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I don't know how to share it here because it was an IG story not a post, but I saw Enrique has the #25 jersey for the T-Wolves!

Zips win 1-0!

I get that. I was referencing Joe's consistently good attitude and ability to forge forward regardless of the situation. Joe's the best.

35 days until Zips basketball!

Tremendous result tonight for VCU At home, VCU battled Marshall to a 2-2 tie as of 10:30 tonight, Zips are #11 in Gaucho Dan RPI VCU is #25 now in RPI

If Florida Atlantic, Syracuse, and Penn State couldn't prepare Johnson to be a starting QB, it's asking a lot for Joe to do it. 😁 Ruggow is a redshirt freshman, so one week of prep isn't going to give him a fighting chance of beating a team like Toledo. We ride or die with Finley. Assuming he's healthy I expect a win this weekend. If he isn't, we'll punt a lot and lose by 24.

Akron back into the coaches top 25 poll at #19 this week. Next week's opponent Cornell is essentially #27 as they're 2nd in the receiving votes section. https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/

Extra credit to Zip_ME87 for the umlauts in Emil Jääskeläinen. That's the Finnish Product! 😄

I'll list those that I recall. Others, please feel free to add any I may have missed (or make other corrections as needed). These are current as of this post MLS Columbus Crew - Evan Bush, Darlington Nagbe Minnesota United - Wil Trapp Nashville - Teal Bunbury Real Salt Lake - DeAndre Yedlin St Louis City SC - Ben Lundt Toronto - Malik Henry, Richie Laryea MLS NEXT Pro Chicago Fire II - Jason Shokalook Orlando City B - Dyson Clapier St Louis City 2 - Emil Jääskeläinen USL Championship Pittsburgh Riverhounds - Beto Ydrach Colorado Springs Swicthbacks - Marco Micaletto Indy Eleven - Aodhan Quinn San Antonio FC - Diogo Pacheco Loudoun United FC - Robby Dambrot Detroit City - Shane Wiedt USL League One Union Omaha - Marco Milanese Europe Lech Poznań (Poland) - João Moutinho Oct 1 edit - Added Teal Bunbury, MLS, Nashville whom I forgot. 😑

Why would it have to be a consistent multi-bid conference that Akron would have to go to? I would think everyone would agree that the MVC is better than the MAC for hoops. The MVC teams are typically seeded better in the tournament, win more games in the tournament, and on occasion get a 2nd bid. That would probably be more Akron's level for hoops. MAC hoops have drastically declined since covid and there are no signs of it improving anytime soon. The other schools are too busy checking the couch cushions searching for every last nickel and dime to throw at FBS football.

A back heel goal on a corner from Remi!

Don't throw your shoulder out patting yourself on the back there GP1. LOL.

Last night I went to the VB match against Miami with a friend. We had a good time. The ladies have a team we can be proud of. Despite Miami being 10-1 we took it to them. Our only weakness was serving. We gave up too many points when hitting it into the net or hitting it too long. That was the difference in the game. Our ladies play with power and are athletic. They blocked or return some spikes by Miami that were incredible. The vibe on this team is contagious. It appears they love playing the game and each other. One thing that impressed me was that there were big team contingents from swimming & diving, baseball, track & field and lacrosse. Nice to see our programs supporting each other. If you are thinking of attending a VB match, do it. You won't be disappointed.

