GoZips

Hell, they dont even need to schedule big time teams. I am just looking for some quality at the JAR. Id pay to see them play Northwestern, Xavier, Dayton, Temple, St Joes, etc..etc... I don't want to watch them play Hiram. Wow ... !!!! This canard never gets old. The Zips schedule that best opponents that will play them. They can not schedule Big Ten, Big East, ecetra, if the other school will not play them. Most of these opponents you long to crush will not even take the chance of playing Akron at their place; let alone giving a return trip to Akron. Coaches do NOT like to lose their jobs. Early on in the off season there were talks between Akron and Rhode Island to renew the series. Coach Barron at URI asked to postpone a series renewal because they lost four starters and their sixth man. Home or at Akron URI was likely facing a loss. See previous remark. VCU, supposedly pre-season rated much better than Akron has tried repeatedly to wiggle out of their commitment to give a return game for the ESPN Bracket Buster game played there. Frankly, coach Smart does not like the risk of losing at Akron. Call it what ever you like. Smart knows first hand what playing in the JAR is like. Remember, he was an assistant here for three years. See comment above. The JAR is a nasty place to play if you are Akron's opponent. Few teams come into the JAR boasting that they will kick the Zips butts. Even fewer manage that task. There is precious little to gain by coming into the JAR. What does Akron gain by only playing on the road against major-majors? Tell us. Review the results Charly Coles and his Miami Red Hawks have to show for all those away games. You might not want to play Hiram; coach Dambrot does. He has excellent reasons for playing them. Division one programs traditionally play Div,-2 or 3 opponents once a season as a courtesy. Most Division one programs grant this courtesy every year. As does Akron. The Hiram game is deliberately placed right after the Mississippi State game. The Bulldogs are going to be a tough road opponent. The Hiram game gives the Akron coaches to correct problems discovered when playing Miss. St. Once again, for umpteenth time: if you have a problem with scheduling stop into basketball offices and offer your assistance.

Exactly. Although we're all frustrated, and want to vent to our fellow fans, we are likely wasting our time with discussions about his dismissal. I'm guessing that we could probably put that part of the discussion on hold until at least the end of the 2012 season. STRONGLY DISAGREE. We need to keep this on the front burner putting a lot of heat on Porenza and Wistrcill. Complaciancy is our worst enemy. The message needs to be loud and often. Tom Wistrcill needs to feel the heat. So long as his job is secure he wont act. This must be fixed immediately if not sooner. Kick Ianello to the curb.

Hate to burst people's "happy bubbles", BUT, every season Ianello is the HC it will take at least two years to undo the damage he is inflicting. People who support Ianello are of the same vein as those who preach that all that is wrong with the country's economy is that there just has not been enough government interference with it. Baloney, I'd fire Ianello Monday morning if I had my way. He is a joke and an embarrassment. He stumbled coming out of the gate and continues to stumble. How many times do you need to get hit in the face to realize you are getting whomped on?

The football program is not starting to turn. What you see a bad list and taking on water The ship is nearly sunk. You do not save the ship by cutting another hole in in it to let out the water.

MES, Please continue with the excellent reporting for the season. You are doing us a great service.

For my money Tom Wistrcill has done continually improving job performance. This has to disregard the hiring of Ianello who literally is a joke or the butt of many jokes. Wistrcill has to take steps in the near future to replace Ianello before this man totally destroys Zips football. Frankly, this means that Ianello gets fired at the end of this season. The university and the conference can not afford another sad sack year from him. Then Wistrcill has to find and hire a proven coach who plays to win. I over heard a comment on a talking head program that there are only two kinds of football coaches. There are those men who seek to be a head coach because they love being a head coach. Then there are men who seek to be head football coach because they LOVE to win. You can not name a HC at Akron since Jim Dennison who coached for the thrill of winning. Even Gerry Faust, bless his heart, was more enamored with being a head coach than winning. Oddly, at the high school level Gerry was well noted for his strong take no prisoners, killer instinct. Getting the Notre Dame job must have punted those attributes right out of him.

