GJGood

... and they started the semifinal games this year at 5pm for what reason?... TV? It wasn’t on TV until the second half! I was taping the game (since not on ESPN where I can watch after the fact) and had to watch three CUSA overtime’s and have them keep telling me to go to the CBS Sports app, but I was two hours late! Just start the games at 6:30 or 7:00 going forward

Normally I don’t comment a lot on these awards but it does seem a little suspect that they can name a guy defensive player of the year and that same guy can be the only one in the conference averaging a double double on offense and he still not be first team.

I don’t disagree if you only use this year’s numbers. I actually think the MAC would be well served with a challenge against the CAA or Sun Belt and even the MAAC

Has anyone talked to Coach JoMo about his views on Akron’s scheduling in the future. Does he like a FCS opponent every year? How many “pay day” games would be ideal? Will there be an emphasis on getting home and home series’ with other Group of Five programs? Does he think long cross country road trips build team chemistry or would he prefer a more regional approach? How possible does he think it would be to get Power Five schools to regularly visit InfoCision?

The MAC office needs to step in and talk to the members about scheduling out of conference. Maybe the MAC needs to pair up with a similar conference or few similar conferences for a scheduling arrangement or “conference challenge” type thing. The Zips seem to do well with the neutral floor tournaments they get into but also seem to play a lot of teams in the bottom of Division 1 (this year I do like that they got games at Ohio State and Wright State)... I am not saying I want them to schedule an impossible gauntlet, just instead of teams ranked 335 out of 358, why not teams ranked 260 and more home and home contracts that go for 2-4 years? This is also exactly why they need to bring back a Bracketbusters type of event.

Great win tonight. Any insight though on why we didn’t see more of Aziz especially while Freeman was on the bench with three fouls early in the second half?... Not a complaint that he didn’t play more but I think he is a defensive game changer and was just wondering if there is an injury or illness I don’t know about. He looked good in the couple minutes he was in the game early.

Te’Sean looked to be “as advertised” when I saw him, albeit this was only watching the state finals and semifinals on TV. He is a lot like Jennings and Novak in that he is at the helm of a program that is less than a traditional power and is the leader on a team that took that program to unexpected heights. I really think that is the type of guys Akron, and really most of the MAC, would benefit from looking toward in the recruiting process. Getting guys from programs like Hoban and St. Ignatius or Massillon is good, don’t get me wrong, but you wonder how much was the program and how much was the player whereas at a school like Western Brown or Reynoldsburg th see guys we’re part of a culture change And change in expectation of the program by those outside the program. The Zips need this kind of change in the MAC and the MAC needs this kind of change in the Group of Five while the Group of Five needs this kind of change in the FBS.

Thank you for posting this. I feel pretty much the same way in most areas. I did want to make a comment on Jennings though. You are correct about him having a losing record this past season as the team was 5-6. I saw a lot of talent in this guy though and not all losses can be on the shoulders of a QB. In addition to that, those six losses were two to state semifinaist Upper Arlington (one by one point due to a missed PAT) and three of the others were to Huber Heights Wayne, Massillon, and Pickerington Central. This is a who’s who of high school football programs in Ohio. I don’t know how Dijon’s game translates to Akron or the FBS and I can’t prognosticate on his success but I just don’t think being dismissive simply due to a barely losing record In high school when playing that gauntlet of a schedule and playing for a program that usually is near the bottom of their league Is how we should feel either. I can say I go to a lot of high school games and of all the QBs I saw last year he was probably the second best behind Drew Novak at Western Brown and neck and neck with Amare Jenkins of Dublin Scioto.

The colors need to be the colors they are now, although I have to admit I did kind of like the gold chrome football helmets that were worn for a couple of games under Bowden. I thought that look would draw some more eyes to the program. I am not a fan of script Akron because not only does it seem to plain but being from central part of the state I see this script Ohio stuff all the time and I want my alma mater to be more unique. As far as the Z logo goes, it is OK and certainly is unique to us. I guess I am just a little old school in one way though. I have always liked the idea of representing Akron or the mascot more than just the nickname.... for example, if a team name is the Canton Leopards I could see a letter C or a Leopard logo but really am not in favor of the logo being the letter L. The thing I liked about the A-Roo most was it used the school name letter to create the mascot image. I thought that was both creative and unique to us while also maintaining my old school ideals without being too outdated. I am good with the Z though, just count me as not a script Akron fan. Biggest thing to me is keep the traditional Akron colors and font.

Third team All-Ohio QB, older brother Dylan Novak is also a third team all-Ohio WR (these are regardless of division) and was a senior this season. I don’t know his college status but he wouldn’t be a bad target either especially if they would end up a package deal

One high school player I would love to see come to Akron is QB Drew Novak, Western Brown High School, Mt. Orab, Ohio.... Ohio Division 3 player of the year... comes from a small country town East of Cincinnati but would be really exciting to see how a QB like this could develop with a coach like Moorhead. I saw him in the regional finals against Granville and you could see he was the real deal. How do we get him on the new staff’s radar? His numbers are eye popping as well. I believe he passed for over 4,400 yards this past season (his junior HS year). Anyone have any thoughts on him? Too high of a target even though he comes from an unknown and not huge school, even with an offensive coach like JoeMo as a selling point?

If he was the starting QB for Reynoldsburg High School I saw him play at Upper Arlington to open this past high school season. He nearly willed the team to victory over what ended up being one of the best teams in the state

I personally am rooting for former Zips WR Nate Stewart to win a national title today. He looks awfully good for Montana State, even against the FCS elite squad in North Dakota State. What do you guys think? Root for a guy that transferred away or no?

