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Some more focused thoughts on the game last night. It's a much longer road ahead than I was expecting, but I shouldn't be surprised. Last night was a good wake up call for sure, but it's great to come out with the win. If these guys get slaughtered in all three of these buy games, I will have a bad, bad feeling about any bowl chances, which is fine. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Xavior Gray was not good at all at LT. Once Daniels got put there, things got a little better. I also recall far too many passing plays where either the center or LG was immediately stood up and pushed back a few yards on the snap. Imagine what that will look like next week, or the week after. The thing I'm most looking forward to for the future is the Moorhead recurits getting in and making an impact here. And the playcalling was okay, but three straight runs up the middle for a 3-and-out made me want to pull my hair out. I thought DJ had a decent game, and actually threw a few really nice deep balls that were defended well. It's just so hard when the pocket collapses almost immediately. Defensively, I saw an improved DB unit from the past few years, but still a long way to go there. There were a few instances on QB rollouts where things opened up, but I'm rather pleased overall with them, considering I was expecting much worse. There still isn't much of a pass rush, though the front 7 actually began to make a few plays once they stopped blitzing every damn play. That was driving me bonkers. And special teams. Punt and kick coverage was great, but a blocked PAT and missed 39 yard field goal are mistakes this team can't afford to make as the season moves on. If it nearly costs you the game against St. Francis, it will cost you the games against BG and Ohio. Also, Gettman punted pretty well, losing Slike was big and he did a fine job. 47 average, long of 62! The post game presser is on YouTube. I caught it before bed last night, and it put me to sleep in a much better mood. Zero coach speak and a lot of honesty from Joe. And George asked him some good questions. There is hope to be had with this program, it will just take patience. And as for the game experience, it flat out sucked. That was no fun at all. The music sucked, the pre game video didn't work, the music didn't work most of the time, no third down bell, none of the familiar noises and sounds that help give that stadium life from time to time, and the VIDEO BOARD SHOWED NO VIDEO. Pathetic. If I didn't love Akron football, there's no way I'd go back to a game this season. It was almost awkward sitting in the stands through all of the silence and dead air. No more Pritt Entertainment Group, a company made up of alumni that love doing what they do to make those games palatable. Imagine if last night had been a blow-out, just how painful that would've been. This is a massive failure by the AD and athletic department. I've been to better produced Akron Public games at InfoCision. That was not a D1 experience last night and they should be ashamed of themselves. It's year two of this new regime, and this is the time to gut everything and totally take the fan experience away? What could have been a great opportunity to showcase the program, showcase the stadium, showcase the Akron football experience, fell COMPLETELY flat and I am embarrassed. I'm glad the PA announcer told us what the electrifying play of the day was, if only I could have actually watched the clip. PATHETIC. The next home game will be homecoming against BG. If they don't get their heads out of their you-know-where by then, we're going to have yet another batch of disappointed alumni that come to a game never to return again. Think small, be small. P A T H E T I C.

Most high schools have video scoreboards now a days. And you get stat updates too. InfoCision doesn’t/can’t. It is embarrassing. If there was a fire, why wasn’t that covered by insurance?

I hope I’m able to watch this game again, because I definitely missed some things that I’d like to have a second look at. - A win is a win. I would be concerned if we lacked talent, but most areas of improvement can be fixed through coaching and not having to wait another year for more talent. - Tim Terry needs to play more. He and Bubba ought to see the majority of snaps at LB. - Outside contain was a sore spot. - I need to rewatch, but it seemed SFU often attacked OLB Thomas or whoever the DB was that came in as a Nickel. - The OL showed some improvement, especially in the run game when Daniels came in at LT. - SFU threw alot of blitzes at us. The pressure and sacks weren’t all on the OL. Sometimes it was poor pickup by the RB while others were on Irons for holding the ball too long. - Irons must be more consistent. He missed way too many throws tonight, especially on deep balls and crossing routes. - Surprising that Wiley was the only one to see carries at RB. I was not impressed with him the majority of the night. He missed a number of cutback lanes. - Whoever is blitzing on defense needs to get closer to the line of scrimmage. It doesn’t help in the slightest starting the blitz from 5-7 yards away. - Our DBs need to do a better job of getting off blocks. - Victor Jones does so many things well. All-MAC candidate this year. I firmly believe this is going to be a good year. So many coaching points from tonight that will clean up a number of mistakes in the coming weeks. There was a heavy rotation on defense and I’m surprised about the guys we did not see. I wonder if we’ll see more new faces next week. Proud of the way this team did not buckle under pressure.

