Captain Kangaroo

Holt likely won’t play until the MAC schedule begins.

Holt probably won’t play until BG.

I volunteer to perform an in-stadium puppet show reenactment any exciting plays immediately following the play's conclusion. If the Section 208 railing is obscured, people within the stadium can livestream it on their phones. ZipsWin! will work the camera. Best I can offer since we apparently opted out of the "fire and theft" clause in our scoreboard insurance policy. If you would like to support the Zips Replay Puppet Show, please bring cereal boxes, paper plates, Elmer's glue and construction paper to Lot 9. Oh, and plastic scissors would be great too. Daniel George was my first attempt (below). They'll get more realistic as time goes on.

Most high schools have video scoreboards now a days. And you get stat updates too. InfoCision doesn’t/can’t. It is embarrassing. If there was a fire, why wasn’t that covered by insurance?

No issues entering, and a short wait for stale popcorn and pretzels. Guess that’s a positive?

I’m going with a comfortable 48-16 Zips win. I think our talent and coaching is leaps-and-bounds above 2021. I see no chance of entering the 4th quarter in a tightly contested game (like last season’s 14-14 tie with Bryant). The Zips feel good about themselves for a week and a half before traveling to East Lansing. Then the fun begins…

"We want the high school players from Akron to stay in Akron...if they can play at the Division 1 level."

Thanks for the great post! I will piggy back off it with what I've heard from people who've attended practices and scrimmages: The team will probably go as DJ Irons goes. The other QB's aren't at his level right now. He's got to stay healthy. Irons will not take the beating he took last season, where he repeatedly dropped back and got pummeled, and rarely threw quick-hitters. The OL is perceived as "middle of the MAC" as far as talent. MUCH improved over last year. The new transfers from Houston and Penn State will start. Xavior Gray looks to be the starting LT. Hopefully with improved coaching he had a nice bounce-back season. Wiley is getting rave reviews. That's good news, because I liked Norrils. The three transfer WR's are likely our #1, #2 and #3 wideouts. As a group they're perceived to be in the upper 1/3 of the MAC. TJ Banks looks to have secured the #1 TE spot. He's improved every week throughout the summer, and his size and athleticism are as good as advertised. D-Line will be MUCH improved. Victor Jones is really good. His former Wyoming teammate Ravontae Holt it also very highly thought of, but may not make his debut until a couple games into the season. Harper also looks good. Secondary is a work-in-progress. Didn't hear much exciting news about the d-backs. Didn't hear much about the LB's. Obviously it's nice to get Bubba back. Hope Boatang is 100% healthy. That's all I got. If any Zips insiders are lurking, now's the time to speak up!🦘💪

A couple years ago I made a collage of all my old Zips tickets. It sucks that the days of assembling something like what's below are over.

The two biggest questions regarding Game #1 game day are - How completely understaffed and unprepared will the concession stands be? How completely understaffed and underprepared will the gate entrances be?

Per hobbyhut.com he made offers to a 6’ 6” pottery-making power forward and a 6’ 1” point guard with mad watercolor skills.

Class of 2025 recruit? I wonder who will be the Duke’s head coach when 2025 rolls around?

With the lots opening up to all season ticket holders it'll be interesting to see if Lot 9 fills up early this fall... or if it's just the normal family-and-friends. I'll be there early, but probably not more than 2 hours prior to kick-off. 🍻💪🦘

Graduated in 2019? Unless you're giving the walk-on route a try, we hope to see you in a Zips tailgate lot this fall! 😄

Wilily Spencer also a former Zip.

Nice! That’s the type of ooc opponent I’ve been dying to schedule for years! How many beers did #51 have the night before that picture was taken?

When the leftover Z merch hits 70% off, I’m buying out the shop! 😃

We have 19 offensive linemen on the roster. 17 of them are either Sophomores or Freshmen.

I tried to listen to them, but had to cut them all short. Listening to people who performed no research, who have zero presentation skills, and who did little else but read roster names...mispronouncing most of them...ain't for me. Arth was 2-10 last season. This team is more talented, deeper, is playing in the MAC, and our staff is P5 level. The bare minimum number in the win column for this team is 4. I'll stick with my 6-win prediction.

OL Tommy Ricard - Hudson I think Joe said he's living in Hudson now, so maybe that helps with this recruit?

If the taxpayers were paying enough, we'd be playing Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky this season instead of Tennessee and Michigan State.

I'm normally against filling a D1 stadium via free tickets. But I think Joe and the team deserve to play in front of a capacity home crowd. It's a great way to kick off the a new era and generate some excitement in the community. Maybe jack it up to $5 next year? I think if the casual fan had fun this year, they'd come back and pay a little for it next year. Yeah, it's the "Acme-Zip mentality"...but those game days were a lot of fun.

Alabama and OSU are Saudi oil fields. By comparison, MAC schools are fracking in Newcomerstown. Upper-tier P5 programs are starting their own bazillion dollar "LIV Tour." MAC schools are clipping coupons to save 50 cents the next time they play Putt Putt. @catdaddyp did an awesome job of explaining why stars are exponentially less applicable the further you slide down the college football food chain. If the Zips staff is choosing a 3-star guy over a 2-star guy simply because of stars, he's not going to be coaching for long. Quoting catdaddy - "The better players will 'pop' off the film regardless of anyone’s expertise or rating." Give me a D1 coach that knows talent when he sees it, over one that bases his recruiting on nameless star-assigners who have never coached or played, but have monetary incentive to gain views/subscribers.

Thank you for starting my morning with a good laugh! Welcome to the dark side. 🤣

UConn...BG...UMass? I think of those 3, BG was the better program, and they lost to the Arth-led Zips? I always like the players recruited by Army and Navy. If that is the type of kid your program is attracting, you're doing things the right way.