MDZip

I'm a big fan of JT and have followed Akron for years. By little publicity do you mean no publicity? I have never read or heard of any such gifts to the school or football program.He is a true gentleman. He wants it that way. When the program has needed financial support in the past, he has come through. I've heard that one day when his playing career is over they may name something after him. The should do that Hall of Fame weekend five years after this season.They should, and I think he deserves a statue (immortalized) to show how much he meant to the program and University and to remind the players, recruits and fans that greatness can come from anywhere.He was also named to the Sporting News all-Decade NFL team.

I was Checking out Top Drawer Soccer for Zips News and I found a little pre-season tournament that the site ran and the voters (there weren't all that many) voted the Zips to win the Championship.http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/contest?contest_id=450I was, however, a little confused by this entry where we beat the WVU Minutemen. Anybody familiar with them - or the classic gold and purple team colors? Maybe that's why we won, playing fictional schools.

From that article:The Zips played from behind the entire game, giving up a touchdown on the opening kickoff to the Hoosiers. Akron battled back to close within 17-14 at halftime.Actually, we did have a short lived lead, 14-10, after the blocked punt, not that it ended up to matter all that much.

Since we finished 5th in the regular season in 2009, I have to think there are a few teams @ our level. BG comes to mind. OU will be back. Miami had a good recruiting year. K.e.n.t. ... they suck. We were seeded fifth, but finished the regular season tied for third. I think the point was that several teams were very close in talent level (hopefully Zeke is our missing piece to take us up over the top in talent level), so we can't take anything for granted, especially in a one-bid league. I think our main threat is still going to be Buffalo, they return quite a few players and most of their inside game. Ohio is very much an unknown, they are going to be young this year, same for Miami and BG (I am looking forward to Zeke matching up against Otis Polk). Guess that leaves Can't for the three spot. I'll rank them this way.1. Zips2. Buffalo3. Can't4. Miami5. BGSU6. Ohio7. Everybody in the West

I'm not going to be able to make it back for the game, so since it is sold out I thought I would offer up my single season ticket if someone would like to go. No charge. Just PM me.

Thanks for the history lesson grandpa. No go put your gloves back before you get chilled and wait for dinner to be served at three o'clock.Exactly what I expected from you. I used facts, I backed them up, I didn't insult you directly (I even complimented your contributions on the Zips), and you resorted to pettiness. Thank you for proving my point.

About the same amount that discussions on the Steelers and Browns do. I just get tired of hearing that garbage spewed on the board that has zero to do with Zips athletics, especially from Pittsburgh fans. Just pointing out that all is not wine and roses on either side. Plus it's late and I'm grumpy.

Ok, Mr. Steelers fan, gloves are off. I have known many self-entitled Steelers fans over the years who seem to believe that the NFL started when the Super Bowl began. I can't tell you how many have asked me how many Super Bowls the Browns have won. Somehow any NFL championship won before 1966 doesn't count. The Browns only joined the NFL in the 50's, they have four NFL titles to their credit, and four in the AAFL before the NFL would recognize it was a legitmate league after the AAFL starting beating their best teams so they merged. That's eight titles, or four if you only count the NFL ones. The Steelers were founded in 1933 (as the Pittsburgh Pirates - hey that's original) and had a history of being one of the most miserable teams from their founding all the way through the sixties. They have six NFL titles in eight decades of play, the Browns 4 in 6. But because most Steelers fans suffer from a recency syndrome, they have a hard time recognizing that. Sports go in cycles, the Steelers time to fall will come again. And as far as fan support goes, here is a link to an ESPN article about the Pirates years of failure. Impressive crowd they had the other night. They got as many people for their "professional" baseball team as we had for a Zips soccer game. But Pittsburgh fans don't count them as part of their city.Pirates Record Losing StreakHere is a quote from the article."I can honestly tell you. I'm not the biggest baseball fan -- I like the Steelers and Penguins -- but I know the Pirates and I can't name one player on that team. Not one," she says. "But if they showed they cared, and got some players and didn't get rid of them once they got good, Pittsburgh would be back out there in a heartbeat. I have no doubt of that."Yep, exactly. The "City of Champions" will support a team as long as they are doing well. When the Steelers inevitably tail off you will hear just as much grumping as you do from Browns fans. As you have pointed out the Browns have been miserable for years and yet fans still pack that stadium hoping for a breakthrough some year. Those are real fans.So while we appreciate your insight on the Zips, as far as anything about the Browns or Steelers, leave it off the Zips board. We're tired of it.

I had promised to get the video of the Zips score against Indiana posted. Here it is. Hope it gives a good feeling of the level of excitement at the game.

Capitalize the C in chips for this week and I'm with you.

Nice editing work by ESPN. So was that "a" or "no" before timetable? I'm going to guess "no".