I volunteer to perform an in-stadium puppet show reenactment any exciting plays immediately following the play's conclusion. If the Section 208 railing is obscured, people within the stadium can livestream it on their phones. ZipsWin! will work the camera. Best I can offer since we apparently opted out of the "fire and theft" clause in our scoreboard insurance policy. If you would like to support the Zips Replay Puppet Show, please bring cereal boxes, paper plates, Elmer's glue and construction paper to Lot 9. Oh, and plastic scissors would be great too. Daniel George was my first attempt (below). They'll get more realistic as time goes on.

Went back through and rewatched the game. Here’s my reflective take. QB - Irons was far too inconsistent. I tallied up 23 for 30 with a clean pocket and 1 for 9 under pressure. He can’t miss on those wide open deep balls and also can’t take some of the sacks he took. If Irons can’t be more consistent, he either needs to be replaced or used more heavily as a runner. RB - Wiley was ok. On the zone runs he has to be able to make at least one defender miss. He struggled to do that in the first half but did a better job in the second. Our OL also got more push in the second half, so that helped. WR - This is an explosive group with SJL, George, Adams, Gathings, and Golden. Gathings may have dislocated or broken his finger in the 2nd quarter on the under thrown deep ball by Irons. No complaints here whatsoever. TE - Brank and Banks make for a really nice duo. I expect them to see more balls come their way as the season wears on. Brank also had a few key blocks in the game. OL - Mixed bag here. Williams and Whigan were excellent on the right side (RT and RG respectively). Daniels looked much better than Gray at LT. LG and C is where we struggled until the end of the 3rd quarter. Both centers Robarge and Georges were getting handled by those DTs the majority of the game. Banes at LG also had his issues. That area must improve for the run game to have success. DL - It’s clear that Jones, Harper, and Wilson are the best we saw up front. Toss a coin between Morton and Johnson at the other DE spot. LB - Bubba was Bubba. Terry should be starting beside him. Terry was in on almost every play, but didn’t always finish off the tackle. Fish is a time bomb waiting to happen- in a good way. He’s big, fast, and explosive. When the light goes on for him mentally, look out. DB - Oh boy. Golden Nelson looked solid at one CB spot. JKP looked good at Safety and Darrian Lewis is a baller at Nickel who should never come off the field. Safety play besides JKP and the other CB spot was rough at times. Maybe Durant gets his chance to claim it now? The other S spot, I don’t know. Maybe Threatt will see time next week after mysteriously not seeing the field yesterday. This team is better than last year despite what it may have seemed like yesterday. Still some questions that need to be answered though.

