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For me, Caleb Borneo was MOM. Scoring twice is (obviously) huge, but Borneo was also instrumental in the linking play through our midfield. What a comeback story for this guy! Hopefully, he continues his current trajectory. Remi Agunbiade completely changed the match when he entered late in the 1st half. Buckeyes could not contain him. Toward the end, OSU Defense began to look fearful. As previously mentioned, Jose Pedro was fantastic in both defending the flank and contributing passing into Offense. He needs to keep shooting, as unlikely as that sounds when referring to a Fullback. Judging from the room they afford him, opposing Defenses evidently do not believe Jose can score. He should prove them wrong. Ashton Kamdem was a monster on our left flank. Somebody check me on this, but I think Kamdem drew 3 OSU yellow cards. He is probably really sore today. Side note: Kamdem is the only truly ambidextrous field player we have. Mitch Budler also appears to be ambidextrous. What can I say that has not already been said? Five matches; Zer0 goals allowed. None will be surprised when Budler's name goes up on Stu Parry's wall.

I’ll go a step further. I always liked our chances of winning when Evan Wilson was in the game at the very end.

great exposure for Zips soccer

Thanks for the kind words. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere regardless of Moorhead’s status. Sure, Moorhead coming to Akron and my family’s move to Ohio may have sparked my initial interest, but now I’m in it for the long haul. My kids look forward to going to an Akron game with me every year, and I’d be thrilled if any of them ended up attending Akron someday. It’s also been a pleasure meeting some of the posters here in person. I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here with my disappointment on how things have gone since Moorhead took over. Like I’ve said before, there are certain turnarounds in college football I really enjoy following. The two other programs I’ve kept an eye on are South Carolina and Illinois. Forget for a moment that they’re P4 and Akron is G5—the similarities are still there. All three were sitting in the bottom third of their conferences when their current head coaches took over. None of them are near the top of their conferences in NIL money. And the general consensus from the media and most college football fans was that it was impossible to win at those schools. Fast forward a few years, and two of the three are sitting in the top 11 nationally, depending on which poll you look at. All three schools have also assembled excellent staffs. Just the other day I was talking with a colleague who played at Bowling Green and later coached at Syracuse. We got on the topic of MAC football, and unprompted he mentioned what a great staff Moorhead has put together at Akron with limited funds. I had to agree. The flip side is recruiting. Because without great players, it really doesn’t matter how good the coaching is—wins will always be hard to come by. I’ve coached for well over a decade and also worked on the recruiting services side of things. From my perspective, Moorhead has brought in a lot of talent, but it just hasn’t translated into wins yet. Recruiting services will disagree, but here’s some context: most analysts have little to no football background—they’re writers. They put too much stock into measurables and camp performances without pads. On top of that, programs with long track records of success almost always get the benefit of the doubt with rankings. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a kid commit to South Carolina as a two- or three-star, only to decommit, flip to Georgia or Alabama, and suddenly get bumped to four stars. Same story with Illinois versus Michigan or Ohio State. I say all this because Akron football seemingly has what it needs in place to win right now—and just isn’t. I can’t explain why the offense looked like year one with a brand-new staff when this is year four with a returning starting quarterback who has the physical tools to make just about every throw at this level. I don’t have an issue with Moorhead being open about what the program is lacking financially. What I do have an issue with is the lack of wins despite a dramatically upgraded roster compared to when he took over and a really strong staff in place. All that said, I’m still hoping this week is the spark that finally gets the long-awaited wins rolling—and that I look foolish for even posting this. It’s past time.

The information above is too good to fade away to page 2. I will try to make the @catdaddyp season predictions and previews the official game day threads from here-on-out.

Today's scrimmage was by invite only. All I can say is Groce has a big problem on his hands. Too many good players and not enough minutes per game. Perkins and Henderson both look like they could play this year. Head and Evan Mahaffey looked solid. The Serb is going to be a matchup nightmare for our opponents. Scott buried at least 6 NBA range 3's. Overall a good showcase.

