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We have a good one in Groce.

For mere entertainment value, bring on the Extra Time. But the fact is that two 10 minute halves of ET rarely breaks the tie. Both sides usually just hunker down and wait for the end. The NCAA discovered a few years ago that the score at end of regulation usually is the score at FT. A longer ET may (or may not) render different results. But the season is already extremely compact. The extra strain on players, fans, and infrastructure was correctly identified as a negative cost/benefit.

Years ago...maybe during the Brookhart era...we were playing Kent (at Kent). The Zips were forced to punt from their own endzone late in the 4th quarter. If Kent just let the punt drop on the field, they could run out the clock and win the game. The Kent return man tried to field the ball, dropped it, the Zips recovered and won the game. Completely improbable. This era of Zips football reminds me of that Kent team. Or the Morgan State team that could have beaten the Zips last year if they just took a knee instead of running it and giving the Zips a scoop 6 on the ensuing fumble. The Zips do stupid things. Incomprehensibly botched executions of fundamentals. And it is repeatable. Dropped handoffs to close-out games against CMU and Buffalo 2 years ago. Missed 31 yard FG's to beat Indiana. Three turnovers + a turnover on downs against Buffalo last week...in the first quarter! Weekly fumbled punts... If you're a Zips opponent, just hang around long enough against them and they'll beat themselves.

Not national ranking related, but this is wild.

Game thread and preview: QB: QB is one of the positions coach Hammock has struggled to aptly identify talent, as NIU would likely be undefeated with better QB play. Junior Ethan Hampton has been the main starter with former walk-on Josh Holst also collecting snaps. Hampton has completed 60% of his passes and thrown for 1, 256 yards. His current TD to INT ratio is 11 to 5. When kept clean, Hampton completes 65% of his passes and has thrown for 8 TDs vs 3 INTs. When pressured, Hampton competes 38% of his passes and has thrown for 3 TDs vs 2 INTs. RB: NIU has a deep stable of RBs. Leading rusher Antario Brown is 5th in the MAC in rushing and may miss the game due to injury. Former Iowa transfer Gavin Williams is 10th in the MAC in rushing. True freshman Telly Johnson is a downhill runner who gashed WMU for 141 yards and 2 TDs. NIU will likely give us a heavy dose of both Williams and Johnson. WR: WR is another position where coach Hammock has struggled to consistently identify talent. However, there are a few players who can make plays. Former Eastern Illinois transfer Cam Thompson is 17th in receiving yards with 372 and 3 TDs. Senior (and former walk-on) Trayvon Randolph has 275 yards. TE: Former JUCO Grayson Barnes is a weapon in the passing game. He is often moved around and the majority of his receiving damage comes between the numbers. Barnes can be a difficult matchup for linebackers and safeties. Brock Lampe and Tristan Tewes are typically blockers that sometimes will be used in short yardage passing game. OL: NIU is built similarly to a traditional Big10 type team. The Huskies have the 2nd best OL (only behind WMU) and the best DL in the MAC. The OL is a big reason why NIU’s run game is so effective and that an average QB talent can be successful. The NIU OL has given up only 5 sacks in conference play. LT - Evan Malcore (R.So.) LG - JJ Lippe (R.Sr.) C - Logan Zschernitz (R. Sr.) RG - John Champe (Sr.) RT - Thomas Paasch (R. Fr.) (I thought Paasch was one of the best offensive linemen in the 2023 MAC recruiting class) DL: NIU sports the best defensive line in the MAC. Senior DeVontae O’Malley and junior Skyler Gill-Howard may be the best two defensive tackles in the conference. The duo has combined for 68 tackles and 9.5 sacks. Juniors Roy and Jalonnie Williams are the defensive ends. They have combined for 55 tackles and 5.5 sacks. LB: Senior Jaden Dolphin may be an All-MAC candidate. He has 46 tackles, 2 PDs, and an interception. Flanking Dolphin is SEMO transfer Christian Fuhrman. Fuhrman is tied for second on the team in tackles with 43 and has also collected an interception. DB: Senior Javaughn Byrd and redshirt sophomore Jacob Finley are the cornerbacks. Byrd has 20 tackles and 2 PDs, while Finley has 25 tackles and 7 PDs. Redshirt freshman Santana Banner and senior Nate Valcarcel are the safeties. Banner is tied for second on the team in tackles with 43. He has also collected 3 PDs and an interception. Valcarcel has 36 tackles, 5 PDs, and 2 interceptions. Senior Jashon Prophete is the nickel (or “Huskie” if that term is still used). Prophete has 33 tackles. K: Senior Kanon Woodall is 23 of 26 on extra points and 12 of 18 on field goals. P: Senior Tom Foley is last in the MAC in average per punt at 37.6 yards. Offense - Coach Hammock may do a better job at covering up inadequacies than any other coach in the MAC. NIU is built to run the football and will do that no matter what. Most of the passes are shorter and have easier route concepts for the quarterbacks. About 65% of pass attempts will be thrown under 10 yards by the NIU offense. Defense - As mentioned above, the defensive line is better than any DL in the MAC. The rest of the defense is good enough. NIU consistently applies pressure with 4 rushers and leads the MAC in sacks. The DL is a major reason why NIU is ranked first against the pass, as their DBs typically don’t have to cover for long. Summary: NIU has not lost a game by more than 7 points this season. The Huskies utilize a ball control offense with timely passing. Points will be at a premium this week for Zips. If there is a weakness in the NIU defense it’s on the perimeter and getting the Huskies defense running side to side as opposed to letting the defensive front get up field so quickly. If Akron defense can hold up, we’ll have a chance. A lot of pressure will be on the middle of the defense as NIU does a tremendous amount of pulling with their OL and TEs. Any loose gap assignments or missed tackles will likely lead to big plays for NIU’s backs.

