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We could have really used the bye week after the Kent game, but it’s finally here. This week will give the staff an indicator of which players are still invested and which ones they might need to think about showing the door at the end of season. It’ll also allow them to work with the younger players and give them 1st team reps for a few days as well as the coaches a chance to hit the road recruiting. I’m expecting some new offers to be issued this week. As far as the Miami game, kinda same ole same ole. My reactions throughout the game tend to be “Ok, good. Looks like we cleaned that up,” to “Very nice. We are playing that well today,” to “Wtf was that?! Why?? No way he’s coached to do that.” Plenty of upperclassmen on the roster but still a ton of inexperience when it comes to game time and being coached properly (outside of this season) so it makes us look like a young team at times. Offense: - We continue to get placed in crappy field position when starting drives. It causes us to string together long drives which lowers the chance of scoring success. - 3 turnovers is a killer, especially when the defense doesn’t create any. - We saw the gamut of DJI - the good and the bad. As he goes, so does the offense. - Hope DJI doesn’t get hurt in the first half of the next game because Undercuffler decided to make himself unavailable. - Miami’s defense was really good as expected. - The OL was not great by any stretch, but they did create holes at times. When that happens the RBs must make someone miss in close space and that rarely happened. I put those situations on the RBs. The short yardage failures are a collective fail and I’m including the play-calling in those situations. - Adams came alive late, but we could have really benefited from him making a few of those catches earlier. - The adjusted final yardage of 396 to 268 is a tough pill to swallow when only scoring 9 points. Defense: - Defense was actually solid for parts of the game. We even held them to only 2 third down conversations. The issues came on explosive plays and giving up key downs within drives. - Cornerback play was borderline atrocious against the pass. Golden-Nelson looked like he hadn’t played in a few weeks. Hooks looked like he reverted back to bad habits. Durant gives it his all, but he’s constantly picked on by opposing offenses. Having Amankwaa jet for the portal hurt us this week. - Safety play was solid for the most part, but they did make a handful of mistakes. - If I’m mistaken, Terry lost the TE twice for big gains at the LB spot, but he may have thought he had help over the top. - Harper and Holt were very active. Good to see Harper get a sack. Thomas and Wilson caused some havoc in garbage time. - Bubba was Bubba. - I’ve said this before, but Lewis has learned to disguise his blitzing extremely well. Some problems won’t be fixed by anything except recruiting at this point. I hope this team can regroup after the bye and give one last push to finish out the season strong.

Okay, I really hate the non-stop music but if we have to have it, how about a playlist that reflects how we feel about Akron football the last 7 years and what we are seeing out on the field: “Sad Day”—The Rolling Stones “I Feel Like Dying” – Lil Wayne (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones You Can't Always Get What You Want by The Rolling Stones Wasted Time by The Eagles Anyone else want to add to the playlist?

Gaucho Dan RPI rank through games of October 29th. 11 Akron 200 Chicago State 44 WMU

early in the afternoon, the zips were #14 in RPI Penn was ahead of Akron in RPI Penn lost 3-2 this afternoon to Harvard and dropped below the zips before tonight's game, the zips were #13 in RPI .6131 strength of schedule (SOS) 16 Opponent SOS 44 after the win, the zips move up to #12 in RPI .6133 SOS 19 Opponent SOS 46

Between the Zips, the Browns, and Chippewa High School, I’m about to become a front runner. They’re a combined 6-15. I’m starting to understand Buckeye honks. I may need counseling…

Mistakes will kill you. Look at: -Turnovers -Sacks -Penalties This tells me the whole scary story!

This is what blows me away. You dominate the stats but still lose by 18 points. It’s like Groundhog Day every Saturday. I see so many things that give me hope but ultimately get kicked in the nuts again every week. Painful

Man, I needed to see a Zips win today!!

It’s soccer.

Can we please talk about the punt return team and how our returners dont know how to field punts, typically they are too far back and have to let it bounce ( which it usually takes a nice bounce not in our favor) or such as today stood too far forward and had to run back 25 yards to watch the other team down it. Why is this so hard?

Thanks, I also forgot the numerous third down plays when we needed 8 and DJ threw to receivers who were only 4 yards down field. Why receivers are not behind the sticks when it is 3rd down is beyond me.

Don't kick it. Get the 1/2 yard and score a touchdown. You only have 1 win this year...

Everybody Hurts- REM Just a Dream- Carrie Underwood Here Comes the Rain Again- Eurythmics Loser- Beck

Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar The Impossible Dream - Man of La Mancha The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow - Annie (pardon the show tunes / all I got 😒)

You don’t need a lot of yards with short fields & we are always giving short fields

Obviously, losing the turnover battle 3-0 is the biggest statistic. But yes, there are some MEANINGFUL statistics that they won. When you win first downs 20-13 that is meaningful. That means you were moving the ball. When you have 316 yds passing and almost 400yds of total offense that is also meaningful. Any coach would tell you that those are meaningful. These stats but scoring only 9 points shows that you can’t finish. Their red zone efficiency is terrible.

