Zipsrifle

Yea, if you are an OSU alum, then you should support OSU. I'm an Akron alum and will support them in everything without a second thought because I don't need to be aligned with a "Winner" to feel good about myself.

It appears that this weekend is the annual band day, so we'll have a decent "crowd" for the first half. Zips 35 GW 17

OK, so apparently I am the only idiot here. Lets take CK's comment about Igor's line drives out of the equation, as that didn't come to mind at the time. Here was my thought process: Q) What is the score? A) 17-3 Q) What Quarter is it? A) 3rd with about 10 minutes left Q) How many 1st downs have we had this entire game? A) 2 Q) Have I been able to punch it up the middle for 2 yards when they know it? A) No Q)Have I been able to punch it up the middle when they don't know it? A) No Q) Have I been throwing at will? A) No Q) Did my kicker already nail one of these? A) Yes Calculating.... Q) Chance of getting the 1st down: A) 0.234743% Q) Chance of hitting the field goal: A) 54.23777777% Kick the field goal! Throwing in the line drive factor: Calculating..... Q) Chance of hitting the field goal: A) 23.987% KICK THE FIELD GOAL!!!! Maybe I think like Mike Hargrove but come on, no way we had a better chance to make the first. If we had gone for it, and missed it, many of the SAME people would be on here talking about how dumb it was to go for it and NOT kick the field goal. Put the points on the board, plenty of time left in the game, no question about it.

I've got to admit I'm going to continue to throw money at this school for the foreseeable future. It is my Alma Mater and I feel that I can make a difference by putting 5+ butts in the stands every week. I'm a big believer in the impact a piecewise approach can have to something and one thing I can do to support this team is to show up every week, have a good time, and make a little noise. It's not easy to take people bashing your team, but when you believe in something, you'll put up with it. I consider myself a loyal guy, Akron is my school and I can't turn my back on them to cheer for a "Winner".

Thanks for the info. I could write a book on the missed opportunities these places have had over the years, and how many times my friends and I have walked out of some of these places on game day because they were either unprepared, or had their employees clad in OSWho gear, or would reluctantly put the Akron game on ONE TV in the corner, etc. And in many cases, this even happened after they were advertising themselves as an AKRON football party location. Pathetic. If Brubakers is stepping up to the plate the way you described on Saturday, we should patronize them. I hope somebody swings by Brubakers this week to see if they are backing Akron or OSU. As I've mentioned before, before the OU game last year they dropped the ball BIGTIME by being severly understaffed and sporting ONLY OSU gear, seemingly oblivious to the Akron game down the street . I go out of my way to spend money at locations that back the Zips and have ZERO patience for locations near the University that don't support it. Brubakers is an extreme case, they are in a building BUILT FOR UA STUDENTS!!!! I might give them a 2nd chance IF they back the Zips for this entire season.

Wonderful, another OSU person talking down to us telling us what we need to do. Thanks for the insight, I don't think anyone has thought about winning before. I'll send an e-mail to iCoach and cc You Tube Tom tomorrow and we'll fix that right away.

I think next week we'll have a smilar crowd if the weather is nice. I think people will know we should win and people like to watch a win. Next week should be a good week to work out the kinks. The following two weeks will be ugly, but I hope by the time we hit MAC play, we'll still be healty and competitive. I am one of the people who wasn't happy with the decision of hiring Rob. I wanted someone with a background of winning in FCS. With that said, we have what we have and I don't see the use in running around screaming that the sky is falling. Settle down give it some time, I think a lot of it is growing pains. A lot of these kids have only played in the spread and it will take some time for them to get comfortable. I expect to see a lot of improvement over the next few weeks. The worst thing we could do to our program now is to FIRE everyone involved in the team. Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy right now. I'm not happy that we basically HAVE to give Rob I 2 years to turn things around but I must remind myself, I was convinced that we were doomed when Ken Lolla left the soccer team. Give it a chance.

Oh, and the penalties were outrageous. That is not acceptable. We shot ourselves in the foot so many times tonight. I thought we were going to play fundamental football? That means not getting stupid penalties that put you at 1st and 15.

Yea, it wasn't as bad as everyone said but it wasn't great by any means. That place has a LOT of potential and I hope that isn't the finished product. Put down some carpet, put some more decoration on the place and stuff it full of every type of Zips gear you can find.

I was pretty pissed about the $10 to park in the tailgate lot. We don't have a strong tailgating culture here and you are only going to drive people away if they are going to take advantage of us. Remember, WE are the ones who are supposed to be dragging people to the games to fill the stadium and now you make it more inconvienent for me to do this as these people I am to be dragging to the games will choose to park somewhere else and walk across campus to find me....GENIUS! As for the product on the field, I was as frustrated as anyone. I was so disguested I actually left after SU scored their last TD.....I almost NEVER leave early. Anyway, after the hour drive home and putting some thought into it, I'm not ready to say the sky is falling. We're running new schemes on both sides of the ball so I expect things to be a bit rough. The D was better than I expected, frankly. Our pass coverage needs a lot of work, but that was one of those things we kind of expected. The offense was NOT comfortable tonight. There for a time, I think Nicely was just overwhelmed and was just tossing it away and nobody was making plays. I think the more time these guys get with the system the better we will get. I think next week will do a LOT to improve the confidence of this team/ I hope, that once we hit the MAC schedule, the D has improved to the point where the O won't need to score a lot of points. Lets just pray that by that time, the O can actually move the ball and score from time to time.

