Captain Kangaroo

Beyond sending his son to UA, I know JD made a sizeable donation to the Zips football program as well.

I remember looking at Arth's 2021 team and schedule and wondering "How will this team win more than one game?!" (they won 2). We've come a long way. Sep 2 (Sat) 2:00 PM Away Temple Prediction - Zips offense surprises the Owls. Zips win 34-31 (1-0) Sep 9 (Sat) 6:00 PM Home Morgan State No messing around...Zips win 51-9 (2-0) Sep 16 (Sat) 7:00 PM Away Kentucky Lexington, Ky. Zips keep it close at the half, but a couple explosive second half plays carry Kentucky to a 41-24 win (2-1) Sep 23 (Sat) TBA Away Indiana Bloomington, Ind. WKY took these guys to OT last year. Hoosiers aren't very good. I think the Zips lose in a tight one. 27-24 (2-2) Sep 30 (Sat) TBA Home Buffalo Akron, Ohio We should have beaten Buffalo last year. We will this year. Zips win 45-24 (3-2) Oct 7 (Sat) 3:30 PM Home Northern Illinois Akron, Ohio Pounded these guys last year. We'll do so again. Zips 51-16 (4-2) Oct 14 (Sat) TBA Away Central Michigan Mount Pleasant, Mich. Gifted the Chipps a win last season. History doesn't repeat itself. Zips win 35-20. (5-2) Oct 21 (Sat) TBA Away Bowling Green Bowling Green, Ohio Who knows which BG team shows up? Tough to figure the Falcons out. Zips lost by 3 last season. Bullish that Joe schemes hard to prevent back-to-back BG losses, and the JoMo Zips round into form. Zips win 30-27 (6-2) Nov 1 (Wed) 7 or 7:30 PM Home Kent State Akron, Ohio (InfoCision Stadium - Summa Field) No way the Zips lose this one. Arth was #heretodevelop. Joe is #heretopoundkent. Zips win 39-20 (7-2) Nov 8 (Wed) 7 or 7:30 PM Away Miami University Oxford, Ohio Zips due for a letdown, and Miami always seems to have their number. Miami wins 20-19. (7-3) Nov 14 (Tue) 7:00 PM Away Eastern Michigan Ypsilanti, Mich. How did EMU get good at football? If they can play winning ball, anyone can. Unfortunately, the improved Eagles win 42-31. (7-4) Nov 24 (Fri) Noon Home Ohio Akron, Ohio (InfoCision Stadium - Summa Field) OU is down to their 4th string QB. Zips eek out a 19-17 win and look forward to their bowl game. (8-4) Offensively, the Zips should be able to hang with anyone. OL will be improved. RB is MUCH improved. WR should be as good, or better than last year. I expect a lot from Banks at TE. DL should be passable. Lots of size and mature bodies to choose from. Fingers are crossed a couple unknowns step up and make an impact. LB scares me. None of the returning guys made much of an impression last year. Hopefully a year in the system and in the weight room yields a big improvement. Secondary should be a strength...IF the DL can generate some QB pressure. 8-4 is a crazy prediction considering we've won 8 total games since we beat Northwestern in 2018. But I believe we're a MUCH better team that the one Jo inherited last year. Crazy goal...but definitely possible.

Saw Kenston’s Sean Patrick racked up 218 yards on 22 carries Friday night against Boardman.

Owls Who Give a Hoot About the Zips Game

It almost seems like they hired the firm of Wistercil, Helsel & Williams to handle their affairs?

Overheard this was due in large part, or maybe entirely, to Matt Kaulig.

Minor note - Owen Wiley was the kicker on the FG.

Call These people and tell them exactly what you want. They will make you a kick ass jersey for a reasonable price. Way better than Fanatics.

Joe said last week that 60-70% of the Zips recruits will come from the portal. So if we have 12 to 13 '24 freshmen committed, that's pretty much it. Barring de-commits and other attrition.

I'll clarify a little with my interpretation of "long haul" - Joe's here to "fix" Akron football, and he won't leave until that is accomplished. He's not a 2-year mercenary looking to build a resume and immediately move on, or bide time while the smoke blows over from some scandal. He wants Zips football to be a stable, contending program well into the future. I don't know that he will be our "Solich". Maybe he will? I'd LOVE it. But when he ultimately leaves we'll be on stable ground as a program, with legitimate annual expectations of competing for championships for the first time since...maybe Dennison?

