Captain Kangaroo

We had a 1-AA team scheduled, but allegedly a Big 10 team (Michigan?) offered them a lot more money and they backed out.

Steubenville-UA walk on will instead go to Tiffin.Too bad...I saw him play in the State Finals and he looked to be a great athlete.

If Tillman gets on-track and OU finishes the season strong, it is Tillman's to lose. If not, and the Zips continue to roll, C McKnight should get it. Wins over Buffalo and Miami would be pretty much mandatory for it to happen.

I agree. A good sponsor pick up. Tough call...great referees...or a nice chicken sandwich. You can't have it all on Sundays, I guess.

Those teams would get crippled if they played a D-1 team. Physically crippled. If you thought the 65-0 beating of Hampton, w/65 scholarships, was a tragedy, wait til you saw Duquesne vs. Akron. 100 points might be achievable. By halftime.

Detroit is dumping salaries big-time. It wouldn't shock me to see Dwight end up somewhere else in 2009. He still has another year or two left in him...if he can stay out of trouble.Frye and Alleman came to a game last season. I got a picture of my son with Charlie. Alleman was having a big tailgate with a bunch of other former players.

The PD's Elton Alexander is obviously lurking on the "Akron Fan Message Board" (God forbid he mention the name, even though he uses it for material). His latest column discusses Tillman's loosening grip on the MAC POTY award. Just to make the "idea borrowing" a little less obvious, he's omitted Chris McKnight from the POTY competition. It is also interesting that the MAC FOTY is apparently locked up by a center from Ball State? I hope Cventinovic takes that as a challenge tomorrow.

Attendance-related story from Sunday - My wife goes to the Chick-a-filet window at the JAR for a sandwich. The person behind the counter says "Oh, we only sell those when we're expecting crowds bigger than 1,000. We won't have any today."Defcon 75

I think Joe Akron is at Defcon 4 right now. 20 wins gets him at Defcon 3. MAC finals berth gets him to Defcon 2. MAC Championship and a mid-court confetti shower gets him to the ever-elusive Defcon 1.Anything less and a Championship (like a #2 finish and an NIT bid) and Joe Akron drops back to Defcon 3. Reference:DEFCON 5 This is the condition used to designate normal peacetime military readiness. An upgrade in military preparedness is typically made by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and announced by the United States Secretary of Defense.DEFCON 4 This refers to normal, increased intelligence and the heightening of national security measures.DEFCON 3 This refers to an increase to force readiness above normal. Radio call signs used by American forces change to currently classified call signs. This was reached after 9/11DEFCON 2 This refers to a further increase in force readiness just below maximum readiness. The most notable time it was declared was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, although the declaration was limited to Strategic Air Command. It is not certain how many times this level of readiness has been reached.DEFCON 1 This refers to maximum readiness. It is not certain whether this has ever been used, but it is reserved for imminent or ongoing attack on US military forces or US territory by a foreign military power

It is not etched in stone, but SDSU was the odds-on favorite as of late last week.

They are probably saying the same thing about Akron.I doubt it.

Eric McLaughlin would approve.

I think reducing Conyers/Bardo's minutes while increasing the McKnight's and Cventinovic's minutes...+ adding McClanahan to the active roster = the most significant reasons we're scoring more points. Overall, everyone is playing well. Humpty gets a little crazy with his early-in-the-shot-clock 3's...but you'd really need to work reach to find anything negative to say about how the Zips are playing right now. Cupcakes or not.

Ray Charles could tell the difference between this Sunday's crew and the CMU crew. The game was a pleasure to watch. And it wasn't just because the Zips won...we won more handily vs. CMU and I wanted to punch a brick wall at the end of that game.

If you have a $5million donation, I think the groundbreaking could only be a month or two away?We need it, but we can't afford it right now. If we have any extra money, I would tuck it in Caleb's pocket rather than build a stadium...at least until the economy turns around.

If playing Sunday games is what it takes to watch a quality-ref'd game, count me in for changing all our games to Sundays. It was great to watch a basketball game and not a free throw shooting contest.