I am going to chip in my views on David Meves. A number of folks including some ZipsNation posters know that I have been sour on Mr. Meves for a long time. First off, the tOSU goal this year was NOT his fault. The excellent tOSU player slipped between the two Zips defenders and fired a clean, hard to defend shot. Goal Ohio State. Again, not Meves fault. That said. He stinks. Forget the weak leg.He has no business punting the ball EVER. His poor play cost Akron a win over Ohio State last year in Columbus. Seventeen seconds to play and he punts the ball to midfield with the Zips leading 2-1 and OSU a man down. They promptly made a counter attack and scored with three seconds to play. That ball should never have been punted. It was a STUPID, seven grade level play. Throw the ball to one of your defenders when the referee starts toward you to warn you of delaying the game. That is smart soccer. He was foolish to give up possession of the ball with so little time remaining. It was a bone head play that had me seething all the way home as Dave In Green and Hilltopper can attest to. Worse, his poor play nearly cost the Zips in the NCAA tournament against California by allowing two goals late in the game. It took a shoot out to advance after holding a two goal advantage. This year he has been listless and playing like a high schooler. An assistant coach told me at the end of last season that they knew what Meves needed to do to improve. Well, he hasn't. His play is weak and uninspired. I am pleased that others are now noticing his poor play. I am not pleased that he is playing so poorly. An earlier post noted that a lot of his miscues were covered by the excellent defenders the Zips had in 2009 and 2010. I agree. One thing to remember, Caleb Porter has confidence in Meves or he would be collecting splinters in his ass. I just want to see David play better and more consistently. No more punting the ball up field, ever. He sucks at it.

thats more common than you think, but yes. The less information your opponent has on your PK tendencies (strengths/weaknesses), the better off you are... AMEN, this killed us against Maryland in the NCAA's a couple of years back. They had plenty of footage of us shooting and defending PK's and we had none of them.

UNC 2, Duke 2. Final after two overtimes. Neither side nearly as sharp as the Zips. Speas played well. We miss him. UNC is the better side. Duke had an own goal or they win this in regulation.

How about Hawaii? The only way Dambrot will return to the islands is if he's forced! He must have been with Hipsher at the Denny's in Waikiki when he got bad service and swore never to return! I think GoZips might have been there too, unless he was dining on lau lau on Kapahulu Blvd.. My daughter was the lau lau connoisseur. My favorite is kaluha pig with lomi lomi, pepe kaluha, finished with haupia. Grandma always sent me away with a small brown paper bag with several pieces of haupia. Haupia is a gel made of coconut milk and corn starch. Fantastic and fattening as hell. BTW. Ono Hawai'ian Food is one place Dambrot would love to revisit. The coaching staff gave solid two thumbs up to Hawai'ian food. Serves them right for eating at Denny's. I'd love return to Hawai'i. The Zips on a tournament suits me just fine. BTW ... Dambrot hates the jet lag you get returning from Hawai'i. If he could make the next game a week later he would probably return to the islands. Paradiso, I'll start lobbying for a trip to Paradise.

The tournament sponsers pre-arraigne with the four regional hosts that they and they alone play the tournament finals in the Garden. This means that even if any of these pompus, major-mojors lose at home to any of the mid-major teams, they still make the trip to MSG, not us. On the converse, a lot of major-majors will not longer participate in tournaments where if they lose a game they are shuttled to the loser bracket. These mighty mucky-mucks do not want to watch an Akron or other mid-major playing for the championship. If it were up to me, and I have voiced my opinion, I would not commit to playing a sham tournament. This "tournament" is a sham. All Akron, Duquense and Valpo get out of it is filled dates. I think the schools could do this without a mockery. The coaches will counter with the woeful cry of "this is how we can get extra games on our schedule". Well, form your own tourney.

This ranks with "things I wish I had said." By all means, tease with the ball and not sling "F" bombs. Be curtious; most of the time.

...so how about that Luke Holmes kid? I heard that he has two more gears. He needs a swank nickname.

Last night we got a bit of help from our friends at Cal-Poly. The Pollyannas "upset" #7 UC Irvine 1-nil. Wont hurt the Zips ratings.

In times past I have been critical of weak Rowdie support. I'll be hung if I'll complain about exuberant Rowdies. You kids did a fine job. OSU is not that good of a team. Their fans while vocal had little, if any, effect on the game. They were more annoying than anything else. I usually stand with the Rowdies at soccer games. The teeny-bop girls skittering about trying to be "cool" were as annoying as the Suckettes. The durn girls kept moving from place to place generally blocking the view. If any of them had a clue about the match I did not detect it. Just keep up the good work.

A lot of great comments on page five of this thread. I completely agree with them. A large number of students partying, chatting and basically acting like third graders. Especially teeny-bop girls who paid no attention to the game. The Zips gave a fine account of themselves excepting the defensive break down that left Meves hung out to dry. Fortunately fireball Holmes returned the favor with a stellar play of his own. and, I agree with a poster that Holmes is going to be fun to watch. Watched tOSU's numbers five and six continually rabbit punch Zips when setting up for corner kicks. Also disappointed that the officials let the Suckettes get away with numerous fouls. All the teaching handiwork of John Bluem. What brought a moment of joy to my old bones occurred after the game at my local WalMart. A middle aged man noticing my National Championship tee shirt asked if I had been at the game. Affirmative. Did the Zips win? Yes, 3 to 1. "Hurray, I hate the F..ing Buckeyes." The cashier also cheered. Folks, I do believe we are winning the battle for the local folks hearts.

