Quickzips

We're number 13 and Ohio is number 4.Just another example of recruiting services valuing quantity over quality. Not saying the bobkittens didn't bring in some nice talent, but there isn't a recruit in the MAC who even comes close to holding Zeke's jockstrap when it comes to national rankings. If we had signed Zeke and a few more decent mid-major prospects we would probably be top 5 on that list. Because it's just Zeke, we're lower down.

Theres some guy from Jamaica who people are saying would make a good WR. Bolt something or other. Supposedly pretty fast. I'm pretty sure JD would let him walk on if he wanted to.

Didn't get to make it last night. I'm curious about a lot of the things that we can't see on the webcams. How far along are the concessions? restrooms? suites? ticket office? Does it look like these are all going to be fully functional come opening day or are we potentially looking at an active construction site still?

Again, I have to disagree. We don't really have the reputaion of being "able to play with almost anyone." We haven't really PLAYED anyone to get that kind of a reputation. We don't have anything that even remotely looks like a signature win. Close games against Gonzaga and Nevada don't really count. I don't think it is at all that teams are afraid to play us. It is a matter of KD trying to stand on principal and not play teams who won't come back to the JAR. Standing on principal is all fine and dandy, but at a certain point you have to do what is best for the program. We're getting closer and closer to the point where this type of scheduling is actually a hinderance to the program. If we aren't there already.

The only question I've got is how committed is this kid to football? It sounds like he's got good enough hands, his speed certainly isn't an issue. If he's committed to football and can run routes well enough he could be a major catch. I just wonder about a kid who says things like "I wasn't planning on playing college football" and "I decided to go to the camp at the last minute." Kind of Bizzare.

I can tell you that the East Stands do appear to be getting a 3 light pole look. Drove by there on my way home from work. Honestly, I don't really care how many light poles they put up so long as I don't have to look around them to see the game.

I would like to see a cross-section of the endzone facility stairwell roofs.

I can't tell if this article is delusional or depressing from the perspective of a Can't State fan.Delusional: Comparing the coach to Tony Dungy, saying the team is good enough to win the MAC EastDepressing: Looking at the winning percentage of your coaches since 1987 and realizing that Doug Martin at .327 is the best you've been able to do.

Anyone with some insight into how this kid is as an actual football player? I see he can run fast, and he's from St. Eds which is traditionally a good football school, but I always get nervous with kids like this. The old "track star in pads" route hasn't worked for a lot of guys. When you start asking them to run routes and hit people and all that it changes things big time.

If this one turns out anywhere near as well as the first, I'm all for that policy. Maybe we should start going after receivers named Catch. After last year I think I'd like to find a few DE's named "Sack" and some NT's named "Stuff the Run"

Again, I disagree here. The odds may be stacked against us. They probably are. But to say that this means you shouldn't at least give it your best try is ridiculous. The home games against Malone, North Carolina A&T and St. Francis that noone really cares to attend. Yep, those are a real big program builder. We can debate round and round about whether there is a better chance of getting an at-large bid than there is winning the MAC Tourney. I fail to see how teams like Malone, North Carolina A&T and St. Francis "play the same style as the MAC teams." The fact is their style is to try to keep it close early, start laying down in the middle of the first half and roll over completely in the 2nd. Now I realize that describes a few of the MAC West teams, but really, if our goal is simply to win the MAC tourney how is that getting us prepared in any way shape or form??? Absolutely false. Teams like Gonzaga, Butler, Memphis, Xavier have gotten to where they are by challenging themselves. By going on the road and taking on the big boys. They know they won't win every game, but they give themselves a chance and if/when they do win a big game it garners a lot of attention for their program. The elite mid-majors didn't get where they are by continuously scheduling crappy OOC games just to boost their win totals. They got there by making the calculated decision to take their talented teams out against more highly talented teams and get better. I used to be able to buy into the "slow process" mumbo-jumbo. Especially last year when we had such a young team, but I just don't anymore.

I don't follow this logic either. So because we don't play in a top mid-major league we shouldn't worry about scheduling a challenging, tournament building out of conference schedule? If anything I would think the lack of quality in our league would be MORE of an incentive to go out there and schedule some good, quality programs in our OOC schedule. If you know you're going to take a hit in the RPI and SOS when your conference schedule rolls around you should do everything you possibly can to mitigate that problem with as high an RPI and SOS as you possibly can in your OOC schedule.I'm not saying that the overall craptasticness of the MAC schedule (praticularly the MAC West) isn't a problem, but you don't just give up, throw your hands in the air and say "ohh well" just because of that.

I absolutely disagree. Plenty of mid-major programs are able to put together schedules that allow them to obtain a high enough RPI, SOS and overall record to be in the at-large consideration. Miami is a piss poor example IMO. They don't have nearly the kind of talent on that team to take them out on the road and play that many tough games and expect to win. They try to rely on their slow down style of play to keep things close, but against the big boys it doesn't really work. Plenty of teams (Xavier, Gonzaga, Butler, Memphis) are able to put together a talented enough team that they can go out and compete with the big boys on their own terms. Akron may or may not have that kind of talent yet, but we're at least close enough that we should be giving it a try. Maybe not throwing down a gauntlet of a schedule, but something better than Malone, North Carolina A&M and The University of Phoenix Online. This continued poor scheduling is the one major blemish on an otherwise solid program. It doesn't HAVE to be all about winning the MAC.