Here are a few notes I jotted down from Wednesday -The Spring Game will be held Saturday April 4th.The 1-AA opponent for 2009 is looking to be South Dakota State.Keith Huebner (OL) has left the football team and will focus on track for Dennis Mitchell's squad.Henderson's high school weight was listed at 285. He's now 325. Apparently he is close to his expected playing weight. Kind of a "Jerry Ball" type nose guard.Other than Steiner, there were no "local" kids signed. I asked Coach Ferri is he expected to hear any grousing from local HS coaches regarding the Zips not recruiting in their own back yard. His response was - "I'm personally responsible for recruiting the Akron-Canton area, and we recruited every local D-1 caliber athlete very hard. If a local coach complained that the Zips didn't recruit one of their players, I'd immediately pick up the phone and give him a call." It seems like the local crop of now-HS Juniors is pretty good. I think we can expect a couple local kids in the 2010 class.There are no members of the 2009 class on-campus this spring with the exception of Fleming and Pechuta. Nicely could have graduated early, but he wanted to enjoy his senior year of high school. I can't blame him.Punter Josh Couch is a relative of Tim Couch. Cousin? Although a punter/kicker in HS, he's expected to only punt for the Zips.I asked if there was an "Infocision Effect" on recruiting. Coach Ferri stated definitively "YES." He specifically mentioned a key recruit that, after seeing the stadium, walked into the Stile Center and said "This is where I'm coming!" You could also see the effect the stadium had on the number of recruits that de-committed on signing day - Zero. That's the first time it's ever happened. Other schools tried to sway several recruits late in the game, but now wavered. Ferri also stated that the effect will be even bigger once the stadium is completed. They expect to go after a lot more high-caliber HS recruits in 2010, and also expect to get them.Although we have Bowser, Miller and Bruce as our top 3 WR's, LaFrace will definitely be in the mix for a starting position in 2009. He also talked about LaFrance being displaced by hurricane Katrina. He said to keep your eyes open over the next few years in the NFL because there's going to be a lot of kids from lower-division colleges, kids who were displaced from the hurricane and slipped through the recruiting cracks, who will be drafted. If you were from Louisiana and the hurricane hit during your Junior year...the year when most colleges review tapes and recruit the hardest...you probably ended up @ a non-BCS school or JUCO.Look for two new coaches to be hired this week. Brookhart doesn't want to go into spring drills without a QB coach on-staff.Ferri also told a story about when he was recruited by the Zips (he attended Army). He looked at UA in the mid-90's and got absolutely no feeling that the University was supporting the football program. Of the eight schools he considered, UA was probably last in line. He stated that's changed 180 degrees from then to today. He said "Proenza doesn't want to be last in ANYTHING." He stated that once the stadium is completed, there will be no other MAC school in the Zips league facility-wise. It won't even be close. It took the UA about 12 years, but the "Worst-to-First" story is almost complete!A million Thank You's again to Coach Ferri to take the time to speak to all of us!!! He promised he'd do it again next year. We'll give everyone more than 4-days notice next February, I swear!

I have a zero tolerance for any douche who enters ZipsNation specifically to belittle its members. If you want to be condesending...act like you're superior...your participation on the board will likely be short-lived.Yes, everyone has an opinion. But if that opinion is a smug slap in the face to ZipsNation members, it stands a good chance of generating ridicule.

As an Akron alum, I think you are a stone-cold douche.Please spare us all a 2nd all-time post. Take your Golden Douche award and go out on top, my man.