Passing thoughts on the game b/c I have nothing better to do: Forget the rankings, the Zips are a top ten team. If what we saw from SLU was true to them, they are not a top 20 team. Akron was the far better team tonight. Our MF's were outstanding, especially in the first half They won the 50/50 balls They set up many beautiful shooting opportunities They filled the passing lanes so well SLU rarely put together more that 2 passes They repeatedly played the ball on the ground out of severe pressure. Having Freddy returning to the backline steadied the defense. I wish he was in there against UConn. The character of this team was on full display. They showed no fear of SLU or memory of having lost the last two. This team is confident and proud, but not arrogant. Jack Roman has emerged as a threat every time he has the ball. Coming from the wing he will force teams to widen their back four. Mitch and Ashton are both 1st team All-Americans. They will play in MLS. Matt Dreas is the unsung glue to our MF. Credit to our coaches for filling 8 open positions this season and for continuing to find the best combinations of players. We are getting better and finding a lot of depth.

My son gets married on the 21st so I will miss this one. On my wedding day 32 years ago the Zips were down 35-0 at the half to BG. I listened to the game on my Sony Walkman in the vestibule as the church filled up. Hoping for a better result in 2025. Here’s my niece, then a freshman at Akron, bottle-feeding him at the Acme-Zip game in 2001. Time flies…

I've been researching the roster limits and I believe the players who were walk-ons are grandfathered in - so Groce and Halligan wouldn't count toward the 15 player limit. They apparently did this so existing walk-ons weren't forced out of programs.

(Pretend this is a zero)

QB: Finley had his best game of the season, and if he’d played like that against Wyoming, we’d probably be sitting here with another win. Granted, CMU’s defense wasn’t anything special — I thought the number of turnovers they’d created (or been gifted) coming in masked some of their flaws. Still, it was great to finally see the kind of performance we know Finley is capable of. Hopefully, that’s something he can build on moving forward. On the lone interception, it looked like there was some sort of miscommunication, with the receiver running a different route than what Finley expected. RB: I don’t have enough positive things to say about Gant. He was excellent and once again looked like the FCS All-American from a few years back. He seemed a little gassed in the fourth quarter — which is understandable given he carried the ball 32 times and was on the field for all but six offensive snaps. It would’ve been nice to have another playmaker like Patrick available to give him a breather, but that wasn’t an option. Curry saw his first action, and while he’s a bigger back, he didn’t have much of a chance to show what he can do in limited touches. WR: Mason finally had the breakout game I’ve been waiting for. His performance looked a lot like what he showed during the spring game — the flashes that had me raving about him during the offseason. Outside of one glaring drop that would’ve moved the chains, this group was solid, and that miscue didn’t end up costing us. We just need this unit to keep developing. If they do, we’ll be talking about one of the better wide receiver corps in the MAC by the end of the season. TE: All three tight ends caught passes today and chipped in with some key blocks as well. I’m not sure why PFF graded the group as low as they did — I actually thought they played a sound game all-around. OL: This was one of the offensive line’s best games of the season — especially in the run game. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but they did enough to give the offense a chance to be effective in both phases. I believe K. Davis played every snap at right guard, which says a lot about his reliability and consistency up front. DL: I’m not sure when the last time our defense had five sacks, with four of them coming from the defensive line. Laventure was credited with six total pressures and two sacks, while Durham had two sacks, and Dall had three pressures. I also want to give credit to the DL for holding their ground and blowing up running lanes so often. LB: Summers played a whale of a game. I’m not sure what the refs thought they heard when he was flagged for mimicking calls again, but from my view, it looked like he was just trying to get everyone lined up correctly on a play where several defenders seemed unsure of their assignments. I’ll lump the secondary into this as well — it’s tough to always be in the right spot and still make open-field tackles against an offense like CMU’s, one that relies heavily on misdirection and gets its linemen to the second level. There were more busts than anyone would like to see, but overall the defense did enough to slow CMU down when it mattered most. DB: The secondary was asked to play the run more in this game than any other so far this season — as alluded to above. In coverage, they were generally solid, holding CMU to just 136 yards through the air. No individual stood out in a negative way, which is definitely a positive sign. ST: Special teams were very good overall, outside of the long missed field goal — which came from a tough angle — and Hills overestimating his ability by bringing out kicks several yards deep in the end zone. I like Hills and still think he’s going to break one this year, but there’s just no reason to bring those out from that deep. Coaching: Give credit where credit is due — great gameplans on both sides of the ball. Offensively, we were stubborn running the football while also taking timely shots downfield. The defense looked well prepared and didn’t hang their heads after giving up some explosive plays. Overall, I thought the staff came close to maximizing what they could in this game. The only downside was a handful of penalties that were 100% self-inflicted. QB: Finley Johnson RB: Gant Curry WR: Walker Masom WR: Mar. Williams Grear WR: Polk Monteiro TE: Newell Cravaack Whisner LT: Dar. Johnson Motley-Simmons LG: McManus Archer C Lyons Morris RG: K. Davis RT: King A. Jones DE: Durham D. Frazier DE: Dall J. Frazier DT: Hull Murphy Musika DT: Laventure Mixon Madden LB: Summers Boswell LB: Cooper Spriggs NB: Al. Branch CB: Reed Kamara CB: DeWalt Thomas S: Flowers Hunter S: Di. Johnson Stepney Top Rated on Offense (20 snap min.) WR - Mason C - Lyons QB - Finley RG - K. Davis RB - Gant Top Rated on Defense (20 snap min.) LB - Summers S - Flowers LB - Spriggs CB - DeWalt CB - Reed

