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What went Right and what went Wrong? Quarterback: Unbeknownst to much of the fanbase, DJI had offseason shoulder surgery and was not the same QB coming into 2023. He finally settled into a groove against Indiana, but even during that game it was DJI’s running ability that stood out as opposed to what would he considered a prolific passing day. JU was put in a tough position and expected to do more than he was capable of with the exception of 3 games (Kent, EMU, and Ohio). In those 3 games, the offense used more max protects in the passing game and relied heavily on the run. JU was 58 of 92 (63%) for 624 yards and 2 touchdowns versus 1 interception during that span. The biggest difference in those 3 games was the limited amount of turnovers as he still completed around 60% the rest of the season. Bullock simply was not ready and it seemed his accuracy issues stemmed from processing too slowly. He has all the tools physically to be a premier QB in the MAC, but he is not where he needs to be mentally at this point. Running Back: Lorenzo Lingard was as good as advertised and criminally underused during the first half of the season. This year’s offense needed a big back who could break tackles and potentially provide an explosive play at any given time. Lingard was that back. Despite the lack of touches earlier in the season, Lingard still finished close to 1,000 yards total (rushing and receiving combined). Drake Anderson was underutilized to some extent as well. The better offenses figure out ways to get players like Anderson the ball on the perimeter and in space, whether that be moved into the slot, screens, sweeps, etc. Something we did not do much of this year. Wide Receiver: Adams never seemed quite right and it was later confirmed he attempted to play through an injury. Losing one of, if not the best, WR in the MAC will hurt any offense. Gathings really came into his own and if he can keep his emotions in check, should continue to develop and become a legitimate weapon in the future. George was unable to improve on his 2022 season statistically, but a lot of that had to do with the issues at QB. Same could be said about Caleb Anderson, just to a lesser extent. Walker and Golden provided solid options from the slot, while Adrian Norton seems like a star in the making and will be exciting to watch in the coming years. Tight End: It was thought TJ Banks would take a larger role in the offense and provide a threat across the middle of the field. Although Banks was solid, it was Newell who really surprised. Newell continued to improve as the year progressed and he has the potential to be as good as any TE in the MAC. This year’s offense was most effective when Banks and Newell were on the field at the same time. Offensive Line: Although the OL showed improvement by end of year and gave up less sacks than 2022, they were still subpar as a unit. Blanchard, Kindred, and K. Davis missed substantial time due to injuries. All started at points in the season. Chambers was shifted from the right side and ended up receiving the most starts at LT. Frank nailed down LG and is now out of eligibility. T. Williams was inconsistent at C, which is to be expected from a redshirt freshman. The RG spot saw a number of different faces before Lyons became the starter in the last few games. Nate Williams was moved back to RT and played really well the last 3 games. This unit had more depth this year, but unfortunately not enough quality depth to lose starters for significant time. The 2022 and 2023 classes brought in a substantial upgrade in athleticism. Unfortunately, outside of T. Williams (2022 freshman) and Frank (transfer portal), we didn’t get to see much of that improved athleticism this season. Interior DL: There was some concern coming into the year with Holt and Harper moving on. Terray Jones stepped in and was just as good as either player. He was also the only pass rush threat on the interior. Lavea was a load against the run and provided a solid combo with Jones. Robinson never lived up to his 3 star rating coming out of high school, yet became a key contributor as a backup. Freshman Marcus Moore looks to be another star in the making and should only get better from here. JUCO Tyler Carter (I believe he should be listed as a redshirt senior, not redshirt sophomore) did not contribute much and his claim