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If they play for the name on the front of the jersey instead of the name on the back they'll be just fine.

Both. Barring a loss to UCONN and an early exit in the Big East tournament, Akron is in the Tourney if I'm not mistaken.

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men Akron up to #15 in top drawer soccer rankings Ohio State is #1 and High Point is #2 Western Michigan has no losses......(6 ties) and they are below Akron in the rankings

So I did a little analysis on who the Zips opponent will be in the first round of the tournament. The Big East uses points and then the best result against common opponents starting with the highest seed. The current standings: 1. Akron 21 points (clinched top seed) 2. Georgetown 16 points 3. Providence 14 points (by virtue of beating UConn and tied St John's) 4. St John's 14 pts (tied UConn) 5. UConn 11 points 6. Creighton 10 points (tied Providence) 7. Seton Hall 10 points (lost to Providence) 8. Marquette 8 points Outside looking in Xavier, DePaul 5 points Eliminated: Butler 3 points, Villanova 1 point. So not trying to figure out all of the permutations of all the seeds, but trying to figure out who the 8 seed will be. It cannot be any of 2-4, they have too many points. It cannot be UConn because if Marquette wins, that would knock Creighton (whom they play) below UConn in the standings. If Marquette ties Creighton they are the 8 seed. If Marquette beats Creighton and Seton Hall wins or ties, Creighton is the 8 seed. If Marquette beats Creighton and Seton Hall loses, Seton Hall is the 8 seed because they lost to Providence while Creighton tied them. If DePaul wins (they have Butler) and Marquette and Xavier lose, DePaul gets the 8 seed because their best result is a win over Creighton. If Xavier beats Providence and Marquette loses, Xavier is the 8 seed, no matter what DePaul does (Xavier will have the best result amongst the highest seeded team). So there are still five teams possible for the eight seed, so now you know your rooting interest. Personally, I'm rooting for DePaul, Creighton and Providence. ☺️

Groce has lost the team.

Could be worse, could be 0-8 in Portage Co. We don't see many W's, especially where the program is right now, let's enjoy them when we can!

When you do your review this week, can you ignore Singleton please? ☺️

Any particular reason you omitted his 2 TD’s? Or was it just an honest oversight?

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.

They brought their A game. If anyone should have an game it should be us...

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.

Game thread and preview. QB: CJ Ogbonna is the starter after being used almost exclusively in run packages in 2023. Ogbonna has thrown for 1,317 yards and has completed 56% of his passes this season. He has taken care of the football when passing as he has an 8 TD to 2 INT ratio. However, he is one of the nation’s leaders in fumbles. Ogbonna completes 61% of his passes when kept clean compared to 38% when pressured. RB: Junior Al-Jay Henderson has received the bulk of snaps during conference play and has 455 yards and 3 touchdowns on the year. Redshirt freshman Messiah Burch has become the top backup with 145 yards and 2 touchdowns. Burch has a similar running style to Jordon Simmons. WR: Former Nevada transfer Victor Snow is the top receiving option. Snow has 30 receptions for 375 yards and 3 touchdowns. Columbia transfer JJ Jenkins is second on the team with 17 receptions for 225 yards and a touchdown. TE: Former UMASS transfer Jake Orlando is the starting tight end, but he is mostly used as a blocker. OL: Buffalo’s OL has struggled with consistency. The Bulls have given up 17 sacks this season, with 9 of those coming in conference play. LT - Henry Tabansi (R. Fr.) LG - Trevor Brock (Jr.) C - Dom Polizzi (Grad.) RG - Tyler Doty (Sr.) RT - Caelan Shepard (R. Sr.) DL: Samford transfer Kobe Stewart starts at one end spot and is 2nd the MAC with 5 sacks. He also has 19 tackles. Opposite Stewart will likely be Monmouth transfer Antonio Colclough. Colclough has 10 tackles and a sack. Washington State transfer Tristan Souza and redshirt sophomore Cornell Evans start on the interior. They have combined for 17 tackles. LB: Buffalo boasts one of the best linebacker corps in the MAC. Shaun Dolac transferred back in after a brief stay with Utah State and leads the MAC with 108 tackles. He’s also added 3 sacks and 2 interceptions. Redshirt sophomore Red Murdock is 2nd in the MAC with 96 tackles. Murdock has also collected 2 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. The third backer is sophomore Dion Crawford who has 27 tackles and 1.5 sacks. DB: Sophomore Charles McCartherens starts at one CB spot and has 19 tackles, 4 pass deflections, and 1 interception. Former Colgate transfer Marquis Cooper starts opposite McCartherens and has amassed 41 tackles, 4 pass deflections, and 2 interceptions. Former Minnesota transfer Solomon Brown is one starter at safety and has 41 tackles and 3 pass deflections. Opposite Brown is senior Jalen McNair. McNair has 39 tackles, 1 pass deflection, and 1 interception. K: Alabama transfer Upton Bellenfant is 13 for 13 on extra points and 10 of 11 on field goals. P: Old Dominion transfer Ethan Duane is 2nd in the MAC in punting. He is averaging 43.3 yards per punt with a long of 63 yards. Breakdown: Offense - Buffalo wants to run the football and will force the issue on the ground. Buffalo isn’t any better upfront than who the Zips have already faced and Akron has been decent at stopping the run during conference play. Defense - Buffalo has oddly struggled to rush the passer and defend the pass in MAC play. The defensive backs are aggressive and can get beat for big plays due to often being over aggressive. The Bulls strength is in their linebackers and against the run. The LBs rarely miss tackles. Summary: This is another winnable game. At times, Buffalo has looked liked one of the best teams in the MAC and at other times they have looked like one of the worst teams in the MAC. Buffalo will attempt to assert their will in the run game and if Akron can stuff that early, it’ll force Buffalo into an uncomfortable situation. The Zips have yet to amass any interceptions during MAC play, but have been excellent (sans WMU game) at creating fumbles. I imagine Zips defenders will be punching at the ball every time they make contact with Ogbonna. Special teams play should be excellent from both sides.