Somebody else posted this on Facebook. I agree with all.the conclusions. Akron Football: When Exposure Becomes an Auction Block For decades, the Mid-American Conference (MAC) built its football brand on one thing: exposure. Midweek “MACtion” meant that on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in November, when most of college football was idle, the MAC had the national stage. Even if stadiums were half empty, Akron, Kent State, and their peers could say: “We’re on ESPN.” That pitch worked for a while. Players got national airtime, coaches got recruiting leverage, and universities got their names mentioned on broadcasts that reached millions of households. But in the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) era, exposure has flipped from asset to liability. Exposure, Then and Now Before 2021, a Tuesday night breakout could put a MAC athlete on the NFL radar. Coaches could sell recruits on the guarantee of national TV games. For universities like Akron, whose football profile lagged far behind Ohio State, the ESPN window was a rare equalizer. Now? That same highlight package on ESPN is an advertisement for Power 4 programs to swoop in and recruit Akron’s best players away—with six-figure NIL packages. The math is brutal: • MAC collectives average roughly $0.5 million annually. Akron’s is closer to $341,000.¹ • Power 4 schools now routinely spend millions per year per athlete. • A MAC player who shines on national TV is no longer a point of pride—it’s a scouting reel for someone else’s roster. Exposure without the financial power to retain talent just accelerates the talent drain. The Optics Problem Even when players shine, the pictures ESPN broadcasts are damaging. Attendance across the MAC collapses for midweek games: Saturday contests averaged 16,738 fans in 2018, while midweek games averaged just 12,255—a 27% drop.² At Akron, the numbers are even worse. In 2022, fewer than 3,000 fans attended a sunny, 80-degree home game against Miami (OH). For context, in 2005—a Thanksgiving morning blizzard game with –6° wind chill—more than 7,000 showed up. What ESPN cameras show now isn’t “passionate fans” or “hidden gems.” It’s empty stands, lifeless atmospheres, and lopsided scores from overloaded buy games. That hurts Akron’s brand far more than it helps. The Enrollment Squeeze Akron’s enrollment collapse compounds the problem. In 2011, the university had 25,190 students.³ By 2024, it had dropped nearly 40% to 14,813.⁴ That decline affects everything: tuition revenue, student fees that help fund athletics, and the size of the potential fan base. With fewer students and shrinking resources, Akron can’t afford to prop up an FBS football program at the level the system demands. A Conference in Decline The larger MAC picture isn’t rosy either. The league’s national perception has declined sharply since the early 2000s, when it produced NFL names like Ben Roethlisberger, Julian Edelman, Charlie Frye, and Josh Cribbs. In the past 20 years, the quarterback output has been thin: • Keith Wenning (Ball State, 2014) — limited to practice squads • Dan LeFevour (Central Michigan, 2010) — never started in an NFL game • Kurtis Rourke (Ohio → Indiana, 2025) — drafted but unproven The league that once marketed itself as a talent incubator now serves as a farm system for wealthier schools. The Core Problem: Exposure Without Retention For Akron, the ESPN window no longer sells. National visibility doesn’t build fan support, it doesn’t stabilize enrollment, and it doesn’t retain talent. Instead, it broadcasts the program’s weakness: low crowds, heavy losses, and players destined to leave once they succeed. The very tool meant to elevate the MAC now underscores its irrelevance. Exposure without retention is brand erosion. The Path Forward Akron faces a stark choice. Staying in the FBS MAC means continuing to cash the occasional $1 million “buy game” check and enjoying ESPN visibility—while enduring blowout losses, talent drain, and empty seats. Dropping to the FCS would lower costs and restore competitive balance, but at the expense of national profile and big payouts. Neither option is glamorous. But pretending that exposure alone is still a benefit in 2025 is self-deception. The NIL era has changed the rules. Without new resources or a strategic reset, Akron’s midweek ESPN appearances don’t build the brand—they auction it off. ⸻ Sources 1. NIL reporting: MAC collectives average ~$536,000 annually; Akron’s closer to $341,000. 2. The Ringer: 2018 MAC attendance — 16,738 (Saturday) vs. 12,255 (midweek), –26.8%. 3. University of Akron Institutional Research: enrollment peaked at ~25,190 in 2011. 4. Ideastream: Akron’s fall 2024 enrollment at 14,813.

Board activity seems to be exponentially higher the week after a loss than a blowout win?😃

Dropping divisions doesn't automatically make you more competitive since talent level drops accordingly.

To summarize the positives from the presser: 1. They had only 3 penalties 2. The placekicking was good 3. They got peeled so badly that some young guys got game experience If Joe Dunn ever gives up this sports gig he has a real future as a funeral director.

Yeah, let's focus on finding a good starting QB first

You must be tired of winning as well. I'll list the conferences that had multiple bids last year and you tell me which one we can finish with a winning record. This list is from Wikipedia. BidsConferenceSchools 14 SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt 8 Big Ten: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Purdue, UCLA, Wisconsin 7 Big 12: Arizona, Baylor, BYU, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech 5 Big East: Creighton, Marquette, St. John's, UConn, Xavier 4 ACC: Clemson, Duke, Louisville, North Carolina 4 Mountain West: Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah State 2 West Coast: Gonzaga, Saint Mary's The MWC and West Coast are not serious options because of travel. That leaves us with even less serious options in the Big Ten, SEC, Big East, Big 12 and ACC. All but the Big East require football membership. That leaves the Big East. Let's see, St. Johns plays in the most famous arena in the world. Marquette plays in an NBA arena. Xavier has their own palace. UCONN is a national power. I guess once every 10 years we could beat Creighton. Does leaving the MAC still sound like a good idea?

Were the two saves stellar or routine though? Having a great defense that only allows two mediocre shots per game can make any keeper look amazing on a stat sheet. Budler is no doubt one of the best in the country, but let's not discount excellent defense as a strong contributor to his eight shutouts.

If we just wait a few more years, G5 may have it's own division below FBS. By doing so, we can save a good MBB program and very good soccer program.

Whoever runs this account has the easiest job in the world. Depressing... but easy.

Highlight from the Gozips.com writeup: "Redshirt senior GK Mitch Budler (Lincoln, Neb.) collected two saves for the Zips out of nine total Bulldogs shots to earn his NCAA-leading eighth shutout of the season." This guy is good!

