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I was on the flight home yesterday with our team. Kudos to the Southwest crew ... when we landed in Cleveland, they gave a shout out ... Congratulations to Coach Jared and the Akron Zips Men's Soccer team on their win, remaining undefeated and currently ranked #14 . The passengers applauded. Well-deserved accolades and some free publicity.

Top Drawer soccer poll Zips were #7 last week. this week, #2............. https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men

Marty had a blast. He was completely blown away by the press, the fans, the team, and the coaching staff. He found a few minutes between being interviewed by dozens of outfits once his headset was taken away and his post game press conference to come up and sit with Charlie and I. It was a great experience and it couldn't have happened to a better guy. He was the best man at my wedding, so I know him pretty well. However, if anyone can tell us why the Arby's was written upside down on his hat, you will win a prize!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdPaQZtiKPu/?stkn=dmRsdDJlazF4bXZ3 Very cool way to close the chapter on this. I was at the game with my family. Other than the three thousand media commercials i thought it was a good atmosphere. Marty was a celebrity and it seemed like the entire Akron fan base bought into it. A view Marty chants broke out now and then and he was even walking throughout the stands and interacting with the fans. Im old and a softy now but I am so glad that Marty won this now because after all of this I am sure it meant more to this man than some celebrity that would have came in got the attention and left never to think of the Zips again.

I blame Marty Whims for this.

That is good for 4th in the country. Mensah (Mia) 91.1% 41 of 45 Stockton (UGA) 87.5% 28 of 32 Watson (Umass) 87.5 28 of 32 CB 83% 44 of 53

The whole day felt different. There was an atmosphere. They did a great job with keeping everyone engaged. There wasn't any wasted time during the timeouts. The other thing i noticed was they had the dance team perform at mid field vs being inside the 10 or far endzone. This made it feel more of part of "the show" then just something happening over there. The whole event seemed more thought out and stream lined.

5 more wins until we can run the promo again for the bowl game.

Just watched the NBC national news and they usually have a feel good story at the end of the broadcast and it was about our offensive coordinator for the day Marty. Amazing publicity for the program. Really well done. Here is the link https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news-netcast/video/nbc-nightly-news-full-episode-sept-13-269797445768

It was mentioned on the board that this freshman class was the best to come to Akron in a while. Good call by those people. Not sure if there's a singular standout but as a whole it's a phenomenal recruiting class so far.

While there were 167 TV breaks, not one of them went by with nothing going on. Either there was a game/contest, some other activity, the band playing, etc. The PA kept working to get the crowd involved and such. It was a proper gameday operation, IMO

SLU 1-2 AKR FT For the third consecutive match (not counting the WVU no-contest), Zips come from behind to equalize and then go on to score the winner in the waning minutes of the match. GK Brett Kaminski heroically saved an on-target PK with 0:40 remaining. Zips display great resiliency, but surely there is no long future to this pattern. Much better to score first in a sport where scoring is so rare. On the other hand, Akron are not flustered by being down a goal. Coach Embick and Co. should be applauded for utilizing Zips' deep bench over these previous three matches. Over Embick's now long tenure, Akron have averaged about 14 players per match. Without mining the actual data, my guess is around 16 or 17 per match this season. Last night in Saint Louis, Zips employed 19. This is a welcome change, if not one late in coming.

I stumbled upon Keith Kennedy's thoughts on the production level. For those who don't know, he was the in-stadium host back in the early days of the new stadium.

