Leaderboard

I love our OOC schedule this year. Overall our opponents are 16-5 with two of those loses being to Akron. None of our opponents have a "bad" loss yet outside of Milwaukee losing to Wofford. Obviously a small sample size, but off to a great start. JMU 2-1 (Akron) Princeton 1-1 (Akron) Purdue 2-0 Iona 2-0 Milwaukee 2-1(Wofford) Bucknell 2-1 (Princeton) Tulane 3-0 Murray St 2-1 (SMU) Potential Paradise Jam opponents: Evansville 2-1 (Purdue) Oregon St 2-0

After calming down I still want offer a few thoughts on the Kent game so bear with me. Our biggest problem Tuesday night wasn't JoMo, player stupidity, the refs, or the cold. It was Kent State. They came believing they could win. They didn't have the talent, but they had a plan and they stuck to it. The game was exciting. The rivalry is renewed and heightened. The public wants a good game between these two schools and they will show if they believe it is going be a good game. Zip football can recover. It will be slow and it will be a series of addressing issues one at a time. Nemer wants a good team. Goodrich has been told to build up the program. He believes he can, but only over time. He is building up NIL now. It will not be great, but it's a start. Jo will not be fired or bought out. If he leaves no one in administration will talk him out of it. Jo told his team he didn't believe in them when he kicked a FG on 4th and one. They were on the 11 and all they needed was one f**king yard. It was the first series of the game and they had nothing to lose. Why? The Zips weren't prepared. On the first series of each half a TO called to straighten out the team. What a waste! What team uses TO's tat early in the game. That's an indictment on the staff, not the players. Also how can DeWalt be running to the ball on a punt when the receiver ran away from it thus exposing DeWalt to a bounce that goes his way, hits him and gives the recovery to Kent. That's stupidity and poor coaching. High school kids know not to do that. Speaking of coaching, I watched Kamara after giving up an 89 yard TD to Clark. He went to the bench, threw his helmet down and no one talked to him. Not fellow players, not captains , not a coach. He sat alone for several plays until a coach told him to get up and join the DB's. No coaching was given and guess what? He blew it again for another Kent TD. We were the better team, but we lost. Jo coached teams do that every year he has coached. Not once, but two or three times each season he has been here. After four seasons why would we expect it to stop. Jo has yet to show he can correct it. He may feel he hasn't gotten a fair deal here and he would be right. Sill he has compounded the problems and for that he can't blame anyone else but himself.

Absolutely no problem with the Zips effort. Groce always gets the kids to play hard.

First game in a long time that I was really excited about. Wanted and expected us to win. Obviously did not like the results, but it was fun to be excited about ZIPS football for a change. Hope there is more of this!!! Let's win next week and then see where things go from there. I hope Joe wants to stay. Makes the right demands for the program and off we go.

That's an egregious missed pass interference

Hell, just protect the rivalry games. There is no reason for Akron-Kent to be played on a Tuesday evening at 7:30 in November. I'm fine with it against literally any other opponent, but this should have been a Saturday noon kickoff. I believe it would have been a decent crowd and generated at least some mild buzz for the program locally. Instead, we will probably get a bit more than last week, which was downright embarrassing.

