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Akron goes from #18 to #9 in Top Drawer Soccer weekly poll https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-national-rankings/men 4 Big east teams in top 11

QB: Noah Kim is playing well in what is presumably his final season. The former Michigan State and Coastal Carolina transfer started his collegiate career in 2020. Kim has thrown for 1,187 yards and 8 touchdowns against 3 interceptions while completing nearly 63% of his passes. Kim is excellent when his isn’t pressured, completing almost 69% of his passes, compared to just 38% when pressured. RB: EMU will utilize three different backs depending on the situation, with sophomore Amareon Blue and seniors Joey Mattord and Braydon Bennett all seeing significant playing time. Blue has been the main man as of late, rushing for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns on 60 attempts. WR: Senior Benson Prosper and sophomore Harold Mack have become the focal points following the injury to All-MAC receiver Nick Devereaux. The duo has combined for 47 receptions for 525 yards and 3 touchdowns. If Devereaux returns, he’ll make the passing game even more dangerous. TE: All-MAC selection Joshua Long and senior Tanner Lemaster handle most of the snaps at tight end. Unlike most tight ends, Long is a legitimate threat in the passing game, as he already has 22 receptions on the year. OL: The offensive line has been pretty good in pass protection, giving up only 8 sacks on 205 attempts. However, they have been inconsistent when it comes to run blocking. LT - Tyler Brumfield (6’6 305) (Sr.) LG - Guzzy Kayed (6’3 316) (Jr.) - Transfer from St. Francis C - Nicholas Gallegos (6’3 294) (Gr.) RG - Dennis Strey (6’7 312) (Gr.) RT - Elijha Payne (6’6 315) (Sr.) - Transfer from Delaware State DL: Sophomore Quincey Byas and seniors Carter Evans and Ronn Hardin are the main edge threats. The trio has combined for 4.5 sacks. Seniors Peyton Christian, Makhi Gilbert, Joseph Oluwayemi handle the majority of snaps on the interior. LB: Junior Elgin McDuffey and senior Zach Mowchan are the starters at linebacker. Mowchan leads the team with 50 total tackles, while McDuffey has amassed 23 total tackles. DB: Junior Caleb Dobbs starts at one corner with JUCO transfer Rayquan Adkins on the opposite side. All-MAC defensive back Bryce Llewellyn is the starting nickleback. Seniors Juan Salas and Davion Williams fill out the safety spots. ST: Junior Rudy Kessinger has made 5 of 8 field goals and 16 of 17 extra points. Junior Daniel Hull is averaging 43 yards a punt with a long of 60 yards. Keys on Offense: Stay on the field and ride Gant and Patrick as much as possible. Limiting EMU’s opportunities will be important. Their offense can be inconsistent, but they did enough to put away a seemingly improved UMASS squad, and no Zip fan wants to see our secondary on the field against a pass heavy offense any longer than necessary. Keys on Defense: Find a way to get off the field. The “bend but don’t break” philosophy has been completely broken the past two games and needs to be corrected. Things can’t get worse from here, so the only two ways to go are to either improve or continue to make the same mistakes. Final Thoughts: Nothing about this matchup screams win for this Akron squad. However, I’m sticking with my preseason prediction of an Akron win. EMU is on their second consecutive road game and coming off a high of beating a UMASS squad that seemed to be pretty good. This is a prime let down spot for EMU, and the Zips are due for a rebound game.

I remember at a Zips golf outing Mack Roades addressed the crowd by stating -“We’re not thinking about the MAC…we’re thinking BEYOND the MAC.” Then, he and Hunter left UA for jobs beyond the MAC. UA’s biggest whiff on the AD carousel was not hiring Hunter Yurachek. He liked the University and loved living in Hudson. He had a young family at the time and would have stayed a while. He’s getting some heat at Arkansas right now. If Goodrich departs and Hunter’s looking for a job, he’d be worth an interview.