And if we lose our first game, how soon will the John's next endeavor thread start? 🫠

Also, winning out should get us at least a path to multiple home games in the NCAA tournament

Biggest takeaway: Akron has a better record than Florida State by week 9

Hopefully, it gets cleaned up. We’ll see. A number of recruits were at the game for the win. We have a chance to really create some momentum.

Zips are going to get the best effort from every opponent this season. They have a target on their back. Etc.

But the game was much closer than the score indicated.

And created their own shots.

The win over EMU is like water in the desert for us. It is something to be celebrated, but reality reminds us that the fundamental weaknesses of this team were also on display: player control fouls, a stupid hand gesture penalty, interceptions, fumbles, tackling, rushing three men on D allowing the QB all the time in the world to pick us apart, discipline related issues, etc. We still have the same problems that are not being cleaned up as the season progresses. Until that happens we only have a shot at 4 wins. Forget about a bowl.

CSU left it all on the floor.

Finley can make some throws and they have some athletes that can catch but I still think they play the best when they commit to the running game and it sets up the passing game. Maybe the 2 tight ends sets were a factor of why they ran the ball so well, or maybe the O line is just playing better?

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).

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.

Hope you didn't follow your own advice.

Oh for sure. But they got the breaks and did enough with it.

GP1 must be thinking about Wake. Zips win. 27 - 20

I am impressed!!! For Zips fans that want to read something depressing, here is the quote from our AD at the time of the Bowden firing in 2018: "Certainly, Terry and his staff have brought respectability to the program over the last seven years," Akron athletic director Larry Williams said in a statement. "However, after undertaking a thorough review of the entire program, and in consultation with the [university] president and Board of Trustees, it is clear that we need to make a change if we are going to consistently achieve at an even higher level." Six years later, the football team has not won back to back games. How is that for achieving at a higher level? Further, if news reports are correct, we had to buy out both Bowden and Arth's contract at UTC to the tune of $650,000 to hire Arth. Larry Williams is now the Athletic Director at University of San Francisco.

Because the 5-2 team lost that game more than we won it. I simply witnessed the same issues we've seen all season occur yet again today - lack of discipline, blowing leads, muffed punts, chunk plays on defense, etc. - and for the first time the opponent didn't take full advantage of it which led to a Zips win. I'm happy we won, but the W doesn't excuse the negatives that continue to plague this program under JoeMo. This win doesn't give me confidence we've turned the corner as a program. Edit: Here, I'll appease y'all and say something positive. We got the run game going today. As Pat Shurmur would say, "Progress."

Feels more like an EMU loss than an Akron win🤷‍♂️