Game Day Notes: Kent State has been fairly effective through the air in conference play, thanks in large part to redshirt sophomore Dru DeShields, who has brought stability to the offense and done a great job protecting the football. He’s thrown for 1,321 yards and 11 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions. The run game has been inconsistent, with Gavin Garcia and Minnesota transfer Jordan Nubin splitting carries. The pair has combined for 590 yards and 2 touchdowns but hasn’t been much of a factor in the passing game. Former running back Cade Wolford has transitioned to the slot and provided a spark with several explosive plays from that spot. Da’Shawn Martin — a player we once offered out of high school — and Wayne Harris are DeShields’ primary targets in the passing game. The rebuilt offensive line has actually held up well in pass protection, but the group has struggled to generate much consistency in the run game. Kent State rotates plenty of bodies on defense and blitz often. While none of the defensive linemen truly stand out, Southern Illinois transfer edge rusher Jamond Mathis has been the top pass rusher on the roster. Linebacker CJ Young leads the team in tackles and has put together an all-conference caliber season. The Flashes have been fairly stout against the run in MAC play, ranking fourth in the conference, but they’ve been torched through the air and have allowed more passing yards than any other team in the league. Mark Carney has Kent State playing well above its talent level, but there are still holes on the roster that simply can’t be masked without more overall talented depth. This is a game Akron should win, even with the Flashes having battled competitively in most of their MAC matchups. Time to start looking at potential All-Conference contenders. Not everyone listed here will ultimately make it, but these are the guys with the best shot from the Zips based on MAC-only stats: Offense - Finley is fourth in the league in passing yards and first in touchdown passes. It’s a six-man race for the three All-MAC quarterback spots, with Roberson (Buffalo), Kim (EMU), Gleason (Toledo), Parker (Ohio), and Finn (Miami) also in the mix. - Gant leads the conference in rushing yards and is on pace to be First Team All-MAC, likely alongside Bangura from Ohio. - Mason and Polk rank tenth and eighteenth in receiving yards, respectively. Mason has a strong case for All-MAC consideration with his four touchdowns (tied for third-most in the conference), while Polk would need a strong finish in receiving yards to earn a spot on an All-Conference team. However, Polk is also tied for third in touchdown receptions, which helps his case. Ma. Williams could work himself into the conversation as well if he strings together a few more performances like this past one. - Up front, Lyons (center), K. Davis (right guard), and King (right tackle) all have a shot to land on an All-MAC team, depending on how the final few weeks play out. Defense - Laventure looks like a lock for First or Second Team All-MAC as he sits fourth in tackles for loss and tied for seventh in sacks. Dall would be in the conversation too, but judging purely by his stats, they’ve dipped a bit in MAC play — though his disruption has not. - Summers and Spriggs could both sneak into the discussion — Summers has been a turnover machine, while Spriggs has come on incredibly strong over the past two weeks. - In the secondary, DeWalt and Reed have both been playing at a high level, but if it came down to one, I’d give the nod to DeWalt.

Kansas only beat Princeton by 19, bring 'em on! 😊

last night was the coldest i have been in many years. I totally miss judged my clothing attire and over estimated the dollar general hand warmers i bought ! the crowd was amazing and the game was actually exciting. i thought the tribute to veterans was nicely done and the halftime show was nice how the bands came together. I am surprised at all the hatred towards Joe Moe. Some of the play calling I didn't understand. There was one drive when we had the ball the at midfield headed towards the scoreboard and finley threw two passes in a row towards akron's sideline that should have been intercepted and then went with a run that was stopped. Joe Moe lost it on the guy calling the plays, it was not Joe Moe calling them... He screamed at him for a good couple minutes obviously unhappy with the play calling. I'm not really sure how much of the plays are called by him. I am sure he sets the scheme but that particular series I don't think he called. The secondary sucked butt plain and simple but in my opinion the defensive line had no pressure either. I know someone was praising Durham and said he had his best game but i certainly did not see it. He had one qbh and one tackle which he was lucky on. He took a poor angle and got the kids ankle. He has been an absolute bust and you cannot justify playing him all but 89 snaps this year. he has played 629 of 718 snaps more than any player in all of Division one football. There is no reason. The defensive line had no pressure all night. Bruno was non existent also. It was a bad night for the line all together nothing good to say other than Hull had a nice sack and Durhams "tfl" was it. Nothing else behind the line of scrimmage. The defensive line had two standouts this year Dall and Laventure. Nothing changed the entire season, ever... Joe Moe didn't miss the field goal, Joe Moe can't control the dropped punt or the interception. AND the team didn't quit. The stadium emptied out quite a bit when Kent went up 18 and understandably so, but Zips scored 18 in the fourth quarter. They didn't quit... the players played til the end that says something about them and the team. I was very impressed. I thought it was over when Kent went up 11 in the third and I was wrong. I thought the officiating was horrible. I didn't understand why no PI's were called and couldn't believe there was only one holding called, but Kent didn't quit and neither did the Zips. I did think it was a pass interference in OT in the end zone but being at the game they didn't show a replay. But Sometimes you just lose a game. Kent lost to Buffalo in the last minute of the game and lost to Ball State in the last four minutes of the game otherwise they would be sitting on top of the MAC. It is what it is. Last night was a very entertaining game There will be a high turnover for sure. Players will not come to Akron and stay unless they never have a chance to leave like your walk ons. Players will come to Akron hope to be here no more than two years, hope to get their highlight film and then bounce for the money like Nunnally, Moore, and McCoy. Next year it will be Dall, Gant, Laventure. and if Leonard leaves he will take Durham with him. Hull has played enough and is only a sophomore that he will go also and tried to get paid. So the entire defensive line will be gone to the portal and graduates, and guess what... no one will be ready to step in because no one else has played except Leonard's boys... Linebackers wont be much different, spriggs, cooper, summers will all be gone; corners dewalt and reed will be gone... But this is not just an akron thing it is all G5 schools but until Akron starts paying (if ever) the only selling point for any transfer is "come to akron get playing time and go get paid". Laventure will be the poster child for that... hope for 5-7 which will be an improvement. What would be the selling point for a new coach? Come here start a new program with a new staff, new qb make a name for yourself with no money to spend? It might work OR you might get a UMASS and get an OF'er? Might get lucky and get a Kent State scenario you just never know but if you buy out Joe Moe now your down 1 mill right of the top... and probably at least 45 players to fill and you better make your decision quick cause the portal opens early January AND high schoolers are going to start committing in early December so if you are going to make a change at head coach better make it in like the next two weeks....

