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I don't know if anyone cares or not Malcom is having a great game for the Falcons tonight. I didn't notice him before the fourth quarter playing defense i thought i saw him on special teams though. Start of the fourth quarter he had a tackle and then an interception at the goal line but replay overturned. It was a nice play but his foot game down out of bounds. He was on field goal block and came relatively close to blocking the field goal (at least it looked like it) and the kicker missed it. Then the next series Falcons forced Denver to punt and Malcolm tackled the guy instantly as soon as he got the ball at like the 11 or 12 yard line. He may make the roster for special teams at least but even at that I think it would be great for the program and recruiting MAYBE to be able to say look at Malcom Dewalt straight from the Zips to the NFL ...! Sidenote Nunnally was released by the Falcons in June and was listed as a free agent as of today.

I just saw in an email from coach Nanchoff that after the current store closes on August 17th, a new store will open on August 19 and run through September 2. That new store will have gear featuring the A Star logo, he stated.

Man, I miss Charles Guthrie. Goodrich is just riding his predecessors marketing wave.🙄

Dayton is going to be a challenging first game. They are picked to finish 2nd in the Atlantic 10 and 3 of their players were selected to the pre season All League team. https://atlantic10.com/news/2026/8/17/saint-louis-picked-unanimous-mens-soccer-favorite-ahead-of-2026-campaign.aspx

Facebook post: We recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the new Bulger-Spanton amenity “connector”, marking the official start of construction on an exciting addition to the ongoing revitalization of campus residence halls. The new connector will create a shared community space designed to strengthen student engagement, connection and community. The space will feature an amenity kitchen, a package center, and extra gathering spaces!

This does two things. 1 - as you note before, absolutely that's a piece of it 2 - for effectively free, the Zips add another piece of the PR cycle and get even more coverage of the event. They're really playing this perfectly.

Can’t believe he didn’t bring up Bivens.

If he lands the jersey sponsorship deal, which would be the first in the MAC to my knowledge, his phone will be ringing pretty quickly IMO. I'm assuming his interest is already picking up with the publicity from this promo, but the jersey sponsorship would be a HUGE resume highlight. No matter what happens, he has been a home run hire and hopefully means we have a recipe for success to find his successor. In the meantime, I'm very curious to see what he has cooked up for soccer & basketball. If this is what he can pull off for a less-than-successful football program, what's in store for the uber-successful soccer & basketball programs?