I don't want this to come out out the wrong way because it will sound like I'm slamming the basketball coach, but here it goes. It's not intended to do that. We have the best basketball coach possible. Akron has the premier basketball program in the MAC. We had a highly accomplished coach leave and the best we could do was promote an assistant. I'm not sure if that last sentence should end with a period, question mark or exclamation point. I am going to assume that the leadership looked at the possible options and said yes. Joe was the best possible option a few years ago. Nobody was applying for the job. Those who yearn for a high school coach taking over the program might have gotten their wish. All things considered, he may still be the best option. It's a horrible program at a school that is putting limited effort into it. What coach is going to want the job? If their vision for making Akron successful is so good, wouldn't that person want to apply at a place actually trying to win? Given the current circumstances, only pure luck gets someone better than Joe hired.

Not a great night of results for Zips opponents but with the next two matches being Syracuse (22 in RPI) and Creighton (17 in RPI), we have a great chance to build our tournament resume.

QB: Someone on staff thought it would be a good idea to ask a “third string quarterback” - Moorhead’s words - to come out slinging the ball, on the road. Someone else - or maybe even the same person - upped the ante and decided we should come out not only throwing the ball with our third string quarterback, but to go five wide, with no threat of an RPO, on the very first play. I rarely question this staff’s ability to design plays, but there were some drives that left me completely lost today. When I said earlier this year I thought Roggow would keep us competitive, that was under the assumption he would be accompanied by the run game. Such was often not the case. Roggow was in over his head, and it showed. RB: I had flashbacks of frustration today when the staff would waste Lingard for portions of the game. Or when a back would make a great run, then rush again for only a handful of yards, followed up by no rushing attempts for a number of plays later. Yes, Gant and Patrick combined for 133 yards, but much of that came when the game was already getting out of reach. Why we don’t lean on those two more, regardless of the opponent, is beyond me. I know we had a lot of one-on-one matchups with the receivers today, but our backs are too good to not involve early and often. WR/TE: I believe there was only one drop. There were several plays where I noticed multiple receivers open around the same area, and Roggow basically split the difference and didn’t get the ball to either one of them. On one of the sacks, it looked like the receiver who was the main target was still talking to the sideline as the ball was snapped, leading to the play being fouled up. Those types of things cannot happen. OL: Plainly put, this line struggles when we become one dimensional. They opened some lanes for the backs and gave Roggow time for portions of the game. At other times, it wasn’t so pretty. The false starts are inexcusable, especially for centers. DL: Our lowest rated defensive lineman - according to PFF, and I don’t disagree with their take - continues to play the most snaps. I don’t understand the rotation, or lack thereof. We started off fine in the first quarter and then things gradually got worse as the game wore on. We have more bodies on the roster, it seems like some other guys should get a shot, and some of the backups like Williams and Kavals should also play a bit more, especially in a game like this. 56 snaps for our worst performing lineman is….something. LB: I thought one of the few bright spots on defense was linebacker play. Johnson and Nunoo seemed to be everywhere. Curtis also had a couple standout plays. Unfortunately, they can’t do it all. DB: I’m not sure if our defensive backs can play much worse. The cornerbacks were fine in coverage, but they didn’t help enough against the run. I remember one of the CBs just bumping shoulders with the ball carrier, who then ran for I don’t know how many yards into the endzone. Our safety play was flat out horrendous against the run. In a game like this, angles and gap filling are so important and we did both poorly. I’m not sure how we’ve gotten to this point, as these guys saw significant action last season and we also have the same defensive back coaches. If things don’t get cleaned up soon, we won’t win another game because we simply won’t be able to outscore anyone. ST: Outside of the blocked field goal, it was a solid day for the special teams. QB: Roggow RB: Gant Patrick Williams Curry WR: Williams Myers WR: Mason Hilburn Louis WR: Burris Hills TE: Alexander Cravaack Hook DeReese LT: Slayden Gould LG: Smith Archer C Lyons Mobley RG: Hampton RT: Jones Gould DE: Frazier Waye DE: Durham Kavals DT: Hull Kavals Brown-Demery DT: Mixon Williams LB: Johnson Jones LB: Nunoo Curtis Hocker CB: Newsome CB: Thomas NB: Branch Moss S: Davis Flowers S: Hunter Flowers Highest Rated Offense (20 snap min.) RB - Gant WR - Burris LT - Slayden LG - Smith RT - Jones Highest Rated Defense (20 snap min.) LB - Johnson LB - Curtis LB - Nunoo CB - Thomas DT - Hull

