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QB: Finley had his best game of the season, though that might not be saying a whole lot after the first two. He avoided turnovers and made a handful of really nice throws. There were a few sacks I thought he could’ve steered clear of, but beyond that, if he can consistently play at this level, the offense has a chance to keep moving forward. I’m still scratching my head over why Johnson didn’t get any looks in short-yardage situations. RB: I kept waiting for Patrick to bust a big one, but it just never came. Still, he and Gant ran hard, combining for 148 yards on 20 carries. I’ll take that any day of the week. WR: Similar to Finley, this was the wide receiver corps’ best outing too. Even with three drops, they got open, put in effort blocking, and for the most part, hauled in the catches. TE: Newell didn’t do much with his two catches, but he was solid as a blocker, especially in pass protection. Cravaack saw less than 10 snaps. OL: I thought Lyons and K. Davis played well. There were a few times we were close to breaking a big run, but things like letting a combo block go too early and both guys releasing to the second level ended up giving the defender a free shot at the back. I can’t help but wonder if all the subbing we’re doing is causing some of those mistakes. The OL definitely could’ve been better at times, but overall they opened some holes and gave Finley a pocket to work with. DL: The defense as a whole did a really nice job against the run. That said, our four-man pass rush was anemic…again. We had a hard time getting pressure in the first half, though things looked a little better after the break. Both of our sacks came on five-man pressures if I’m not mistaken. I’m not sure what’s going on with Cheatom, he hasn’t played lately, and we’re getting next to nothing from the backup DEs. LB: I thought Cooper, Spriggs, and Boswell all played well. The more I watch Boswell, the more I like him—kid’s going to be a player and just has a knack for making things happen. DB: All things considered, I thought Reed and DeWalt held their own. Our safeties, on the other hand, got absolutely roasted when they were stuck in man during the first half. The good news is we probably won’t see a better passing attack the rest of the way. UAB may not be a great team overall, but they’ve got some legitimate threats at receiver. ST: The kickoff return for a touchdown and the penalty that set up another score were absolute back breakers and, in my opinion, the difference in the game. Punting and placekicking were solid otherwise, with the only miss coming on a long field goal attempt. Coaching: That was the most animated I’ve seen Moorhead since he’s been at Akron. I think he knew this was a game we had every chance to win, and maybe he’s feeling a little pressure too. I did like the commitment to the run game, and the offense putting up 441 yards without a turnover is nothing to scoff at. Sure, it came against a bad defense, but the offense still played well. I’m not sure what adjustments were made defensively at halftime since I couldn’t see much of what was happening in the backend, but it was night and day when it came to points allowed. We still gave up yards, but that’s fine because at the end of the day the defense threw a second-half shutout. In the end, it’s another disappointing close loss in the Moorhead era. The game was there for the taking, and we couldn’t do it. We’re likely going to be 1-3 heading into conference play, which is the exact same as last year’s payday schedule. Of course, that’s assuming we take care of Duquesne this weekend, who will surely be pining for an upset. QB: Finley Johnson RB: Patrick Gant WR: Walker Mason WR: M. Williams Monteiro WR: Polk Grear TE: Newell Cravaack LT: Motley-Simmons D. Johnson LG: Archer McManus C Lyons Morris RG: K. Davis RT: A. Jones King DE: Durham D. Frazier DE: Dall J. Frazier DT: Laventure Mixon DT: Hull Murphy Musika LB: Cooper Spriggs LB: Summers Boswell NB: AL. Branch AI. Branch CB: Reed CB: DeWalt T. Thomas S: J. Anderson Hunter S: D. Johnson Flowers KO: Wiley B. Johnson K: Wiley P: Castle Top Rated Offense (20 snap minimum) QB - Finley WR - Grear RG - K. Davis WR - Polk RT - King Top Rated Defense (20 snap minimum) DT - Murphy NB - AL. Branch LB - Spriggs DE -Dall DT - Laventure

I thought is would be interesting to compare the coaching staffs and budget between UAB and Akron. From what I can tell, UAB's football budget is roughly 11 million dollars...about double that of the Zips UAB has 24 football coaches and 18 support staff. Akron has 12 coaches and 6 support staff. And we only lost by 3 to them, on the road.

...and we all know the most important rotation is the one in at the end of the game, not the starters.

