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The personal foul/late hit on 3rd down against Buffalo that ultimately led to their only TD and the win.

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=21&articleId=52615&articleTitle=5-mens-dl-games-to-watch-this-weekend No. 5 Akron (9-0-4) vs. Xavier (6-3-2) – Saturday, October 14th, 7 PM Eastern, FloFC If there is ever a time to be extra wary of an upset, it is traveling to a conference opponent who already performs well at home and will be extra motivated for senior night. That is the situation undefeated Akron faces as it travels down Ohio in what will be extremely hostile territory.

The great thing is, when Groce leaves after this season, he can follow him without having to sit a year. I kid... Sort of... Is the year before a commit arrives on campus too soon to worry about him transferring? Or have I just been a Zips fan for too long?😄 🙃 Seems like a great catch. The reload after our 2024 Sweet 16 run looks to be fun too!

Crazy to have a soccer match on a Saturday night. I guess since Xavier doesn't have football, it makes sense. My son presently goes to UC. He may don his old Zips gear and make the 5 minute trip north for the match!

1. Missed FG -v- Indiana 2. Alex Adams dropped 99-yard TD pass -v- Indiana 3. Stupid unnecessary roughness penalty which directly led to Buffalo's only TD 4. Kentucky QB playing Harry Houdini and escaping at least 4 sacks & throwing a TD on a single play while we were still in the game 5. Every time NIU ran the ball

Here are a few random thoughts as we seemingly trudge into the second half of the season... The CMU game isn't a "must win." But is would be an "unbelievably a huge, uplifting win" game. Since 2018, any sort of Zips win has been followed with such a lengthy string of losses that you hardly remember it. We need a win in the worst way. Bullock is the obvious choice to finish the season. Undercuffler COULD win us a game or two...just as easily as he could throw us out them. Bullock has a chance to be the QB of the future, and this is the best opportunity for him to learn. And he does need to learn...he is far from a polished product. At least throwing the ball...running is a different story. He looks really good running the option near the goal line. And nifty when scrambling too. I'd LOVE to see him hit on a few long pass plays this week. I miss Alex Adams. He was such a difference maker last year. Drake Anderson is a good RB. But he doesn't break many tackles. I would love to see Kellom start getting some carries at Drake's expense. Like Undercuffler, Drake is a Sr and has had ample opportunity show his stuff. We're 1-5...time to get Kellom ramping up for 2024. Joe mentioned in his show that OL is the most difficult position to fill from the portal, since "everyone is looking for them, and there just aren't many out there." That why our OL discards were gobbled up by the likes of East Carolina and Liberty. If you're over 6' 2", 300 lbs, someone will take you. Losing Landers (grades) and Whigan (grad) didn't help us this year. I hope a lot of our incumbent guys stick around and get bigger/stronger for 2024. There's no guarantee anything worthwhile will magically appear in the portal. I still believe in Joe. Nothing in his past shows he won't turn this around. He can't be fired due to his contract ( I guess Kaulig could always buy it out). Guthrie would be a laughing stock if he fired such an accomplished coach only 2 seasons after undertaking The Mother of All Rebuild Projects. So he's back next year 100%. Heck...Faust and Owens got 9 years each. I knew a few guys from the Owens era. They always spoke of the frustration of the offense (who was always very effective), because the defense would be lucky to force 2 punts in any given game. "Do we have to put up 48 today to have a chance?" was a common jab at the defense by one OL. It's the opposite now. Other than a couple Irons runs, and maybe two Lingard breakaways...they've been really bad every week. No identity...no rhythm. No fun. What's the over/under on explosive plays by the Zips offense this week? I'd guess 1 or 2? In garbage time? That is the most puzzling thing about the 2023 Zips. This season has not been any fun. Ditto 2018 through 2022. A win against Kent, and either CMU or BG is the bare minimum I need to start feeling optimistic about 2024. Man, it would be nice to get a win in Mount Pleasant.

Indeed. My worry is after two recruiting seasons he doesn't have his guy starting. Wolford wasn't very good his first two years at Wake, but come hell or high water he was Clawsons guy. We don't have time to develop a fresh starting next year because Joe is two years in. The program can't wait that long to get off its back for a variety of reasons. He has to get some experience out of the TP.