Amen. Wins like this on days like this makes me happy for those who can, and do, attend games. It's what college football should be. Today benefited the athletes students alumni fans and general community around Akron. This is what a public university should do.

On the spur of the moment I decided to attend the game since the weather was perfect. It is one of the best games by Akron in a long time. They had a nice balence of runs and passing and the receivers were open most of the afternoon. The defense made some great plays right before the half. Just wish we could have more games like today. I thought Finely was the best. On the interception it was a bad pass but the defender made a nice play on the ball. Makes me look forward to next week.

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!

Said it before say it again. The problems with this program go beyond 1 coach or a few players. This is and has been an organizational problem for literally decades. And now with the changes in DI college football, programs like Akron etc. are just going to fall further behind. Agree with kreed can't put lipstick on a pig. A shame. A winnable game.

I haven't read the finer details of Joe's contract, but it appears his base salary is $620K and he still has two years left on his contract. That's 1.24 million in total. The buyout language in his contract says we would owe him 75% of that total. That would amount to $930K. I can't see how Akron could financially afford to pay that when we couldn't even afford a training table that costs $3k-$5k. Furthermore, it's not like we have Nick Saban waiting on the sidelines wanting this job. The Akron job is among the bottom 5 jobs in all of FBS as we have poor funding and little to no NIL in a day and age where money means more than it ever did. Hell, if the University just gave Moorhead $465k in NIL each of the next 2 years (amounts to what his buyout would be), Akron would probably be in a better position competitively than paying that to him to not coach. The reality is whatever coach we bring in is setup to fail and in 2 or 3 years we will be asking to pay his $1 million buyout as well. At some point this chain needs to be broken. To clarify, I'm by no means trying to defend Moorhead. I just realize Akron has much deeper problems and trying to slap a bandaid on it by bringing in a new coach is simply not going to work. If they want to compete they need to better engage the community and in particular wealthy alumni and local businesses. These are 18-23 year old kids who are now hired mercenaries. They will go to the highest bidder and frankly we can't compete financially without external help.

FYI only - there were some recent instances where the behavior of a couple members didn't meet the standards of ZipsNation. When this happens it drives good people away, and puts a damper on quality conversation. I apologize. I tend to give people a really long leash, and I probably need to nip this stuff in the bud quicker.

Here's how the Big East Conference is doing through the first 5 games for most (https://www.bigeast.com/standings.aspx?path=msoc) ...

All these guesses at the starting lineup are fun. Just remember that Eric Mahaffey was penciled into the starting lineup last year until a knee injury sidelined him for the season. Under Groce, whoever plays the best during practice gets playing time. Every minute of every practice is graded by the coaching staff. Outside of the point guard we have a team full of multidimensional players. It's going to be a fun season.