Vermont 2 UMBC 0 St. Louis with a 2-1 home win over LaSalle Creighton gets a 2-0 road win at DePaul Cornell 3-1 home win over Yale N. KY and Cleveland State 1-1 Georgetown 2-0 home win over St. John's Seton Hall 2-0 road win at Marquette Big East Midwest Standings Creighton 2-0 Akron alone in 2nd at 1-1 Xavier and DePaul 0-1-1 Marquette and Butler both 02 Big East - East Georgetown and Seton Hall both 2-0 Villanova 1-0-1 UConn and Providence both 1-1 St. John's 0-1-1

W

All the fire the coach fans are out in full force. Again, this isn't about 1 coach or a QB...etc. This program can't compete at this level...... Let's frigging move on. I have season tix but likely only make 1 one more game. Not gonna lose sleep on weeknights for this garbage.

I am so sick of Reghi tell me each week how our coach is an offensive genius on 3rd down and 27 and we have 5 yards of total offense for the game. Johnson is really bad. Lets go to the our next QB. He cannot be worse. Zips football is simply unwatchable.

Toledo gets the local bounce backs we should be getting. Trayanum (Hoban), Wilson Lamp (Massillon).

Johnson with the start. May as well see though with the season basically lost already, may as well see Roggow instead of a backup senior.

Game Day Notes: TOLEDO: Quarterback Tucker Gleason has been steady or better in every outing this year except for the WMU game, where he just wasn’t very good. As you’d expect, plenty of Rocket fans were calling for their backup, “JAR,” to ride in and save the day, but that moment never came. Kentucky transfer Chip Trayanum has been a force in the backfield, piling up 401 yards and 5 touchdowns already. Toledo probably boasts the most talented wide receiver group in the MAC, but the offense has leaned heavily on the ground game—even with a difference-maker like Junior Vandeross split out wide. A big piece of that is the offensive line, which has had its fair share of struggles protecting the passer. The Rockets currently sport the best defense in the conference and have only given up 14.8 points per game. Linebacker K’Von Sherman (former JUCO) leads the Rockets in tackles with 30 total. I thought Sherman was the best linebacker recruit in the 2024 MAC class when it came to Rivals’ HS/JUCO classification. At this point, everyone knows who’s been playing well and who hasn’t for Akron, so I won’t harp on that going into this matchup. What I’ll be watching for is pretty straightforward: Can we move the ball with any kind of efficiency against what looks like the best defense we’ll face outside of Nebraska? Can we slow down the run, force the Rockets to throw, and generate pressure against a line that’s been shaky in pass protection? And lastly, field position feels like it’s going to be huge—where drives start could end up being the difference in whether we have a shot at pulling this one off.

The lady zips draw on the road in Athens, Ohio.....is very impressive as the Bobcats were forecast to finish 3rd in the league.. 2025 MAC Women’s Soccer Coaches Preseason Poll First Place votes in ( ) | *Coaches could not vote for themselves 1. Western Michigan (8) – 135 points 2. Buffalo (4) – 128 points 3. Ohio – 123 points 4. UMass (1) – 114 points 5. Bowling Green – 93 points 6. Kent State – 89 points 7. Miami – 73 points 8. Northern Illinois – 60 points 9. Eastern Michigan – 55 points 10. Toledo – 54 points 11. Ball State – 50 points 12. Central Michigan – 28 points 13. Akron – 12 points

This doesn't need to be made into a political conversation. I don't disagree that things get overaggerated. That said, as someone who personally got jumped my freshman year on campus and who had a group of friends get robbed at gunpoint in their south campus house, I can very much say the problems exist. Student enrollment at Ohio colleges/universities peaked in 2010 with a total enrollment of 772,393. This past year total enrollment was 618,225. That's a 154,168 or 20% student decline across the state. A lower percentage of people are attending colleges compared to 10 years. Add in the fact that we have an aging population and the problems will only compound due to having a decreasing college aged population. It's true schools like Toledo and Akron were hit disproportionately harder, but as total enrollment for the state continues to shrink this is going to be a much larger problem for all schools. The only ones safe are probably OSU and Cincy. This is a much larger problem than pretending that Akron's enrollment is declining solely because it's perceived as unsafe. Fewer people are attending college compared to before.

The father of a former player was murdered in cold blood just blocks from the campus. Some segments of society seem to be willing to accept this violence as just a part of city living. It's more than just perception, it's a fact that the violence in urban areas is there.

We go as Finley goes. His 9th year…or whatever it is…has been disappointing thus far. If the OL is passable, and he trusts them, I think we have a shot at the upset this week. Is he’s seeing ghosts and scrambling to his left for no apparent reason, we will likely lose by 32.