Article about this in the Athletic One lucky Akron football season-ticket holder will get to call plays for the opening drive of a college football game. Really. Sort of. Which is a nice reminder of why we love this dumb sport. It’s a pure publicity stunt. Old-school, huckster carnival barking. On Aug. 4, the Akron Zips football program announced a promotion in which every season-ticket holder is entered into a raffle; the top prize is the chance to script play calls for the first offensive possession of Akron’s home opener against Robert Morris on Sept. 12. The winner, announced on Aug. 19, will get to spend two days hanging around practice and team meetings ahead of the game and consult head coach Joe Moorhead on the first 10-15 plays. The school dubbed it “Offensive Coordinator of the Game.” Akron’s athletic director hatched the idea. A briefly reluctant Moorhead — once an SEC head coach at Mississippi State and offensive coordinator at Oregon — warmed up to and ultimately encouraged it. Brainstorming ways to generate excitement and ticket sales for a traditionally disappointing football program will turn a Zips fan’s armchair quarterback dreams into reality. Or it might not even be a Zips fan. The promotion’s spawned enough broader interest that the winner could be a Robert Morris troll or podcast host. Either way, it worked. It’s early August, only weeks away from kicking off the season, and college football diehards are talking about Akron. It’s why college football is special. Athletic director Andrew Goodrich had the idea to have a fan script the team's opening offensive plays. It's led to a historic ticket surge. For such a buzzy promotion, it’s pretty low stakes. Robert Morris is an FCS opponent, and Akron itself is a humble Mid-American Conference squad, one most fans only watch in midweek MACtion or blowout losses against the Big Ten. Moorhead promised he won’t “let the circus roll into town” and will retain final say over the actual play calls. Akron is simply selling the experience. The sizzle. But it’s not zero stakes, either. The Zips have one of the smallest annual football budgets in FBS, yet it is still about $8 million. While that may pale in comparison to Ohio State pouring more than $100 million into football this season just two hours down the road, it’s a significant line item for a public university. Plenty of jobs and livelihoods are at stake within the Akron football program, and it’s still electing to pass the sticks to Joe Sports Fan for a few plays. That quirky fanaticism could only exist in this sport. The NFL and its professional counterparts would never allow it. Minor league baseball does it all the time, but no one actually cares about the wins and losses. College football is wonky enough to go for it and prominent enough for it to resonate. The Zips haven’t been to a bowl game in 10 years. They had a winless season more recently than a winning one. It had to try something different to get butts in seats. Still, a week after the Robert Morris game, the same Zips will play at Minnesota, a Big Ten squad with College Football Playoff sleeper potential. The sport really does contain multitudes. “Once the shock value wore away and we discussed some benefits, now you see (the promotion) spoke for itself,” Moorhead told The Athletic. It also comes at a welcome moment in the sport’s trajectory, when a bunch of not-so-fun nonsense is dragging things down. So much attention on college football is fixated off the field, or on an increasingly uncertain future. Congressional legislation and eligibility lawsuits. Transfer portal tampering. A head coach leaving his team in the midst of a Playoff run. Needless CFP expansion debates and Super League chatter. Then suddenly, the very same sport that takes itself too seriously reminds us that the fun, dumb stuff is what we love about it. An anthropomorphic Pop-Tart toasting itself. A winning coach getting dunked with a tub of Duke’s mayo. Pitbull partnering with FIU. Turnover chainsaws in Corvallis, the Sooner Schooner in Norman and Jump Around in Madison. Akron gave us a nice pop of flavor to cut through the glut of court battles. A one-off Akron football promotion won’t solve all of college football’s issues. The sport’s future remains murky. But at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 12, the Zips play the Colonials on ESPN+. I’ll be watching.

Pavaletzke has been a fan favorite in Athens the past two years, but he's not without his weaknesses, which I think is why it's a little more subdued reaction. He's not a strong perimeter shooter and can be taken advantage of on the defensive end. As for Boals, I think the last 3 or so years have been pretty "meh" for him. He's had a few solid transfers, but also missed/whiffed on several. There was already unrest, feeling like we have clearly slipped below Akron/Toledo/Kent...now add Miami to that group pulling ahead. I think Boals has to show the fan base he can get this program back up into that mix as a threat to win in Cleveland. We're not there right now.

I watched the game on streaming. Here are my thoughts FWIW. I love the white uniforms The team is better than last year, but by no means a MAC champion. Maggie continues building. I like the way they play: out of the back, quick transition to the attacking third, good wing play, keep the ball on the ground The team is young and has depth They lack speed up top They will have to play themselves into shape. There are several young players who are not D1 fit Their CB's are solid. They see the field well and are very capable of starting the attack with passes on the ground. I like their intelligence too because when it was open they went over the top and it was effective Oakland was a good opponent to start. I regard the Horizon league as rarely up to MAC average standards. But then again the MAC is not a quality women's soccer conference. Nonetheless this was a good opening game. We need a skillful mid who can control the attack and distribute the ball. We don't have a quality striker who has speed and skill. That is probably the hardest player to recruit in women's soccer. That being said I respect Wenzel up top. She is a pain in the ass to all defenders. She finds way to be around the ball in the box and that led to goals. If she could learn to create her shot she could be a dangerous scorer. Our athleticism is suspect. I believe this is because it will take Maggie another two recruiting seasons to stock the team with athletic, skillful players. This team may be better than it appears. I hear two starters are out with season-threatening injuries. If anyone has the scoop on them please share. It is my hope that they will return after rehab yet this season. This team will be fun to watch

There is a new twist to this promotion. Now there will be a drawing for 10 finalists at the meet and greet on Wednesday the 19th at House 330.