My thoughts on the first game. I had picked the Zips to win by at least 4 scores. I did also add a post on the size of the lines of SFU and that they may cause some issues with the Zips. I am listing the Good, Bad, and Ugly in no particular order from the SFU game. Good A Win - A win is a win is a win. No need to apologize. Just Book it!! Akron WR play - It seemed like every play that at least 2 wide receivers were wide open. The transfers played great as well as the existing roster. Punter - Gettman had some fantastic punts, turned the field over Bubba's play - led the team in tackles, but I expect more Victor Jones play -tied Bubba in tackles, had a solid game. Hope he can keep it up Wiley's running -good at times, not so good at other times Tight End play, Branks and Banks played well with the limited number of throws, Brank had a TD catch Irons running - had a couple of nice runs Bad Irons passing - even though he had some connections, his passing was poor based on how open the receivers were all evening. Punt returns - seemed to give up 12-20 yards of field position with every situation in which a fair catch was not made. Irons Decision making - awful, nothing more to say Not playing Norrills - surprise, hate to see him get frustrated and enter the portal. Good player, lots of talent I disagree with above on playing many starters on ST. - I think the players on the frisk need to get PT on ST, get great team buy-in Penalties - Several very bad penalties' Gray - Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane Missed PAT and FG - cannot have from Smigel Ugly Game experience - massive failure by Guthrie. If I was not an alum and former athlete who has paid for tickets, I would not show up again. Sacks - I believe there were 6 sacks, how awful. It was a combination of the OL, lack of RB pickup, and extremely poor decision making by Irons. Favorable Penalty calls - I bleed Akron, but I watch the games objectively. There were 3 critical holding calls, 2 on long passes that came back and one on a punt. When I watched the punt, I could not see a penalty. Also, the same applies on one of the long passes that got called back. SFU missed field goal as a result of a penalty - I listed this as ugly since if it was not for a silly SFU penalty, the Red Flashes may have won in regulation Game not televised - Why would Guthrie agree to a Thursday game that is not televised Win Total prediction - I predicted 7 wins, the pundits said the over/under was 2-2.5. We shall see who is correct. Go Zips

Just my opinion, Gray may never see a football field again, that can’t be your blind side tackle

I appreciated the email, as it means they're listening to their customers. If the team had performed better we probably wouldn't have been as aggravated as we were about the poor audio/visual experience. The lackluster play on the field coupled with the awful game day experience really was a deflating double whammy. 😅 On the bright side we won the game, the fireworks were great and I found my e-tickets exceedingly simple and convenient to use. As of now I'm keeping my signature. Still hoping to be able to change it someday soon.

Apparently you are forgetting what several posters have pointed out; Northern Illinois went from last place in the MAC west to the MACC in one year. The Zips are still tied for first in the east; GO ZIPS.

Fortunately 1 game, and even a loss to a lower level team doesn't make or break a season. Northwestern played in the B1G championship the year we beat them. Pitt lost to WMU last year, but won the ACC Championship. Last night was scary but we won. There is no denying we have more depth, experience, talent, better coaching, and better strength from last year. It will take the guys some time to gel. Luckily for us, our first 3 games are pretty predictable and don't mean much for the season. The first real glimpse we'll have at what we'll get come conference play will be vs Liberty...just stay relatively healthy and compete vs MSU and Tennessee in the meantime.

I think we can safely conclude that the talk of bowl eligibility for this season was premature and an unreasonable expectation. The program is building from the ground up. It's going to take much longer than one season to rebuild after years of decay. 3 or 4 wins would be a huge improvement. I trust that Morehead is the guy and that improvement will come but I don't think that improvement will be demonstrated in many wins this season given what I saw last night. St. Francis is supposed to be for the Zips football program what Concord is for the basketball program- a warmup and walkover, not a nail biter. Patience....patience....patience.... As for the game day experience, shame on UA for not doing better. They had months and months to get it right and failed to do so. That being said, give me good football and I can do without music, videos....and even an announcer. It was nice to see Morehead wearing his best from the Bill Belichik sideline collection! GO ZIPS!

The video board is barely functional. There are no parts avaiable to make it work. Remember the fire from a few seasons ago? They have solicited bids for a new one. The good news is that the overall structure is in great shape. If anyone has 1.4-2 million $$$ laying around that they would like to donate for this upgrade please contact the AD.

A few take aways I had. 1) Why was this game on a Thursday when it wasn't even televised? Why not have it on a Saturday so more students and alumni could attend? 2) The offensive and defensive lines both need lots of work. We were out played on both fronts by an FCS school. 3) I had us winning 4-5 games this year, but after this game I'm going to revise that to 2-3. I'm still on board with Moorhead, but I feel I might have overestimated how fast he'd be able to infuse talent, particularly in the trenches.