We live in a world where statistics have taken the place of game analysis. It's why Americans no longer really understand the sports they watch, especially baseball. For example, a player does not hit a home run because of exit velocity. The home run is a result of a series of events that happen in a 2-5 second period and announcers are no longer capable of articulating those events because they are too busy discussing nonsense. The numbers above only appear to show Akron dominated the statistics. In reality, they lost all of the meaningful statistics. Teams don't win games. The other team typically loses the game. Let's review. Akron had 3 turnovers to Miami's zero. It's almost impossible to win a game when this statistic is this lopsided. Akron had more penalties and penalty yards. Akron gave up more sacks. Sacks are drive killers. Discipline and efficiency wins football games. Show me the statistic above where Akron outperformed Miami in a MEANINGFUL way yesterday. Where is a meaningful statistics like first down yardage or the average yards to gain a first down on second down?

zips played god awful soccer for 65 minutes. At 65 minutes, they started attacking and playing zips soccer. the first goal was due to tremendous hustle by Ashton Kamdem...followed by a great pass to Shooky For the first 15 ro 20 minutes of the 2nd half, I do not think that the zips had a shot. This would have been an awful loss to lose to a 162 RPI team. Credit to the players for digging deep.....and finding solutions in the last 25 minutes somewhat related....Western Michigan struggled mightily to defeat Chicago State 2-1 on the road Chicago scored 6 minutes and had the lead for almost 39 minutes WMU scored at 44:56 Chicago got red card at 76. WMU scored at 84 to get 2-1 win. Nothing comes easy in soccer.....

How true.

Phew….just win baby

Zips go on to win 2-1.

Goal by Hallenberger.

Gooooooaaaaaaal. Up 2-1.

When you're the backup QB on one of the worst football programs in the country, the only thing you should be saying to the opponent is Good Luck.

Another proud moment. He can sit the rest of the year. https://sports.yahoo.com/akron-backup-qb-jeff-undercuffler-193322245.html

Blindside block was BS! Did 13 get a penilty for each word? He may have been out of line, but 2 fouls?

And don't forget poor clock management. You have 2 timeouts - just converted a 3rd down close to midfield with 17 seconds left until halftime. Why not use 1 of your timeouts and save 10 seconds? Instead you run another play and call timeout with 1 second left. So you take that timeout to the locker room. Coaches need to do a better job - lost out on 1 or 2 more plays before halftime.

I went to the game today for the first time all season. Not only do I have to watch bad football, I have to listen to continuous 1000 decibel music every second during the game except when the ball is snapped. Give me a break and turn off the radio during the game. For those that said there was no enthusiasm during the game. They are dead wrong. The band was very enthusiastic and having a great time. Not so much on the field. We lost at least 100 yards on the punt returns. Short punt, ball bounces 20 yards as our punt returner watches. Then on the last punt it goes over his head and bounces 30 yards for a 70 yard punt. Once again, 4th and one and a handoff from the shotgun for no gain. I guess it is too much for a division one team to have their QB under center and have a quarterback sneak or hand it off to the back. This team is a train wreak for the 7th year in a row.

NCAA Top 16

I'm content in the MAC. Heck, I'll even say I like it. We've got a small handful of authentic rivalries which I look forward to every season: KSUcks, Ohio, and Buffalo in football; add Toledo in basketball. Having 3-4 true rivals is pretty cool.

Referees aren't hired by the MAC. The same referees who work B10, Horizon, A10, MVC, etc are the same refs who work MAC. I'm pretty sure college football is the only collegiate sport where conferences have their own officials.

We've won 2 total MAC football games over the past 4 calendar years. We're as attractive as Rosanne Barr's puddle of barf after gagging on a dead carp. The MAC is perfect for the Zips. Any other conference has far more pitfalls than benefits.

I've talked with Charles about this very issue and he is adamant that the MAC is the best place for Akron. I asked about AAC membership and he said the economics don't work for us. He feels we can achieve all we want in the MAC as college athletics stand today. I'm sure he would reevaluate if there is a seismic shift at the G5 level, but the P5 schools do not give a rat's ass about the G5 and most all changes in college athletics will be strictly to benefit the P5 schools, especially the BIG Ten and SEC. I think Guthrie wants to be a force to elevate the MAC, not leave it. My opinion of the MAC is probably closer to yours than you think. There are some schools who would response positively to an improvement process. Yet there are more that want to stay just as it is and be happy there. I hate that attitude. I believe most on the site feel the same way. We want to shoot higher. How we get there remains to be seen.

In the MLS Next tournament in late June/early July, James was written up twice in subscriber only Top Drawer soccer articles July 6 premium top drawer soccer D James Buebendorf, St. Louis SG U16 - Bubendorf was the embodiment of an attacking full back, running relentlessly up the left side, providing dangerous crosses — while also nicking a goal or two for himself. june 25, 2022 MLS next premium top drawer soccer James Buebendorf, St. Louis SG U16 Bubendorf made an impact immediately. On St. Louis’ first attack the left back probed down the left wing cut past his defender and placed a simple cross into the 6 yard box. It was dutifully tucked away a moment showing blanks offensive quality.

looks like it will cost $6.95 for a 24 hour pass...to watch the video stream