Richard Brisco, Roselle Catholic, Center https://247sports.com/player/richard-brisco-46115474/

These guys were as lucky as any opponent since 2009 to leave InfoCision with a win. Luckiest win I've seen there, until the Morgan State fumble this year. McElwain looked despondent most of the year last year, not too unlike Joe this year. I'd love to give them payback and ruin their homecoming with a crushing loss. With that said, these guys looked like they were going to contend for a MAC title...then they went to Buffalo. I'm assuming they drove through Canada, so maybe the long and difficult bus ride played into their struggles. Since going with Jase Bauer at QB, they started to look the part once again. He's a decent thrower and very good runner. Their skill players leave quite a bit to be desired, but they're the usual solid CMU team. Solid, but beatable. Through the first two games of MAC play, Akron has fallen into old habits. Poor line play, poor QB play, invisible defense. Even against Buffalo where they only surrendered 1 TD, they didn't record a turnover. It's so hard to win when you lose the turnover battle. Each turnover is a guaranteed stop and extra chance to score yourself. If we can force Bauer to air it out, I like our chances to get a pick or two. The big thing at this point has to be mentality. It's a big opportunity to show that the culture has indeed swung. Coach said after the BG game last year that the days of Akron rolling over and quitting are done. I guess we'll find out. I'm still a little shell-shocked that we're only 6 games in and the season already feels over. We have a streaky CMU team, bad BG team, bad Kent team, streaky EMU team and a couple divisional rivals still ahead of us. It hurts to think about what this season could have been. This has hurt more than any of these terrible seasons we've been through.

Wisconsin, Ohio, Miami (OH), Minnesota, Northwestern, Wake Forrest, Virginia, Kansas, Kansas State, Eastern Michigan, Duke, Kent State…all are teams with prolific droughts, spanning several years, that began winning. I’d list more, but I can’t justify the typing for someone who thinks Morgan State is in the SEC.

We returned a all MAC 3rd team performer who got that in his first year in Joe's system. We brought in a young P5 transfer as well. Maybe the staff should have known more about how it would have affected DJ's play (if even possible) or hedged against DJI's injury (both last year and the potential of it this year), but aside from that I don't see what the issue was. A good, experienced QB wouldn't come here to sit on the bench in their limited time of remaining eligibility.

If we are continuing this trend of winning 1 random MAC game on the road per season, I think this is the one where it happens. Zips 23 (3 TDs, 1 missed PAT, 1/3 on FGs) CMU 14

Welcome to ZN.o, @Chrisball96! Glad you're here! Here 👇 is the article from the ABJ where JoeMo comments on committing to Tahj over Undercuffler. Idk if this is a subscriber only article, but in case it is I'll paste a few sentences for you: “Jeff played in the win against Northern Illinois last year and did some nice things and obviously [replaced Irons in] the game against Buffalo,” Moorhead said, “but has had some opportunities this year and really hasn't kind of stepped up to seize that opportunity that was presented [after Irons was injured]. “Then, quite frankly, with what we're trying to do in the run game and trying to help out our offensive line that certainly needs a lot of help, Tahj provides a different element in the run game that Jeff doesn't. So part of the idea was we've got to do some things to help out the offensive line and have Tahj get some run yards, which he did today. So that factored into the decision.” Don't be a stranger, @Chrisball96! Go Zips!

No, JM has said they're sticking with Bullock and he wasn't the primary problem last week. It was his first start and full game; he should only improve game by game.

My question is whether after last weeks debacle they go back to Undercuffler? It’s just such a mess without Irons so I don’t know what the solution is but not sure it can get any worse, no?

This team has a nasty habit of giving up very late game winning goals. Lost to Ball State 2-1 giving up a goal with four minutes left. Very similar to the NIU loss.

Definitely marketing spin. Total enrollment up by a whopping 4 students over last year, but number of undergraduates down several hundred. More work to do to effectively communicate UA's value proposition to prospective students.

Especially when you’re so close to having a handful. But reality is, with how they’ve looked this year, Akron is what its record is. Had they held on vs. Temple or made the kick vs. Indiana, it really wouldn’t change much as far as how poor they’ve looked overall. At this point, you wonder how much mentality and frustration is kicking in. Last year, after 3 close MAC losses, they got their asses handed to them by Miami and it felt like a setback. Saturday was a lot like that. But I hope the coaches are able to convince these guys that everyone on this schedule is still extremely beatable. Their opponent this week is a CMU team who has, like Akron, shown a few flashes of greatness but also moments of dread. They were able to win a couple more close ones, though. The mean of both of these teams is very close.

Dwight Smith…Jason Taylor…Charlie Frye…Dominik Hixon…Luke Getsy…Ulysses Gilbert…etc. all came to UA under the same circumstances and things worked out well for them. It is a great fit for the right student athlete. We need program builders. We need guys who were getting a raw deal at their former school, or who were under recruited out of HS and have something to prove. We need local kids who want to play for a coach like Joe Morehead, but who don’t want to travel to the likes of Oregon, Happy Valley or Mississippi to do it. Examples of programs who’ve been where Akron’s at now and turned it around are endless. Joe will turn the Zips into winners, and respectable crowds will follow. If you want to walk into a situation where the crowds already exist and you win week in week out, the Akron program isn’t there. You’re better off elsewhere. If you want a great shot at early playing time, great facilities, great coaching, and want to help build something, UA offers that opportunity.

The single worst play of the season so far just has to be the missed FG at Indiana. The only other play that I have seen live that single handedly cost us a win was the Zack Gibson fumble vs Ball State in 2021