to fame as a Zip will be getting ejected on back to back penalties with under a minute to go to finish out the season. Kiawan Murphy did not show much and will need to improve in the offseason to at least provide depth going into 2024. Edge: Ryan Johnson was the only for sure starter heading into the season and he transferred out after 4 games. CJ Nunnally burst onto the scene from the JUCO ranks and was one of the MAC leaders in sacks and tackles for loss. It’s not easy to find a lineman that is equally strong against the run and pass rush, but Nunnally is. LaJoshua Jackson and Antonio Smith were also JUCOs who flashed some pass rush ability in backup roles. JUCO Kabbash Richards was hurt for a portion of the season and did not contribute much. Bennett Adler came on as the year progressed and became more than just a run stuffer. He displayed a bull rush against Ohio, exhibiting some pass rush ability. Linebacker: Despite losing Bubba before the year began, linebacker proved to be the strongest position on defense. Former JUCO Antavious Fish flashed his hard hitting prowess in 2022 and the lightbulb came on in 2023. He and sophomore Bryan McCoy finished the year with just under 100 total tackles a piece. Transfer Shammond Cooper proved to be the best blitzer of the bunch and graded out the highest amongst the LBs. Jaharon Griffin moved into a bigger role with the injury to Andrew Behm and may not relinquish that role going into 2024. Cornerback: While not considered a top unit in the MAC, this group was much improved from 2022. Durant again made it difficult for anyone to beat out him out and ended up starting 10 games. Judson Tallandier had an up and down season in pass coverage, but was excellent in run support. Joey Hunter and Golden-Nelson had their moments and also missed substantial time with injuries. Cam Threatt did not play much of a role and may be moving on as it sounds like he already has his degree. Safety: I expected this unit to take a significant leap and become one of the better units in the MAC. That did not happen, yet this group was still solid. Nate Thompson was inconsistent, but did finish the season strongly. Although KJ Martin does not have the stats to back up, I thought he had a better year than 2022. Corey Thomas was the biggest surprise and proved to be extremely versatile. Thomas also finished the year as the highest rated player on defense. Lewis was one of the reasons why the defense was improved in 2023 as he was a major factor at the nickel position. Special Teams: The punting unit was strong and Dante Jackson was an upgrade over the previous punter. Kickoff and kickoff return were also solid. Field goal kicking was a disappointment until the final few games and part of that has to be placed on the coaching staff. It’s difficult for any kicker to be replaced from game to game and in some cases kick to kick. There has to be some consistency with the unit. Coaching: The offensive play-calling was maddening for most of the season. As much as the staff deserves credit for last year, they also deserve just as much criticism this year. The majority of the season it felt like round pegs were being forced into square holes and the staff did not adapt to their personnel until the end of the season. On the other hand, the defense was much better than some probably realize as they were forced into bad positions time after time. Tim Tibesar and his staff did an excellent job on that side of the ball. Recruiting and Wrap-up: I still 100% believe this staff is recruiting at a high level and had the best class in the MAC this past offseason. I also 100% believe the offensive staff badly underperformed with the talent at hand as mentioned above. I was wrong in that 2023 would be the turnaround year. There were 7 games decided by one score. This program is close to turning the corner and should have already done it. I expect another strong recruiting class will be brought in, which will finally give the program several strong classes stacked. That being the case, 2024 must be the turnaround year. Talent gap will no longer be an excuse and it probably shouldn’t have been an excuse this year outside of Kentucky, Miami, and Ohio. There was enough talent in place, with good coaching, to make a bowl game. Portal opens in December and I think our last commitment came in June, so we have about 7 months of roster transition ahead.