2003. Miami (with Roethlisberger) finished at #10, BG was at #23 (and NI at #29)Marshall was 24th in 2002.Toldeo just missed in 2005 at #26.Bowling Green and NI were close in 2004 (#27 and #29 respectively).No one since 2005 has even finished in the Others Receiving Votes category except Ball State last year (#32).Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm 90% sure BSU was around 12th in the nation last year going into the MACC.You are correct, they plummeted to #22 following the loss to Buffalo and then all the way to #32 after their bowl game loss.

Maybe their students will be ticked off enough to boycott the game this weekend.

Edelman caught 8 passes for 98 yards. Maybe Cant's problem is they don't know how to evaluate talent. Their last two quarterbacks have done very well in the NFL at a position other than QB.

One problem with this is that one of those 1-AA games would not count toward bowl eligibility, and making a bowl also helps fan interest. No reason to make one of your games "not count". I agree with eguins, let's bring YSU in next year.

Gary Taylor doing betterVery scary for him and his family. Glad he is doing better - we need "our" T. Boone Pickens.

2003. Miami (with Roethlisberger) finished at #10, BG was at #23 (and NI at #29)Marshall was 24th in 2002.Toldeo just missed in 2005 at #26.Bowling Green and NI were close in 2004 (#27 and #29 respectively).No one since 2005 has even finished in the Others Receiving Votes category except Ball State last year (#32).

Amidst all of the gloom and doom on the board over football right now, at least our "other" football team is giving us a reason to smile. They are going to be ranked #1 in every poll now. Wake Forest lost over the weekend so even College Soccer news has seen the light. The team has given up exactly one goal over 6 games over some pretty stiff competition. They are a legitimate threat to win a National Title THIS year. The atmosphere at the Indiana game was electric, we don't need that many people to make a sellout in that stadium. Bowling Green comes in this weeked and tOSU the next. Let's get as many folks out there as we can. Go Zips!P.S. The Zips are undefeated at home in the last 25 regular season games and are 42-2-4 at Lee Jackson Field since 2005.

Yep, Chase was the other one.

The basketball team was there - pretty much all of them. I was walking in behind a really tall kid and thinking he should be playing with them. It was Mike Bardo. I think a little recognition would have been good too, especially since they were advertising season tickets.Was kind of cool having LeBron there. He was also at the Cowboys-Giants game this evening. Must be good to be the King. Speaking of that game since it was the nationally televised Sunday night game, I did enjoy seeing two Zips players starting and saying "Akron" as their school. I would bet two Zips introducing themselves to a national TV audience because they were in the starting lineup has never happened before.

Are you trying to plant subliminal messages?

Here is what I think (because I know you were all waiting for my opinion). We got ahead of ourselves. The stadium is very nice but I think anything would look better next to the Rubber bowl. I love the stadium but it could be dressed up a little more like some giant players posters or the flags of the MAC teams like we saw in the drawings but it is no panacea for solving all of the Zips issues. Quite frankly with the awful facilities we had up to this point, it's damn hard to recruit quality kids. So we're playing with the best we could get over the past few years. Do you know that when recruits were brought on campus in the last few years they never got to see the Rubber except from a distance? Now the stadium is a centerpiece. The stadium really only comes into play for helping with recruiting from this point forward. As far as attendance and tailgating go, it's going to take time to get established. The area is hungry for a winner, but give them a good product and they will come. OK, 18K isn't great but considering what we've averaged in attendance over the last few years, it doesn't look so bad. The experience is good for the most part, we just need to get some interest in the community by putting a product out there that generates interest. For any of you that were at the soccer game on Friday, that was phenomonal. You think most of those people would have been there without the #1 ranking? That's what draws interest. I did happen to see Zeke at the basketball tent and talked to his parents (nice family) but I didn't see him limping or I would have asked. Gamechanger are you out there? She did show me a picture that was pretty cool, hope she posts it soon, but I don't want to steal all her thunder. OK, I've been all over the map so I might as well end it with this. How strange will it be that Jacq will be the answer to the question "Who threw the first touchdown pass at Infocision?" in the only game he ever played there.

Very disappointing. Don't know if Jacq would have helped but it seemed our biggest issues was in the passing game. Rodgers has had very little opportunity and to have to shoulder it all today is not all his fault. Hope Jacq feels a lot of the responsibiulity for that. Rodgers did not play well (with 4 INT's) but Indiana outmanned us, and with the poor field position the D was handed it was almost a given to score. Indiana is not a good team, but we sure made it easy on them.

Outstanding game - tons of energy, great to see a big crowd like that (seemed like more than 2448). Zips had a lot of chances to score but just couldn't quite finish (the Indiana goalie also made a number of very good saves). That worries me a little come tournament time, but the defense was outstanding as usual. I happened to be taping while the goal was scored, I'll try to get it up on YouTube. Funny thing was it was not a great shot compared to all of the others before it, but it was the one that counted. We're still #1. Beat St. Louis on Sunday and lets go for the Indiana sweep today. When we win this afternoon do we get to call Indiana our b####?

I've seen that too, I believe the one loss is the 1896 Akron/Buchtel loss. No other MAC team has beaten Ohio State (at least not in the modern era) so I'd suspect that is the single loss.