Too many variables in all of this to make an accurate prediction. Will the weather cooperate? Will the performance of the team be enough to draw in more fans? Will we see more visiting fans willing to attend a sparkly new stadium than they were the dilapidated Rubber Bowl? Heck even the current economic situation is a variable that we can't predict.That said, I would be kind of disappointed with anything under a 20K average this year. I would be VERY disappointed with a 15K or lower average.

Not much information in there that hasn't been hashed out on here already. I'm as big a Dambrot fan as anyone, but at some point in time this program has to go out and prove that we are for real. Obviously it won't be this year. I just hope the excuses end next year.

I haven't heard one way or another if they will sod or seed. One thing I do know is that you don't seed in August without one heck of a watering system in NEO. You can begin to seed in September and grass will grow into November in NEO.They could have seeded it over 2 months ago!I have planted grass in late spring before.Hell, even if it's not lush, it would have been thick enough to take a couple of saturdays worth of wear in the fall. There is no reason not to have tried to plant grass on there in April when it was graded. Even if it wasn't thick enough to seat people, at least it would have been nice and green for games instead of dirt city.What would that have been? $500 worth of seed? Oh noez were over budget nowz!epic failNew grass takes more than a few months to mature before it's ready for hundreds of Rowdies jumping around on it and it's better to seed in the fall. Not an epic fail. Let's give them some credit for getting the stadium built in a year and a half, on time and on budget. The Rowdies will make their presence felt just fine in the student section this fall.Its not so much the Rowdies I'm concerned with, its the appearance of the place. We're probably (if the marketing department ever starts doing their job) going to have a lot of "new Zips fans" there for at least the first few games. Do we really want them looking at big dirt banks? Is that really one of the memories we want them going home with. "Well the seats were nice and new, but the landscape.........."Any way you cut it, this is a major disappointment.

The bottom line is the marketing department is stuck in the old "if you build it they will come" mentality. There isn't much excitement in the community about this stadium. The excitement is coming from the hardcore Zips fans that we have around here. A lot of Akronites don't even know what is going on. Now isn't the time for build it and they will come marketing. Now is the time to let every person in NE Ohio know that it's being built and they damn sure better come. Unfortunatly that would take real effort, ingenuity, creativity and will. Something our marketing department has consistently shown they don't have. I hate to say it, but I'm becoming more pessimistic about the opening of this stadium by the day. At this point I don't think it is going to be sufficiently completed by opening day to properly showcase it. It is looking like none of the grass/sod will be installed in the endzones and I have serious reservations about how "done" the interior projects will be (bathrooms, concessions, luxury boxes, press box). The marketing of the stadium is subpar on a good day. Now we find out that you won't even be able to buy single game tickets until a couple weeks before the opener. This is quickly starting to look like a potential missed opportunity to expand our fanbase and put Akron on the map. Ohh well, just another in a long line I suppose.

Stairwell doubles as bomb shelter! and the original slabs of concrete that they laid down on there (before they covered it with tar and poured more layers of concrete on it) looked on cams like they were over 12" thick.That bunker could sustain a direct hit.Seriously though, I am assuming they were worried about a standing crowd of a thousand people during or just after a game. That's not the sort of roof you make out of sticks and thatch.You mean we can stand on top of the stairwell roof? AWESOME!!!!!

Sweet. Another layer of roofing going on the endzone facility stairwells. I was really worried that the roof wasn't going to be strong enough on those things.

confirmed. this is where im going to be going bright and early to tailgate. So far no other lot has really sparked my interest.Someone suggested earlier in the thread that lot 34 seems to have a lot of grass areas on the perimeter....which will be a necessity if you have a tent. Can anyone else confirm this? If so, this might be the place to be.I'd still love to see a "tailgate city" across all of that grassland area by the old softball complex.There is some grass in the area. The closest is a small strip that seperates the parking lot from the main walkway going through campus. It wouldn't be big enough for many tents/tailgaters, but a few could fit on there. There is also some grassy areas around the Polymer Science building which is not too far away.

Put me down for the Memorial Hall site. Memorial is falling apart and needs to be torn down soon anyways. Plus the idea of driving down Exchange St., looking to my left and seeing a brand new state of the art arena, the jewel of MAC football Info. and the still beautiful and top of the line practice facility and rec center is enough to run chills down my spine.I'm also intrigued by the idea of the Plasma Center site. Getting rid of that embarrasment of urban decay would be enough of a pleasure but getting to stick it to the Nemers again in the process would just be icing on the cake. I can imagine the coronary Manny and Joe would have when the U comes calling to knock down whatever second rate, hole in the wall establishment they are planning to put up there.

I have absolutely no doubt that we will find the right person for the job. LP and the gang know the importance of the athletic program to the University and they know how critical a time it is for the athletic program right now. They aren't going to settle on a mediocre candidate.

I doubt any expansion will happen within the next 10 years. There needs to be an established precedent of filling 33K seats over a number of years before we seriously look at adding additional seating. There is nothing worse than seeing a stadium at 1/3 or 1/4 capacity.

FYI for those of you looking at tailgating in Lot 34. Just last week the entire lot was paved over (much needed, as a law student who parks there regularly I was getting scared that I was going to lose my car in one of the potholes). The entire thing is blacktop now. Parking spaces and drive area. No more gravel parking spaces with paved (if you could even call it that before) drive.

Let's just add Notre Dame.It's about as rational as the crap that gets suggested on the MAC forums.