I'm really starting to get excited about the upcoming season. I assume Tavari and Amani are locked into the starting lineup. I suspect we may see Stankovic in the starting lineup (just like I expected Taylor Currie!). I've also heard he's closer to 6'6" than 6'8." That leaves spots for 2 guards/wings. I could see either Mahaffey in one of those roles. Does Sharon move into the starting lineup or does Shammah? This is much more fun than trying to figure out who's going to play with Malcolm Duvivier and Jimond. How far we've come.

As a fervent Arsenal supporter (Go Gunners!), I dislike everything Tottenham Hotspur F.C. However, I could grow accustomed to Zips wearing the dark shorts with the home white kit. I think it looks sharp. Tottenham Hotspur F.C. - Wikipedia

I thought is would be interesting to compare the coaching staffs and budget between UAB and Akron. From what I can tell, UAB's football budget is roughly 11 million dollars...about double that of the Zips UAB has 24 football coaches and 18 support staff. Akron has 12 coaches and 6 support staff. And we only lost by 3 to them, on the road.

Really got no problem with that loss so long as we beat UConn on Friday. We played well enough to win but we lacked brilliance in the final third. Vermont, on the other hand, possessed that one moment of offensive brilliance. And that made the difference. Their goal was special, with a high degree of difficulty. No reason for Zips to hang their heads. Back to work.

Making an entire thread to mock a potential punctuation snafu by spelling the title wrong is good stuff

Happy Birthday Coach Groce.

Beautiful service from the great Ashton Kamdem

...and we all know the most important rotation is the one in at the end of the game, not the starters.

IF Newell and Adams were disciplinary scratches then I am fine with that and that shows JoeMo is trying to discipline the players and hold them accountable just like a lot on here are complaining about. Adams was also scratched from Nebraska so I am believing that the assumption is correct. Cheatom also has been scratched for two games. He traveled to both games and was in uniform but has not sniffed the field other than warm ups. He was the most productive or one of the most productive against Wyoming and yet can't get on the field now, again I guess he is in the doghouse also. I am new to this forum and I love all the input and especially all the work that Cat and others put into analyzing. It's awesome. But it also seems like there are a lot that come on to basically say fire JoeMo, end the football program it's not worth it, spend the money elsewhere... etc etc. To those people I think there is only two solutions, bitch until the program ends or fire JoeMoe. But what happens when the next coach comes in and has to start all over again, the losses continue, there is no NIL money to pay any player to come here, no players want to come here because of the continuous losses, and the losing seasons continue, those same people will be on here screaming the same thing end the program, get rid of this coach, he sucks, we should have never hired him. Until things change as whole throughout the college format teams are always going to struggle. Akron is very far behind the eight ball and people will say Bowling Green changed it or Buffalo changed it... Buffalo was losing until there was a little over a minute left in the game... Akron can change it around, I do believe JoeMo can change it. I'm not a fan of a lot of the decisions player wise but he has to work with what he has. I'm sure he did not go into the season expecting Finley to look like a first year qb for the first two games. The younger players need to get experience. I think Bozz will be good he can learn a lot from Coop. The freshman that are here look extremely talented if you go in and look at their highlights. We have a freshman D lineman that is 6'4 317 lbs. He is young but look at his highlights he is a force. We have a defensive end that is 6'5 265 lbs. Look at his highlights this kid dominated both sides of the ball (even was the team QB and won all section QB and D end) there are a lot of highlights of him dunking and dominating basketball games, and was a star pitcher. We have a safety that is a freak of nature that is extremely fast and athletic, and we have two linebackers one from VA and one from FL that again if you watch their highlights they dominate. And we cannot forget McManus who is a true freshman as well and is holding his own. Maybe we should to get these other guys on the field and see what they can do now before they lose interest. The D line certainly needs help and the secondary is getting shredded. The team lost half of last years roster, I'm sure they will lose more after this season. Something has to entice these players to stay here and want to be here. That is the only way JoeMo or the next coach can build a winning program. It starts at the core and they want to stay.