Did anybody else get a letter in the mail from the Athletic Dept highlighting the recent accomplishments of the Athletic teams? I'm always excited to get anything from the AD, but in it they ask us bring as many people to the game to sell tickets. I have to say, I've been trying this for the past 10 years, and I'm pretty sure ever other Zips Fans has been doing the same. I hope this isn't the main push to sell more tickets because, we've been doing this for years and you see the results. So far I haven't been overly impressed with the marketing effort....

Lot 34 around 12:00. Don't have much time to plan meals but I do plan on getting Fit Shaced tomorrow. My back has been killing me so might forego the bells and whistles and just plop down the chair, flip down the tailgate, and start drinking. GO ZIPS!

The sad part is that is the same page that was up A YEAR AGO!

I get just as frustrated as you do, but can you blame the people in NE Ohio for being oblivious to us? We don't win and they are DYING to grasp any program that wins, hence, the Steelers and OSU Factor. It's easier to stand at the water cooler and dish out crap each week than to take it. I like to attribute it to the fact that Zips fans have a higher self esteem and don't need to prop up their ego. We just need to start winning, that is it. Of course, much easier said than done.

What's the deal with the Syracuse fans? I mean, I know Akron fans are a little weird, but here are the video's I've run across. (For some reason I can't get the YouTube function to work?) We all remember this one: And what's with this guy? Hey, at least they are making video's, better than what I'm doing.

I hope I'm wrong with the 15,000 number, and maybe that is a reflection of my general attitude this year, but I have seen NOTHING promoting the game this weekend. We managed just over 18K last year for Indiana the week after opening day, a day with LOTS of publicity and one of the most exciting Akron Football experiences in a long time. When I was in school, I remember Labor day as being the first weekend you go back home to meet up with your friends, especially your Freshman and Sophomore years. Of course, we won't have the OSU factor to deal with and that is something I didn't consider. We'll see. Regardless, I'll be in lot 34 around 12:00 for Season #2 at ICS.

We'll break 20k, I won't say easily, but we will. It's opening day, labor day weekend, 70 and sunny and a (crappy) Big East team in town. The team hasn't had a chance to get thwomped by some big boys yet so there is optimism in the general public that knows nothing of Zips football. (Disclaimer: I have optimism every year prior to the season, this year more than some others, but for those that know nothing of college football, every season might as well be a clean slate) Put me in the "We'll be lucky to have 15,000" camp. All the students will be home for Labor Day and nobody really knows Syracuse is in the BCS.

I for one am convinced that saving money is not something that State run Universities are seriously considering right now. Sure, there might be a lot of people talking about it, but when it comes to actually doing it, very few have, especially in Ohio. As long as schools can continually raise tuition, and still have enrollment increases, why should they? People complain about things all the time, and they are complaining about College tuition just like they were 15 years ago. I don't see a lot of protests breaking out across the state to cut costs. The States aren't really pushing reform either. Remember a year or two ago, we were going to have this DRASTIC change in the University System of Ohio? Remember all the discussions on ZNO about how some schools would be all but shut down? Well, that didn't happen, not even close! Personally I feel that the talk of eliminating athletics is simply a discussion that has to happen so they can "Yes, we explored that option and it didn't make sense for our University...". I for one am frustrated with this whole situation. IMO, UofA has WAY too much debt right now but Dr. P just keeps spending. I like the results now, but what about the hangover? I also think BILLIONS could be saved in Ohio if we were to drastically reform our college system. Leverage the Internet more, have the schools specialize and kill the small and under performing programs. I don't have all the details work out, but in an hour over lunch, a co-worker and I came up with a plan that made a whole lot of sense. As for Athletics, sure, I don't want the Zips to cut their Athletic programs, but I really don't have much outside of Soccer to financially justify keeping these programs. Personally I think it is a way to keep the Alumni involved in their schools. If Akron didn't have an Athletic program, I wouldn't go back to campus a dozen times a year. Does anyone have any numbers for the money generated from Alumni donations and spending on campus? It would be interesting to see how these numbers stack up.

+1

Yea, our mascot and our nickname don't make much sense. I've mentioned here before that those rubber overshoes were almost called "Magiks" (sp?) so we could possibly be the Akron Magiks with a wizard as our mascot....that's not too bad. Personally, I like The Akron Zeppelins. We wouldn't have to change the "Z" logo, we could have a blimp at every event and blast Led Zeppelin music. As the originator of the ridgid airship is Ferdinand Von Zeppelin (a german guy) we could drink lots of beer and boy, wouldn't it be awesome to turn a bus into a Zeppelin for tailgating???

Makes it a lot harder to walk away from something when you just put 60+ million into two new stadiums. They should have thought about this 4 years ago. Too late, end of discusion.

lost 2-1 i believe. Unfortunately, yes. Does it matter that much? its an exhibition game If we had to lose once this year, this is the time to do it.

I don't think this will impact attendance that much. I like to think that zips fans are a pretty die hard bunch and will make the trip anyway. Put me in the camp that sees this as a step in the right direction.

Don't forget two individual National Champions in the past 2 years. One in Rifle and one in Track.

I used to have a TV, but it was too much hassle.....of course, I didn't have a satellite. I'll have to swing by and check out your setup next week.