That’s the most people I’ve seen stick around until the end of the game in a while

Irons is so inaccurate, don’t think he’s the answer. And why not run it on that 3rd down play,it was wide open to get the first but he forced into a covered receiver-maddening

The offensive line has looked better with 75 at LT

I thought the same in person.

On the bright side, our punter kicked some ass last night

8,752 Best Regards, Charles Guthrie

From the article: " Plenty more adversity came their way in the overtime when Irons was sacked on the first play for a 9-yard loss. He responded by finding Jacques-Louis for 28 yards and, two plays later, running back Cam Wiley was in the end zone for the winning score. Plenty more came their way in the overtime when Irons was sacked on the first play for a 9-yard loss. He responded by finding Jacques-Louis for 28 yards. Two plays later, running back Cam Wiley was in the end zone." Good job ABJ.

Of course it's your own school that kills your parlay against a FCS opponent. Please Penn State choke to make me feel better.

Too many stupid unsportsmanlike penalties after the play - I recall at least two. Too many memories of undisciplined teams of the past. Hope those players bought a little pine time to think about it.

For those of us that predicted Zips by three scores, congratulations. 😁 🎉

Well said @catdaddyp. I agree with many of your points initially, but will rewatch on TV. I noticed Devon Robinson, Cam Threatt, and Clark didn't seem to play at all. Clark doesn't bug me too much at Brank and Banks look good at TE, but would like for Robinson and Threatt to get out there. Both were dressed. Alex Adams didn't play a whole lot...I think he's battling an injury and they err'd on the side of caution for him. Gathings may have had an injury too. Very surprised Wiley was the only RB to get carries. Think the only other RB I saw in there was Price and that was maybe one snap. I really like how the staff is playing starters on special teams. Shockey made a nice play on punt coverage and I noticed George in there too. Kickoff coverage was good.

Win is a win. Lot to clean up....but I think we can still be competitive in MAC play. Bunch of guys playing in a new system playing together in real action for the first time. I also thought St Francis didn't look too bad. Their grave mistake IMO was taking the #4 QB out of the game. He was multi dimensional and we couldn't contain him. Ran the RPO well. On to East Lansing....

Unfortunately, I pretty much called this except it was close the whole way. A lot of new players playing together for the first time so I think they’ll improve but it going to rough the next few weeks. O line has to make some major improvements fast.

A fun win. I'm certain the prior coaching staff would have lost that game. There were some insufferable penalties, but Moorhead managed the game well. This team didn't panic.

Thankful for the win but man I was having PTSD from the 2010 Overtime loss to Gardner-Webb under Ianello. Man I wish there was just some adjustments to make but we got outplayed. We may just not have the horses. Rough realization.

Wow never thought the defense would make a play to seal the victory. 1-0 is 1-0, on to the next one.

Zips intercept in the end zone.

SHOCKY!!!! What a catch!!!

Our OL man

We can't even win the coin toss for OT.

Soph WR Jmeel Williamson 😕

CFB is ruined; transfer portal destroys camaraderie.

Punter is MVP

Losing in a blowout to MSU was expected. Losing to a mediocre FCS team is embarrassing.

Our punter is team MVP.

I do like they’re playing Devo!!💪💪🤗

Touchdown!!!!!

They do have Rhinegeust Truth. A step up from bud light.

Feels Arthy in here

Dayton and Xavier are never coming to Akron lol

The morning after and my mind is still blown that whoever was operating the Bell Button couldn't figure out how to push it during 3rd downs... and not when the Zips were on offense.

Who knew St. Francis might be a trap game ahead of the trip to East Lansing!

What was that drive!?!?!?!?!?!?

They rang the 3rd down bell for St. Francis’ D 😭😭😭

Where do we go to adjust our season win total expectations?