QB: CB’s scrambling ability makes such a difference for this offense. Not only that, the majority of his passes were on point, and he looked more comfortable than he did last week, albeit this game was against much lesser competition. My one suggestion to him at this point would be to make the first defender miss and then slide down in the open field. He will not make it through the season taking those kinds of hits. Roggow once again came in and looked really good. Two of his passes in particular were absolute strikes, put right on the money. Regardless of who the opponent is, those throws were impressive. If something were to happen to CB, I feel good about Roggow’s ability to move the offense when needed. In my opinion, Roggow compares favorably to Finley. He may not be quite as physically gifted, but he seems to make better decisions with the ball. RB: Gant and Patrick looked healthy and explosive. The two combined for 148 rushing yards, with 90 of those yards coming after contact. They also added 85 yards through the air. Toss in CB’s rushing, and that’s 219 yards on the ground. If either Gant or Patrick had another top-end gear to hit in the open field, they’d both be playing for P4 schools right now. WR: While the receivers weren’t targeted as much this game, there were no drops. An unusual amount of passes went to the backs and tight ends. Overall, the perimeter blocking was good as well. Outside of the one fumble, this was a solid, workmanlike day for the wideouts. TE: JUCO addition Elijah Alexander played very well. He held up as a blocker and also took advantage of his opportunities in the passing game. We’ll need the tight ends to continue to develop as they are an important part of this offense. OL: For the most part, the offensive line bullied the RM defensive front, and there wasn’t much thrown at them that caused confusion. However, there are a few sticking points. I was very complementary of Hampton at RG last game, and while that holds true again in the run game, he was also the direct cause of two sacks. The first came as Asher Wilson beat him so badly off the snap, he was left standing flat-footed. The second came off a total whiff on a blitz (or maybe twist? I can’t recall for sure). The good news is those sequences can be cleaned up. The other concern I have is when Slayden comes out the game at LT. Gould has looked overwhelmed, and Shor hasn’t played up to his potential since he arrived. I’m not sure what the answer is outside of hoping Gould improves quickly. Either that or leave Slayden in for the entire game. DL: The good news is the defensive line manhandled the RM OL. Dahvon Frazier seemed to be in on everything and easily had his best game as a Zip. Perhaps the light is finally turning on and he’s ready to take the next step. We’re going to need more of that as the season progresses. Abor flashed what he can do on passing downs when matched up one-on-one as he exploded around the edge for the Zips only sack. Hull was a load for RM to handle on the interior, and I also noticed he was often one of the first ones to congratulate the offense and special teams on the sideline as they were coming off the field. Kavals and Waye had their moments again. I think Kavals is going to be really good. It’s too bad we only have Waye for a single season. Williams didn’t play as much this game, as he looked to have a cast on his hand. Now for the bad: Pass Rush. Yes, RM was focused on getting the ball out quickly, but on the times when Akron should have been reaching the quarterback, it happened far too little. This area must improve. LB: Johnson and Curtis were really good. I also noticed Nunoo flying around, though I think he slipped off a few tackles. In any case, this group is coming together nicely. DB: White is really coming along. I would not be surprised if he ends up All-MAC at this rate. Safety play was also solid. I think it was Tairan Davis who had the diving interception wiped off by what looked to be a questionable holding call on another defender. T. Thomas had a terrible day in coverage. He got beat on the long touchdown and also gave up a PI. It’s a safe bet future opponents are going to come after him until he improves his play. ST: Special teams were excellent in every area today. Final Thoughts: The Zips handled a RM squad that really doesn’t have the talent or depth to match up for four quarters. Hopefully, this win is a building block that will help with next weekend’s matchup against a far more difficult opponent. Depth Chart QB: Broughton Roggow Beals RB: Gant Patrick Williams Curry WR: Ma. Williams Davis WR: Burris Hills Myers WR: Mason Louis Hilburn TE: Cravaack Alexander Hook LT: Slayden Gould Shor LG: Smith Falkner Archer C Lyons Mobley RG: Hampton Falkner Fox RT: Jones Gould Mann DE: Abor Waye Watkins DE: Frazier Waye Ridley DT: Hull Williams Ross-Graves Brown-Demery DT: Mixon Kavals E. Davis LB: Johnson Reeves Jones LB: Nunoo Curtis Hocker NB: Aa. Branch Moss CB: White Galloway CB: Thomas Newsome S: Davis Flowers Somerville S: Hunter Jarmon Top Rated Offense (30 snap minimum): QB - Broughton RB - Gant C - Lyons TE - Alexander LT - Slayden Top Rated Defense (30 snap minimum): S - Davis CB - White LB - Johnson DE - Abor DE - Frazier

I wish the Zips the best...but I'm sticking with Wooford Reserve.

I don't really know anything about the brand to know if this is something to be excited over or not. I'll have to ask some of my friends who are more into the craft liquor scene for their take. I would probably pick up a bottle regardless for my liquor cabinet if they produce an Akron branded bottle. Whether I continue buying after that would depend on the quality.

The one thing that I have noticed thus far in the season is that we seem to make great halftime adjustments. So far we've only given up 10 total points in the second half...10 to Wake Forest and 0 to Robert Morris.

Hoping they make it a noon kickoff to help that, too!

Looks like UNLV may have become a winnable game, too.

Looks like our MAC opponents had a respectable weekend. No upsets, but no black eyes either.

You didn't hear this from me, but that's the plan to do it again!

and they turned the volume up to an 11...holy cow was it loud. I know i sound like an old man complaining, but numerous times we just stopped talking to wait for the music or announcers to finish.

From Sunday NBC Nightly News which was broadcast at 6:30pm. https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/good-news-football-fan-picked-to-be-offensive-coordinator-for-college-game-269796933639

CB has such a natural, fluid throwing motion, throws a beautiful ball, and is accurate. He's gone 44 of 53 passing in his first two games for an 83% completion percentage 🤯🤯

The Zips made good use of their bench tonight. On the offensive side, I want to salute FaFa (Farrell Ngongang) and Noa Testa. FaFa hustle and great pass resulted in a fine goal by Noa Testa. Noa Testa was very active and quick and he created a lot of offense for the Zips. However, my unsung hero for the night is freshman Cole Perez. He came in at center back and really stabilized the back line. Great clutch performance by a freshman. Freshman Austin Thum also came in and played some very good minutes in place of Matt Dreas. The coaching staff deserves credit for recognizing that some key veterans were not having effective nights.....and the coaching staff wisely brought in Cole, FaFa, Noa, Braxton , Leo , Austin and others. This win would not have been possible without great contributions from freshmen and sophomores.

At least he traveled to the game this week 😊