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You gotta love Akron football fans and the people on this board!!! We finally win a MAC game early in the season and we are talking about a bowl game even though we are technically not eligable. Last week this board was talking about firing our coach. When I was leaving the stadium I felt like taking a picture of our victory formation because I thought when is this ever going to happen again. If we win next week, this board will nominate Joe for coach of the year.

Congratulations to Jason Shokalook

QB: Finley had his best game of the season, and if he’d played like that against Wyoming, we’d probably be sitting here with another win. Granted, CMU’s defense wasn’t anything special — I thought the number of turnovers they’d created (or been gifted) coming in masked some of their flaws. Still, it was great to finally see the kind of performance we know Finley is capable of. Hopefully, that’s something he can build on moving forward. On the lone interception, it looked like there was some sort of miscommunication, with the receiver running a different route than what Finley expected. RB: I don’t have enough positive things to say about Gant. He was excellent and once again looked like the FCS All-American from a few years back. He seemed a little gassed in the fourth quarter — which is understandable given he carried the ball 32 times and was on the field for all but six offensive snaps. It would’ve been nice to have another playmaker like Patrick available to give him a breather, but that wasn’t an option. Curry saw his first action, and while he’s a bigger back, he didn’t have much of a chance to show what he can do in limited touches. WR: Mason finally had the breakout game I’ve been waiting for. His performance looked a lot like what he showed during the spring game — the flashes that had me raving about him during the offseason. Outside of one glaring drop that would’ve moved the chains, this group was solid, and that miscue didn’t end up costing us. We just need this unit to keep developing. If they do, we’ll be talking about one of the better wide receiver corps in the MAC by the end of the season. TE: All three tight ends caught passes today and chipped in with some key blocks as well. I’m not sure why PFF graded the group as low as they did — I actually thought they played a sound game all-around. OL: This was one of the offensive line’s best games of the season — especially in the run game. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but they did enough to give the offense a chance to be effective in both phases. I believe K. Davis played every snap at right guard, which says a lot about his reliability and consistency up front. DL: I’m not sure when the last time our defense had five sacks, with four of them coming from the defensive line. Laventure was credited with six total pressures and two sacks, while Durham had two sacks, and Dall had three pressures. I also want to give credit to the DL for holding their ground and blowing up running lanes so often. LB: Summers played a whale of a game. I’m not sure what the refs thought they heard when he was flagged for mimicking calls again, but from my view, it looked like he was just trying to get everyone lined up correctly on a play where several defenders seemed unsure of their assignments. I’ll lump the secondary into this as well — it’s tough to always be in the right spot and still make open-field tackles against an offense like CMU’s, one that relies heavily on misdirection and gets its linemen to the second level. There were more busts than anyone would like to see, but overall the defense did enough to slow CMU down when it mattered most. DB: The secondary was asked to play the run more in this game than any other so far this season — as alluded to above. In coverage, they were generally solid, holding CMU to just 136 yards through the air. No individual stood out in a negative way, which is definitely a positive sign. ST: Special teams were very good overall, outside of the long missed field goal — which came from a tough angle — and Hills overestimating his ability by bringing out kicks several yards deep in the end zone. I like Hills and still think he’s going to break one this year, but there’s just no reason to bring those out from that deep. Coaching: Give credit where credit is due — great gameplans on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we were stubborn running the football while also taking timely shots downfield. The defense looked well prepared and didn’t hang their heads after giving up some explosive plays. Overall, I thought the staff came close to maximizing what they could in this game. The only downside was a handful of penalties that were 100% self-inflicted. QB: Finley Johnson RB: Gant Curry WR: Walker Masom WR: Mar. Williams Grear WR: Polk Monteiro TE: Newell Cravaack Whisner LT: Dar. Johnson Motley-Simmons LG: McManus Archer C Lyons Morris RG: K. Davis RT: King A. Jones DE: Durham D. Frazier DE: Dall J. Frazier DT: Hull Murphy Musika DT: Laventure Mixon Madden LB: Summers Boswell LB: Cooper Spriggs NB: Al. Branch CB: Reed Kamara CB: DeWalt Thomas S: Flowers Hunter S: Di. Johnson Stepney Top Rated on Offense (20 snap min.) WR - Mason C - Lyons QB - Finley RG - K. Davis RB - Gant Top Rated on Defense (20 snap min.) LB - Summers S - Flowers LB - Spriggs CB - DeWalt CB - Reed

And if your team wins you do both

Time to start talking about an extension!

