zipboy

Zips now 82 in RPI. That is a big jump. I figured that it would take all year to get to 60-80. We should settle in and hold that the rest of the year. I don't see us getting past 60 though.

Anyone know if they are selling naming rights to the urinals? I would buy one if they put a logo of the Golden Chicken Hawk on the bottom.

I hope he picks Akron but I want him to want to be at Akron. He will figure it out. Wonder if when he is on his recruiting visit to UVA if they will show highlights of them losing to WMU last year.

Good posts, just a few other thougts1. Linhart got the bulk of minutes tonight because of how he matched up on Peavy. He and Travis did a great job shutting Peavy down.2. Big shot by Dru. He definitely wants the ball at the end. Why he is so shaky shooting FTs?3. Solid minutes by McKnight.4. 2 games in a row with more turnovers than assists. Not a good trend.5. Moving to the 3 guard offense with about 10 minutes left and playing some zone saved us. 6. Wood looked to be laboring the whole game. I was hurting just watching him run up and down the court. First time I have not seen him wear the knee brace.7. Middleton's minutes have increased beginning in MAC play - 34 for Ohio and 27 tonight. I like the better distribution of minutes with he and Joyce getting more of the minutes at the guard spot.8. Travis worked hard tonight. 9. Politz ate us up last year too. He doesn't look like much but is one of the more underrated players in the league. #24 was a solid guy as well.10. I hate watching Miami and BG games. Miami is like getting a tooth pulled in a slow and agonizing way. BG is like watching paint dry. They will get about 30 FTs with that freaking motion offense and the game will take 2 and 1/2 hours to play.

Just got your book in the mail Ray - looking forward to reading it.

I just don't get why it is so hard to accomodate the students. I went to school during the darkest days of Akron sports - Coleman Crawford and Gerry Faust both getting fired during my senior year. Counting me there was maybe 10 other students in the building.Last year was the first time ever that I saw momentum in the student support. Not only are you guys loud but you brought numbers. If there are any seats open on the bottom and students are in the building, they should get to fill those seats. My only stipulation would be you stand for the game and you cheer. If you sit on your butt, go into the GA area. I don't know what goes on, just from what you all post. But I don't get if you miss a meeting or don't wear some gold shirt you can't sit there. We need to build a fan base. We need students to come back after school and support the team. How UA ends up alienating students is beyond me. I understand selling tickets during the break in the lower bowl. We have never drawn well, students or non students in Dec. If the admin really wanted to make a little extra money, I would have said if you aren't here 30 minutes before tip off, those seats will be sold. But the extra money isn't much - $20 for about 20 people buying seats for $400 in total. Last year the JAR rocked for the first time since probably the late 80s. Students are what get that noise level up. I feel for you guys and just scratch my head at some of these decisions.

The whole league ended over 15K for the 1st time ever. Not that it really mattered but if you really have to be over 15K this shows there are a lot of ways to make sure it gets done.Next year should be a much easier year for the Zips to get higher numbers - Can't, Ohio, and Indiana at home.

I have 3 season tickets and will renew for hopefully ever.

Best thing for us is that they lost their invincibility yesterday. If they are a legitimate top 15-20 team next year, we should make a game of it. If they are a top 5 team, we won't fair well. I hope the fellas take the game as importantly as many of us do. For Akron to truly knock away at the osu legion of fans in NE Ohio, they only way to do that is to win. People lover winners not losers. I know it is far fetched but if we pulled a Boise State for a few years and osu had a few 7-5 seasons (not that I expect that to happen), the dynamics of the state would change.

A turning point in the 1st half against us vs Nevada was when Goddard came in. Zips were up 27-24, everyone stood around and Nevada scored a few quick buckets before Dambrot called time.I don't see Goddard as the answer. At the same time, if I play Akron I play a match up zone. Make us throw the ball around the perimeter for 25 seconds and then throw up a crappy shot. The last pure shooter that we had who could give decent minutes was Faulknor. I am sure that KD hoped Rybak could be that type of guy but I don't see it happening. This Thursday will be a good test. If I am Miami, I slow it down and pack the zone in.

This probably means that we get Army at "home" in the Patriot Bowl up in Cleveland. UConn is a good match up and winnable game. I am not in favor of giving up home games at neutral places especially for return games to Army.

Has anyone tried a 1-4-6 yet? That may be all that we will be able to play next year.

Granted his motivation was always a big question, but that does not help our D Line. Any JUCCOs to step in?

One huge component mentioned above - Biggs picked up blitzes really well. The only game we did a decent job was against Miami when we had to keep the TE in the backfield to help out. Our RBs were manhandled by blitzes this year.

They all said it better than I could - my prayers are with ZipDude and family and all service people.

Good posts - I like the poll. It shows that over 80% of the diehards are hopeful of the future. Put the same poll on the Notre Dame chat room with Charlie Weiss and see what you get. The next 2 years will tell where we are at.

Interesting that we already have 1 JUCCO CB and maybe this kid. I expected to fill some line positions with JUCCOs but not secondary. I don't necessarily see that as a weakness.

