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Your observation about Joe calling the plays is not to be overlooked. Fesler did a horrible job last year. We had the best back in the MAC and Fesler refused to increase his carries when everyone in the stadium wanted to see Lingard pounding the ball more. When you are a Zip football fan you cling to the smallest sign of hope!

I think 6 regular season wins is as good as we can realistically hope for, considering 3 of our initial 4 games are P5 road contests. Our offense will put up points as long as Finley is healthy. Our defense is solid. 6 wins is possible. 5 regular season wins is probably expected. I like this team. These are "Joe's Guys" now, and it's Joe's system. Year #3 needs to be a marked step up in the results column. 5 wins = .500 in the MAC, and I'll take that. 4 regular season wins is the bottom acceptable level. We haven't won 4 or more games since 2019 so as lame as a 4-win season seems, it would double our best effort since Bowden was here. The toughest thing to evaluate n August is - when our offense does something great, was the defense terrible, or is our offense actually good. Bowden's later teams fooled me on more than one occasion when his offense looked acceptable...but it was only because they were going up against a terrible Zips defense. In the regular season, guys that were August All Stars did nothing when the real season began. My gut feeling is - Finley is the real deal. He's fast, elusive, great pocket presence, and a strong arm. Joe has given him Carte Blanc to throw the ball downfield with abandon, and he's really good on those throws. Our WR's are really good. Kellom and Simmons are solid, tough backs. The OL opened some nice holes for them. We have TE depth. My only hesitation is our OL. They looked fine on Saturday, but the QB's wore a green "you can't hit me" jerseys. All OL's look great when the QB can't be sacked. Defensively, I can't tell if our CB's struggled on Saturday, or if our WR's are just that good. I think it's a bit of both. I like our safeties. LB is the strength of the team. Our DL had nice size and athleticism. I think we are a solid MAC team. Not Toledo...but definitely in the middle of the pack. The days of being #12 or #13 in the MAC should officially be over.

😕 Gotta prove 'em wrong.

Citing a statistic that requires additional talent to make happen - egregious. Whose OLine was better - Toledo or Akron? There's a very solid chance Lingard was legitimately the best back in the MAC. People's eyes could tell you that. The dude had the size and speed to compete with the best of them, but lacked opportunity and talent around him to really reach his potential. Go crawl back in your hole and eat a Snickers.

Emil J. selected to 3rd team pre season All American team https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/2024-mens-division-i-preseason-awards_aid53660

#10 Ben Finley is the hands down #1 QB. He began the scrimmage with a 20 yard pass to Adrian Norton, then a 30 yard TD to Norton. A severely blown coverage nets #88 TE Jake Newell an easy TD Ben sprinted to the endzone to celebrate The OL acquitted itself well today. The starters were #55 Blanchard, #58 Burrell, #56 Davis, #54 Williams and freshman Jayvin James at RT #15 Terrance Thomas broke up this pass intended for Adrian Norton. It was one of the few times Norton was stopped on Saturday morning. Isiah Jones made a nice over the shoulder TD catch in the back of the endzone. Boding well for the future, it came courtesy of a nice Brayden Ruggow toss. Jordon Simmons got a lot of PT today. He looks to be the #1A RB. Kellom looks to be #1B. Simmons breaks the goal line for a 10 yard TD. Tahj looked better today than in the spring, but there is no QB competition. He'll likely get some early season opportunities as we try to keep Finley as healthy as possible for MAC play. But he's entrenched at #2. Tahj moved the team down the field, but an ill-advised pass was snatched by Syracuse transfer Aman Greenwood and taken the distance for a pick 6! Like the Zips, the scoreboard remains a work in progress. Oddly enough, it's probably as effective right now as it was the past 2 seasons? Joe addresses the team after the scrimmage. Overall he was happy. He liked the physicality. I agree, as there were some hard hits, and tough running. It was a noticeable ramp up from the spring. He like that the defense generated 3 turnovers, and made several stops on 3rd and short. A few final words from the Coach before the players hit the shower. Owen Wiley hits a FG. We seem in MUCH better shape with special teams this year. The FG/XP holds were flawless. #47 and #99 hit some solid FG's. #99 and #36 both nailed KO's into the endzone. #95 Castle had some great punts. #37 Garrison Smith (McNees State transfer) kicked two second half FG's (both < 30 yards). Hoban's Grant Gainer pulls in a swing pass from Brayden Ruggow and waltzes into the endzone. #3 Jarvis Rush (Jr. JUCO from Mississippi) eyes a deep ball from Ben Finley... ... and pulls it in for the TD! A guy I am very high on is #9 Paul Lewis III (Safety). He's all over the place on coverage, physical against the run, fun personality...you will LOVE him. Shown here dapping up #13 Rodrick Hunter. Adrian Norton, celebrating after a Finley TD pass, can't be stopped in 2024. He seems to be Finley's go-to guy. He has great hands, and uses his body to shield-off defenders really well. #7 Alex Adams showed so much promise 2 seasons ago. If he could regain his 2022 form, the Zips could have a hell of an aerial attack. Other notes: Marquese Williams, the Minnesota transfer, seems to be the #3 RB. #29 Jordan Castleberry got some carries, and also scored a TD. Starting DL was #95 Andre Proffit, #90 Demitri Madden (UTEP), #16 Fr. Dahvon Frazier and #94 Kabbash Richards Bennett Adler is wearing #1 this year!?

