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I have not posted or logged on to this site for a few years. I have no real football knowledge as many posters here appear to have. My wife and I have purchased season tickets for many years. If we went to a game in the last years, we always left after the band played at halftime. This year we have stayed till the end for all three games. As I said, I am far from a football guru, but I see tremendous improvement with this team. I believe Joe Moorhead is the real thing. He has a plan for this team and is going to try like heck to execute the plan. Give the man some time.

That’s a lot to unpack. I think the 2022 freshman class is very underrated and when combined with the transfer class was solid. No class is going to be 100% hits, but if 2/3 pan out then it’s a great class. It’s telling in the amount of players that transferred out and where they landed (or didn’t land). The roster had a major talent deficit and still isn’t quite where it needs to be but at least now there is some strong potential in place. Im not concerned about the losses to the P5 teams. Those were money games we had no realistic shot at winning. MSU may not be a good team this year, but how many of our players would be starting for them? Not many, if any. So they are still a better program than us. Irons was definitely inconsistent last game and brought some issues on himself. Moving him to RB wouldn’t be the best idea as his 6’6 frame isn’t built for that position. The OL struggled at times in pass pro and the run game has also struggled. All those guys may have gotten experience last year, but not all of them move as well as FBS OL should. Watching Landers move compared to any other OT we have is night and day, but he’s a freshman and still learning. Point is the staff has brought in some talented and athletic freshmen OL, but they aren’t ready to help us yet. Whigan has been a great addition and Banes has been ok, but we need more OL like Whigan out of the portal. Keep in mind all of the transfers are going to be backups or part-time starters, at best, from P5 programs. The guys from FCS and D2 will be looking to take a step up. No P5 regular starter is going to transfer here. So the staff has to make sure it’s a good fit and the players increase the talent level. In MAC play we’ve seen improvements from 2021 every where but rushing offense, passing defense, and scoring defense. Passing defense is not a surprise as teams no longer run at will on us and are forced to pass more. Is our secondary great? No, far from it, but if Golden-Nelson would come back and be paired with Amankwaa we would probably see some improvement there. Thompson and Woods have been solid at SS and Martin has manned the FS spot better than anyone I recall playing there last year. Throw in Lewis at Nickel and we have something to work with. We desperately need more productive depth though and it certainly wasn’t on the roster when Joe took the job. Scoring defense on the other hand is a concern and needs to improve. 100% agree about Bubba playing more. Obviously it’s ok to be frustrated, mad, or whatever else helps cope with a losing team. I’ll never tell anyone how they should feel, but I’ve seen this story play out before. Good things are coming.

This match is guaranteed to be rough on the pitch, and possibly even in bleachers. There is no love lost between these two teams, nor between respective supporters.

Both head coaches place a ton of value on winning the rivalry game. This one will be intense. A few weeks ago, Kent bought a billboard that overlooks Infocision over at the 76-77 interchange. I found it funny, as this is the same athletic department who had a profane locker room diss track video leak, which preceded a 20-point loss in the MAC basketball championship game. You would think something like that would help you realize it's best to focus on yourself instead of being obsessed with your underdog rival, much like a young, stupid child would. A win here for the Zips would be up there with the sweetest of victories over Kent in the history of the program. Gonna be a fun morning over at the Dix Dump.

Marvin Muslime-Kamaii, 6-6, 190, Wing, Cushing HS, Brockton, Mass. Had offers from Siena, Brown, Central Conneticut State, Albany, and Towson. He's explosive & can handle the ball pretty well. Also looks to have a nice stroke from 3.

Since 2010, Zip coaches in their first season are a combined 3-40. Joe is so obviously in over his head. They’re losing games the same way Arth did in his first year. No progress. Just had an RB set the single game completions record and throw for 400 yards. I mean what is this guy doing? Put the 6’6” dude at RB you dummy!!!! Look, nobody on this board has sugar coated anything about what they see on the field this year. @catdaddyp isn’t some lifelong Zip die hard cheerleader. The dude just loves football and has picked the Zips, freaking awesome. And folks are clowning him for saying the team has made immense progress from last year and the prior couple years. As for myself, I have numerous times for weeks noted that Akron is still a bad football team, and I had higher hopes for 2022. But reality set in quickly, as similar mistakes from the past have been mixed in with some very efficient and impressive performances here and there. It hasn’t hit the win column, and it’s frustrating as hell. But as someone who has been to every single game at Infocision for over a decade, the steps forward are obvious. How soon the blowout home losses to Temple, Ohio, Buffalo, and Kent just last year alone are forgotten. Sure, almost doesn’t count. But not getting embarrassed and being in a position to win for 75% of the games against G5 teams this year is a pretty damn clear step forward to me. If we’re at this 1-6 point come next year, concerns will be had. But it’s just mind-numbingly stupid to me that someone would be out on THIS coach and THIS team after THESE 7 games. The same way how many people were “out” on Groce after 2 years of underwhelming when it was also painfully obvious that the program was improving and would take more than 5 minutes to build into something worth a s***.