He's a beast and I love the bald head! GOTTA LOVE IT :lol: ok great game, watched it on the Mac video feed... OSU grad here and I love seeing them get beat.. Was it just me or did anyone else hear the announcer say the F__k word before he realized he was on air before the game Could not have been Frenchy. He does not even know that word.

The good thing about playing MTSU for the next four years is that MTSU is on the up swing. According to the The Sporting News "MTSU (16-16 overall, 10-6 Sun Belt) lost leading scorer James Washington to graduation, but the Blue Raiders' experience runs deep with six key returnees who logged significant starts last season. Leading the way is Jason Jones (13.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg), a 6-6 wingman, and 6-8 forward J.T. Sutton (9.3, 5.0). Middle Tennessee looks to be Florida Atlantic's top foe in the East (division), especially if transfers Torin Walker (Oklahoma State) and LaRon Dendy (Iowa State) pan out." Reads to me like they have reloaded quite well. MTSU certainly is a better opponent than a 300+ RPI team.

I watched Jawon against VMI and was quite impressed. A tough, hard nosed runner who actually looked for holes, made cuts and never, ever quit on a play. It should be fun to watch him develop over the next three years. He is certainly a player you can build around. His abilities should make the O-line's job a lot easier.

This is a little difficult to explain. The tourney people mismanaged scheduling. Akron is playing at Middle Tennessee as the fourth game. The up side of this Akron and Middle signed a four game home-n-home contract. Thus, Middle will be on Akron's schedule for the next four years. BTW, Dayton is NOT on our schedule for 2011-12.

Late in the video Fran Chinchilla talked about his interview with coach Wally Whacky of FootFungus U. Coach Whacky assured Chinchilla that the Itches would be present in the Final Four. This guy has all the creds of a doormat.

I feel a bit better about the football team after watching Cincy toss NC State about like a rag doll last night.

For seventy minutes the Zips staggered around like drunken sailors. Cal Poly beat up on uslike we were orphan rag dolls. It was not pretty. But, keep the faith. Something clicked andthe Zips took control of the game for the final twenty minutes. They looked likethe oh-nine and ten teams.Akron dominated play the final twenty minutes. They were the aggressors and were on attack.The Cal Poly player got beat in the box and fouled. I do not think it was intentional. He gota yellow card. Probably for running his mouth and not the trip.IMO the Cal Poly player simply panicked as the Zip player went past him driving the ball on goal.He was actually one of Cal Poly's cleaner players. Several of the Cal Poly players were asdirty a hack as we have seen in a number of seasons. The book on the young Zips must be to bust us hard.The Zips played through the fouls and turned the victory. A darn sweet one at that.

He's not only a bad coach, he is stubborn as hell. He has a game plan, he sticks to it, and REFUSES to make adjustments. First of all as bad as Nicely and Moore are, they are not Pro style offense QB's. They both flourish out of the shotgun, especially with a line that gives you one second to pass. By the time our QB's drop back they have 4-5 defenders ready to hit them and receivers draped with coverage. Second, we have a talented RB but he cannot run up the gut without a line. The defenses we face KNOW where he's running and know they stop it. Resulting in 1 yard runs. Was it any surprise that the 1 time 44 ran to the outside he picked up 30+? I guarantee that wasn't a designed run to the outside. Chances are he was supposed to run up the gut and said hell with it, gained 30 yards and probably got yelled at by Ianello on the sideline.LOL Your kidding right?? You want to stand in the shotgun and you expect the running game will be better?? Oh...by the way...Chisolm averaged 5 yards per carry today. Many runs are designed to go "up the gut" and break outside. You guys are making a mistake or do not know much about offensive football strategy. The shotgun allows the QBs eyes to be on the defense and therefore allow him to get the ball to the right receiver based on what the defense is doing (hopefully). It DOES NOT GET THE BALL OUT QUICKER. We are not a 5 step drop team. Yes...we are a pro style offense. But we are more a "West Coast" pro style because of the quick 3-4 step drops and quick throws. Going to a “spread” and starting from the shotgun will not give the QB more time. Let’s see….Miami, Ohio, and Temple appear to be the class of the league and they do not use the “spread”. We are taking the same path as Temple and Miami… just hope we have the same success.Looks like the Zips missed a turn a while back.

At what point does the Can't State administration actually admit they have a problem? Problem? I see no problem. Boys will be boys. What else is there to do in Portage country? Steal pumpkins?