We have NO CHANCE to upset the #1 team in the nation. 😉 No. 1 Houston leapfrogs Purdue in AP Top 25 poll.

Zips up to #9 in the RPI.

This is the best Akron team I have seen against a quality opponent. Groce has them ready to play. Only down by 5. I am not sure we can play this well for 40 minutes but really impressed with the ball movement, hustle, and breakouts. Tevari looks like he can play with these guys and Scott has hit some great shots.

If you guys need a hate watch it’s Fordham vs Iona on espn+ rn. Iona win helps Akron and fordham has Guthrie as AD lol

What a pass!

GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLL! 1-0 Zips

It was a record-setting day for the offense, yet we still managed to find a way to lose. We put up 530 yards of offense compared to Kent’s 374 and held them to just 57 yards on the ground. The only team stat we actually lost was turnover margin — and that was only by one. If you count the onside recovery, then it was even. Yes, the refs were unusually awful — and that’s saying a lot for MAC officials — but we didn’t do ourselves many favors either. The defense, particularly the secondary, looked completely lost on far too many plays. QB: Finley may have had the better stat line — and maybe even played the best game of his career — but in my opinion, he wasn’t the best quarterback on the field. I can only hope that by 2026, Roggow develops into the same type of player DeShields has become with a few college seasons under his belt. As usual, Finley made some beautiful throws but also some head-scratchers. At this point, he is who he is — and to be fair, without him, we probably don’t even have four wins. It’s just frustrating that he never took the leap I thought he would in this system to became one of the elite quarterbacks in the MAC. RB: The running game became an afterthought once we fell behind, but Gant still managed to rack up 96 yards, keeping him on pace for a thousand on the season. WR: Marcel Williams was phenomenal. Mason made his presence felt but appeared to leave the game with a shoulder issue — which would explain why Louis got his opportunity. Polk added a few more catches and another touchdown to his résumé. Our receivers torched Kent all night, and there were plenty of times when guys were wide open underneath on some of those incomplete deep shots and sacks. I also noticed a few excellent crack blocks throughout the game that really stood out. TE: Both Cravaack and Whisner saw action and did some good things. I’ve been giving Cravaack some praise the past few weeks, and he just keeps getting better with more opportunities. OL: The offensive line was an enigma. They struggled in short-yardage situations but absolutely mauled Kent’s defensive front at other times. And to be fair, I don’t put all six sacks on the O-line — some of those are on Finley. Lyons and K. Davis were ironmen up front, playing every snap at center and right guard, respectively. DL: The defense was stout against the run but struggled to get to the quarterback. DeShields showed excellent pocket awareness and got the ball out quickly when he needed to, which really neutralized our pass rush. Durham probably had his best game of the year — which might be little consolation at this point. LB: It was a quiet game from the linebackers. My biggest issue with the defense is that there were too many plays where we just didn’t seem ready. I’m not sure if the signals weren’t getting relayed correctly or what was going on, but there were far too many moments where we looked confused both before and after the snap. DB: I thought DeWalt and Reed played fairly well, and Hunter had his moments. Outside of those three, though, it was a horrendous night for this group. There were far too many explosive plays allowed in the passing game, and too often our guys got caught trying to jump a route or were looking in the backfield and completely lost track of their man. ST: The missed field goal ended up hurting us. The short kickoffs gave Kent great field position all night, and the turnover on punt return was unfortunate. On the flip side, the onside kick recovery was an absolute thing of beauty. Coaching: Hard to complain about 530 yards of offense, but I’m going to do it anyway — it felt like there was more left out there. One major issue I keep coming back to: why wasn’t Johnson inserted in the short-yardage situations? The defense left a lot to be desired. We were flat-out outcoached by a Kent team that had no business creating that many explosive plays or points. Final Take: There’s no way around it — we shouldn’t have lost this game. Even if we beat BG next week, there were so many wasted opportunities this season. The frustrating part is that this has been an ongoing theme since 2022. I’m not sure where things go this offseason, as all parties involved are going to have some tough decisions to make. If I’m not mistaken, Moorhead’s contract runs through 2027. He’s been working with an insanely limited set of resources compared to other FBS programs, so you have to wonder if he even wants to keep banging his head against the wall for a fifth year. I also imagine the new athletic director may want to make his mark with a fresh coaching hire — as new ADs often do. To top it off, I suspect we’ll get hit hard by the portal again since there are no NIL funds to retain some of our better players. So once again, there will likely be a lot of new faces — certainly talented ones, as talent hasn’t been the issue — but players with little FBS experience. Little to no experience means it will take time for those players to develop over the course of the season. None of this is meant to sound negative; it’s just the reality of where the program currently stands. QB: Finley RB: Gant Patrick WR: Ma. Williams Monteiro WR: Mason Louis Broughton WR: Polk Grear Hills TE: Cravaack Whisner LT: D. Johnson Morris LG: Archer McManus C Lyons RG: K. Davis RT: King A. Jones DE: Durham D. Frazier DE: Dall Cheatom J. Frazier DT: Laventure Mixon DT: Hull Murphy LB: Summers Boswell LB: Cooper Spriggs NB: Aa. Branch CB: DeWalt Kamara CB: Reed Kamara S: Somerville Flowers S: Hunter Anderson Top Players on Offense: WR - Ma. Williams QB - Finley RB - Gant LT - Morris RT - A. Jones Top Players on Defense: DE - Durham S - Hunter LB - Summers CB - DeWalt CB - Reed