Yes, I honestly don’t know why my phone autocorrect has to do that with proper names.. I know someone named Nate Williams and my phone must have wanted me to talk about him instead

I guess I can’t complain too much. Came into the season with Walton and now no Trimble and still right down to the wire with a very good and well coached Ohio team. The frustrating part is the incredibly slow start two games in a row and then the struggles at the free throw line, either of those are different tonight and the Zips are atop the standings.

Happy to see him offered by Akron. He certainly was one of the best high school QBs I have seen in recent years. Also excited to see my alma mater recruiting Central Ohio again and not letting other MAC schools continue out-recruiting the Zips here.

I hear everything you are saying about an expanded playoff but you neglect to consider one thing... and that is why the G5 is so inferior to the P5 in the first place.. a lot of things would change with G5 conference champions having inclusion in a national playoff, you would see better fan interest, better recruiting, and possibly even better coach retention. While most of the country now will only see the 63 schools that make up the elitist conferences, if there was to be legitimately possible inclusion of the other 67 programs it would only serve to close the very gap that you are stating as the reason it should not happen. Will Akron ever be an Alabama or Ohio State in our lifetimes? Most likely not but with all conference inclusion in a playoff there would be a lot more Boise State, Cincinnati and Central Florida type teams out there. As it stands now I don’t know why recruits would choose a MAC school over a FCS school but if the MAC was guaranteed a rep in the playoff every year that would go against the best that college football has to offer then I can see the recruiting advantage. Sure, it would likely be tough and not all that entertaining for those of us pulling for the underdog in the beginning but given a little time things would become much more competitive. By the way, you say 16 teams but I am a proponent of 14 teams, which would allow those very top teams to be playing to get those two first round byes that were the one bit of true excitement the old BCS got right and to cut down on player opt outs and irrelevance in late season games. If we would have had a 14 team NFL style (all champs in and seeded above wild cards/at larges) playoff this year the matchups would have been greatly entertaining. 1 Alabama ... bye 9 Utah State at 8 UTSA 12 Ohio State at 5 Utah 13 Notre Dame at 4 Baylor 14 Oklahoma State at 3 Cincinnati 11 Georgia at 6 Pittsburgh 10 Northern Illinois at 7 Louisiana 2 Michigan... bye Does it produce a different champion? Maybe not.. Is that really the point though? No.... It’s about rewarding the programs that accomplished what should be their primary goal which should be a conference championship. Secondly inclusion can only help the balance of competition overall. I don’t want to see the bowls go away either but right now there are 84 bowl slots for 130 teams, would having that number drop from 84 to 70 really be that detrimental if playoff games also went up from 3 to 13?

Group of Five 7-1 against the Power 5 in bowl season. MAC 1-0. You can say these mean less than the Cincy game and they do but it still shows that the gap is not as wide as the experts and ESPN would have you believe. I still say if they would just have a playoff, like every other sport, that includes all conference champions, the so called Group of Five would close a good bit of the perception gap after a handful of years. It would only help recruiting, coach retention, and fan interest in conferences like the MAC and that makes a big difference.

That was the first loss for a Group of Five team to a Power Five team in the entire bowl season. The Group of Five was 7-0 in 2021 bowls against the Power Five prior to the Cotton Bowl, including the MAC’s own Central Michigan winning the Sun Bowl over Washington State.

No offense intended here but shouldn’t the title of this thread same Game 11 instead of Game 14? I believe the Zips currently have a 7-3 record.

I am happy this game was scheduled. Do we know if Wright State will be making a return trip to the JAR in the future? The TV announcers tonight kept mentioning how Akron does not play many true road non-conference games. I have always been somewhat critical of bigger programs for not scheduling more away games against either smaller schools or at least road games where they would be prohibitive favorites. I would love to see Big Ten, Big East, or top half of the Atlantic 10 or Missouri Valley teams more often in the JAR. I actually think those type of games would be good for both programs. With that said, though, I have always thought the Zips should schedule home and homes with similar type teams as themselves and I really think it would be good for Akron to play a road game or two against smaller schools or schools over whom they would be a prohibitive favorite. I just think that is the way you toughen a team and get them more prepared for conference play. How would everyone feel if we scheduled a road game with someone like Radford or a middle of the Ohio Valley or MAAC type team? I think it would be a benefit to the team overall.

OK, I must have been either seeing some incorrect or dated information.. still, I do not see Radford as a team we should treat as a practice. How much worse than Florida A&M are they? A couple different bounces of the ball and that Zips-Rattlers game comes down to the wire.

I agree Radford would have been a game the Zips should have won but I also think they were more than a practice or scrimmage. Looking at our schedule I would believe they would be the second best non-conference team to visit the JAR this season. They seem to be streaky and capable of playing well although they do not do so consistently. I guess I see them as less of a cupcake than Southern or Florida A&M and the Rattlers were a little closer to the Zips than I was comfortable with. Radford was in the NCAA tournament in 2018 and even won a game in it (although it was in the First Four in Dayton). The Highlanders are also the currently reigning back to back Big South Conference champions... yes, it is a weaker league but the last couple seasons they are it’s premier program.

Watching the FCS quarterfinals and just saw former Zips WR Nate Williams make a big catch for Montana State as they are in position to upset the #1 ranked Sam Houston State Bearkats. I didn’t even recall that was where he ended up

I could see Akron attempting to get home and home series with any of the service academies. They may not be Power Five conference schools but those programs also carry some level of fan interest