I completely agree that Dr. Goodrich falls in Category #2. I think he thinks that the Zips can be the best under-resourced FBS program in the country. Has anyone seen the statistics overall for Akron athletics? We are something like #7 or #9 in the country in terms of athletic success per dollar spent. Goodrich wants us to be number one. He believes there are plenty of football programs resourced similarly to Akron, but through a culture shift and a genuine commitment to both academics and athletics, we can be better than those other schools. And we need to be in order to be included in the upcoming TV deal.

I entirely agree! I was sharing a common historical perspective from 20+ years ago, not trying to project my dream or preference for the future.

Good points. The most important point is they are still paying 4-5 million dollars a year for the stadium.

Given the program success, I don't think Akron was looking outside the building. And I don't disagree with it. It might not work, but "run it back with next man up" isn't unreasonable.

I disagree, it obviously would not be a highly coveted job but it is still a D1 coaching job in a conference that has a pretty good reputation for sending successful coaches onto bigger and better programs. You would have coaches wanting this job - despite all of its insufficiencies. Look at Toledo’s recent hire. He was very successful at FCS Mercer. Would he have applied for an open Akron job? Not sure, but I think he might have, and I think others would as well.

The main issue with Moorhead and his offense is he expects the players to adapt to his plans and themes, rather than he himself adapting to his talent pool. He coaches like he's at a p4 school with p4 talent.

I'm not sure I agree with this sentiment. We have the premier basketball program in the MAC...our coach leaves for a better job, and we have a top assistant from said premier program to try and keep things moving in the same direction. I'm not sure they seriously looked outside the program, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I don't think this correlates to the football program struggles.

Tomorrow's opponent (Syracuse) is up to #14.

It's honestly a tough job to sell. I was thrilled when Moorhead took it as even though Moorhead had question marks, he was more accomplished than any candidate I would have expected. Obviously that didn't materialize into on the field success. If you're an up and coming assistant you're probably just better off working your way up the chain wherever you are and bide your time until an opportunity opens up somewhere that sustained success is achievable. Akron is where coaching careers go to die.

I’m not against a move being made. However, I don’t think this is the time to do it. Maybe once bowl contention is officially taken off the table. College football has changed so much even since Moorhead was hired. At first, he was able to take advantage of the portal with all of his, and the staff’s, connections to immediately upgrade the roster talent. He was also able to scrap the terrible incoming prep class that was in place and add some quality high-level prospects. Since then, NIL has come into the picture and changed the landscape even more. So not only are we at a disadvantage in athletic funds—including lowly paid assistants—but we are also at a disadvantage when it comes to the portal. I was talking to someone the other day who turned down a job at EMU a few years back, and he was raving about a few of our coaches—RB and TE in particular. He mentioned that those are the types of coaches who could have easily left and gotten P4 gigs, but they’ve chosen to stay for personal reasons. He also brought up one of our former CB coaches—Bell—as an example of how so many coaches are taking internal athletic jobs, like analysts at bigger programs, because the pay here is so poor. Moorhead hasn’t nailed all the assistant spots, but he’s done a pretty good job over his tenure. Whoever the next hire is will have an extremely difficult job filling out a worthwhile staff while also keeping those coaches in place. My biggest issue with Moorhead is that his teams at Akron have seemed to underperform their talent level every year. Looking just across the way at Kent, there is a coach who has a roster with substantially less talent and generally puts them in a place to be competitive. That, however, does not seem to be the norm these days, and while that could happen here, the odds are against it. All that said, something needs to change to make this a competitive program year in and year out.