Now I respectfully disagree. You must not watch a lot of international "football", because the "draw" is an important factor in most European and South American leagues, where there are no playoffs, just a table where the single point for a draw makes a huge difference in a lot of standings. And yes, there are "inferior" opponents in most of these leagues, as 2-3 monied teams dominate a 20-team league. So a draw between say Brentford and Manchester City is considered a "win" by the Brentfordites, and by the pundits and supporters, and plays into the strategies involved.

Not make grades??? ... So what you're saying is: He was academically ineligible when he left Kent, went for a semester of summer school at Furman. Still not eligible, so returned to Kent ... and is now suddenly eligible. Doesn't add up ... even for Kent. (But I give the kid credit getting 15K in the process. I'd take that deal).

Let's both agree then on our endorsement of Sudden Death for NCAA tournaments then! Cheers!!!

We shall agree to disagree. As a self-styled football purist, I do not at all mind the strategic draw, regardless of the motivation. The objective is winning the league over winning the individual contest. Your point that this is less relevant in NCAA must be taken, I concede. Straying from the traditional path on one important detail, I strongly endorse the NCAA Sudden Death format in tournament scenario. It is both definitive and exhilarating!

Kent is an absolute mess. I’ve listened to many of Burns’ pressers and find it fascinating how he continues to change course of action. Now it’s play the young players and focus on 80/20 HS to portal recruiting. That won’t work in any turnaround situation due to the portal and NIL. The better players will jet and it’ll be a cycle of incoming freshmen to fill the void.

Why not tap into the community and try and get the students out? A buy one get one burrito from Chipotle for every Zip card holder at the game. Or a smoothie at Pulp, $5 off a Luigi’s personal pizza, anything tangible that a 18-22 year old might find motivating. I’m sure there is something that would prevent a Score Draft Room coupon, but food is almost as motivating. Especially post season where they will likely be charged for tickets.

Ruel Thompson, a left handed kid from Ginn Academy. He was the QB on the Glenville state championship team last year. He's a real athlete. He accounted for 4 TD's in the first half of the championship against Alter, running for 2 and throwing for 2. He sat at Walsh for 3 years before going to Glenville/Ginn Academy.

The HC has total control over his programs' budget. Sometimes there are tough decisions that are made that impact what money is spent on what items. He made his choices.

I'm not thinking he'll leave after this year, but he should be frustrated. I caught that comment too...no training table?! WTF. That feels like that should be a very basic necessity of any college program regardless of level. Comment on payday games is true too. If the football team is forced to sell its soul to help make budgets balance, they should be reaping some of the benefit. Unfortunately, it is not easy to win at Akron.

...and the year Tod goes deep into the tournament.

I'm in agreement with you. Sure some other teams in the conference may be marginally more talented than us - not unexpected, but our biggest issue is what I'd consider culture related. Attention to detail, using your head, accountability. Joe Mo seemed to have similar issues at Miss St. Its on the coaching staff to change this, but isn't easy when most of these players have not had success in their college careers nd don't know what it takes to be winners. As Mike Tomlin says, the standard is the standard. The Steelers have lacked talent on the offensive side of the ball for a handful of years, but they find ways to win because they play smart and accountable football.

I think it’s an accountability and attention to detail problem. Or that could be summed up as discipline. Here are a few examples: - No matter the name on the back of the jersey from 2022-2024, we still consistently see pre and post snap penalties - and usually at crucial times. It will seemingly get cleaned up for a game and then pop right back up shortly thereafter. - Off the top of my head, we’ve had at least 6 players (current staff recruits) transfer out due to grade issues. At least 3 of them would have been starters this year. - We see the young players and/or backups come in and flash their potential just to be followed by major gaffs. That means they either aren’t getting enough reps at practice, aren’t paying attention, or are not being held accountable. - Turnovers and ball protection have been an issue more often than not. We’ve lost the turnover battle in MAC play 11 to 4. All of the above is correctable. Will it be? I don’t know. If it is, we’ll see some victories to close out the year. I didn’t see a Buffalo team any more talented than us. I saw a Buffalo team much more disciplined than us.

I thought this one was a particularly good episode.

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=21&articleId=54016&articleTitle=best-of-mens-college-soccer-week-11 Jaaskelainen’s Legendary Record While Hughes chases the 50-goal club, Akron striker Emil Jaaskelainen recently became the highest-scoring NCAA DI player of the 21st century. His 63 career goals top the 62 Alon Lubezky managed for Harvard from 2001 to 2004. It is important to note that 43 goals came while Jaaskelainen was at LIU from 2020 to 2023, receiving NEC Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year twice in his legendary tenure. The son of Jussi Jaaskelainen, an English Premier League goalkeeping icon, Emil has carved out his own lasting legacy.

The full article.

I thought a thread to discuss the happenings around MAC basketball might be helpful, rather than trying to fit all news into other threads, so here it is. I see that Sullinger played in the PCC opener. At first, they were going to redshirt him. Last week, Mr. Pinky said he hadn't made up his mind. Monday night, he played. I know there's no longer a definite number of games you can play and redshirt but it appears Mr. Pinky is playing his card.