Highly Scientific, Undeniably Accurate Lunchtime Analysis:#1 - Buffalo (15-5) Previous Rank #1Tight wins vs. WMU (74-71) and CMU (56-55) plus a 13-point victory over Toledo mean 3-0 over the past week, and allows the Bulls to maintain their season-long command of the coveted #1 slot. Do the close wins vs. WMU and CMU signal a chink in their armor? We shall see…. #2 – Akron (14-8)Previous Rank #3The Zips went 4-0 since the last Power Poll, with three road wins (@ YSU, @ Toledo and @ EMU) to go with their thorough dismantling of CMU at the JAR. Let me be the first to mention the Zips Chris McKnight has decided to step up and challenge OU’s Tillman for MAC POTY. Will the media take notice, or has the award already been forfeited to the increasingly mortal OU star? Did the Zips lose to #6 OU? Yes. Does that mean anything, ranking-wise, on February 6th? No. The Zips are playing better ball. Simple as that.#3 – Miami (13-7)Previous Rank #3 Redhawks are red hot. Beat NIU by 28…EMU by 15 and the surprisingly respectable Ball State by 18. Redhawk fans have been emailing me incessantly to move them to the #2 slot, but it just ain’t happening. Miami stays at #3 this week. #4 – Bowling Green (12-9)Previous Rank # 5Won @ Athens, then reeled off another 3-in-a-row vs the MAC West’s Ball State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. But then again…who doesn’t get a big win streak when they play MAC West teams?#5 BSU (10-10)Previous Rank #6Now 5-3 in the MAC West. Nice wins vs. Toledo and OU. But you can’t overlook the 4-point loss to BG and a butt-whuppin’ 18-point loss to Miami. Ball State appears to have a really good coach on their hands, because they certainly are not dripping with experience or talent. Look out for these guys in 2009-10…but not this year.#6 – OU (11-10)Previous Rank #2“Who doesn’t get a big win streak when they play MAC West teams?” The OU Bobcats, that’s who. After 5 consecutive wins the Bobcats have apparently hit a wall. They’ve lost 4-of-6, including an inexplicable 7-point loss to CMU and a sorry 44-point offensive effort in their 51-44 loss to Ball State. Yes, they curb-stomped NIU by 30 last night, but that’s not enough to impress the pollsters. Jerome Tillman poured in 24 in the NIU win, but his POTY candidacy is taking on water as his team hovers around .500.#7 – K.e.n.t. (11-11)Previous Rank #7 The Golden F.lashes may finally be starting to right their ship? A 22-point win vs. EMU, and 18-point win vs. WMU and a 29-point win vs. Toledo show that the ice water the Zips tossed down their backs 2 weeks ago may very well have awoken a sleeping giant? Then again…they’re stomping the D-II MAC West. The F.lashes don’t move up, but at least their fall has been broken.#8 WMU (7-14)Previous Rank #8They’ve lost 4-in-a row. But that’s pretty much the case for all MAC West schools as they play the east “beasts.” They were competitive (by MAC West standards) in their 4-point loss to Buffalo and 7-point loss to BG. But also chalked up a 17-point loss to K.e.n.t. along the way.#9 NIU (6-14)Previous Rank #9Lost to Miami by 28…BG by 7…and OU by 30. How many Huskie fans will make the trip from DeKalb to Cleveland for the MAC Tourney’s opening Tuesday game? I’m guessing the number is somewhere between Blutarski’s GPA and Niki McCoy’s BAC.#10 Akron Women’s Team (8-13)Previous Rank #11A nice win vs Toledo boosts the Lady Zips up a notch!#11 Toledo (4-18)Previous Rank #13The carnage continues for the Rockets basketball team. Losses by 13, 9 and 29 this past week. But the utter disgrace of EMU and CMU pull them out of the MAC basement for the first time this season!#12 EMU (3-19)Previous Rank #11I’ve lost track of how many consecutive games these clowns have lost? The only team they could beat right now is one coached by Dan Hipsher in the MAC tourney (always a mortal lock for any Zips opponent).#13 CMU (6-14) Previous Rank #10Yeah they beat OU. And yeah they played Buffalo tough. But these SOB’s are banished to the basement for the remainder of 2009 in response to their pathetic “effort” against the Zips January 31st. Taking the air out of the ball in the 1st half, down by double digits!! How much money did their coach make taking Akron and the points in that game??!! Some bookie got fleeced!

I'm seeing the same thing.

From what I can gather, the 3-3-5 isn't going anywhere. The mindset seems to be upgrading the talent level of players within the existing scheme. We'll see if there's any surprises in spring ball, but I don't expect any.

This comes to mind -

The early rumors of Mr. X's identity pointed to either Chris Henderson or Pitt DE verbal Will Clarke.Turns out it could be both.