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Limits the options for the Papa John's sub of the game.

I think you're mistaken. Defense is what is controllable. That's why the saying is defense travels. You can't expect to shoot 40% from 3 and 50% from 2 each game in a 30+ game season. That's just not realistic unless you're playing a video game. There will be nights where your shots simply aren't falling, which is what happened against Miami. I didn't feel the looks we got offensively were much worse than we have gotten much of the year. That's why I was overly critical of our defensive play earlier in the year. We were just able to mask it against some very terrible teams given how we were playing offensively. I actually saw improvements on the defensive end against Miami, which is encouraging.

This is the biggest issue with the portal right now, in my opinion. We have all these players that we're identifying and developing, then they leave and we get nothing in return. The transfer fees would help build parity in college sports. But I think that's probably also why it's not gonna happen, because the big conferences won't let it.

We're facing Troy on Feb. 7 in the 2nd round of the MAC-SBC. They're currently 10-5 (3-0) and are 125 in the NET. They beat Kent but lost to Toledo (in a holiday tournament). https://gozips.com/news/2026/1/6/mens-basketball-second-round-of-the-mac-sbc-challenge-announced-zips-set-to-travel-to-troy

But can we get one of them? 😆

Ham you see what is happening at the "bigger" D1 schools? Iowa State was left with 16 players on their roster ! That is insane... JMU went to the playoffs, lost their head coach, and then lost their entire starting offense to the portal and graduation. Cincinnati qb just got 5 million to go be Texas Tech qb for one year. That is more than Shadeur Sanders rookie contract, I am no Shadeur Sanders fan mind you, but that is crazy... College football until controlled is going to be like MLB free agency without a salary cap. The players will get while they can get and get what they can get. If a kid doesn't think they are going to make it to the NFL better get paid now... When Finn left for Toledo, Weiner (Toledo QB Coach) told me personally that he was receiving 400k to go Baylor and that he had to do what was best for his family. He played 3 games threw 23 passes and rushed the ball 21 times. He made $133,33.33 a game! I'd say that was a pretty good investment if he doesn't make it to the NFL. The money being thrown at these players is mindboggling. It won't last forever... Something will have to give either some type of cap, some type of super conference, or something else but even the smaller P-4 schools can't compete. Backup offensive linemen at Pitt get 100k and they are the backups... A lot of these athletes are making the decision of do I want the money or do I want to play football knowing they may never get on the field and be just a back up?

By my count this currently gives us 14 signings. 10 offense: 6 OL 1 QB 3 WR 4 defense: 2 LB 2 DB We still need some DL and an upperclassman QB. Ps. Zips' OL coach Joel Rodriguez is one hell of a recruiter.

I know this would never happen but I wish the NCAA or someone would mandate theses changes to the portal: 1. If a player enters the portal and the coaching staff does not want them to leave, then the school who the player is transfer to has to negotiate a "transfer fee" to pay the school that the player is departing from. If a big school wants a kid really bad then they should have to pay up for them. Why shouldn't the school that developed the player get nothing back in return? 2. If a player and coach both agree that it's best for a player to enter the portal, then the player can transfer on a "free" and no transfer fee needs to be paid. 3.Only scholarship players can play in a game. This way players who wants to transfer out will know that they can't play next year if they don't get a scholarship offer. I'm all for kids getting the most out of their God given talent but this could help curb the chaos every year of the transfer portal and more kids might stick with their initial team instead of getting poached by a bigger programs. I know things would sting a lot less for us Zips fans if we knew we were getting something in return for all the players leaving and it could even help finance the football program.

Miami had a man closely on Bowen even when the ball was on the other side of the court. To his credit, he is contributing in ways other than being a shooter this year. He's just streaky. My opinion is that his accuracy is directly related to his form. When he has time, squares up and is steady, it goes in. When he rushes and is drifting to one side or the other his shooting suffers. As for Evan, he's not in the lineup for his shooting. You can see now that the opponents know it and are almost daring him to shoot when he's on the perimeter. I think Pete Suder could tell you why Evan is in the lineup.

I also believe he missed a game or two for disciplinary reasons as well if I remember correctly.

I thought Jake would stay primarily because he has something to prove and last season he was not a real factor at the TE position. He has all the physical tools to have a good year and I wish him well. I also hope he stays injury free. That was not the case this past season. His leaving the program does not impact us that much.

Over 4000 in the portal? 30+/ team? nearly 40% of the roster? That's hard to believe. I know some teams loose more than others, but if this is true D1 football is in a real bad place.

Beaven references Miami game statistics & I found this interesting: Akron held an edge over Miami in rebounds (37-36), assists (14-12), steals (11-6), points in the paint (38-18) and points from reserves (27-0), but lost. The teams each committed 15 turnovers. Personal hot take: I think we should move Shammah & Eric back into the starting lineup. We haven't been playing with as much moxie since Groce made the switch.

Looks like Myers went the JUCO route out of high school before landing at ODU, while Hilburn will be coming straight from JUCO. Both receivers were very productive at that level, albeit as two different types of players. Hilburn looks like a guy who could step right in on both kickoff and punt return. If Brookhart can get similar production out of them as they had in JUCO, then these two commitments should be excellent additions.

Good point LZip. I never claimed to be the brightest. I assumed he decommitted before the offer from Akron came but you could be right. He had decent numbers. I'm willing to give anyone a chance.

The part where I'm somehow calling for Groce's job with an aggressive undertone related to my dissatisfaction with JoeMo in the football section? I am very, very frustrated with the result of Saturday's game in Miami. Part of the reason I've harped on maintaining the offensive prowess we've exhibited thus far is because it's a controllable. That game was there for the taking given Miami's lackluster offensive numbers and high turnover rate, and we didn't take it. It's the first opportunity all year vs. a quality opponent where they didn't shoot lights out vs. us and we didn't take it. Need to figure things out vs. CMU. It's a long season, I get it, but we have 2 months now to send a message that the Miami game was a fluke before Cleveland/Selection Sunday (God willing). In Groce I trust, as I always have. Just tired of so many close losses in 20 years after promoting that I'm an Akron fan publicly and having to deal with the aftermath when people say, "Tough loss," after the few Akron games that garners more views than usual. Simply venting a bit on the Akron forum. Pardon me.

Huh?

Zips legend Jim Dennsion has passed. https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/college/zips/2026/01/05/jim-dennison-died-obit-akron-zips-football-coach-walsh/77733069007/ https://medina-gazette.com/news/453612/college-football-wadsworth-native-jim-dennison-dies-at-87/ https://gozips.com/news/2026/1/5/general-akron-athletics-mourns-loss-of-hall-of-fame-football-coach-and-athletics-director-jim-dennison https://www.beaconjournal.com/obituaries/pwoo1374962

Another one gone to greener pastures