I'm on mobile so can't copy and paste it. I asked ChatGPT to summarize it for those of you who struggle to access. AKRON IS PRODUCING OUTSIZED RESULTS ON A TINY BUDGET • University of Akron spent $33.8M on athletics in 2025-26, the smallest budget in the MAC and second-lowest among public FBS schools. • Despite that, Akron had arguably its best athletic year ever: seven conference championships, men’s basketball went 29-6, won the MAC Tournament and reached the NCAA Tournament, and the department finished 104th nationally in the Learfield Directors’ Cup. • Huron ranked Akron No. 9 among public FBS schools for athletic value/efficiency. FINANCIAL CHALLENGE Akron faces about a $700K budget hit in 2026-27: $500K less in institutional support plus roughly $200K in employee-raise costs. University funding makes up nearly two-thirds of athletics revenue, making new revenue especially important. FUNDRAISING IS IMPROVING • Athletic cash contributions increased 109%, from $1.7M to $3.6M, just $129K short of Akron’s single-year record. • The ACE NIL Fund raised more than $664K in its first year. • Akron also balanced its budget. SPONSORSHIPS AND NAMING RIGHTS ARE A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY AD Andrew Goodrich is actively pursuing football jersey-patch sponsors, along with naming-rights deals for James A. Rhodes Arena and the soccer stadium. The InfoCision Stadium naming-rights agreement expires in 2028 and currently pays $500K annually. Goodrich wants to replace it with a deal worth roughly $1M per year. Akron is pitching potential sponsors on its reach, including 2.5M unique football viewers, 880K unique basketball viewers during March Madness, and its social-media audience. ATTENDANCE REMAINS THE WEAKNESS Football attendance averaged 7,729 per game, up 21%, but still last in the MAC and second-lowest in FBS. Goodrich wants to sell out at least one game, pointing out that more than 3M people live within 45 minutes of campus. GOODRICH’S VISION Hired in 2025, Goodrich wants Akron to become the “pound-for-pound best athletics department in America.” After just one year, Akron has already reached the top 10 nationally in athletic efficiency, giving him some evidence that the ambitious vision may be achievable.

In his defense, doesn’t everyone regress under the Guthrie regime? Lol

this is off topic... i never heard of this young man but his story his good and he still promotes a lot of zips football.. i thought some of you may enjoy it jawon chisholm message: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbn-uMpRO2X/?igsh=YzYxMWc3ZnNueGE5

Students actually are moving in today! Saw a bunch of them on my walk today to Chiptole

All I know is the real winners with all this litigation is attorneys and their billable hours.

How does anyone keep up with this crap

On a positive note for them, the Snobcats won't have that whiney puke Aidan Hadaway on the roster anymore.

Thanks.

Never be surprised when an ACC team loses.

Score doesn't show 😂, but as @csims0917 posted, 3-0 good gals.

It certainly increases the odds one of the celebrity online personalities makes it to be a finalist. Particularly if they bought a number of season tickets. In that case I'm sure they would spend several segments talking about it. Edit: Big Cat is evidently up to 18 tickets purchased. Eric Sollenberger, his co-host, said on another Barstool podcast he himself bought 10. If you add up all the Barstool employees they probably have 100+ tickets. There is a realistic chance of one of them making it to be a top 10 finalist.

For the basketball arena rights, I'd put money on it being Wentz Financial.

The second year of the Goodrich era begins Sunday 8/16 with the Womens soccer team playing Oakland. I'm very excited for some Akron sports action. So, I started a thread to say which teams are you excited to see this year?? Can football capitalize on the momentum it's built with the season ticket campaign? Can MBB 4peat the MAC? Can MSOC win the Big East and make it back to the College Cup? Can WSOC improve in year 2 with its new coach? Can Volleyball build upon the success they had last season? Can WBB finally make a jump and make it Cleveland? Can baseball stay healthy and look like the team some rumor mills have hyped up? Can softball repeat the success they had last year? Can lacrosse get revenge on UMass and take back control of the MAC? Can our Olympic (XC/TF/Swimming) teams continue to dominate? Very excited for this year. Already got my Football/Soccer/Basketball season tickets and my ESPN+ ready to go!

I want to change my answer now.🥲

Looks like Freeman enjoyed Paris

They certainly may. The key is going to be "is Poffenbarger a good MAC QB?" If he is, Akron can win the whole darn league. If he's not, Akron will win 3 or 4 games.

