kreed5120

Akron didn't fire Bowden to hire Arth. They fired Bowden because he won only 40% of his games through 7 seasons despite playing in the worst division in all of FBS. No matter who the coach was this team was going to stink based off the lack of talent on the roster. If you want to say Bowden would have won 3-4 games with this roster I'm not going to bother arguing as that would be purely subjective, but there is no way this team was going to make it to a bowl game even if Nick Saban was coaching it. If through 5 games you're certain that Arth isn't the guy, I certainly had my doubts when they hired him (still do), that just means Larry Williams hired the wrong guy. There are other MAC programs that can perennially make bowls and their "good seasons" are 9-10+ wins. Why do you think the best Akron can do is a perennial 5-7 team with our "good season" being 8-5?

Yes, to me he just comes off as fake. I listened to a few of his shows while commuting home and he seems to agree with every caller and thinks everyone is doing a great job. He seems more concerned with placating everyone than offering real insight or offering an original opinion.

I actually went with the core improving as the #1 choice with X as #2. I'd have taken Xeyrius over any of the individual core players, but I was offered that group as a whole so I took that.

I'd say Xeyrius will have the biggest individual impact on our success, however, how much guys like Cheese, Riak, Banks, and LCJ improve from last season IMO will be what makes or breaks our season. Namely I'd like to see more consistency from Cheese, better late game decision making from LCJ, Riak being able to catch a simple dump off pass and dunk, and Banks emerging as a legit 3 & D guy.

The coin will be flipped then land on its side.

FF: Loser of this game will go 0-12 this season

I see we already have 4 players in the portal. I was curious how that compares to other teams so I gave it a look. The other 11 MAC teams have a combined 4 players in the portal, 2 of which are WMU players. It's still early and a lot can change between now and March/April, but I'll be interested in seeing how our transfers end up comparing to other MAC programs when all is said and done.

Anyone else looking forward to this stopable force meets a moveable object juggernaut match-up?

With the increase in college football transfers, I wonder if we see the NCAA modify that 25 scholarships per year rule in the coming years.

If it was injury related, I'm going to guess he was a game time decision and was healthy enough to play if absolutely needed. If that was the scenario, I'd say his odds of playing this week would appear to be pretty high.

According to ESPN FBI, this is the only game we're favored in the rest of the season. Every other game besides the BGSU game our opponent has an 80%+ chance of winning. If we can't pull this one out, I see 0-12 becoming a strong possibility.

I'm not on the fire Larry Williams bandwagon right now, but I do believe his contract is up at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. If we don't see some serious improvement in mens basketball and football between now and then I don't see how we extend him considering he hired both Arth and Groce. We've had some success in certain olympic sports (T&F, swimming & diving), however, those aren't what excite students, alumni, nor joe akron. If it did I don't think the University would have much issue crowdfunding $1.4 million for a new track.

Not that it matters when you're only attracting 5k-7k fans, but Infocision was probably built a little too big. Everyone being so spread out just kills any sort of game day excitement. Maybe they should start tarping off sections to make fans sit nearer to one another. The program has been pretty irrelevant for the last 30 years. It would multiple years of 9-10+ win seasons to restore any sort of excitement into the program.

Syracuse is the only school in NY that is rolling in the money on athletics and it's private so I don't think this would apply to them. All these type of laws are going to do is force public schools to reduce or eliminate athletics all together. It seems the general populous thinks because schools like OSU, Michigan, Alabama, USC, etc. are rolling in the money that all other schools are as well. Between division 1 & 2 there are nearly 700 athletic programs. I'd have to guess 90% of those rely heavily on student subsidies already to fund their athletics. They're now going to have to raise student athletic fees even more as laws like these further reduce the little revenue athletics generates.

I wish I had @Blue & Gold optimism this week. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Kato picks up enough junk yards in the 3rd and 4th qtr to clear 290 yards as I see Troy jumping out to a large lead fast and willing to concede underneath routes over the middle.

I'm not sure what your problem is. First off, I was being nice welcoming a new member. Next I haven't seen people calling for Larry Williams to be put on the hot seat. Maybe they have and I just haven't seen. I found his post well put together to display his argument.

Welcome to the board. It's nice to have another thoughtful person on the board who backs their opinions up with facts. I too wasn't thrilled with the Arth hire. I'm just cheering for him to succeed because I want to see the Zips do well. Groce kind of inherited a mess of a team as everyone who was on Dambrot's team pretty much either graduated or transferred. I'm giving him this season to show some actual results. For the sake of the program as a whole I hope we do see improvement this year as I believe Groce still has 4 years left on his deal and no way the University is going to eat 3 of those. I think you did bring up a good point about Larry Williams that I haven't see many people talk about. I feel it's a given at this point that the Zips football program is going to finish at or near the bottom of the MAC this year. If Zips basketball has another middle of the pack finish, I wouldn't be surprised to hear more talks of wanting Larry gone. I'm not sure how many years he has left on his deal.

It was a bad PR hit when the team was cut, but once it was cut they should have just left it for dead. I'd rather the athletic department focus their attention and resources on improving the other sports. Even if the baseball program is self funded, as is claimed, its going to be a pretty much a club team facing off against actual D1 schools. I can't imagine why anyone would want to watch.

Does anyone know what's going on with Peter Hayes-Patrick? I saw several different media outlets pick him to be MAC offensive freshman of the year before the season started yet he still doesn't have a touch yet. Is he injured or is he just not as good right now as people were thinking he would be? Our running game could sure use a boost, however, I'm not sure it matters whose carrying the ball with how bad the o-line has been at opening up holes.

Any online fan site is going to have irrational fans. It's easy to act that way when you're hidden behind a keyboard. Frankly this is the best place for Zips news. I know I personally wouldn't be the fan that I am now if not for this site. Thanks Captain and all the admins for the work you do.

Wisconsin has consistently been a top 3 or 4 team in the B1G for 2 decades. They aren't going to want to spend 3 years developing a guy when they can get someone who can help them win now.

I'd add DB to this as well. I think I read in the off season that we only have 8 DB on scholarship. That's not a lot considering you have 4-5 DBs on the field every defensive snap. Not to mention good cover corners give the d-line a little extra time to get pressure on the QB.

I know some around here are already wanting Arth fired after 3 games, but I think it can be agreed upon that the one position that he is qualified in evaluating talent is at the QB position. Personally, I don't think it matters who we have playing QB as the o-line is the real issue on offense.

UMass lost to Southern Illinois last week and got clobbered 52-17 by Charlotte yesterday. That game will probably be Akron's best chance of getting a win this year.

Personally, for me however Arth does has no bearing on my thoughts on letting Bowden go. I wanted Bowden gone because frankly I didn't feel he won consistently enough to warrant more time and I had no faith in him turning the program into a consistent MAC contender. Some of you may or may not disagree and that's fine. If Arth succeeds it tells me Larry Williams and his supporting staff made a good coaching hire. If Arth fails that means they didn't. Somewhere out there is a young promising coach that is looking for a chance. It's just a matter of finding him.