GJGood

Interesting scheduling for week 1. It was all or nothing. Every MAC opponent was either a FCS team or a Power 5 Conference team. It’s odd that no MAC school played another Group of 5 school in their opener.

The South Dakota State- Iowa State game was also cancelled. Iowa State is looking to schedule a game for their bye week to still play 12 games. Granted they were playing a FCS school from the middle of the country so they are looking for FCS teams to play that also had cancellations last night and a bye week that matches theirs, but is there any chance the Zips now try to fill the bye week?

I think the Zips would do well to have a guy or two like this in their program. he seems like an extremely hard worker and that effort, even if he never sees the field or plays late in lopsided games, can certainly push those ahead of him on the depth chart. It sounds like his biggest hinderance is size and if he was to be a running back sometimes those little guys are what is needed to slip between those big uglies undetected. Plus being from Windham his being on the team would probably bring a good handful of fans from that community to a lot of games. Local connections, especially to local communities that support local teams well, are important when attendance is struggling. I am obviously no expert on this type of thing but I like to see hard workers get a chance and I think sometimes when choosing well taking a flyer on someone can provide great dividends. Who knows how it would work out if he ended up a Zip?

Other than having to pay for what was free before, how does ESPN+ differ from ESPN3. The network has touted it as being an improvement. I guess I am looking for some sort of explanation as to how ESPN+ is better than ESPN3 for a Zips fan that has regularly watched on ESPN3 the last few seasons.

I have seen that the Zips will be on both ESPN3 and ESPN+ this year. I know ESPN is touting ESPN+ as the way to get to view games you couldn't see before for a low price. If I am not mistaken, though, weren't these same games free on ESPN3 in years past? I guess I am having a problem understanding why an Akron fan would rather have a game broadcast on ESPN+ than on ESPN3. Does anyone know how much ESPN+ costs? Or if I can get it just for football season? Can we assume the basketball Zips will be on ESPN+ frequently too? What about soccer or even baseball once it returns in full? I hope most Zips fans who frequently watch the games on ESPN3 realize the changes this year but I have a feeling that many do not.

I am not sure how winnable this game is or is not but I certainly think that if the Zips were going to pick a year to play the Huskers that this would be the one that makes the most sense to try to go in and shock some people.

I saw him play in the 16-17 season. This is a guy I would love to see in the Akron Blue and Gold.

With eight teams wouldn't there only be 3 games? If so, I am voting "no" on the going 0-4 question.

I apologize if this has already been discussed but do we know if the Zips are going to be in a non-conference tournament in November or December yet? When are the fields for those type of events announced?

Didn’t we win titles with Bardo?

I get that the deepest recruiting relationships are with coaches and not the schools. However, I also think there is something to be said for name recognition. Not only did the Zips end the hometown Cougars season last year but the leading scorer on the team this year is from the area and many down there are bound to remember him. I get that the Houston area may not be an area Groce and crew know much about recruiting or have many relationships with. However, isn’t this the opportunity they have to expand their recruiting connections. I am not arguing anything anyone else has said I just wonder if there is more opportunity there now than there would be usually. Personally I want to see the Zips program return to recruiting some Central Ohio talent. I am tired of seeing so many guys from my local area go to a bunch of other MAC schools but that is just me. I just know I cringe when I hear the name Jason Carter at OU or BJ Duling over in Portage County. I have seen both those guys play within walking distance of my house and never heard of the Zips even showing interest in them.

The Zips in recent years have been able to get a lot of very good players from the Houston area. They also ended the Houston Cougars season in the NIT last season. Akron clearly had a presence and some name recognition in that area under Coach Dambrot. Do you think Coach Groce and his staff will try to take advantage of, and continue, that pipeline? Do you think they should try?

The two teams I think we match up worst with are Ball State and Buffalo. If they end up at 1 and 4 I hope we end up at 10 or 11 so that if we pull of the road upset we are on the opposite half of the bracket from those two in Cleveland. Just my opinion.

With high school tournament basketball now heating up does anyone know anyone in the central Ohio area that the Zips may be looking at? I will probably go out and see a couple of games but if I good see a potential future Zips player that would make it more worthwhile.

I am OK with the schedule overall. I do wish we had a home FBS non-conference game though and that we had 6 home games overall. I guess that is the tradeoff for playing three P5 schools though. My only other question is if we are going to put FCS schools on the schedule why do they almost always seem to come from the MEAC? No offense to that conference but I'd like to see us play and defeat schools for various regions of the country just to get our name out there. I know we played JMU one year but why never a Patriot League or OVC team from the FCS? Just curious.

I was thinking a lot about that game too as a point of comparison. I believe that game was 114-111 Xavier in 3OT in the JAR and that Ball had 44 points. Anybody know the last time a Zips player had 48 points or more in a game? I don’t seem to remember one since I started following the Zips about 25 years ago.

I went with Toledo for no reason other than I think that we will be due to see three or four guys have really good games at the same time instead of just one or two trying to carry the team through a game. It seems to me that the topic of ‘who is the first team the Zips lose to at home?’ could also be started if it hasn’t been already.

How much would it effect our metrics like RPI if we played a cream puff or two each year on the road as opposed to at home? I don't know how these metrics work but I am sure this is some sort of home/away factor built in. I think playing lesser talented teams actually can help a team to a degree in terms of confidence and getting more players valuable experience. To me, though, going on the road and winning in an unfamiliar environment would pay more dividends long term than playing all of the worst teams on your schedule at home. I remember in my high school days the coaches always thought nothing built a team better than a road trip early in the season that resulted in a win. Those coaches were baseball/ football coaches but I would think the same would apply to basketball. I guess what I am saying is if a team the Zips are playing is a creampuff that as long as they are not the creamiest of creampuffs I'd like to see it occasionally be a home and home series so the team can rack up more true road wins before the start of MAC play. I don't know, maybe I am way off base here but I just see a game at a place like UT-Chattanooga or Georgia Southern being better for the growth of the team than playing them at home. Ideally you would then want the tougher teams coming to your home arena.

I am not sure who may be looking at him, and I am certainly not paid to evaluate talent, but I was impressed by Trey Psota of Bay High School in Bay Village. He never seemed to miss a tackle in the games I saw him play and he seemed to always be around the ball. In addition to his middle linebacker play he was also the workhouse running back for a team that went a few games deep in the playoffs. Anybody have any thoughts on him?

I see a team up and down all year that gets to 16 wins in the regular season, one in the MAC tourney and then maybe one in a CiT or CBI. I can see a big jump up next year and then maybe even another jump the year after.

My guess is Mobile if the Zips win Saturday and Montgomery if they do not. Its just a guess and I hope I am wrong and we can end up with a P5 opponent somewhere but I just wouldn't count on it happening.

I guess I didn't mind the colors but I am still not a fan of the script Akron. I was waiting to see how this team would respond when pushed in a tight game. I was happy with the response last night. I still expect a pretty up and down season though. For me the goal this year is simply to make a national postseason tournament.

According to Wikipedia it is short for Moccasins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga_Mocs

I think I would love to see the full roo on the gold chrome helmets from a couple years back