MDZip

I'd say if like Michigan gave the first offer we'd see him commit there right away...but this is Akron we are talking about. As much as I love the Zips I just don't know what would make him want to come here, instead of a BCS school...That's why we need to come out of the gate winning. Look at our offers so far. Scout list. 6 offers, and 5 of them have at least three stars, while the one that doesn't will be rocketing up the charts soon. The coaches are shooting high. We're not going after recruits that receive interest from lots of MAC schools. The only way to land them is to beat 2 of the three BCS schools on the schedule this year and to have a winning conference record. Show them that we're at least on the same level or above the BCS bottom feeders, not one of the worst teams in the country.But we are. But if I'm a recruiter in that situation, and I'm not recruiting a kid who is obviously going to play at a BCS school right away, I'd go with the angle of being able to play as a freshman (and not getting buried with a boatload of other three/four star recruits). We don't have a lot of advantages but that might be one. At least we don't have to do distance drive-bys of the Rubber Bowl any more.

With the same "last name" you're probably just another helicopter parent already angling for playing time.

Following this game on Saturday we will have only one other game until March 11th (of course it's a big game ). I don't think rest is going to be a big factor under consideration, there is pletny of time for recuperation.

I don't think people are quite getting it that this game could matter a lot. It isn't quite what Zach stated but it is close. Here is the tiebreaking procedure:1. Head-to-head competition2. Winning percentage* vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, regardless of division; versus common opponents, regardless of the number of times played)3. Sport specific component (if applicable)4. Coin flip* Winning percentage is used instead of record because of situations where teams do not play each other the same number of times. Therefore, a team that is 1-0 (1.000) would win the tiebreaker over a team that is 1-1 (.500).So that means it doesn't matter who wins the West only what their record is. EMU is our kryptonite, if they finish ahead of Miami under any of the tiebreaker procedures and we tie Can't for the title at 12-4, Can't gets the number one seed. If Miami finishes in front of EMU, then its ours. So the best way to insure the #1 seed is to win both games. This one against BGSU absolutely matters. It only becomes meaningless if Miami wins and EMU loses, then we're in great shape, but we won't know that before the end of our game. Of course Miami is also playing Can't so that sets up some potentially bad possibilities as well. So those of you that think the BGSU game won't matter, it very well could.

Happens all over the country - Go to Atlanta for a baseball game and you'll get "...home of the Braves". Go to Baltimore and you'll hear "O's say does that star spangled banner yet wave ...". Thats whole stadiums full of people and generally a live singer. To each his own, that's exactly what our national anthem represents. There are limits of course, but its not that big of a deal.

Just a short paragraph from College Soccer News praising the teams that had great seasons - The Zips obviously one of them. Oh, so agonizingly close ...Akron - It was great to be an Akron Zip in 2009. Akron reeled off twenty-three consecutive victories equaling the NCAA single season record for consecutive wins in a single season. Caleb Porter’s squad advanced to the National Championship match where they came out on the short end of a penalty kick shootout to Virginia. Although they did not attain their goal of winning the national championship in 2009, Akron had a brilliant season and was the dominant team in college soccer. The Zips were the consensus number one team for the majority of the 2009 season. Their attack, led by Hermann Trophy Award winner Teal Bunbury, netted a total of fifty-eight goals while a tenacious Akron defense recorded nineteen shutouts and allowed opponents to score a total of only seven goals. At the end of the national championship match Akron mentor Porter stated, “What I’ll remember more than anything this year is the way we played this game and how we approached going against the best teams in the country.” He added, “We didn’t hope to win, but expected to win. We didn’t hang on potential results, but dictated the game.” Porter’s comments sum up what was special about the 2009 team and the legacy that they leave for the teams that Akron will put on the pitch in the future. Porter, who has an overall record of 68-12-8 during his four year tenure to date at Akron, was named the 2009 NSCAA National Coach of the Year.

The "curse" is officially lifted. We can play again. By the way, OU's buzzer beater over Miami was play #8 on ESPN's top ten plays of the day. #6 was Cal State Fullerton winning on a 3 pt bank shot that looked eerily like the Penno shot.