Answered my own question with a couple quick searches.

2-10 tops. Maybe. Absolutely no progress to show there should be any hope for more than this. Colgate and one MAC upset win. And neither is a guarantee; Colgate was 6-5 in FCS last year, so that's probably a coin flip game.

I did not see either of the exhibitions. I asked a high school friend for his impressions of the first 2 games I will paraphrase his comments. They looked much worse in the 2nd game than they did in the first game. 2nd game comments - They spent a lot of time passing the ball around on their half of the field. They appeared to be afraid to pass the ball into the midfield as the pass was likely to be intercepted. Most times, the zips looked to pass backwards....rather than looking forward. When the zips were able to cross the midfield, the ball did not stay very long on the zips side of the field. Same problems that we saw late in 2023...when they tied Marquette and other less talented teams. Final comment from my friend...game was very boring. Fans were not engaged. Fans were talking to their neighbors and checking stuff on their phones. my comments - I will pay $10.99 for a month to watch Thursday's night game on ACC TV. And I will pay the obnoxious $30 per month to pay for the very over priced FLO TV so I can watch the home games against Ohio State and Cleveland State on August 25 and September 2nd. I will pay whatever is necessary to watch the game in Kalamazoo. I hope to make it up to Akron in early to mid September I consider myself a devoted fan...and I was thrilled to see the addition of a super highly rated left back in James Buebendorf. I was absolutely thrilled to see that the coaching staff had great success in attracting excellent transfers like Maximus Barboto, Victor Gaulmin and Emil J. Super fast, elusive top talent....Malik Henry and Dyson Clapier...came back for a 5th year because they believe in this coaching staff and their returning team mates. Caleb Borneo was a top 50 rated junior and he is healthy to play this year in the midfield Fans that saw the zips play in the spring say that Beto Ydrach is a fantastic center back and these same fans give credit to the coaching staff for finding a great talent in Beto. My comments below are 2nd hand...for the first 2 exhibitions....but they appear to mirror the problems that we all saw in the disappointing end to last year. I have never played and I am certainly not qualified to be a coach....but as a passionate fan, I think that the Coaches are going to have to make some major adjustments to utilize our super talented new mid fielders....Borneo, Barboto, Gaulmin and Josh Bartels. Teams have figured out how to contest the zips step by step passing style.....and clog up the midfield Last year(similar to 2021 and 2022), our starting left back....struggled greatly to get the ball to our supremely skilled left winger (Dyson Clapier) This year, I am very hopeful that either Ashton Kamdem or James Buebendorf can lock down the starting left back position and use their speed and passing skills to get the ball up to the final 3rd of the field to Stefan, Emil, Dyson, Malik, Josh B. and other skilled scorers. Unfortunately, Ashton got a red card in the big east tourney game and will not be able to play against Notre Dame. I sure hope that James Buebendorf gets a lot of playing time at LB against Notre Dame and that the highly rated freshman can have a stellar zips debut. This team has many talented players in the midfield....and some terrific players as forwards and wingers.....Jared and the 2018 coaching staff....showed in the great 2018 tournament run...that they could get the ball to Marcel Zajac and Stuart Holthusen in good scoring position. All of the transfers and talented new freshman (Bartels, Borneo, Buebendorf) believe in their teammates and the coaching staff.. Soccer is not easy.....Lots of new players ...Rome was not built in a day...but this team can make a deep NCAA tournament run.

I completely agree. Hate to already look at next season before this one even starts, but with schedule and returning players, 2025 is really when the program should start hitting its stride. 4 wins min should be the baseline this season assuming Finley is mostly healthy. Its time for progress to be made in the win column, though it may not be substantial.

To accompany Captain's photos & recap, here are some videos highlights.

Thanks for sharing. This is good stuff.

Interview with Josh from BallIsLife.com

My buddy's wife is a teacher in Westerville and knows Josh & his family. "Great kid, his parents are great too. He's got serious game for a high schooler. I'm a little surprised he's going MAC. I thought maybe a little higher."

Josh Henderson of Westerville Central (OH) has committed to Akron. He is the first commit for Head Coach John Groce and the Zips Coaching staff. Groce did a good job recruiting: “I went on an unofficial visit and I loved it there (Akron)," Henderson said. "It felt like family with my talks and interaction from the staff and I felt I can really thrive there. Coach Groce has been to every game during the live period. He has came to see me play any chance he’s had and told me I’m his number one target. That’s why a week later after my visit I committed.”

I have no access to other sites yet (most have not posted) but it will be interesting to see - among Akron, Ohio, Toledo, Kent and maybe Miami (if you think they will be pretty good) - which of those teams play all four of EMU, WMU, UB, NIU twice. That's 8 pretty sure wins, at least 7 if you want to drop an upset in there. My guess is Toledo will be gifted with that foursome and perhaps Central, which will vault the Chippewas back into the Top 4 as they were last season.

Like so many, I was quite dismayed when Scarborough was brought in, and I was thankful that his stay was brief (who can forget the presidential home and the $556.40 olive jar). But in retrospect, maybe UA would have been better off in the long run had those deeper cuts been made at the time - get the bleeding over with so the healing can begin? Just a thought. It may take some more time, but I believe the U can be "right-sized" eventually.