So the two events were not that dissimilar.

Congratulations to all the honorees. https://www.bigeast.com/news/2025/11/12/big-east-announces-2025-mens-soccer-regular-season-awards.aspx Offensive PotY - Stefan Dobrijevic GK of the Year - Mitch Budler

FGs provide some momentum as they offer some positive feedback for a good drive. Getting stopped on fourth down hands momentum to the other team. On two occasions the Zips were stopped on fourth down. Two wasted possessions or the surrendering of field position in a close games kill. I've watched a lot of football in my life. One thing I always notice is teams that play not to lose end up plodding along and winning a lot of games. However, Akron didn't play not to lose last night. They played to lose with turnovers, giving up big plays and sacks.

I honestly feel many are in denial about the state of our program moving forward. As @LZIp shared we have the smallest football operating budget in the MAC and little to no NIL. Realistically no proven coach is going to want this job. Odds are much higher that we will end up with another Ianello or Arth. 5-7 wins are about all we can expect under our conditions. There needs to be real vision behind the program if we want a chance to succeed. Boosters either have to step up big time or Akron needs to play more P4 games and invest that money we receive from OSU, Purdue, Iowa, etc. back into the program. Probably need to do some combination of both. I'm not sold on Joe as our long-term solution because frankly I don't think he sells the program well to boosters or local businesses, which is what's needed in this new age of college athletics. IMO Joe should enter next season on the hot seat for 2 reasons. One is the school literally can't afford a $1 million buyout. This isn't pro sports. We don't have a billionaire owner. Two is we need to develop a long-term plan to how we're going to improve this otherwise it's just going to be groundhogs day. New coach, very much all the same problems.

Joe Moe didn't miss the field goal, drop the punt, or throw the interception. He also was not in the secondary letting the Kent wide receivers do whatever the wanted to like they never played defense before. He did however, have the offense last night have over 500 yards offense a qb that threw for over 400 yards, a wr that caught for over 200 yards and an rb that had 96 yards rushing... BUT most importantly to me... his team DIDN'T quit down 18 going into the fourth quarter and fought back and tied the game.... somebody motivated that team on both sides of the ball... But let me guess, we aren't going to give him credit for the offensive performance and we aren't going to give him credit for the team NOT giving him and scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter? we will just bash and hate on him and say he has to go cause he sucks.... It was a great game and it didn't go the way we wanted it to... sometimes that happens....

I know we technically have 4 new starters, but we seemed to have returned a lot more minutes compared to most teams as we returned pretty much all our bench players and then elevated them to bigger roles. Of the new players added to this years rotation thus far Eric already had 1 year learning the system in practice and Evan was born to play this style of basketball. That leaves only Ognjen who admittedly seems to still be adapting. Meanwhile, other teams have 5, 6, 7 new players in their rotation. It gives us a huge advantage this early in the year.