At least it gives more stakes to the regular season, I loved the 3 days of chaos but with a 22-game slate now it'll keep people focused if someone runs away with first again. If I was the athletic department, I'd want to keep the fans educated so they know what is at stake before each game.

😂😂😂❤️

4 games on Thursday big whoop. Probably 3k at the noon game and 4k by 230. Now all fans can attend all games after work. Hard to complain about this

1) It wasn't unanimous and even Tod K voted against it originally. 2) It only lasted 4 years, 2012-15, reverting back to the original format in 2016. The format had the shortest lifespan of the 3 formats and seemingly the only reasons it's back are because Miami OH got embarrassed in the first round last year and Toledo couldn't end their drought despite being a 1 seed for 4 of the 6 years. Yes, it's confirmed. Your latter format is what they're going with. How does this make it any more difficult for a 5-8 to win? They get to avoid the top 2 teams in the league until the semis on Friday and get 2 warm up games to adjust to Rocket Arena. The Sun Belt's gauntlet yielded a semifinals of 1v8 and 2v10, with 1v10 being the championship. The now-previous format featured a top 2 seed in the Finals all 6 years, and a top 2 seed won it all 4 out of the 6 years. Ohio - a 5 seed in 2021 - was one of the non-top-2-seed winners and went on to win a game in the NCAAs and Akron - a 4 seed in 2022 - nearly beat UCLA in the NCAAs. I bring that up to say those anomalies were arguably the better teams in the MAC that didn't have the best regular seasons, but rose to the top when it mattered. It wasn't broken. The suits need to quit trying to have their cake and eat it, too. If the goal is to have an advantageous format for the top 2 seeds, just put them into the Finals automatically. If the goal is to make more money, they should have left it how it was. Unless Kent/Akron/OU are playing on that Wednesday, those games will be far less attended than the all day marathon that was Thursdays.

Top 8 format is what I saw. Why does it need to be easy for a seed 5-8 to be champion? It should be a challenge for them if we want the regular season to have more meaning.

We have won the MAC title the last 3 years and have not gotten past the first round. Three games in three days to win the MAC is a grind. You then have the excitement of selection Sunday and then a travel day Tuesday. Maybe it will help in the NCAA tourney if it only takes 2 games to win the title.

We're 34-2 in our last two years in the MAC. This doesn't hurt us

I'm sure someone will post Zips schedule graphic later, but the MAC released the conference schedule today. There will be 22 games. https://getsomemaction.com/news/2026/8/12/mac-announces-2026-27-mens-basketball-conference-schedule.aspx

I would be interested to hear how many season tickets got sold last week. I wonder if they will ever release those figures. All I've seen is we now how season ticket holders in 38 states and 2 foreign countries.

Edit: https://gozips.com/news/2026/8/11/mens-soccer-akron-selected-to-win-big-east-midwest-division-agunbiade-and-dreas-earn-preseason-accolades

Pretty incredible troll job against a coach/program nobody likes haha.

confirmed by Bud that the back of the shirts say "Creating our own luck for 126 seasons". I love that.

Still time for the Zips to get a nice sponsorship. This D11 school did it but supposedly the NCAA hasn't approved it yet.

FIFY

The winner will be announced on August 25. There are more details in the article below. https://gozips.com/news/2026/8/15/football-top-10-finalists-for-oc-of-the-game-to-be-revealed-at-meet-the-zips-event-wednesday I wouldn't be surprised if part of this is so they can make the finalists aware ahead of time that way they're available to be interviewed at the time of announcement. I know I personally don't answer calls from unknown numbers due to countless spam. If they want that NFL draft type call it kind of only works if the recipient is expecting the call. Otherwise they might not answer and it creates an awkward moment.

I could see this playing out like Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. There will be a winner and a happy ending eventually. The losers will got through some level of torture like being forced to watch Faust's last season uninterrupted.

Are you saying you’ve heard Poff is ineligible?

College Soccer News also ranks the Zips at #12 in their preseason poll. https://www.instagram.com/p/DcCIBqwO9OC/?igsh=MWZkeTBqZTR1OXM3Zw==

Mine came via email. It's too large to post. Here is the contact for more information mpottorf@uakron.edu Matt Pottorf.

Falcons got Two Zips...