Excellent as always. Thanks @catdaddypand glad you enjoyed the game. It sure was a great day at the yard, and would’ve been perfect with a win! Maybe more thoughts from me tomorrow, but I really don’t want to have to think about this one too much more. Bottom line is, if DJ & Price complete the transfer one way or another, the talk of this game isn’t about mistakes, bad running game, losing on top of losing, etc. Like other posters say, the margin for error when you lack talent is razor thin. With that said, DJ stepped up and made some big throws today. Took far too many sacks, with the pass blocking taking a step back due to personnel issues, and CMU has a hell of a defense. After all, Ball State was 0-13 on 3rd downs against them last week. And Ball State is far better than Akron. Defensively, more bend-don’t-break, with just a bit too much break. The Bubba blitz was awesome though, a big time play I want to see more of. And they were so close to getting a big fumble recovery on the sack on the CMU drive after Akron tied it. Once again by Morton. If the Zips recover that, again we may be having a whole different discussion. The room for error is so damn thin, it’s amazing to think about and to watch every week. Damn it. So here we are. 1-6, 0-3 in the league. Lost 3 of the last 4 by single digits, had two straight home losses by a score while having the ball with a chance to win in the dying minutes. The Zips have comfortably graduated to “bad” on the college football spectrum. As much as I grew to resent everything about the Bowden experience, Joe quoted him today on the lose big—> win big thing. And his teams never consistently followed that mold and I find it to be kind of a silly philosophy. However, while many folks had higher expectations for this team in 2022, I really like the steps being taken. Though I just had to step back and laugh at that unbelievable way to lose today, I don’t feel apathy. I’m absolutely fired up. I can understand how some posters and Zips fans are upset and disappointed and checked out. But I’ve had a lot of fun watching the last handful of Akron games, which is far more than I could say the last few years. It will be an interesting week at practice. I’m not sure there can be a more hungry group of student athletes after what these guys have been through. What better time to put it all together and come out on top? You never know.

Vegas line reflects approx. 43-24 score prediction. Can't ranked no. 111 in FBS by cbssports, 2 spots ahead of BG who we should have beaten. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/rankings/cbs-sports-rankings/

Joe Mo & Co did a nice job filling in a lot of holes with the transfer portal this past offseason. The "hit rate" (defined by average MAC starter) doesn't appear to be 100%, but that is difficult to accomplish with the # of players brought in. I also still hope some of those players will continue to come along as they still have eligibility left beyond this year. My thoughts on the needs below come from consideration of players leaving due to graduation and what we've seen so far by underclassman who would look to take their spots. Per the roster online, and excluding special teams, we lose the following estimated scholarship players (12) after this season: Jalen Hooks (CB), Ryan McClain (OLB - may get a medical redshirt), Nic Ognenovic (TE), Bubba (LB - may have an extra year from last year's injury), Curtis Harper (DL), Ravontae Holt (DL - may have an extra year due to his injury history pre-Akron), Victor Jones (DL), Zach Morton (DL). Shocky (WR), JKP (S), Chu Ogbonna (CB), Tim Terry (LB), Anthony Whigan (OL). We currently have 14 non-special teams players committed, but we shouldn't be counting on any freshman to come in and fill holes right away. Based on the current production from the players above, we need somebody to replace potentially 2 LBs (1 if Bubba comes back), 1 CB, 3/4 DL (depending on Holt), 1 WR, 1 S, and 1 OL. There will also be a number of players transfer out, hopefully mostly due to not having the talent to elevate our program rather than players currently playing and showing promise. DL - I don't see any young DL playing and showing promise, and DL needs addressed as is. I say bring in 4 more DL transfers. LB - A couple guys show flashes - Fish and McCoy. The staff is high on Griffin, but we still don't have the proven depth we need there. Need 1 transfer LB, 2 if Bubba is gone. CB - I think Golden Nelson and Amankwaa are a capable pair of starters, but would like to see them challenged, and we need more depth regardless. 2 more transfers here. Lewis has Nickelback on lock and Durant should probably be his back up as he showed flashes there last year..he isn't an outside corner. S - I think we are good with Thompson, Martin, and Woods for the next year or two. OL - We lose Whigan, and have some promising freshman, but I still say bring in 2 OL for security to ensure OL is upgraded. The OL play is holding the offense back the most. RB - I think we're okay. Biggest reason for lack of production here is run blocking. QB - think we're okay. DJ is the guy and Undercuffler should at least be a serviceable back up if/when DJ goes down, though he isn't as mobile. Darius Jennings and Steele Wasel were also pretty highly recruited, so would hope one of those 2 could step in and be serviceable if needed. TE - we should be set for the foreseeable future with Brank, Banks, Clark, and Darnell. WR - Staff is high on Golden, Grimes is alright, Anderson doesn't get many targets though does have some potential, and Gathings has looked alright as well, but he's only been healthy enough for I believe 2.5 games in 2 years for us so far. I'd bring in 1 transfer to replace Shocky to ensure the passing game keeps humming since none of the aforementioned are showing that type of potential yet. With the 14 commits, and up to 11 transfer needs, that would put us at a total of 25 new signees. With up to 12 guaranteed to move on, this means there will be at least 13 scholly players with eligibility left no longer on the team next year., not going to speculate individually (think upperclassman/players who have been here a few years and aren't sniffing the field), just hope additional holes don't get opened up. I think Joe is actually going to look to bring in more than 11 transfers, however. Hitting on the majority of those with the likeliness of a few players on the team taking the next step, our holes are filled at the starter level and we have some depth. Filling holes doesn't mean we are MAC contenders next year, as there's still positions you probably need to upgrade to take that next step, but I think it reasonably gets you to .500 play. We may not see much if any improvement in the win column this season, but I strongly believe we will see encouraging results in getting our program to at least an above average conference team is in the near future. Go Zips.