Sounded like its a strain and not a tear which is good. Overall they looked tremendously deep! Brisco looks solid, and Amani has been working on his 3 ball

Not disagreeing with you, but to be fair, that’s pretty much every team’s message board. Just look around the MAC — heading into this week’s game, CMU fans were talking about a possible 6-2 conference finish. After the loss, the tone completely flipped on their coaches and players. WMU fans were ready to run everyone out of town until they slipped past Toledo. NIU fans are calling for their coach’s job after nearly every loss. It’s just the nature of fanbases. I’ve said this before, but as far as not being bowl eligible — don’t be so sure that sticks if we somehow get to six wins. The NCAA is becoming more toothless by the day.

A big tailgate for homecoming with a cover band, conference title celebration, and renewing wedding vows with zippy which was cute. They had cheap beer and food plus inflatables and tents with fans. Really nice setup I was there for 4 hrs and had a great time

Cornell comes in with a record of 7-1 and they've outscored their opponents 24-2 on the season. They've also scored 11 goals in just their last two matches. Gonna be a tough road match and we'll likely need multiple goals to win it.

Of all the things he did or neglected to do during his brief UA tenure, that might turn out to be amongst the least egregious moves. Go Fordham (1-5, with a win over 0-6 Holy Cross).

Well Chuck Guthrie did extend him after winning 2 games…

That's good to hear. I would still be nervous entering the season with only 2 bigs if Barre misses significant time. Another injury or even foul trouble suddenly places you in a bind. Hopefully he can return to the court soon. Nice to hear Amani expanding his range. That would allow Groce more flexibility if he needs to adjust his lineups in certain situations.

It's Laramie, WY. You either attend the football game or go cow tipping.

But look at all the fans in the stands..... They showed out~

Heard Jon left to be closer to family. He and his wife have a child. Jon left on good terms.

I had better outcomes in mind before the season started. There weren't going to be any legal bills. Bowls are a no lose proposition. For schools like Akron, it's a nice reward for a decent season. If you win, great. If you lose, it doesn't harm a program and the loses are quickly forgotten during the Holiday season.

I didn’t notice on the first one, but the second one definitely seemed like we were trying to game the system and draw a delay of game on CMU due to them having a late sub and us being entitled to sub. However, the ref let them snap (right or wrong I don’t know) before our guy got off the field. Our guy was definitely taking his time.

This is how it should be. Hopefully the football team can keep this going. A competitive football season into a NCAA tourney run for soccer, into one of the most anticipated Zips basketball seasons could really be the momentum athletically the University needs to get back on track.

I've only lived in two states, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Naturally I have grown to DESPISE both OSU and PSU. Probably more excited about Penn State losing to both Oregon and UCLA, than I am about the Zips win today. All these cocky and arrogant people who have never attended those schools are insufferable. I always say I'd rather watch Akron lose every single game than be a bandwagon fan of a school I have no connection to.

Homecoming was fantastic. Great day throughout the University. The fall fest was an amazing setup.

Today's scrimmage was by invite only. All I can say is Groce has a big problem on his hands. Too many good players and not enough minutes per game. Perkins and Henderson both look like they could play this year. Head and Evan Mahaffey looked solid. The Serb is going to be a matchup nightmare for our opponents. Scott buried at least 6 NBA range 3's. Overall a good showcase.

In six attempts, we have never beaten St. Johns. Crazy, especially after having the lead at home.