QB: Finley had his best game of the season, though that might not be saying a whole lot after the first two. He avoided turnovers and made a handful of really nice throws. There were a few sacks I thought he could’ve steered clear of, but beyond that, if he can consistently play at this level, the offense has a chance to keep moving forward. I’m still scratching my head over why Johnson didn’t get any looks in short-yardage situations. RB: I kept waiting for Patrick to bust a big one, but it just never came. Still, he and Gant ran hard, combining for 148 yards on 20 carries. I’ll take that any day of the week. WR: Similar to Finley, this was the wide receiver corps’ best outing too. Even with three drops, they got open, put in effort blocking, and for the most part, hauled in the catches. TE: Newell didn’t do much with his two catches, but he was solid as a blocker, especially in pass protection. Cravaack saw less than 10 snaps. OL: I thought Lyons and K. Davis played well. There were a few times we were close to breaking a big run, but things like letting a combo block go too early and both guys releasing to the second level ended up giving the defender a free shot at the back. I can’t help but wonder if all the subbing we’re doing is causing some of those mistakes. The OL definitely could’ve been better at times, but overall they opened some holes and gave Finley a pocket to work with. DL: The defense as a whole did a really nice job against the run. That said, our four-man pass rush was anemic…again. We had a hard time getting pressure in the first half, though things looked a little better after the break. Both of our sacks came on five-man pressures if I’m not mistaken. I’m not sure what’s going on with Cheatom, he hasn’t played lately, and we’re getting next to nothing from the backup DEs. LB: I thought Cooper, Spriggs, and Boswell all played well. The more I watch Boswell, the more I like him—kid’s going to be a player and just has a knack for making things happen. DB: All things considered, I thought Reed and DeWalt held their own. Our safeties, on the other hand, got absolutely roasted when they were stuck in man during the first half. The good news is we probably won’t see a better passing attack the rest of the way. UAB may not be a great team overall, but they’ve got some legitimate threats at receiver. ST: The kickoff return for a touchdown and the penalty that set up another score were absolute back breakers and, in my opinion, the difference in the game. Punting and placekicking were solid otherwise, with the only miss coming on a long field goal attempt. Coaching: That was the most animated I’ve seen Moorhead since he’s been at Akron. I think he knew this was a game we had every chance to win, and maybe he’s feeling a little pressure too. I did like the commitment to the run game, and the offense putting up 441 yards without a turnover is nothing to scoff at. Sure, it came against a bad defense, but the offense still played well. I’m not sure what adjustments were made defensively at halftime since I couldn’t see much of what was happening in the backend, but it was night and day when it came to points allowed. We still gave up yards, but that’s fine because at the end of the day the defense threw a second-half shutout. In the end, it’s another disappointing close loss in the Moorhead era. The game was there for the taking, and we couldn’t do it. We’re likely going to be 1-3 heading into conference play, which is the exact same as last year’s payday schedule. Of course, that’s assuming we take care of Duquesne this weekend, who will surely be pining for an upset. QB: Finley Johnson RB: Patrick Gant WR: Walker Mason WR: M. Williams Monteiro WR: Polk Grear TE: Newell Cravaack LT: Motley-Simmons D. Johnson LG: Archer McManus C Lyons Morris RG: K. Davis RT: A. Jones King DE: Durham D. Frazier DE: Dall J. Frazier DT: Laventure Mixon DT: Hull Murphy Musika LB: Cooper Spriggs LB: Summers Boswell NB: AL. Branch AI. Branch CB: Reed CB: DeWalt T. Thomas S: J. Anderson Hunter S: D. Johnson Flowers KO: Wiley B. Johnson K: Wiley P: Castle Top Rated Offense (20 snap minimum) QB - Finley WR - Grear RG - K. Davis WR - Polk RT - King Top Rated Defense (20 snap minimum) DT - Murphy NB - AL. Branch LB - Spriggs DE -Dall DT - Laventure

Obviously a big match with two tops teams in the country. Zips going on the road to the defending national champions and I saw on the Vermont site that the game is sold out. Should be a fun one!

Great crowd. Respectful fans. Those around me were very complimentary of Ashton Kamdem and rightfully so. First time our 2025 Zips have trailed. Very impressed by how they handled the adversity on the road with a large opposing crowd, a missed call which could have resulted in a leading goal, and being down a goal. Didn’t stop playing to score and didn’t give up another goal! Lots to build upon. Proud of this team and happy to have been there. GO ZIPS!!!