The Zips get a 75-72 OT win over the Pitt Panthers!

“I love going to the shoe” you have 6 chances a season. And probably one or two chances at seeing a close game. “This match up gives us national attention. “ All bad. “Let’s see if OSU can score 70 on them this year LOL!!!” “and I rather we play a power 5 than an mid major the average Joe could care less about and the game be buried on ESPN Plus. “ I had a LOT more fun watching the Akron Rubberducks win the Eastern League Championship a couple years ago than watching them get smeared by a Major League franchise with a $350,000,000.00 payroll. “If you are mad we are playing the Buckeyes especially if they are the reigning National Champions I bet you probably have an active AARP Card. “ Nope. Just want to see my team play in competitive games.

OSU paid YSU $800,000 to play this season. I assume the Zips will make a similar amount plus a large payout from Kentucky for the buyout. I suspect UA may reconsider if someone's willing to cut them a check for a million or so. I don't like them getting peeled and being the sacrificial lambs, but hell they're getting peeled by MAC teams for free. Of the litany of things that are wrong with this program the schedule is one of the lesser of my concerns.

Great 4th quarter comeback to go with the 4th quarter near miss yesterday against opponents from higher rated conferences.

Thank God its basketball season

I don’t mind Akron playing a game at a school like Ohio State or Tennessee at face value. It makes financial sense and actually can be a recruiting tool but I do not like it in place of a home game with a SEC school or in a year where you are already playing on the road at two “P5” schools. That is too much. I realize it was most likely UK that pulled out of the matchup in Akron and it seems wrong that they would be able to do so at such a late juncture that would make it tough for Akron to schedule a “name” program at home. While we all lament the things that happen to the Akron football program regularly there is something wrong with the bigger NCAA landscape which looks to coddle it’s more popular members. I hope at some point college sports fans unite and start seeing how wrong and unfair things are becoming in college sports but we are in a world and society that has increasingly become more and more about greed and superfluousness over fairness and what may be best in the long term.

Kentucky buyout - Was certainly looking forward to an SEC school coming to Akron but understand taking the big buyout given our situation (crappy team, no butts in seats, GREAT economy). There's a certain amount of pride seeing P5-level schools show up in Akron - Syracuse, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Iowa State ... a feeling of we belong on the same field as those guys and you'll come to our house on occasion to play us. Neutral site games, 3 P5s away and even an FCS supposed victim makes it feel, year after year, like we need to do 'tricks' to survive. Give me Toledo's 2024 schedule all day long. Seems to say they have some respect for themselves and are above 'that.' Funny how they seem to go bowling every year too (I know ... that doesn't matter and schools lose $ ... then why do any schools even bother ...). Adding tosu - What GOOD does that game do for The University of Akron brand?!? We get our asses handed to us and make ourselves laughingstock for Akron-grad and other tosu honks at the same time! Far less impact if we get beaten by another P5 school outside of Ohio while taking a payday. Can't wait for family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to drag AKRON's name through the mud yet again next year. TERRIBLE move, Guthrie. $ going to stadium/progrum improvements - Bought one season ticket this year after a long hiatus. Attended one game and won't be back until we're at least competitive again in the lowly MAC AND the game-day focus/experience is on the game itself instead of everything else between plays. NO WAY I'm going to try to get two words to in somehow to the people I'm with before the sound system blares again. I'll have family and friends over for food and big screen TV before I put myself through that lousy experience again. Tarping - ESPN and CBSSN generally do a decent job of keeping camera angles tight. Nothing says "We KNOW people don't and won't attend our games." more than tarping large sections of a stadium off. Compared to many other stadiums across the country, ours is beautiful and just begs for something on the field to return butts to seats. Don't hide YOUR embarrassment under a tarp, Guthrie. More scheduling - Is it REALLY that hard for the MAC to schedule rivalry games when weather is decent and on a SATURDAY?!? The ESPN/CBSSCN baloney sandwiches on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in November just suck but, hey, we do what the 'fancy man' tells us to do. #MACTION! Can we just get some DECENT pitch-and-catch football? Thanks to streaming, I can watch almost all if not all games around the country any given week and I have. It's a pleasure to watch teams like SMU, Troy, UTSA, Memphis, Liberty, Western Kentucky, App State, James Madison, Wyoming, Fresno State, South Alabama and even Jacksonville State. They may not win every game but damn near every game is at least watchable/entertaining and reasonably fundamental.

Hope we can keep Tibesar around. Sure there were some breakdowns but the defense was absolutely a positive this year.

Brilliant review Catdaddy. I always appreciate your perspective. There are two points I'd like to offer a different view. I feel you were optimistic with the OL review. I do not feel we have depth or quality. We keep hoping that with time the young players will get better. That has been a mantra with the OL for the last 10 years. They are what they are, and that's not very good. We have discipline issues that showed in the first game and repeated in every game of the season to the end. An example: everyone knows Gaithings mouth is a ticking time bomb. Yet the coaches have been ineffective in addressing it. That tells me the coaches either tolerate it or don't consider it an issue. Regardless, the season is mercilessly done. Joe talks about the path Miami took to return to respectability. I hope we follow it, but, frankly, I expect better. Coaching matters. They have to do a better job. I continue to hope they will.

I have had season tix since the early 90's. My wife and I go back and forth every year about renew or not. I renewd just to support the program. But, I think next season we will just buy GA's when we want to go. The athletic department lets non season ticket holders sit in our reserve section anyway. Bad way to run a railroad if you are in the college athletics business. And, cut the crap with the sacrifice games. They have been doing it for years with no appreciable positive results on the field.