Here's the deal. Akron showed up to this game. And they got a classic game. Make the damn things fun. The winning may come. Maybe play Youngstown, too...ya know, to get opponents people want to see. I don't care if it's a loseable game against an FCS school. Fun football at the stadium with opponents that people care about is enough for now. What they did last night to market...do that for all the games. Get people to come out, get a little better on the field...and maybe just maybe there's actual hope the program can turn it around. Last night was fun. I guess if they get over the practice restrictions and such, maybe they can just be fun. I dunno.

Zips were 19 in last week's coaches ranking.... Zips jump up to 14 in this week's ranking Georgetown at 15 and UConn is #26 https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/ if Akron or Georgetown win the Big East conference tournament, it is my opinion that one of those 2 teams would deserve a top 8 NCAA tournament seed.

Thanks for this! Been trying to figure out the best way to watch and definitely not signing up for ESPN Unlimited. PS: Anyone with YouTube TV make sure to claim your $20 off vouchers. There's also a $10 off for 6 months promo in the "manage plan" settings.

I'd be surprised if we don't continue the pooch kickoffs that we saw last week against UMass.

White board update! As of 8am on 11/11

If Providence should happen to win the BET (shudder), the Big East would likely get five teams into the NCAA tournament (Seton Hall has an RPI of 16). I would be fine with four and an Akron tournament championship.

We all know that the answer is neutral site games in Florida and tarps on empty seats.

Purdue’s system has a weakness and it’s athleticism. When they lost to a 16 seed with Zach Edey I believe FDU’s Center was 6’7. I think you beat them with athletic pressure and hope you shoot better than them. still a long shot to win. But I like this match up more than Arizona last year.

Murray state lost by 11 to SMU, Tulane won, Princeton beat bucknell by 10, I’ll update Kenpom when I go in the office Thursday I’m tired

You just can't kick it from the 1. Cowardly move and we paid for it. Among other mistakes

Jo must go

I think it's probably a bad call but it was never going to get overturned

There's the stupid Finley pass

Akron needs to engage in some adult kickoffs. They are surrendering too many yards which makes the subsequent drive after another Kent three and out longer than it needs to be.

I don't hate the field goal but I hate lining up in shotgun for 3rd and short.

Back to the game. We SHOULD win; we are the more talented and experienced team. This is our game to lose via turnovers, penalties, and special team blunders. If we play complimentary football like we have the last few weeks we should be good. But you never know unfortunately. Rivalry games are tight for a reason.

And since we are reviving this 3.5 year old topic, here is my 3.5 year old analysis of how the refs suck and we got hosed.

@Captain Kangaroo 1 day ban for @MDZip for reviving this thread without saying, "The refs suck."

The world you live in must be an interesting one. Go Zips.

Other thing I'd like to try with the MACtion...plaster ads everywhere and cut back the TV timeouts. See if we can't find a happy medium. Attendance on the weekdays should also be a bit better if you knew going in the 7 PM kickoff wasn't going to get you to your car by 11

It's Monday at 12:15 PM EST, and ... I am taking the Zips 45-17.

I made a comment before, I think a good compromise is for the MAC to have 3 midweek games per week. The rest being on Saturday. That would make it so that each team would only have to play midweek twice (once at home and once on the road). That would allow midweek TV spots to be filled and will give fans 1 more Saturday game to attend.

Well we are on one projection, though they probably don't even know we are on a ban.

For those without ESPN now thanks to Mickey Mouse's greed, FuboTV has a 5 day free trial. You'll need the Elite package for ESPNU, and you can cancel after the game without being charged. However, unlike many free trials, cancelling right after signing up will terminate the trial immediately so make sure you set a reminder for Wednesday/Thursday/Friday.

Joe would kill for only one hand to be tied behind his back.

I think it’s really going to be interesting at the end of the season when Joe meets with the AD. I really believe that Joe is going to have a list of changes that need to be made to this program or he will walk away. This late season success will only empower him more. Throughout the year he has been dropping little nuggets about his dissatisfaction with the school’s commitment (financially and structurally) to the program. I think he feels that he is trying to build a program with one hand tied behind his back. We will see.

Good preview of the game https://akronzippedup.substack.com/p/game-11-preview-kent-state-golden?utm_medium=ios

In the 2nd half Mass reminded me of past Akron teams that were totally outmatched at every position and almost every opposing play was a positive one and we would shoot ourselves in the foot when we did make a good play with a stupid penalty. I give the Mass. coach credit. They finally get a stop in the 2nd half and their defensive back gets a penalty for taunting and Akron keeps the ball. The coach sent the player to the locker room, do not stop at the bench, do not keep your uniform on, just head to the showers. How many times did we see stupid personal fouls from Akron players when the team was winless and getting killed. Taunting when you are 0 and 8 and down by 21 points. Hit the showers.