Nice recap. They're certainly discussing if the money to make a move can be found. I don't think they're going to find it. MAYBE this time next year when he's only got a few games left. But what's the point then? That season's already lost by then, because all you have left are the empty stadium games anyways. Akron will always have significant disadvantages because of the NIL situation. As a result, Akron desperately needs a coach who can get his undermanned team to believe, while also having a coaching staff that can coach guys up. We don't have either of those right now.

Akron Zipped Up recap is here: https://akronzippedup.substack.com/p/game-5-recap-central-michigan-41?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2970576&post_id=218201656&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1oisov&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

My coaching experience is limited to youth baseball, basketball, and football. I stopped when my kids got to middle school. My job was done at that point. So my expertise is zero or very minimal. But IF I were a coach that wanted to coach at a Division 1 program and dreams of being successful being the next Cignetti, starting lower level and climbing to the national championship, would Akron be the place? They have no money to attract transfer/portal players. The ones that they do get say that the conditions are often times worse than the JUCO schools that they left, and we have upper class transfer students, seniors and juniors, that cannot get on the field when they do come and couldn't last year, that talk to future prospects. Future coaching staffs are going to be limited to trying to convince high schoolers to come here while other schools are going for the older more physically mature students. Players are going to be given the "car salesman" speeches and pipe dream routines to come here and then rot into oblivion and for what? I think it was Villanova but I saw a coach openly admit the other day that they will not be offering any scholarships to high school kids now. They are simply going to transfer/portal players and they are going for the more mature players to win now. I think it is the Indiana mentality. Of course the committee that interviews the next potential hire is going to hear wonderful plans and visions on how they are going to change the program around and what their plan is. But from listening to what you guys have been saying on here for the last almost two seasons and from what I have witnessed, the school is not committed to financially supporting a winning program or they cannot support a winning program or a combination of both. Whichever the case is, no matter who they brought it is going to be extremely difficult to compete even in the MAC. There may be that diamond in the rough that nobody knows about that can come in and maybe motivate the players to get that upset win, and play above their level for a game or maybe two, but the money is going to talk and the truly talented players are going to go elsewhere. Whenever the time comes, the replacement is going to be some jagoff that nobody else wanted and had nowhere else to go, or someone that is trying to start from ground zero but unfortunately just wont have the financial backing to get the talent to be successful and this program is going to continue to slide worse and worse. It truly is a shame. This team currently has the talent. They are certainly hurting at some positions for sure. At this point, I'm actually very curious about Beals, but then I'm not sure about throwing him to the wolves to early and ruining him. (I know it isn't all Roggow's fault and I'm not saying that at all, but I have seen highlights and Beals is similar to CB and he has a canon also. This team with this O line needs a running threat qb in my opinion.) This weekend showed me three things, Toledo probably is the strongest team in the MAC after Western barely survived Buffalo, I think any team in this conference can beat any week so the conference is really up for grabs or at least getting to the championship is, and most importantly after being at the game this weekend--- I have zero faith in this coaching staff can prepare to beat a 0-10 high school team anymore. This staff had no answers for anything at any facet of the game. I suffered through watching the game again and truly was as bad as it could possibly be. It was like every coach that I admired for the last season and four games just handed their whistles off to someone in the stands and said here you go. Even Rod... CMU was often rushing FOUR guys... FOUR and our offensive line had no idea how to stop them.. NONE... It was like our offensive line had never lined up against anyone in their entire lives. On the defensive side it was like the defense never saw an RPO offense before when all week long every predictor including the great CAT told everyone this team's quarterback is GOING TO RUN THE BALL!!! Yet time and time again, man in motion, ball snapped, man in motion goes through the hole, followed by the rb, followed by the qb and nobody gets touched, not a linebacker or safety in site.... It is just sad. I feel duped, snake bitten. Came into this season with such high hopes. Dreams of a six or seven win season. Defended Joe Moe and the staff for a season plus now feel completely foolish...

The NCAA issued a statement that the Ohio Court of Appeals has issued a decision that the preliminary injunction allowing players like Evan to play was an abuse of discretion by the trial court and undid the injunction. There should still be an avenue available to the Ohio Supreme Court but I suspect that would take more time than they have.