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The general public of Summit County and beyond do not realize what they are missing. We are witnessing one of the best single player seasons in NCAA MSOC history. Emil Jaaskelainen is a great college player. No exaggeration. Never have I seen extraordinary production look so... mundane. The last time Zips had a superb, classic, back to the goal target man, true #9, was Matt English. Who was Matt English? Ask around. Starting to notice that tingle, last felt in 2018. Remember when Marcel Zajac went nuts? Get your tix.

QB: The utilization of Finley and Bullock was effective again. Finley was excellent outside of maybe 3 throws. The interception could have been a touchdown had Finley gotten enough on it. Instead, the ball hung up in the air and the EMU safety was able to run underneath it. I recall two other times Finley had a wide open receiver and just missed him. Outside of that, it was a great day for Finley. Bullock threw a strike across the middle on one of his passes and was a difference maker in the run game. He also lined up at multiple positions. RB: Simmons collected 109 yards rushing on just 16 attempts. Kellom had 65 yards on 5 carries. The backs pressed their blocks well, ran hard, and protected the football. They were also solid in pass protection. WR: Outside of Golden dropping an easy pass, the wide receivers played well. EMU blanketed Norton for much of the contest, which gave the other wideouts an opportunity against man coverage for much of the game. Norton came up big when he finally had a chance and scored the go-ahead touchdown. TE: I think we used more two tight end sets than any other game this season. Newell was mostly utilized as a blocker, while Cravaack displayed his pass catching ability. Cravaack looks like he’s finally healthy and has that same smooth stride he displayed in high school. He’s one to watch as the season wears on. OL: The offensive line deserves all kinds of praise. They gave the quarterbacks plenty of time, while also opening up holes in the run game. I noticed RG Davis and RT James manhandle some EMU defenders a few times. The OL also did a nice job of consistently climbing up to the linebackers. DL: Despite not collecting a sack (and the foolish “branding a weapon” penalty) I thought Nunnally had one of his best games. There was one play in-particular where Nunnally played both the QB and RB on the mesh and managed to quickly adjust and tackle the QB for no gain. Cheatom also flashed similar ability on a play later in the game. Our interior depth was really tested and it showed in the 2nd half. Neither Lavea or Murphy played. EMU’s offensive pace kept our DTs from subbing as much as usual and that led to diminished effectiveness. Moore and Kapongo played over 55 snaps, which is way too much for 300 pounders. LB: The linebackers were excellent in the run game. However, two of EMU’s passing touchdowns were busts by the LBs. Benenge and Spriggs played their most snaps of the season and are coming along well, but with youth comes mistakes. We are missing Cooper’s ability to rush the passer and cover in space. DB: Golden-Nelson and Reed started again at CB. Reed’s play carried over from last game and he is looking more and more like a player that could be special. EMU went after him a lot and found little success. DeWalt had a few good moments when he came in the game. Hunter’s missed one on one tackle led to an explosive play. We are still thin at safety. P. Lewis and Anderson played nearly every snap with D. Lewis sliding from NB back to safety for depth. Anderson deserves a game ball for all of his hustle plays. He’s the defender that knocked the ball loose around the 2 minute mark and made several other touchdown saving plays. ST: This group was excellent in all phases. Book is proving game after game why he is the best punter in the MAC. Coaching: As usual, the staff had great gameplan coming into the contest. Unfortunately, untimely penalties are still showing up and could have cost us the game. This is the type of win a program can build on. As difficult as it was to see another lead evaporate, it may prove beneficial that the team now knows they have the ability to overcome such a situation. Let’s see if multiple wins can be strung together next week against an inconsistent Buffalo squad. QB: Finley Bullock RB: Simmons Kellom WR: Golden Rush WR: Polk Granger WR: Norton TE: Newell Cravaack LT: Blanchard Shor LG: Morris C T. Williams RG: K. Davis Burrell RT: James D. Thomas DE: Nunnally Cheatom Richards DT: Kapongo Madden DT: Moore Brockington DE: Adler Dall LB: Fish Benenge Summers LB: McCoy Spriggs NB: D. Lewis Greenwood CB: Reed DeWalt CB: Golden-Nelson Hunter S: P. Lewis D. Lewis S: Anderson D. Lewis Top 5 Players Offense: RG - K. Davis RB - Simmons WR - Norton RT - James LG - Morris Top 5 Players Defense: S - P. Lewis CB - Reed NB - D. Lewis DE - Adler S - J. Anderson

Always looking for a chance on goal with every touch...that's what makes a striker an assasin!

I want a coach who can win secret scrimmages as well as MAC Championships. Groce shouldn't show his face at the tip off reception Wednesday and if he does he better have some good answers after this debacle.

Big East Regular Season Champions!!!

The Zips played well today. Offensive line was moving the defense, Simmons ran hard Finley threw several good balls. The defense played strong again and special teams were good. The Zips have MAC talent. What hurts is the lack of discipline and accountability. The coaches and player leaders on the team need to get this in check in order to continue momentum and to improve.

