coming off an East title. You think you have a QB. You have confidence going to Nebraska...canceled. Kill Morgan State. Fluky Northwestern win. Give a good Iowa State team all they can handle. 2-1 going into BYE week with Miami waiting at Infocision for homecoming. F L O P. Got destroyed while favored on homecoming. And it was all downhill from there. My level of hope going into that game is similar to my level of hope going into this game. Same opponent, different arena. A win, and there's a chance Akron football matters in the 2021 MAC East race with Buffalo coming to town, which sounds so stupid. A loss (moreso a blowout), and we may be back to same old Arth, same old Akron. I am hopeful, and I'm very, very excited to see what happens! GO ZIPS!

I thought a big difference tonight was the Nits played that high defense..at least in first half..but their defenders were beat downfield repeatedly by the Zips transition attack which resulted in more quality shots on net. Props to Embick for a perfect tactic.

I'm laying down in my hotel room and actually started to laugh when I saw this. Playing QB for 10 years for Akron and a prison sentence are very similar.

With the way starting Zips QBs get abused they might all wish to be the mid-game replacement!

So keep Embick?

ABK. Anyone but Kato.

I'd expect even DJ Irons would vote for Gibson to start the game. And have a reasonably long leash to work his way through a mistake or two. I'm as big an Irons fan as anyone that doesn't have the last name "Irons," but if what Gibson did in half #2 lands him holding a clipboard this week I'm removing my "Extend Arth" sign from the front yard.

We need a coach that can recruit. Period. Irons is a player. He can almost singlehandedly win football games. Dollard was a player. He could almost singlehandedly will football games. Mathison, while not at their level, is a player. After that...all our present players are essentially interchangeable. There's no other Arth-recruited talent on our roster that ANY other MAC program would want, let alone a P5 program. Yeah, you can see flashes of potential here and there from a DB or WR...but we are flat-out woefully short on talent. The proof: 0-4 MAC teams that lost to Duquesne curb-stomp us on our home field. You want linemen that are big, strong and agile. Our lines are small, slow and unathletic. Ditto the linebackers. It isn't will, or scheme, or conditioning that gets us pushed around the field. We're just smaller and less talented than all our opponents. Arth made the decision to build the program predominately with youth. It has hurt. Bowden had the same choice when he arrived, and liberally supplemented his classes with transfers. He once said (paraphrased) - "If we only recruit freshmen, we'll get killed and I'll just be recruiting the next coach's kids. AD's don't wait 5 years for you to win now-a-days." Can't argue with that. Transfers like Williams, Marcus, Davis, Coe and Natson were the types of impact P5 transfers we needed to start winning games at Akron. However, he also recruited NFL talent like Gilbert, Kyron Brown and Jatavis Brown out of high school. Maybe Council lands in the NFL too? I predicted 1 win when this season began. Irons' play made me hopeful we could possibly see two...but it's not going to happen. Lee Owens was a marginal coach (see him sitting at 2-2 at Ashland right now). But with a decaying off campus stadium and zero facilities he recruited the likes of Frye, Hixon, Blackburn, Payne, Hendry, Dwight Smith, Matt Cherry and many other solid, fun-to-watch players. Several landed in the NFL. Bowden once said - "We need to find a way to win at Akron." He also said - "Sometimes the local HS programs know you too well. Kids from Florida don't know Akron from Kent or BG, so that's where we need to recruit until we get better." It's true. I see zero value in making local recruiting a major emphasis right now. Of all the players I listed above as NFL caliber...how many were from Akron? Hendry was from North Canton. That's it. There is a way to win at Akron. It starts with identifying and recruiting talent. Period. Then lather, rinse, and repeat. There's no other option.

I believe Akron needs to make football a priority. Like it or not with title 9 at D1 your football program is critical for all the other sports. Getsy, I like his resume but would require a higher salary. Frye is another guy I’m interested in and may be more interested in rebuilding his old football program. I like these 2 because we are at a point who wants to come here. I’m hoping these 2 want to help there alma matter and save the program. Next, anyone know how long Infocision has name rights? They are not the same company as when field was built and doesn’t support anymore. This is where Akron needs to make a splash. It needs to partner with Matt Kaulig if he is willing to help rebuild this thing. Stadium becomes Leaf Filter Stadium and we partner and let Matt’s company run the marketing for football. TV commercial in the area pumping Akron football & Leaf Filter helping both companies. Make family game experiences fun like going to a rubber ducks game & figure a way out to get students, 5 extra bonus points for your class you need it most in. Don’t give them out until leaving at end of game. They turn them into class when they go for the extra credit. Get real concessions & tailgating going, maybe get some of the best local smokers set up in the tailgating lots to get the fringe tailgaters so it’s not such a big deal to tailgate. Just bring your cooler and can order some good smoked food and party. Winning will help but we need to build excitement about the program. It needs to be fun, the whole experience needs to draw people to come and stay. It can’t be like going to the dentist, you hate that & your gonna go once because you feel you have to and don’t come back cause the experience is worst than you remember. Unfortunately, that is where we are at right now.