Everyone loses half their roster. Figure it out and win some games

IF Newell and Adams were disciplinary scratches then I am fine with that and that shows JoeMo is trying to discipline the players and hold them accountable just like a lot on here are complaining about. Adams was also scratched from Nebraska so I am believing that the assumption is correct. Cheatom also has been scratched for two games. He traveled to both games and was in uniform but has not sniffed the field other than warm ups. He was the most productive or one of the most productive against Wyoming and yet can't get on the field now, again I guess he is in the doghouse also. I am new to this forum and I love all the input and especially all the work that Cat and others put into analyzing. It's awesome. But it also seems like there are a lot that come on to basically say fire JoeMo, end the football program it's not worth it, spend the money elsewhere... etc etc. To those people I think there is only two solutions, bitch until the program ends or fire JoeMoe. But what happens when the next coach comes in and has to start all over again, the losses continue, there is no NIL money to pay any player to come here, no players want to come here because of the continuous losses, and the losing seasons continue, those same people will be on here screaming the same thing end the program, get rid of this coach, he sucks, we should have never hired him. Until things change as whole throughout the college format teams are always going to struggle. Akron is very far behind the eight ball and people will say Bowling Green changed it or Buffalo changed it... Buffalo was losing until there was a little over a minute left in the game... Akron can change it around, I do believe JoeMo can change it. I'm not a fan of a lot of the decisions player wise but he has to work with what he has. I'm sure he did not go into the season expecting Finley to look like a first year qb for the first two games. The younger players need to get experience. I think Bozz will be good he can learn a lot from Coop. The freshman that are here look extremely talented if you go in and look at their highlights. We have a freshman D lineman that is 6'4 317 lbs. He is young but look at his highlights he is a force. We have a defensive end that is 6'5 265 lbs. Look at his highlights this kid dominated both sides of the ball (even was the team QB and won all section QB and D end) there are a lot of highlights of him dunking and dominating basketball games, and was a star pitcher. We have a safety that is a freak of nature that is extremely fast and athletic, and we have two linebackers one from VA and one from FL that again if you watch their highlights they dominate. And we cannot forget McManus who is a true freshman as well and is holding his own. Maybe we should to get these other guys on the field and see what they can do now before they lose interest. The D line certainly needs help and the secondary is getting shredded. The team lost half of last years roster, I'm sure they will lose more after this season. Something has to entice these players to stay here and want to be here. That is the only way JoeMo or the next coach can build a winning program. It starts at the core and they want to stay.

49 days until Zips basketball.

.Stats are one important measure, but they don't tell the whole story. I don't know how Catdaddy makes his (VERY welcome) evaluations, but I want to see the whole field and be able to go back over the tape as much as l need. We absolutely need to utilize those free four games to see what we have on the bench. For some that could be now; for others that might need to come later after a few months getting acclimated to D1 FB. I'm not ready to give up this team or Joe. There is a lot of FB yet to be played. Recruiting, retention, and NIL: Many have bigger budgets, bigger staffs, lots of NIL$. So, roll over and play dead? Very few of our athletes play professionally, but we can show recruits that possibility. With the lack of NIL $, what NIL "value" can we offer? Employment possibilities after graduation? Intern possibilities in school? Things a 4 or 5 star wouldn't sniff at, but a 2 or 3 star might find of value. That is where we live. When a starter leaves to sit on the bench at a lower P4, is that NIL$ going to make a difference next year or in 5 years? What else can we come up with to add value to come and stay at Akron?

Zips come in at #10 in this week's coaches poll. Friday's opponent (UConn) is essentially #27 as they are second highest in the receiving votes section. Also worth noting that next Tuesday's opponent (St Louis) moved up from #24 to #7. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

here is a breakdown: edge rushers Interior Defenders Hall 4 solo 5 assists 1.5 sacks 1 qbh (163 snaps) Laventure 1 solo 4 assists 1 qbh (153 snaps) Durham 1 tackle 6 assists .5 sack 1 qbh (193 snaps most on defense) Hull 1 solo 2 assists (182 snaps) D. Frazier no stats (60 snaps) Mixon 1 solo 2 assists (51 snaps) J. Frazier 1 assist (29 snaps Murphy 3 solo 2 assists 1 qbh (91 snaps) total: 5 solo 12 assists 2 sacks 2 qbh total 6 solo 10 assists 2 qbh This isn't working. Let me guess starters will play against Duquesne for stats, nothing will be learned about the freshman and it will repeat itself once we play conference. The ends are not getting ANY pressure on any qb. Freshman 6'5 265 athlete extremely athletic and fast Freshman 6'4 317 lbs extremely powerful How is an end that plays more than any defender on the field have 1 tackle and 6 assists? Bruno has matched his performance for the entire year last year in about a third of the snaps. If the line is not getting pressure the secondary will get torn up. I know the defense kept us in the game against Wyoming and we should have won, I know Nebraska was a completely different opponent, and I know we should have won the game against UAB. Duquesne is wash you can pound your chest all you want after the game, but we got Toledo, Central Michigan, and Miami of Ohio. Why not try these other two and see what happens? If your worried about redshirting, they have four games to burn.