Hope you didn't follow your own advice.

Jaaskelainen has tied the great Steve Zakuani for fifth place in goals in a season with 20. Next up, Matt English and Pete Milich for third on the list.

We arguably should've beaten BUGS. We should've beaten WMU. We were competitive against Ohio. We should be right there in the race for Detroit. Need need NEED to build on the EMU win.

really nice run up the field by Ashton Kamdem on this goal beautiful unselfish pass by Dyson Clapier.... I think that Dyson leads the zips in assists with 8.... so glad that Dyson and Malik returned to school

Some things are better left in the past.

the most important thing.....is no yellow cards for dissent. This group currently has a ton of momentum. I would have the guys start but I would probably get them some rest in the first half. Also pull them in the 2nd half if there is a 2 goal difference in the score. Finishing 8-0-0 in the regular season....should definitely impress the NCAA soccer committee.

Jaaskelainen is a goal scoring machine!

Another goal for Emil. Give him the Herman Trophy.

In all seriousness, I'm glad to see the Zips didn't pee down their legs like they normally do in these type of games when they have the opponent on the ropes. That said, it only matters If they're able to build on this and show progress by finishing the season with 4-5 wins. If they revert back to their old tendencies of choking at the end of games, this game will just be an anomaly.

The Zips move to 2-1 at home this year. I like it.

Usually we’re tortured until the last second, and lose. It would be great if this was the start of the “win by a little” segment, and the “lose by a little” is over.

CSU left it all on the floor.

Agreed. Regardless of RPI points, it will matter to the NCAA Tournament Committee if the Zips finish the regular season on an 8-0-0 run and undefeated in the Big East. Have to be cautious wrt yellow cards v UConn and hope we don’t have overzealous refs. Go Zips!!!

You almost had it. You are correct that that happened that year but that happened earlier in that year and then later that year the Zips beat Kent and Central Michigan back to back, which would also be the last back to back FBS games. That year they only had four wins but twice they had a two-game winning streak. 🤣

Another Arkansas State preview- https://www.collegenetworth.com/arkansas-state-red-wolves-mens-basketball-2024-25-season-preview/

A couple penalties perplexed me. I thought you needed to point the weapon at an opponent to be penalized. The unsportsmanlike call for pulling an opponent off the pile was real weak. At least on those 2 calls, l felt the officials were looking for a chance to throw the flag. Bullock was on the field quite a bit, but l would like to see more of that. I think a DB would have a hard time with Bullock. On the D, l think l would rush a LB more( even though that contributed to an 81yrd gain). Line play on both sides has improved. I hope we can keep these guys in the trenches and out of the portal (as well as our skill players).

3rd home game on October 26th. Can't imagine why no one cares about Akron football

Exactly. We aren’t far away. Another winnable game next week vs Buffalo.

And NIU loses to Ball State <insert snide MWC comment here>

Where is the automatic RPI bump that was supposed to accompany membership in the Big East?

I deleted it on 2nd thought because I actually don't like that strategy either. It's a tough situation with the unpredictability of NCAA refs. There is a week to prepare for UConn, and I do think we have capable players on the bench. But, I'd also prefer not to purposely mess around with what has been working.

Some great team saves by Wan Kuzri Wan Kamal and Matt Dreas a short while back. Amazing defense on the goal line to keep Marquette from scoring.

Simmons was a beast today. Hope we keep riding him for the remainder of the season. Congrats to Tahj as well. He’s had every reason to pout or mope, but he was ready when his number was called today. He was great.

Invite families to bring their little ones, would be a good draw but the game would have to be earlier. People have their Halloween parties with family.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Zips beat a 5-2 team. They get some breaks. and you find multiple reasons to complain. Same old tune.

Imagine the program you supposedly root for having its best win since Bowdens last season and not being happy about it. Couldn’t be me.

I knew I shouldn't have taken the live-bet Akron victory formation .... EMU on their own 8 ... they have us right where they want us.

Just scrap the Football program all together. Why even bother wasting the money anymore.

They should have moved the game up to noon if they wanted a better attendance but I don’t know how much it would have helped. Today is trick or treat night for Akron and the suburbs which starts around 5. Makes going to the game challenging for most.

You are absolutely right, and it has affected my desire to watch any NCAA sports right now, except for the Zips. I used to be an NCAA basketball junkie, women and men, and loved a Saturday afternoon big game on TV. Now, if I'm going to watch college kids play a sport and demand 12 million a year for an NIL deal, I'll stick with watching an NFL game with the real professionals. Same goes now for the WNBA and WSL vs. college women's b-ball and soccer.

Leaving Bronny in his dust! Over/Under on the Enrique/Bronny all time NBA career point differential - 4,000 (in Enrique’s favor). Looking forward to revisiting this post in a decade. 😀