Not trying to stir the pot at all, but why would anyone think that getting rid of joe is going to solve anything? the players that can are going to go where they can get money. until akron starts having money to pay the players akron will be a stepping stone. kids will come here because "it's D1" and they will hope to get film to bounce as soon as they can. example marcus moore left being a starter to get "paid" and is fourth string at purdue- hasn't played a snap. over half of Akrons team wasn't even on the roster last year. i don't agree with some player decisions that are playing and getting an absurd amount of playing time, there is only one starter from last on offense 2 if u count polk... an entirely new defensive line except bruno who stands out because nobody is doing anything. he is barely average to D1 ends. there are only 99 d ends in ALL of D1 who are ranked LOWER than Durham, yet he has more snaps than anyone on defense. it is a very tough position for any coach

I find it amusing that on the morning after that loss the athletic department sends out an email announcing 50 days until the basketball season

Defense pitched a shutout in the second half to boot…

The mental component of the game is so under rated. Those 2 early goal line stands at Lincoln showed what our D can do. When things got out of hand, that little bit of mental brake down let the roof cave in. Today, l don't think we pitch a shut out, but we will limit UAB's O. Our O has been abysmal. Just like batters go through streaks, I think today the O will put their slump in the rear view mirror. The O line will step up. The RB's will chalk up even more yards. The receivers and QB will live up to their expectations. Zips. 41 / UAB 27 Go Zips.

I would also like to see them celebrate the glorious history of Akron soccer. I loved the DeAndre Yedlin bobblehead from a few years ago. I would pay extra every year....if they did special bobbleheads. Darlington Nagbe bobblehead !!! Richie Laryea Bobblehead !!! Scott Caldwell goal scoring bobblehead !!! Wil Trapp bobblehead !!! David "Big Sexy" Meves bobblehead !!! Anthony Ampaipitakwong !! Steve Zakuani bobblehead !!! Teal Bunbury bobblehead !!!

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/education/2025/09/11/university-of-akron-sees-higher-undergraduate-graduate-enrollment/86093682007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z112727p000050c000050e009300v112727b0054xxd005465&gca-ft=39&gca-ds=sophi This is promising, would love that number to keep creeping up closer to 20k

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/article/?categoryId=21&articleId=55064&articleTitle=tds-mens-player-of-the-year-leaderboard I didn't want to create a separate topic for this. If you click on the article above, you can see that Top Drawer Soccer has identified Mitch as one of the 10 players that should be considered as the best college soccer player of the year. The Player of the Year leaderboard is a weekly list of the ten players making the best case to win the prestigious award. The latest update features three newcomers who have helped their programs to historic starts. Mitch Budler, Akron (Newcomer) Budler breaks into the leaderboard thanks to an incredible start to the season, where Akron is yet to concede a goal despite playing four teams that have been nationally ranked at one point or another. The reigning Big East goalkeeper of the year has so far proven he may be the best in the country.

So you're saying there is room for one more...

The Hoban thing is complete BS.

No, that's a good thing. They will have to pay us.

They were too busy trying to run cover for their precious P4 Suckeyes. As the game wore on, the realization that Akron is a more dominant soccer program than Ohio State really became evident in their tone and commentary. It was Louvre worthy.

Highlights

I found a code. If you use GAMEON at checkout you get a month of BIG+ free. Just gotta remember to cancel

I get that this is a paycheck game and a somewhat necessary thing to happen for the coffers, but I would love to see the contract deal sweetened a bit where we also ink a basketball game with whomever we play in these “paycheck” football games. Nebraska and Akron on the hardwood could be interesting.

The game is free, see everyone there!! There's parking contiguous to Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, I think a small fee to park.

Keep in mind, all of this was done in the preseason. I’m also not sure how much we actually learned in a loss to a G5 team compared to what UAB did against an FCS. If we’re looking at Week 1 in a vacuum and treating Alabama State and Wyoming as equals, then give UAB the edge in all the offensive spots and Akron the edge in the defensive ones. Special teams would go Akron’s way too. Teams rarely look the same in Week 2, but unfortunately for us, we’ll probably still be staring at an ugly score against a team with superior resources and talent. Week 3 against UAB will be a better barometer for this team.