Someone asked about Rotation here is my take. Obviously it will change throughout the season but with huge games early here is my 1st couple game predictions. we will Play a 3 guard line up with Tavari Johnson, Shammah Scott, and Bowen Hardman starting. Sharron Young and Cody Head will come off the bench at the guard. the 2 freshman guards might redshirt. At the 4 I think we will start the year with Evan Mahaffey with his brother backing him up but Ogen Stankovic will play more and more as the season goes on and might shift the Mahaffey brothers to the 3 (it is probably a given that we will play a 4 out offense so all these dudes will play on the perimeter) At the 5 Amani will start and play big minutes. with Chabi Barre and Rich Brisco coming in with foul trouble or to give Amani a break. Marvin will struggle to see the court unless injury. That gives us 11 total players playing regular minutes. I think we have the pieces to 3peat and my biggest mystery player is Cody Head, as I don't know how good he is, he could start over Bowen.

Time to build the statue at Jackson Twp City Hall!

Just win, baby..

INCREDIBLE!! What an honor! And I know NOTHING about her...unfortunately! I'm telling my niece-in-law who coaches the University of Hawai'i that now she HAS to schedule the Akron Zips in Hawai'i!

Unless Bowman expanded his offense to include an ability beyond being a long range shooter and improved his defense, I could see him having less of a role on this year's team given its current composition.

I'm always here to help. The MAC does not serve us. The conference is a member organization. As such, the members make the decisions. The problems at Akron are almost entirely of our own making. The MAC commissioner and other schools have not hired a series of mid level, at best, ADs since Mack. Nor did they force us to hire Ianello, Arth and keep on to Bowden too long. Further, the MAC is not forcing Akron to fund the program like it's Grandma's checkbook. Ya, the weeknight games are a laughable joke at this point, but other schools seem to be able to win regardless. If the weeknight games go away, what evidence is there that Akron will be able to maximize that opportunity?

My issue is not entirely about the one bid conference issue. It's more about the demands of a conference that does not serve us well.

This is where my greatest aggravation with JoeMo lies.

I agree the program is in trouble without any NIL resources. If nothing changes, we’re basically going to turn into a developmental team for programs that do have them. We were tied for the most MAC players lost to Power programs this past offseason, and on top of that we lost highly productive guys like Norton, T. Williams, and G. Smith to other G5 schools. The staff has done an excellent job identifying talent, bringing those kids in, and developing a large portion of them, but the reality is we won’t be able to keep them for long with the way the current landscape is moving. On top of that, I don’t think our win total has matched the talent level we’ve built over the last few years. I was staunchly against the idea of moving to FCS. While that might solve a monetary deficit — and I can’t really speak to the numbers there — it’s certainly not guaranteed to field a more competitive product. Outside of Nebraska and Toledo, this team has been competitive, they just haven’t won, and that should rightfully sit uneasy with fans and stakeholders. My biggest issue with this year’s team has been quarterback play. Our starter hasn’t played up to his potential, and we don’t have a backup capable of keeping us in a game. How that’s the case in year four is beyond me. The defense had a terrible day as well, which just made things look that much worse. Back to the FCS conversation — I believe a split is coming with the haves and have-nots anyway, so we’ll end up being forced into a different division organically. Who knows what that will look like, but the SEC and Big Ten are in the driver’s seat while the NCAA loses more control by the day. I certainly don’t mean to turn this thread into one we basically already have going elsewhere, since none of us truly know what’s going to happen in the coming years and can only guess. That said, I thought I’d chime in because it does relate to our results this season and where the program is headed if nothing changes. Even so, I still believe we have enough talent to hang with every team left on our schedule, and I’m not giving this staff a free pass. We need to see better performances and results.

Women got another draw against NIU. Seems like we are definitely competitive in conference. Hoping for some wins as this team develops

Jackie is very deserving of this honor. Her behind the scenes work has been instrumental in the success of many Zips teams.

That information is correct.

This topic is called 2025 Rankings and RPI thread..... I know that it is only September 22...but most of the teams have played 8 of their allowed 17 regular season games.... I think it is OK now to look at current RPI.... I looked at this around 11 pm last night (so the RPI rankings shown include Sunday night VCU 0-0 tie with Dayton) Sunday night September 21 RPI....for zips, all teams on their schedule...and also includes the 3 big east teams not on schedule If my memory is not shot, this should show 21 teams Vermont 5 St. Louis 6 mighty, mighty Zips 15 UConn 27 W. VA 35 VCU 36 Georgetown 48 Creighton 55 Seton Hall 63 Cornell 74 Marquette 79 St. John's 80 DePaul 83 Ohio State 97 Providence 104 Villanova 107 Xavier 126 Northern Kentucky 130 Cleveland State 155 Western Michigan 187 Butler 197

In 1987 we got our first D1 win against EMU three games in also. It was nice. Too bad it was our last for the year that ended up 4-7.