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3 areas I’d like to see some clarification on today: 1) Quarterback. While DJI may not have the same natural arm strength he had a year ago, he still has enough. Decision making was decent last week (outside of the glaring INT.), but can still use some improvement. If I’m going to lean to the bright side, maybe the injury turns out to be a blessing in disguise if his throwing motion continues to improve and he eventually becomes more accurate than he was before. That’s a big if. Otherwise, it’ll be time for someone else to be given a chance. 2) Pass Rush. If we can’t create it this week, I’ll be worried. I doubt that will be the case though. Terray Jones, Ryan Johnson, and CJ Nunnally provided small glimpses into what they could become against Temple. Those 3 are currently the most complete players along the DL. 3) Run the football. This is more of a request. The offensive line is much improved. The running backs are much improved. Give them the ball.

My god. Thank you Gathings for saving us

Top 10 soccer program carries us to basketball season.

I'd love to see QB2 or 3. I've seen what we got with Irons.

Friday night results Big East Team DePaul battled Bowling Green to a 0-0 tie Georgetown was supposed to play at Maryland tonight....game was suspended and then cancelled due to inclement weather they will try to find a make up date Creighton defeated Michigan 3-1 (Creighton's first win of the year...Blue Jays are now 1-2-2) attendance of 4,092 for the Blue Jays Marquette beat UT-Rio Grande Valley 3-1 Yale 2 UConn 1 St. John's 2 St. Peter's 1 a few upsets so far tonight in top25 New Hampshire upset #11 Fla International 2-1 (zips host FIU on Monday night) Penn 3 number 14 Penn State 0 South Florida 1 number 15 Indiana 0 number 2 Marshall avoided the upset bug tonight with a 2-1 win over High Point #4 Syracuse and #7 Louisville battled to a 2-2 draw

I think we'll be able to sneak up on them. They're clearly looking past us to Towson.

In a very small sampling, Undercuffler seems to see the field much better than Irons. There were plenty of guys open for Irons…he either waits too long or flat-out doesn’t see them. Can’t get enough of The Cuff.

Can I just give you $20 to work with for the rest of the game?

When it was 7-3 I put $5 on the Morgan State moneyline. You're welcome everyone.

DJI in there celebrating Golden-Nelson's pick 6 - credit to him!

I don't like Undercuffler's physical traits, but my goodness is his decision making 1000% better than DJI.

... as I watched that big return, couldn't help but think "He's going to fumble that ball."

Bad arm AND indecision is a really BAD combo.

I put those on the ground crew. They should have mowed the artificial turf shorter.

Happy to get the W's in these last 2 game. LIU is a better team than USI, and our Zips showed much improved performance in this match v that on the past Monday. We still need better. Less arrogance and more confidence, composure, concentration, and complete game mentality. Great seeing Josh Hallenberger back in action. I hope he is good for more minutes. I also hope Dyson will be available v FIU. IMO, more substitutions are going to be needed than we've seen recently when playing games every 3 to 4 days.

OMG.......Mitch Budler had to make some very good saves at 2:17 and 0:59....to preserve the Zips 2-1 win Mitch Budler had to make much more difficult saves tonight....than the LIU GK that game was way too close for comfort...... LIU really came alive and challenged the zips greatly in the 2nd half..... Tremendous credit to Stefan Dobrijevic....for a very unselfish pass....to set up Josef Paulus for the zips 2nd goal...... Thank you, Mitch Budler......for your great punch outs and punch aways tonight....

Northern Illinois beats BC one week then loses to Southern Illinois the next week. Gotta love college football.

If Undercuffler plays against Temple, we win that one. I don’t want to see DJ Irons for the rest of this year.

You may be on to something there Clark. That should cover this game. Colorado was very good to me earlier today. I'll take a rotation covering akzipper down the line.

I think I'm over DJ Irons. Undercuffler all the way.

That was a huge turn of events in the last 2 minutes

The change and the drive.

Cuffy with the clutch drive! Do something like that for 2 more quarters and the job is his.

That's what it's supposed to look like.

Undercuffler warming up…

That was… not encouraging.

Norm MacDonald is our new stadium announcer.