Tough loss today. This team is so close, but just can’t quite get over the hump. That time is coming though. I really enjoyed the game day experience. The crowd seemed invested in the game and desperately wanted a win. If InfoCision gets even 75% full, it’ll be a serious home field advantage. The band is excellent, the sound system certainly works, and the cheerleaders/dance team were cohesive. Everything is in place, now the football team needs to win and get butts in the seats. Offense: - It’s like musical chairs on the OL at this point. Gray, Daniels, and Lyons are hurt. Whigan and Banes were hurt at some point during the game. Not sure why Landers didn’t play, but Chambers got the start at LT. Robarge and Beckman filled at the guard spots when Whigan and Banes went out. I thought I saw Kilbane play some snaps at C but it was mostly Georges there. - Pass protection was ok, but could have been better. I thought DJI was the cause of a few of those sacks and not the OL. Run blocking is still a struggle. - SJL consistently created separation. Caleb Anderson is a tough matchup that we should continue to take advantage of near the goalline. It’s unfortunate his TD catch did not count. - I thought it was a well called game and we definitely left some plays out there that should have been made. Defense: - I’m not sure why the staff hasn’t narrowed down the linebackers to Bubba, McCoy, and Terry. When those 3 aren’t out there in some capacity bad things happen. Fish will eventually be there, but he still looks lost at times. - Great to see Bubba get a free run at a sack today. He was a tackling machine. - Thompson was MIA and replaced by Woods, who wasn’t great, but was solid. - Hooks started, but I don’t recall seeing him in the 2nd half. Amankwaa was solid in the passing game at CB, but struggled against the run. Off the top of my head I recall 3 edge busts by him. However, it was good to see him cover well. - Richardson played the most he has all year, but I don’t recall him making much of an impact. - We still struggle to get much of a pass rush. I know there is probably some frustration and apathy building, but it’s easy to see this program is close to turning a corner. CMU is built differently than the other MAC opponents we’ve played, so today’s game brought a different set of challenges for this team. Despite the loss, I left feeling even more confident about the turn around that is surely coming. I don’t know how many wins we finish with this year as our chances are becoming fewer, but another recruiting class and offseason with this staff is exciting to think about.

The Zips get a rematch with Bowling Green. The match start time is 7:00 PM and is on ESPN+.

No score at the half.

Ksu will roll the Charmaine Zips. They're tougher, better coached and probably want it more. Another embarrassing loss for Akron and another week of excuses for Moorhead - the program is going backwards

Zips move up from #22 to #20 in College Soccer News poll, while somehow falling despite a nice road win in the Top Drawer poll, from #18 to #20. Coaches poll comes out tomorrow.

How did he slip through the cracks? Incredibly surprised he doesn't have more offers, especially more prominent ones.

So you guys expected a head coach to come in (late in the recruiting/transfer season) and BUILD (not rebuild) a 25-30 G5 lineup in nine months in the shadow of the B10. I want this team to win as bad as anyone else, but this isn’t the NFL. JoMo didn’t have high early round draft picks that NFL teams use to make turn around crappy teams in a moment. Or waste like a certain pro team up north. I do expect a bowl appearance and MAC Championship appearance in a couple years, and upset a program or two that has a $100,000,000.00 budget. In other words a G5 power. I still think we have the guy to do it. I expected one, maybe two years of gaffs and wrong decisions, then wins. Lots of wins.

Glass half full: But for a couple of gift-wrapped turnovers/scores, we'd be 2-2 in G5 play. Christmas came early for Loeffler and McElwain.