"From my decision or their decision?" Sounds like one or more of his coaches could be considering a move. He's got his hands more than full trying to find Jimmys and Joes. Burning time and energy on coaching vacancies only adds to the mess we have right now.

How about just play on a Saturday you morons

Edit: issue got resolved. Now that the season is over I expect a big turnaround come next season. Should be a great off-season. Now time to focus on hoops

I can't resist commenting on this game, the last of our Titanic-like cruise of a season. The field looked great on TV Play calling continued to be poor. Solution: give the damn ball to Lingard, brilliant on my part seeing that we have no QB and no one else has ever pushed that idea 🙄 Joe got out-coached Last season we got a glimpse of Joe's creative offense. I couldn't wait to see what he would do with better talent. It came and the offense exited the building This team has no discipline. The coaches seem to tolerate it so it has continued to the very end. Never corrected. We have become very good at finding a way to lose. Considering our QB's we are now in a worse position going into next season than we were going into this season. Instead of getting the QB room better it has gotten worse. The scheduling of OSU seems to be a short term act of desperation to get some money. Unfortunately it does not appear to be consistent with long term goals of building a program. Winning builds a program.

tarping empty stands is thinking outside the box? ok, Charles..

Yeah, dig a deeper hole. Good grief.

RB position updated. We have one HS commit and will add another RB from the portal.

Yeah I generally like to give people the benefit of the doubt and like a decent amount of what Guthrie has done, but this really makes me scratch my head.

Actually, on TV the visitor side looked like to had some fans so I am sure some OU fans boosted the attendance but nowhere near 6000

Quarterback position updated. We have one HS QB already committed and will take at least one portal QB. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see one or two current QBs hit the portal.

Well! 45 years of attending games. 20 years of season tickets. My name on the donors plaque outside Infocision. Froze my rear off today. I think i'm finally done. I can't take it anymore.

Ohio is a better team from top to bottom right now. They had some open opportunities in the first half and either misfired or dropped the ball. Bobcats put it together in 2nd half. Similar game plan in the first half as last week. 2nd half we had to play catch up and throw the ball more which hasn’t been our strength all season. Defense didn’t create any turnovers. Ohio caught us several times on the blitzes that did not get home. Fish and Adler had tremendous games. Fish finished the year slightly under 100 total tackles. Jackson had a few monster punts. Enjoyed watching Lingard this season. Would have been nice to see him utilized more earlier in the year. Good luck to the seniors and I hope we see a few of the guys make NFL rosters. I’ll update the position groups as signings and transfers occur. I thought this would be the year we’d turn the corner, but clearly I was wrong. Too many close losses again. We’ll see if we can retain our better players and continue to improve the talent level. QB - Undercuffler (Bullock) RB - Lingard (Anderson) WR - George (Norton) WR - Gathings (Norton) (WR) - Golden (Walker) TE - Banka TE - Newell LT - Chambers (Blanchard) LG - Frank C - T. Williams RG - Lyons RT - N. Williams DE - Nunnally (A. Smith) (Richards) DT - Jones (Robinson) DT - Lavea (Moore) (Carter) DE - Adler (L. Jackson) LB - Fish (Griffin) LB - Cooper (Griffin) NB - C. Thomas (Lewis) CB - Durant (Threatt) CB - Tallandier S - Martin (C. Thomas) S - Thompson (C. Thomas)

We need to expand the band to 25,000 members and fill the stadium.

I can't read article, but maybe they could think inside the box and play games on Saturday and field winning teams and stop scheduling rivalry games during midweek. Geez. 🙄

They're either unable or unwilling to compete in FBS. FCS is the only logical solution.

I brought this up several years ago and was thoroughly thrashed, so get your helmet ready. it doesn’t effect the other sports, it makes the football team easier to build and more entertaining, we can play at our appropriate level IMO. And we wouldn’t be the laughingstock of college football. We use to fill the Rubber Bowl when the team was good, local corporations sponsored us and highlighted us in their stores. Ticket giveaways. I love going to Rubberducks games. It’s a fun time. I don’t want to see them play the Yankees and Cubs. And I don’t see how a MAC program will ever have a chance to climb out of the FBS basement. The football budgets are just too ridiculous between the power 5 and the bottom end conferences.

https://www.si.com/college/cincinnati/basketball/report-ohio-attorney-general-writes-letter-to-ncaa-challenging-aziz-bandaogos-eligibility-denial Maybe we can get some help?

