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This will be an interesting game. If Cincy blows chunks the mid-majors can probably forget ever being taken seriously again. Playing #1 Bama is a recipe for disaster for anyone outside the top 20. But a decent showing could change some minds.

I made it back this fall and spent 2 weeks in the Knoxville and Gatlinburg area. I had forgotten how beautiful the area was, how friendly the people are (unless you are Lane Kiffin), and how good the food was.

MAC finishes 3-5 in bowl games. Did much better than I expected. Central Michigan dominated a P5 school today, and with several major mistakes, won a close game. If they return players, they are to be reckoned with. Congrats go the Chippewas. They represented the MAC well. This is where the Zips need to get. Do not fear a P5. Happy Zipyear.

CMU looking very much the part so far against Wazzu

Enrique is gonna get his revenge on Mballa for last years DPOY title, calling it right now

Meaningless is a relative term. For Purdue and TN fans it wasn't meaningless. College football fans are looking at Bowl season all the wrong way.

Doesn't hurt TN is playing in front of a home crowd in Nashville.

Purdue has the ball & with opportunity to win. Rather have Tennessee than Ohio State & Auburn plus a whole stadium singing Rocky Top Tennessee is worth it, one of my favorites with WVU Country Roads

FIFY

Tough way to start MAC play: We will not have played a game for more than two weeks (16 days) while the Bulls have been able to keep a somewhat steady schedule having two games during the same time period. Granted, they were two somewhat surprising losses to 4-9 Canisius and an a 10 point home loss to an 8-5 Sweaters team that was picked 7th in the MAC preseason poll. This game being at home plays to the Zips advantage after their hiatus. I feel better about it than I would if we were on the road. If the Zips are at full strength, I like our chances. If we still have guys out sick/COVID, then our depth is a serious issue here like has been discussed before. Wonder what it would take for Groce to burn the RS for Johnson or Mitchell? Side note, if you Google 'Akron Basketball Roster', the pic of Enrique Freeman is fun.

It should be an interesting battle down low with the two top rebounders in the MAC facing off (Freeman and Mballa). Ali is 17th in the MAC in scoring, 6th in 3 point FG percentage and 19th in assists per game. Freeman is 1st in rebounding, 18th in scoring, and 2nd in field goal percentage. Trimble is second in 3 pointers made per game but only 24th in 3 point percentage. Bandaogo is first in blocks per game.

It's important for University of Akron alumni to be as informed as possible, and this has affected all sports fans. My first post was succinct and direct as possible, @blueandgold responded with a, not fully accurate understanding which needed to be addressed. Perhaps you should redirect your ire there; to the incorrect understandings rather than the corrections. We shouldn't be an echochamber for misunderstandings. Pangolins, however, would make a wonderful mascot.

The "common cold" isn't one virus, it's a series of viruses that tend to spread seasonally and have similar symptoms, as I listed above; and all have different characteristics such as HMPV which mostly impacts children, and appears to have been circulating for 200 years. The Human Coronavirus that you suggest was discovered in 1965 was actually discovered in 1961 by a Common Cold research laboratory. That doesn't mean it qualifies for being registered as a "common cold" virus, nor that it was the "original virus" for the common cold. It was a virus identified after samples from a patient with general symptoms. That doesn't mean it's classified as a "Common Cold Virus". I know this might sound arbitrary, but to researchers it isn't. Symptoms do not equal classification. The inability of Kendal et. al. to cultivate the virus was what led to the discovery of the new clade of viruses. Simply producing a fever (aka cold) is not good enough for combating disease. This is why the first SARS-CoV-2 patient identified in a hospital in Wuhan was labeled as "SARS?" because the symptoms pointed to an upper respiratory virus, but all tests (even SARS-1 tests) came up negative and could not be identified by viral analysis. The only evidence they had of infection was the chest X-Rays...the same method that SARS-CoV-1 was originally identified in 2003...and something researchers had been warning about for the nearly 2-decades since. The 60-odd years later...and the advent of RNA analysis, we've been able to trace viruses and their evolutionary clades. Clumping coronaviruses in with the viruses I listed in the previous post, as if to suggest they are something to be ignored or "common", is incredibly ignorant. SARS and MERS demonstrate exactly why they are a clade of viruses that should not be so ignorantly ignored or brushed aside as "common" because they jumping to humans are far from "common". From RNA analysis we know all Coronaviruses, evolutionarily speaking, originate from Bats. Which is why researchers became increasingly concerned about the encroachment of domesticated animal farms in rural China, India, Pakistan and SE Asia because of the overlap with wild bat populations. Ironically this is where Pangolins, the most trafficked mammal on the planet, come into our little story...but that is a story for another time.

Please stop comparing SARS-CoV-2 to influenza and flu-like viruses. It's not even close to a similar comparison. Rhinoviruses, RSVs, and Parainfluenza viruses are responsible for "the common cold" and comparing them to Coronaviruses is laughably ignorant. Like, not even the same phylogenetic branches of the viral clades, or in how they interact with our cells and how the immune system develops antibodies for them. Having similar symptoms does not equal similarity.

We played Tennessee close for a half during Bowden's first season before getting outscored 24-3 in the 2nd half. I remember because I was RIDICULOUSLY excited for our prospects in future seasons. Since then, Tennessee has won 5, 5, 7, 9, 9, 4, 5, 8, and 3 games. They were awful last year and have already lost to Pitt (who was beaten by Western) this year. It's still unlikely, but this is a winnable game and a decent add to the schedule on short notice. P.S: It's a 7.5 hour drive from Akron to Knoxville, so I'm gonna have to think about this one

I personally don’t think it’s necessarily about the stars, if they get the stars they probably athletically deserve them, but doesn’t mean they can handle 16 hour days of classes, practices, lifts, films, study tables, doesn’t mean they can take coaching or work well with others. Just my opinion