Captain Kangaroo

Brings to mind the old John McKay line.. Reporter: "What do you think of your team's execution?" McKay: "I'm all for it."

As of Sunday September 13th, the Zips soccer team has 11 combined offensive points, and the football team has 10.

Chapman column

Recent? They played for Lee Owens.

Then I'd think a 1-AA program putting up 37 points against Pitt should have been cause to "Scarborough" their entire program? But here they are...

Coaching my little basketball and baseball kids for years, I always learned so much from that first game of the season. 1000X more than I learned in the few weeks of practice before the season began. I think Bowden learned a lot from the Oklahoma game. He learned that we can move the ball on the ground. I think having "reasonable" success in the running game last week will give him some confidence to not abandon the run (see 2014) as the season progresses. Chapman's feet are now wet. Not from pee, either. Oklahoma is a tough opening assignment. Hopefully the competitor inside him comes out and against Pitt he shows some of the impact ability the staff and fans are expecting. Can Pohl throw a decent pass that's not a sideline fly pattern? Can the WR's run a successful route that's not a sideline fly pattern? I love our defense. If you put our D in Oklahoma State uniforms last week, people would have believed it was Ok State. Pound for pound, we matched up against an upper-tier P5 offense like we are an upper-tier P5 defense. Our D will dominate Pitt. Bowden knows he has to win this game. There is no better chance to beat an ACC team than right now...they're minus their All-ACC running back, they are in our back yard, we beat them last year, the crowd will be big, it's a night game...this, will be Bowden's real break out game. Akron 41 Pitt 13

Crucial Blunders

You have a unique definition of "numerous."

F*ck attendance. Beat Pitt.

If you were looking at some way of rationalizing the butt-kicking we received on Saturday night, perhaps this box score provides some perspective that things have been much worse in the past, with much better offensive talent on the Zips side of the ball, vs. a weaker P5 opponent. We can hope that all the new faces on the offense, combined with a new offensive philosophy, were similar to what Brookhart's new system and staff brought back on '04. We'll learn a lot this Saturday.

Cardiac Hill

I remember some clowns on this board saying, as Rob Ianello rolled up his second consecutive 1-11 record, "Hey, look at Al Golden at Temple. Same thing. Let's not give up too quickly on Ianello because he might be 'The Next Al Golden'." What Bill Snyder or Al Golden did at their respective schools has no bearing on the Zips.

Got our 1 million dollars. Now on to Pitt. What does an offensive playmaker in an Akron uniform look like? It's been so long, I forget.

For all you Zips fans in Oklahoma - I am extremely jealous! Drink a lot, have a blast, and let us know how it went.

If he had the opportunity for an official visit to Ohio State. Or Pitt. Should he do it unofficially since they are less than a 2-hour drive?

Sooners 47 Zips 16 Score is a little misleading, as the Sooner defense scores 2 TD's. Jerome Lane goes for over 100 yards.

So he'd be better off having an official visit at an out of town school that he has no interest in attending rather than an in-town school that's in his Top 5? How would the Zips compare to their competition if they didn't extend him one of their 12 allotted official visits? Probably like a cheap program. Just because the kid is local doesn't mean you can get by on the cheap and not allow him to go out with the guys, dine him and pay for his hotel (like you would an official visit from an out-of-town kid).

Chubby guys in bow ties are never wrong. We're in trouble.

Then what was your point?

An "official visit" is more than strolling through the student center and eating a burrito. He gets the big tour, hangs with players, goes out on the town...it is a recruiting event.

Scarborough, in his WAKR interview, when asked "How many fans will be at the Pitt game?" Reply: "Not enough." I hope his underselling of The University of Akron fans is consistent with his other antics thus far. If not...he was due to get something right eventually.

I disagree with your first segment, and agree with the last. The program KD has built is absolutely not a tough sell. We're sufficiently on national TV (in comparison to our peer programs). Play for championships every year. In an NBA arena. Have recently beaten the likes of Oregon State, South Carolina and USC. The support is fine. Zips fans show up for big games. They don't for tripe. It's no different than anywhere else in comparison to our peer programs. One thing no one has given KD any credit for is his effort to change over time with regards to recruiting. He arrived, and the team was crap. He turned it around with good, hometown/Ohio kids. He recognized the program's growth was limited by doing only this, and opened the door to high-risk/high-reward kids. Those were hit and miss, with more big misses than hits. But the guy tried...there's no blue print for success. And often in college sports you are stuck with the effects of your errors, big or small, for 4 or more years. He had at least 3 players that should have been in the rafters next to Bill Turner and Joe Jakubik...and none of them finished their eligibility at UA. The program evolved again, changing the recruiting focus from relatively "local" kids... to High-risk/High-reward, to now one of a more national scope. HS kids from Texas and Nevada would never have been on a Zips roster over the first 7-8 years. Will it work? I don't know. But the early reports look good. I agree that, now that we allegedly have all these fantastic recruits, our peer programs should also be of elevated stature. We need to begin playing them more often. Home-home. I wish Dambrot embraced the "Gonzaga of the East" comment rather than regretted it. I would bet 70% of the D1 basketball schools wish their program was as tough a sell as Akron's. Even if we'd have won only 19 games last season.

Clever Ohio Polytech Marketing. So we are now highlighting our own Student Athlete of the Week as - "Presented By The University of Akron, Ohio's Polytechnic University"? Who else would present a Zips Athlete of the Week? Prairie View A & M? That's the most retarded thing I've seen to date. And that's saying a lot.

Vikings cut Jalil Carter.