Since Bilas is a lawyer who has won a noted case in Federal Court, a former top college player and widely respected college basketball analyst I think he'd be a good lawyer for Ali. Ali started the season last year with a concussion and broken nose requiring surgery and had recurring concussion symptoms at the end of the year. Perhaps the mental health issues are wrapped up in that situation. Maybe he feels Akron is a better place to handle all that. Can't blame him. Let the kid play!

I'd heard he had 8 hours to finish which would be completed this semester, but I heard it from the my cousin's friend whose sister's boyfriend has a mechanic that fixes the mowers for a guy that cuts John Groce's neighbor's lawn. I suspect your info is a little less attenuated.

The NCAA had better be awfully careful when making a call on the extent of someone's mental health issues, especially no that the kids are actually getting NIL benefits. The mental health stuff opens all kinds of issues from discrimination to ADA with now the overlay of actually impacting a present right to make a living.

Ali is a good student. Academics are not an issue. He is on track to graduate in the spring. If he had stayed at Butler that would not be the case. Coming back to Akron was a good move for him to get a degree.

Piecing this together, it sounds like Ali Ali struggled with mental health at some point - either prior to his Butler transfer or after his Butler transfer - and the mental health struggles affected or could have affected his academics. Akron is where he had/has the better support system, so he came back. At least this is what the argument seems to be. When Ali Ali missed that time last year with Butler, was that an actual injury, or was it mental health related? Something to think about. According to this article, "a player can receive immediate eligibility if they have a physical injury or mental health condition that pushed them to transfer from a school." The new restrictions were approved on January 11th, and players crafted their transfer appeals to fit within these guidelines, especially the mental health angle. Jackson from FSU, Walker from UNC, and now Ali Ali. I agree with Bilas. The NCAA crafted guidelines that included mental health as an acceptable situation for immediate eligibility. That's a loosey goosey category that isn't very difficult to meet in today's society with mental health becoming more of a major focus. @clarkwgriswold Great point about the NCAA's involvement with Bill Self's seemingly 100th infraction/violation. People are tired of corrupt organizations/associations/committees/ruling bodies. The NCAA is towards the top of that list and they continue to grow the flaming torch & pitchfork mob that's against them. Pretty big that Bilas tweeted about this. Hopefully Pat McAfee can go on another epic rant against the NCAA on Monday about this.

In my opinion this is exactly what’s wrong with the program and the MAC. Being happy about another guaranteed thrashing for a payday is mind boggling to me. This happens yearly. We will guaranteed start off 0-1 and frankly will lose to Rutgers and South Carolina. That is 3 loses right there, but as fans we should accept it all because it will be a pay day for the university? Goodness. Akron should drop down to FCS. Yea board, dislike this post, quote this and trash me. I don’t care. At least at FCS we may be able to win and host a playoffs game. Being a guaranteed win for these big programs is bullshit. Expecting fans to accept it because it’s a payday for the university not only is bullshit as well, but also a clear sign your program does not deserve to be FBS. I’m fed up with being a Zips fan and accepting this crap. But this board doesn’t like to go against the grain, so I’m sure I’ll be more lectured how im wrong on this and how I need to be happy. Someone on here said this is a positive to see the program go against big competition. Just stop. That’s a clear sign you cheer for a loser program. Accepting this due to the payday…goodness.

I did not know that Ali had any mental health issues. So there was an issue for them to consider.

You answered your own question. History and traditions matter in college football. Toledo has a long tradition of winning in the MAC. They have a great rivalry with a good program 20 miles away. They are very close to MAC West teams so travel is inexpensive and fans can attend games. Their program benefits the players students alumni fans and general community around Toledo, and all of these groups know it and appreciate the program. That's what a state university should do. It's what Akron should be doing, but can't get out of it's own way.

Guthrie is pretty clear that a coach should have a team in a bowl game by year 3. So now, if Moorhead does stick around, he has another guaranteed loss on the schedule and makes him that much easier to fire. In 15 weeks, Akron football has gone from a popular underdog turning it around to a complete dumpster fire, and it's only getting worse.

28 yards in the second half