While I am certainly no GT, I'll do my best to pass along a few things gleaned from a Zips football event held last evening at Café Arnone in Fairlawn.😀 The event was for boosters-only, until the last minute when they opened it up to the public. So I just went on my own. I may have been the only person in attendance that wasn't a former player or administrator. The main purpose of the event was to kick off a booster group composed primarily of former Zips players. Most of the guys seemed to be from the Dennison era. A few from the Faust era. Buchtel coach and former Brookhart RB Bryan Williams was in attendance. There will be a big push to get former Zips back into the fold, supporting the program. They'll be arranging road trips, fund raising and a lot of other things. Joe probably spoke for an hour. The most important thing discussed his adamant statement that he was at Akron for the long haul, and 100% committed to turning the ship around. He mentioned the offers he's had both before and since coming to UA...paraphrasing - "I could be a Power 5 head coach right now...I could be a Power 5 coordinator right now...I could be in the NFL right now...with a lot more commas and zero's on my paycheck...but I'm at Akron because I chose to be here, and I WILL turn this thing around." It was a pretty powerful and honest statement. In no particular order, here are some tidbits (I'm going off memory here) - There are two 2023 scholarships left to give The Zips expect two more 2024 freshman commits by next week. I think one is an OL from Florida? Future recruiting classes will likely be 60-70% from the portal (it depends upon what talent is available in a given year). The rest will be freshman. The preference is the portal guys will be like Alex Adams, mature kids with 3-or-so years of eligibility remaining. From the tone of the QB discussions, DJ and Taj are the top 2. But Billy Fessler said "We've only seen Taj in shorts so far, so we'll see what happens in August." Joe mentioned it was nice to have a guy like Undercuffler in the mix, as "he won a game last year, and was a minute away from winning another." Joe addressed the two late-game fumbles from last year - "I think the guys looked up at the scoreboard and said "Holy crap...we can actually win!?" And then, we folded. He said "regardless of how much you simulate those late-game scenarios in practice, the game is just different." He doesn't feel those situations will be repeated in 2023. 😀 The kicker from Oregon State can consistently put a ball 6-7 yards deep in the endzone on kick offs. Joe thought last season may have been his best coaching job ever considering the program's talent level when it was handed to him. On 2022, he said the Zips were "1 deep" at most positions. Now they are 2-3 deep. That's going to create some great competition and raise the level of play appreciably. "We look like a Division 1 team this year...last year that wasn't the case." Coach Tibesar said he has no idea who's going to start on the defensive line, but he likes the numbers and talent they have on the roster. He said the linebackers look like D1 linebackers. Joe Dunn was at the event. He expects to return for another season of broadcasting. The boosters seem like a good group of people. Older, professional guys who seem more than capable and motivated to make the group effective and grow it. I think 16 people joined last night, at $100 each. Nice start! They're appreciative that Joe and the staff have reached out to them. If you're a former player and want to find out more, contact Reno Ferri or Tom Freeman. Joe said the difference between the Fordham team he inherited in "Year 1", and the Zips team he inherited in "Year 0" was buy-in. The Fordham team won the 1-score games the Zips lost because they universally bought in to what his staff was implementing. That universal buy-in wasn't there for the Zips last season. But it is now. He expects great things now that players know they are being held accountable, and so many returning players have a year of Joe's system under their belts. Overall, a very nice, small-venue event. Definitely worth $30 to hear Joe speak. I'll leave the rest to GT. 😀

Stan Heath taught him well.

Forget the players for a second...Akron has Joe Moorhead as it's HC, yet it puts forth a media marketing effort like it has Tom Arth. Invest in Joe...give him whatever he needs...and InfoCision will fill up and pay the bills. Keep trying to get by on the cheap, with broken scoreboards and essentially zero media promotion...and see what happens. As long as "bush league" is our bar, we'll always be bush league.

#9,345: Anything with script Akron

Because these preseason predictions were sooo much more thoroughly researched back in the days when we won 5, 6, or 7 games? I'll provide an inside scoop...take it to the bank...next year, they'll be just as poorly researched.💰

Zips coaches at Pitt, OSU and Akron. I’d expect more commits soon. Doesn’t seem like you get the bang for your buck at camps anymore, when half your recruiting class is transfers.

Insane roster turnover from 2022. Which is a good thing when you go 2-10 in 2022.

If I felt anyone else beyond you took the job of evaluating MAC talent so seriously and with such incredible attention to detail, I’d reverse my stance on the relevance of star ratings given to MAC-level players. Great job, and awesome work! Your post will definitely be my reference over the first few 2023 games as I try to figure out who’s who.

I just love that interview. I’ve found my new favorite Zip.

From what I heard, retired and returned home to NC.

Nice Jacob Newell Interview I assume Joe knew about him from his time @ Oregon?

I think what’s left in the portal now is the football equivalent of a moldy ham & cheese sandwich, a bubble gum wrapper, and $10 in expired Kohl’s cash. Time to walk away and leave the detritus for Kent. Looking forward to seeing what kind of team Joe & Co. can mold Akron’s ‘23 Soldiers of Fortune into.

Tahj HS Article Love the signing. Undercuffler is a just a solid back up and Iron’s shoulder situation makes him tough to bank on…we needed a P5 talent in the ‘23 QB mix if we want to make any noise this year. We’ve won 8 games in the past 5 combined seasons, so “noise” is relative…but I really expect a .500 season this fall. We will have a sideline full of transfer soldiers-of-fortune, but hopefully they have something to prove, and gel as the season progresses. Arth was building a team like he had 6 years to start winning. Joe obviously has a more expedited timetable. So many new faces!

His Twitter says he’s a grad transfer with 2-3 years remaining. Bizarre.

Tenemos Dall y Lama