It also limits the passing game because there is no time for double moves, delayed routes, etc. We have trouble even setting up screens. I has to be a nightmare to try and call the plays when the OL gets blown up so often. Think of all the drives that start well and then suddenly nobody picks up the blitzing safety or linebacker. So many of the sacks we give up are complete whiffs that are going to get Irons hurt again.

Gilbert signed to Bucs practice squad. https://steelersdepot.com/2022/10/former-steelers-lb-ulysees-gilbert-iii-reportedly-signing-to-buccaneers-practice-squad-ahead-of-matchup-on-sunday/

Fair enough. You're a huge Zips fan & we need as many of us as possible. I still have complete trust in Ball Coach JoeMo & I hope he wins you back sooner rather than later.

Clearly he doesn’t. He needs to run the touchdown play more often and run the stop the touchdown plays on defense more often. These close losses show that he is completely lost, and lackluster QB and WR play have resulted in an offense that doesn’t move the ball and doesn’t score any points at all. It’s very disappointing to see, and things are more bleak now than under Arth, Ianello, and the bad Bowden years. Time to quit now. Pack up and go home. Time to buy some Golden Flashes tickets and move on from this now loser program and coach.

I hear what you’re saying. Consistency has been an issue. It seems players and/or positions take turns, not only from game to game, but within the game itself sometimes. Which is mark of a young or inexperienced team. We have some veteran players, but it’s hard to call them that when they are all in a new system and have different expectations. I follow recruiting and turnaround situations closely which is why it’s easy to see what’s coming. The next step for this team is just to win another game. The following step will be to string wins together. This off-season I tracked all of the new FBS staff’s recruiting classes. Out of the G5 schools, I thought UCONN easily had the best class followed by Akron. New Mexico State probably had the 3rd best with UMASS having the worst. (I won’t go through the rest) Unfortunately, our roster was so bad - and I couldn’t just say certain players shouldn’t be at this level in the preseason outlook - that it’s taking a little longer than expected. Improvement is clearly there, but the wins have yet to follow. At some point this team will display its best self and we’ll see a complete game. When that happens, we should be able to beat anyone left on the schedule.

Two steps ahead of ya. Tennessee has the talent to overcome miscues; we're not there yet.

This isn’t a bad coaching staff. It’s a staff that took over one of the worst rosters in FBS and has had one recruiting class. The roster was flipped by nearly 50 players and will likely have another 30ish flip this offseason - whether that’s through graduation and/or the transfer portal. I agree about not attempting to establish the run earlier, but to me it shows a staff that doesn’t trust the OL to get any push more than one that outsmarted itself. I mentioned in one of the threads in the preseason that we had a solid RB corps but it would be contingent on our OL how much room they had to run. A poster (don’t remember who, nor am I going to spend time flipping back through posts to find out) said something to the effect of we’ve had successful runners in the past so the OL should be fine. My point was/is our OL as a whole is not where it needs to be just yet. Hard to say this game was lost in the first half when we were in scoring position and running out the clock to win the game in the 4th quarter. It seems to me this team has played to its competition level in the MAC. I don’t see why that would have been our last winnable game, but we’ll find out.

You sure?

A look at last year's preseason coaches poll will add some insight into the critical importance of MAC basketball preseason polls. 2021-22 MAC Men’s Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll Buffalo – 143 points (11 first place votes) Ohio – 126 points Toledo – 107 points (1) Kent State – 98 points Akron – 95 points Bowling Green – 93 points Miami – 92 points Ball State – 54 points Western Michigan – 44 points Central Michigan – 34 points Eastern Michigan – 29 points Northern Illinois – 21 points MAC Tournament Champions: Buffalo (8), Bowling Green (1), Kent State (1), Miami (1), Toledo (1) Preseason All-MAC First Team Daeqwon Plowden, 5th-Sr., G/F, Bowling Green Josh Mballa, Sr., F, Buffalo Jeenathan Williams, Sr., F, Buffalo Ben Vander Plas, R-Sr., F, Ohio Ryan Rollins, So., G, Toledo Preseason All-MAC Second Team K.J. Walton, Grad., G, Akron Sincere Carry, R-Jr., G, Kent State Dae Dae Grant, Jr., G, Miami Jason Carter 5th-Sr., F, Ohio B. Artis White, So., G, Western Michigan

Depends. Do Hankerson and Hunter come in and push for all conference recognition or are they just another guy? Losing Dawson hurts a bit.

Mid season report cards for the league. A good read, especially if you haven't been able to follow the rest of the league as much as you would like. https://www.hustlebelt.com/2022/10/12/23397960/2022-mac-fb-midseason-report-cards-akron-ball-st-bgsu-buffalo-cmu-emu-kent-miami-ohio-niu-toledo-wmu