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I think the weeknight games exposed how the MAC was willing to whore itself out for a few bucks. Also, lots of potential recruits from warm southern states saw just how cold and miserable it was to play a night game in November in the north. That has coincided with the rise of the southern schools growth as large swaths of northerners have migrated to warmer climates.

This match always comes to mind. #1 vs #2. On Fox Soccer Channel. Amazing crowd and so much hype. Then we battered them 4-0. What a night.

Weeknight Games are great when its a bad matchuo but rivalries should always be weekend games Its not that hard to figure out

Well we have reached a lull in the Zips Athletic calendar. Just thought it could be fun to post in all 3 groups this thread. What is your favorite Zips game/moment that you watched and remember fondly For soccer I would have to go with the 2019 home game vs NIU. Down 2-0 with 10 minutes to go and we come all the way back with Will Jackson getting a miracle bounce to score the winner with 3 seconds left in regulation. The absolute worst season of Zips soccer I ever watched, but man they turned it around in MAC play

Thanks @Reslife4Life and Happy Thanksgiving 🦃. For me, nothing compares to the 2010 NCAA D1 Men’s Soccer Championship game at UC Santa Barbara. I was sick with food poisoning throughout the game until Scotty Caldwell scored, and the Zips survived a 2 minute barrage in the final minutes and went on to win the title. In addition to Scotty’s rebound goal, I vividly recall David Meves’ foot save and Chad Barson’s shin save, Caleb Porter yelling “They’re wilting” in the waning minutes, and Gaucho fans celebrating with the AK Rowdies. Not only did the Zips win the title, but doing so against mob-funded Louisville and former Zips HC Ken Lolla was the best. My food poisoning went away until later at my hotel near LAX.

That entire 2005 season was memorable. Beating NIU during the season, the'Snow Bowl', the MAC Championship win, then the almost comeback win against Memphis State in the Motor City Bowl. But I'll go back a lot farther. The 1976 season when Akron won 2 DII playoff games at the Bowl. The second was deemed the Knute Rockne Bowl. My buddy and I were there with a bottle of Southern Comfort as I recall. It was cold. Zips won the first overtime playoff game in NCAA history. They were good.

Also in 1986, game in the Jar against Cleveland State. In a sense it was a rivalry game between two up and coming coaches- Bob Huggins for the Zips and Kevin Mackey at Cleveland State. The atmosphere was beyond electric. The previous game Akron beat Kent before some 5500 fans; the Cleveland State game had an announced attendance of 7186! The JAR never had close to that many seats even with all bleacher seating on the upper level and behind the baskets. The aisles were completely packed. People jammed themselves together; the fire marshals must have been sent to a bar somewhere for drinks. The place was rocking! The Zips won that one but it was the atmosphere that made it super special.

EMU at Akron 2020.

Zips OVC Championship game over Middle Tennessee in 1986 to get them into the tournament.

2005 MAC Championship. Zips rally from 14 down against Northern Illinois and win with 17 seconds remaining in regulation when Luke Getsy connected with Domenik Hixon on a 36-yard touchdown pass. The first Buchtel College game in 1891 defeating Western Reserve Academy 22–6 in Hudson, Ohio was a doozy too!

2011 MAC Championship game. The Zeke block, McNeese block, and ensuing chaos on the Akron side of the arena... Pure cinema. A close second is the first game of the 2009 MAC Tourney vs Toledo. Humpty Hitchens and Brett McKnight delivering that win for us that started 4 wins in ,4 days to win the MAC. After that game, we got home and watched the Syracuse/UCONN 6OT thrilled in the Big East tourney. Perfect night of basketball.

2005 MAC Championship game. My dad wanted to leave with 3-4 minutes to go to beat traffic. I convinced him to stay and the rest is history. His karma was puncturing his finger on a staple on the Go Zips sign we brought. A close second is the game prior to that, AKA the Snow Bowl - Kent @ Akron. Field visibility was nonexistent at times from the upper portions of the Rubber Bowl, and the bathrooms were full of people trying to get warm.

Another one I think of often:

As a former DE, Nunnally's sack for the win!

Aziz with 10 points, 9 rebounds in that one

Wow, thank you for your input. That is a great report. Top Drawer soccer did a special article on Logan Lamaina on August 15, 2024 (shortly after he had announced his commitment to Akron) I have attached below the link to the article. We all know that Akron graduates 2 outstanding center backs (Jonas and Beto). We also know that Akron will return their 2 very good outside defensive backs (Ashton and Josh). Below the link, I will include some small tidbits from the article.....to help us better understand Logan's strengths as a soccer player. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=26&articleId=53633&articleTitle=commitments:-looking-to-level-up A talented and versatile player, Logan LaMaina has excelled in every platform of youth soccer. Formerly a striker, LaMaina has since moved back, playing as an outside/wing back for his club side while also gaining experience in central defense at Pennridge High School in Southeastern PA. Along with competing for Sporting, he’s played for FC Bucks/Hex FC and PA Dominion FC. “A thing I really liked about the program that was a deciding factor was they play in a very high level conference which is something I've always wanted to do,” LaMaina said.

It's worse than I thought. The most to ever watch a MAC weeknight game is 465,000. We are destroying our league so at tops one tenth of one percent of Americans can watch the game? This isn't exposure, it's insanity.

He definitely could’ve been more committal, but I took it as more of a pragmatic answer, not like he’d actively look or consider moving on.

Article on the rationale for the MAC playing on weeknights- https://www.wosu.org/sports/2024-11-26/mid-american-conference-football-goes-all-in-on-november-weeknights-for-the-tv-viewers

Our leadership for the past fifteen years has to be some of the most incompetent at any Ohio university all-time. Sadly, this example demonstrates it's just continuing.

Don’t care 4-8 babyyyyyyy

I was at the 2013 game when Bowden's 4-7 Zips showed up and beat Toledo to become 5-7 for the first time in YEARS. You could feel the program was on the upswing, and the next year the Zips went 5-7 again, but with that progressively better win over Pittsburgh and 2015 went 8-5 with the Potato Bowl win at the end of the year. Feels like there is potential to go in a better direction. But let's also pump some realistic expectations. College football has irrevocably changed. We shouldn't, as a fanbase, be chasing a No. 25 overall ranking or major win over a major program. Grind out an existence in the MAC. Be competitive. And find a way to a MAC Championship every couple of years. That's what success at Akron would look like.

The last time these teams met...

6'3" - good size. Love keeping top local talent at home.

Yet it's nearly ten times the number that watches on Saturday. 🤷‍♂️

It's always nice to win... but the fact remains the season was a disaster... winning vs Colgate and Kent State almost dont even count... and winning your last game of the yr is too late.