In my best Lee Corso voice - "Not so fast my friend", there is a scenario under which we could beat Can't and still not get the #1 seed if we lose to BGSU. Without going into too much detail on tied teams, should EMU finish ahead of the RedHawks in the standings (or even tied with them because that gets into the complicated tied-teams scenarios, though it is to our advantage that Miami beat EMU), we would lose out on the #1 seed. EMU is only one game back of Miami, so its not a stretch. Our ace in the hole team is Miami, Can'ts is EMU. Both of us would have losses to Buffalo and BGSU so that is a wash. I was disappointed to see Miami lose on a last second shot, a win would have been far better for us. So there is still definitely something to play for against BGSU.

So what happened to our NCAA champ from last year? I hardly ever hear her mentioned any more.

they do tend to copy cheers from other schools, so I wouldn't be surprised....If you don't hear exactly what they are saying, sometimes ZI - PS can sound a lot like that.

buffalo coming back too...I wish we could keep a leadActually, the ebb and flow of this game reminds me a lot of the MAC Championship game last year, I'm not that worried about this one. Zips seem to be doing well.

Arrgghh - Flushes back within two.

Flushes down by 12 at the half. Go Falcons!

Nice start for the Zips 18-4. Hope the MAC scores hold up as they are right now. Can't down by 10 to BGSU.

Channelsurfing has it

Teams that we could possibly draw in our first round that I am not least bit interested in playing, only one: OU. Somebody please knock them out early.

Five hours until game time. Go Zips!

Miami HawkTalk has picked it up as well. Guess Mr. Jankoski is getting his 15 minutes of fame whether he wants it or not. One of the other more famous reporting failures "Boom goes the Dynamite", was also a MAC reporter failure (for Ball State). Maybe the MAC needs to up the funding for journalism schools.

Interesting little tidbit on conference RPI's and SOS on Seth Davis's SI.com column.I was looking at conference rankings based on RPI numbers and was shocked to see the Big Ten at number four. With four legitimate top-20 teams (Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State) out of 11, how can the Big Ten be behind the ACC (which they beat in the challenge for a change) and the SEC?-- Jeff DeMars, Arlington, Va.Actually, the Big Ten is ranked fifth in the conference RPI, not fourth. I'm no math geek, but my understanding is the conference RPI rankings are mostly a reflection of the middle and bottom teams in the leagues. The Big Ten is strong at the top, but it also has four teams with horrible RPI rankings: Michigan (141), Iowa (190), Penn State (197) and Indiana (214). That will drag a league down far more than good teams like Purdue (7), Wisconsin (19) and Michigan State (28) will prop it up. The SEC, by contrast, has only one team ranked below 140, and that's No. 219 LSU.Incidentally, the same principle applies to strength of schedule. If a team has played a bunch of teams with really low RPI rankings, that will hurt its SOS more than playing strong teams will help. That's why many conference commissioners are taking a firmer, more broad-based approach to scheduling by demanding that the middle and bottom teams in the league stay away from teams ranked below 200. Former Atlantic 10 commissioner Linda Bruno started doing that several years ago in her league, and that is a big reason why the Atlantic 10 has such a strong RPI profile -- which, naturally, will result in more NCAA bids.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writ...c#ixzz0gTxlHY5u

GoZips.com announced that there will be walk-on tryouts for the soccer team. Seriously? Wonder what's behind that? Do they need practice players? Is this a move to foster some good will on campus by Caleb? I gotta think that anyone who can make this team as a walk-on got seriously missed during the recruiting process.

Your section would have to make progress to suck. When Akron's not in town, there are 15 students standing in a half-full section. It's a sad showing for a team that's had as much success as your school has.Mollautt? Mollautt?

All we need now are all a couple of Bobkittens and Mollautt to check in - then we'll have a party.

I used to think of him more with the axe in his head in "The Shining".

This thread has been fun, especially with a few Bulls fans joining in so its time to "kick it up a notch" (and get away from whining at each other and aim it back at the Bulls) with the old look-a-like contest. Yes, I know some of you fear it, believing it has a curse. But its time to show that what we do on here doesn't actually matter in the outcome of games and this one was too good to pass up. So I give you:

I'll be there but we need someone else. Could that rather portly young gentleman Rowdy who popped up from behind the basket to do the twisty wiggly dance (painted blue with no shirt) during an opponent lady's foul shot last year be present this Saturday. You know who you are (sandy hair with glasses - I saw you in the Can't State white-out video). The shooter doubled over laughing and missed the foul shot. WE WILL NEED THAT POINT ON SATURDAY.P.S. BG's studette Lauren Postastico should be the target. Would the young gentleman grace us with his presence on Saturday ?It looks like you got your wish. Please quit wishing.