My thoughts after seeing the first 6 weeks of the season.Biggest question marks for me going into the season were 1. How productive will Wood be and how does he fit back into the flow of the game?This has been the best surprise. He looks as mobile to me with better post up moves and is a smarter player. It was night and day with him on Faezekas vs Romeo against Nevada. I look forward to Wood on Williams from OU and he should score all day on the Buffalo center.2. Will Milum give productive minutes?Another good surprise a least over the last couple of games. He gives an added dimension and match up problems against the rest of the league. I like that his biggest games were against Temple and Nevada. I look for big things the rest of the way from Quade.3. What about Conyers and McKnight?It will still be hit or miss on certain nights but both guys seem more comfortable now. I have been pleasantly surprised with Conyers defense. I figured he would be all offense and no defense. This gives us 9 guys who can play. These guys will be good players. We just need them to be that sooner rather than later.The biggest dissapointments are 1. I don't want to add to the dump on Romeo, but for us to win big, he needs to elevate his game. The 2nd half of his SO year after Wood went down he practically carried the Zips on certain nights both defensively and offensively. He doesn't do that now. He plays solid, but he is not playing like a MAC POY candidate.2. I would have said Linhart until the last 3 games. He needs to keep playing that way. Up until the last 2 weeks our 3 spot was hurting us between Nate and Jimmy. They have played well the last 2 weeks.3. I really hoped that Bardo would have been ready to come in and give quality minutes up front. Overall, I think that we are where we want to be heading into MAC play. The last 2 years we had to play a lot of zone to cover some weaknessess. Our man to man D is much tougher which bodes well. We generally do ok team rebounding and don't turn the ball over. Shot selection is still suspect at times. Free three shooting will come back to haunt us at some point. No one is playing 38 minutes a night which will help 2 months from now. I still don't know who we go to with the game on the line. My best bet would be Middleton since he can create his own shot. Dials if you can guaranee he gets fouled which is tough to get a call at the end. Dru wants the ball and has hit some big ones, but he never seems to get a great look,Realistically regardless of what the RPI says, we are a top 60-80 club nationwide which ain't all that bad. Just some random thoughts on a slow day.

If we are breaking ground in 07, can it be ready for the 08 season?

Good points. One clarification, last year a MAC crew did the game in Nevada. The way it was set up MAC crew in Nevada and WAC crew the following year. I am not sure if all the bracket busters are set up that way but I seem to remember the same thing happening with Drake.

The best news of the day

One thing that Mike Waddell said a few years ago was and I am paraphrasin - the dept should care about the people who do come and give them a first class showing. A few things that we had in the past which made gameday experience more enjoyable that are now gone include1. Showing stats on the side scoreboard during the game. Why is this so hard?2. Showing MAC scores and national scores on the side scoreboard during timeouts. And actually updating the scores throughout the game. Why is this so hard?3. Giving a 1 page game notes and summary before the game with rosters.4. Doing a live feed for the postgame show so those still in the JAR can hear it as they leave.There are no billboards, commercials etc. I understand that takes money. Maybe we have none to spend. (Although the previous admin found some). But when can be controlled is the quality of service. How about when putting the halftime stats up, you get the stats for the team in the right column. Again a small thing, but when I saw that I thought about the spelling errors in the ticket notice.On Thursday my work group gave me a Fear the Roo shirt as a Christmas gift as I incessantly talk about Akron and work to get people to games. They gave it to me and said "We ordered it online. We ordered a large but they sent a small. We are so sorry." I thought, shocking another minor screw up that has several more people think we are idiots. Last Monday I was listening to French on the morning news. The main guy mentioned $1 game for St Francis and asked French about it. French said, he did not find out until it was in the Beacon that day and no one told him. Where is the communication within the dept? I certaintly don't find timely information on gozips.com anymore.Everyone is new and Mack has done a good job on what his main priorities were 1. hire coaches 2. get extensions for JD and KD 3. get the football stadium built.MT had it easy, he had Mike Waddel to take care of this stuff. I realize that people are new and I usually don't complain. People are hopefully trying. But what I see is1. A lack of quality and attention to detail which is either due to laziness, incompitence, or plain not caring.2. Things being done without thinking about damage control. (Hey I get the parking thing and selling the student tickets. You want to generate money. How it is handled is as important as what you are trying to do)3. A lack of understanding or care about the fans who support the program. Put yourself in our shoes and ask what can you do to make things better for us be it not having Sam's Club vegetables, happily addressing customer concerns, or whatever.4. Have some ideas and try them - the little gimmicks at halftime are at least something. The marketing/external relations was nonexistent until 5 years ago. We have come too far to fall backward. Thanks

Great find! Are we still on schedule for the accelerated 2008 opening?

Another good thing, with the slots filling up quickly, kids who want to play here will need to decide sooner rather than later. #1 was to get some lineman. We have hit that area hard. If the 2 JUCO LBs from last year can play, 1 or 2 LBs and we are in good shape there. I would love to see another RB or 2.

Thanks CK, good post. I listened to the game so just going by what the announcers were saying- Joyce had a bruised calf but decided to play on it. He is not the fastest guy to begin with and the calf probably did him no favors. The key to a good postseason run to me is still getting quality minutes from McKnight and Conyers. It seems like McKnight is coming around. When will Jimmy find himself?