FCS budget and FCS talent trying to compete in FBS. We have a few good players, like Patrick, but they will almost certainly be transferring elsewhere after this season since we can't afford their NIL. We can't fix the talent issue until we fix the money issue. If we don't have financial backers stepping up to carry this program what makes anyone think our situation will change? New coach, same problems.

Whatever rotation we start with in November will likely be far different come February and March.

Bummer to hear about this. Maybe he can come home and build our soccer NIL program.

He’s been a waste of a scholarship the past 3 years.

The first D1 team at Akron had 10 coaches. The only thing they have more today of is an extra DB coach and special teams coordinator. This is year 38 of complete mismanagement.

@catdaddyp Game Three Thoughts?

Clearly we're waiting for Moorhead 's contract to expire so we can hire a 6-5 FCS coach whose school is glad to get rid of him. That'll get excitement back to the program.

Women's college volleyball is a blast to watch. That's one women's sport that when I watch & honestly think, "Dang!! They'd wipe the court with me if I were out there!"

If the talent is not there it doesn't matter who the coach is. If the players are getting paid to go to other colleges why would they come to akron? bring in your young coach full of pee and vinegar maybe the best mind in coaching if he cannot bring in the talent it isn't going to matter at all. as soon as the last game ended last year, instead of celebrating the players were immediately talking about how it was time to get paid and they were gone. that's the mentality of the college athletes with NIL now. There is no loyalty to the university it's show me the money. Jomoe doesn't need the money, why stay if he didn't care? Especially since the majority of the posts in here say he can go elsewhere? Maybe what he complains about aren't excuses it's him trying to point out what needs to change so they program can recruit the better talent and convince it to stay so they can build a program.

Not trying to stir the pot at all, but why would anyone think that getting rid of joe is going to solve anything? the players that can are going to go where they can get money. until akron starts having money to pay the players akron will be a stepping stone. kids will come here because "it's D1" and they will hope to get film to bounce as soon as they can. example marcus moore left being a starter to get "paid" and is fourth string at purdue- hasn't played a snap. over half of Akrons team wasn't even on the roster last year. i don't agree with some player decisions that are playing and getting an absurd amount of playing time, there is only one starter from last on offense 2 if u count polk... an entirely new defensive line except bruno who stands out because nobody is doing anything. he is barely average to D1 ends. there are only 99 d ends in ALL of D1 who are ranked LOWER than Durham, yet he has more snaps than anyone on defense. it is a very tough position for any coach

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=21&articleId=55064&articleTitle=tds-mens-player-of-the-year-leaderboard I didn't want to create a separate topic for this. If you click on the article above, you can see that Top Drawer Soccer has identified Mitch as one of the 10 players that should be considered as the best college soccer player of the year. The Player of the Year leaderboard is a weekly list of the ten players making the best case to win the prestigious award. The latest update features three newcomers who have helped their programs to historic starts. Mitch Budler, Akron (Newcomer) Budler breaks into the leaderboard thanks to an incredible start to the season, where Akron is yet to concede a goal despite playing four teams that have been nationally ranked at one point or another. The reigning Big East goalkeeper of the year has so far proven he may be the best in the country.

So you're saying there is room for one more...

There once was a time when folks could give an open opinion with no pushback. Unfortunately if you speak against the system aka whatever the media feeds you = you are deemed the uneducated fool. Hmm lets see how we got here. Oh how dare I speak in support of other Mid Major Schools that have great recent consistent winning programs like Boise State and Ohio U. Oh how dare I give them props for being able to compete on a big stage against Power 5s. Oh how dare I look at these schools as being the standard for where I want my Akron Zips to someday achieve. Oh how dare I support other MAC Schools vs Power 5s on a national stage. How dare I support our Conference. How care I call out our program who is the only scoreless FCS school in the country who brought in a so called Offensive Guru coach who has ONLY made our program worse with us now on probation and continue to financially bleed us to the brink of no return. How dare I think outside the box regarding who should replace Moorhead after him and the last homer coach experiments have failed regarding hiring them on the strength of what school clipboards they have held and what sidelines they have been on. HOW DARE I HAVE AN OPINION! And folks wonder why Zipsnation.org is 70% vacant and yet still rivals Zips home football attendance. The problem is not only football itself but also the Fanbase mentality which contributes to lack there of. Some of you folks are old stale and outdated refusing to evolve. Evolution Matters Innovation Matters

Sorry to read this https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/new-england-revolution-part-ways-with-caleb-porter

The Big 10 pays out something like $63 million per school each year. That's before even selling a single game ticket or anything else. You can afford a buy out when you're rolling into that kind of money. If Akron's athletic department was generating that kind of money this wouldn't even be a discussion. We'd also be attracting a better pool of candidates.