This guy was a Miami recruit and had a lot of offers: "Of course, a player of Seymore’s talent will continue to be recruited by other teams, in spite of a standing commitment. Teams like Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida State all offered Seymore, and tried to build a connection with him, after his early commitment to Miami."

Sure would be nice to wear this thing out today

I thought it was going to be George Thomas so I tuned in just to see what he'd do. 🤣 But Greg Tribble is awesome. 😊

https://x.com/xklvsive00/status/1700560720948027478?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w Gameday commitment! OL transfer from Miami. Trying to find out if he’s a late addition to 2023 or if he’s 2024.

This was a good home win. But for the last 15 minutes, it was an excellent victory. Our defensive composure really crumbled toward the end. Budler saved the 3 points.

Let's be honest, the tire is only cool because we are Akron fans lol.

Should be back Monday.

As I mentioned before, and something our good friend @NWAkron says all the time during basketball season where the Zips play on a Friday, losing on Labor Day weekend is always harder. More time to think about it. Which brings me to this morning, nothing to do but dig deeper into this game. Liberty, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Kent State, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo, and now Temple all have something in common for Joe Moorhead. Close losses. It is wild that we struggle so mightily to close out games, whether we are playing with the lead, or trying to come back but have played close. St. Francis, funny enough in the first game, was the only close win this program has had. It has been nearly 5 years since an Akron football team beat an FBS opponent in a 1-score game. Thanks to BG x2 and NIU, the wins have been comfortable. Somehow. The advanced box scores that I enjoy going through put Temple's win expectancy at just 57% after the game Saturday. That is essentially a calculation based on the two teams' stats from the game, predicting who would win if the same game was played a thousand times. St. Francis last year had an 86%. I felt the games were pretty similar, and they came down to who won the turnover battle. 1-0 both times. If The Zip D forces one or DJ doesn't throw that one and we down and win, everything is much different today. The devil is in the details. In 2021 Northern Illinois had 7 wins by one score or less, including all 6 of their MAC wins. Their MAC losses were by 5 at Kent and by 21 to WMU in a game they sat their starters. 2023 opened in a nearly identical fashion, as they went to Chestnut Hill and beat BC in overtime, two years ago coming off an 0-6 2020, they opened with a 1-point win over Georgia Tech. So, through 13 games as the head coach at Akron, Joe Moorhead is now 1-6 in one-score games, with Liberty not technically counting toward that total. I find it fascinating. I don't have any answers and couldn't really tell you the reason why it continues to happen. If you take the mean of Saturday plus last season and compare it to the last 5-ish seasons of Akron football, your head would spin when you see how much better they are. But the wins just have no been coming like you would expect considering all of the changes we have seen. Is it coaching? Execution? Choking? Mental preparedness? It is probably a combination of all of the above. And while I still have not been more optimistic as an Akron football fan in ages, a lot of that excitement will begin turning into frustration and resentment if this trend continues deep into the season. So, realistically, Akron will likely be 1-3 going into conference play, 2-2 with some luck and perhaps some big changes or improvements at a particular position. Then the first two MAC games are at home. What happens with this team if they are 1-3 and find themselves down 4 to Buffalo in the 4th quarter, with the ball, 3 minutes to go. I hate to say it, but I think we are past the point of any fans really believing they can drive it down and win the game. My question is, do these players believe they can do it? At one point do the close losses begin to creep into their intrusive thoughts during a game, or has that already happened? Two games in a row, granted 2 different QBs, we have had the ball with a chance to drive and win the game, and a pair of forced throws have resulted in INTs. Throw in the Clyde Price gaffs last year, special teams miscues against BG, early picks against Kent, and it's almost like there is a greater power at play than execution. Simply put--these players do not know how to win. They are a lot like the 2013 Akron Zips. Best talent in years, best coaching in years, they just don't know what it feels like to be successful and win a football game (unless they are overpowering a team like NIU). That 2013 finally broke through with a close road win over a dreadful Miami team. When will this team's breakout moment be? We are to a point where I look at this schedule, Kentucky included, and I see no reason why we shouldn't compete with everyone on it. That's great, awesome, happy for coach. But now the hard part. FINISHING. That is a tall task for this coaching staff. It is the difference between another boring December or the 4th bowl appearance in program history. They must finish. I don't know what all goes into that, or how you can even coach it, but it is beginning to become overdue.