Captain Kangaroo

I saw Decavilon Reese made an appearance Saturday? No idea what the story is on him. Maybe NCAA clearing house issues held him out the first half of the season? Just a guess...

I would say they were "high-risk/high reward" recruits. And in the end the risk outweighed the rewards. I don't fault KD for giving them a shot, but it seems like the exception rather than the rule that non-qualifiers pan out.

Fearless Forecast™ - Zach Gibson tosses for 379 yards and 5 TDs. The passing success opens up the running game, and the Zips post 128 rushing yards and 2 TD's. Kent runs a Fumblerooskie with 21 seconds remaining, but Crum trips flat on his face and can only watch in despair as Alvin Davis scoops up the ball and runs 78 yards to paydirt, sealing the Zips thrilling 47-45 win. Both Zips students in attendance storm the field, uprooting an orange goal line pylon and later, victoriously carry it around campus on their shoulders.

That explains why I saw Groce walking around campus in waders a couple weeks ago.

Chris Rooney!

Since you are an Akron historian...?...do you recall Lee Owens' first season? The Zips were 1-6, and Owens was disgusted with his QB play, so he pulled Greg Gromek's redshirt in Game 8...and the Zips subsequently won 3-in-a-row. Gromek subsequently blew out his knee the next season and used his redshirt for that reason. Say Gibson beats Kent...and beats Buffalo...and beats NIU...how do you not start him at BG? Yeah, it's a fairly improbably scenario considering we're 0-5...but it is the MAC. It's possible.

Odd...he was getting a lot of pt.

You owe it to the team to give them the best chance to win games. If Gibson clearly gives you that chance, you play him.

Will Kent be ready for it?

Rather than having 6 student athletes in the portal, I think we now have 6 athletic students. They can tear-up the US Intramural League for a short bit this fall before moving on. I assume their scholarship holds through the end of the semester, since it is already paid. You'd think a requirement for them getting a scholarship is to attend classes? And they would be much more marketable to another University if they were in good academic standing, rather than dropping out. Other than Dre, I can't believe any of the Portal 6 are going to play at the D1-A level again.

Who's in it? Who's not? How do these soon-to-be-ex-Zips stack up against the portal entries from other MAC programs? National articles on The Transfer Portal...it all falls under this topic.

Kent message board I think there are 4 total posts in October, so keep your expectations low.

Last year, 4-8 Bowden beat - Northwestern Morgan State (4-7 FCS) Kent State in OT (2-10) CMU (1-11) We lost 9-of-11 starters on defense, and that defense carried the 2018 team. Due to the timing of his hire he completely missed out on the initial signing day. We lost our best returning WR, Jonah Morris, before the season even started. Shocking that we're bad in 2019. Who knew? Arth is a good person, and a hard worker. He's legitimately focusing on NE Ohio recruits, which is something Akron fans have bemoaned for years. Everyone here should support the guy. Against a lot of odds, his staff and team are busting their ass to bring Akron a winner. If you repeatedly post on ZipsNation bitching about Arth, you're just trying to bring the program down. And bring the supporters down. And that is not why I pay the money, and spend the time, to run a nice site that represents UA well. People that repeatedly bitch make ZipNation toxic and drive good, interesting, fun fans away. That won't fly.

If it is indeed true that - "You improve through criticism. You do not improve from sunshine and rainbows and apathy" then I'll offer the following candid thoughts - You have 3,870 posts on ZipsNation. I am still waiting for the first good one. You started off strong in 2012 with your avatar, and everything since then has been a banal, verbose waste of space. You offer a stunning combination of ignorance and self-importance. #Facts. Tough Love.

The small crowd in the stands belied the well attended parties in the stadium parking lots. There was no doubt Julian Hicks' foot was in-bounds for his first TD reception in a Zips uniform. The Zips celebrate after DeMarkus Glover snared his first career INT. ...and the Zips faithful got to break out The Takeaway Pencil! Boogie Knight nets 39 of his game high 100 yards receiving. Kato Nelson feels the force of the UMass pass rush. All day long it seemed like there were more UMass blockers than Zips defenders. Nate Stewart hauls in a 17 yard TD pass. Robbie Kelley had 8 pass attempts before giving way to Zach Gibson. An exuberant Zack Gibson bumps butts with Trevor Brown after leading the Zips to withing 8 points, late in the game. Gibson's strong play breathed life into a Zips team, and staff in desperate need of some positive vibes. 12-16 for 173 yards and a TD, Gibson did it all, even hauling in a 2-point conversion from WR/QB Nate Stewart. UMass QB Michael Curtis high steps it into the endzone untouched. The Zips' Zach Gibson does some high-stepping of his own. True Freshman KR/WR Michael Mathison continues to impress. Gibson gets a taste of what Kato Nelson has been feeling all season. Kato's status for the Kent game appears to be a game day decision...at best. In 1975 Time Magazine wrote "I've seen the future of rock and roll, and that future is Bruce Springsteen." For the Zips faithful that made the trip to Amherst, maybe...just maybe...in the abyss of what appears to be the mother of all rebuilding seasons...they saw the future of Akron football in true Freshman Zach Gibson. Time will tell.

He's the only reason we have a shot against Kent. He played GREAT. The team rallied around him big-time. If we could have gotten a stop on UMass's last drive, I guarantee Gibson would have tied the game up.

As always, taking photos and subsequently posting and commentating the day after a disappointing loss is a losing proposition. But I took the trip up to Amherst and thought I'd post what I thought might be interesting to Zips fans who'd never been to Amherst, and who may not have been able to watch the game. My wife and I arrived in Amherst Thursday night. It is roughly a 2-hour drive from Logan Airport to the UMass campus. Too bad we drove it in the dark, and in a rainstorm, because everyone who drove in during the day told me it was a scenic drive. Amherst is tucked away in the woods of western Massachusetts. The last 30 or so miles it took to get there reminded me of a trip to OU, winding through several rural small towns. We stayed at a bed and breakfast about 0.5 miles from the downtown restaurant and bar district, and a little over 1 mile to the UMass campus. We explored the campus during the day, and felt really old at night as we hit the bars where many of the kids were approaching 1/3 our age! But it was a great time. UMass has a small lake in the center of campus. If you take the library elevator to the 23rd floor you can see the entire campus, with the hillside in the background. It was surprising that we wore Akron gear the entire day, but not one person mentioned the game or seemed to notice. The game was promoted on campus. The stadium was open during the day, so we were able to get in and take some pictures. There was a great pizza joint on campus. Antonio's. Giant New York slices. We got some tortellini slices to end our Friday night. I wish there was a place like this in the Akron area! We set up shop in Lot 22, only 2 blocks from the stadium. It was a vibrant tailgate scene. Lots of cars, tents and music. Travelling by plane, it was tough to "seriously" tailgate, but we did the best we could. UMass fan Steve 1981 visited ZipsNation and invited us to his tailgate, so we stopped over and said hello. Super-nice guy, with a great wife and group of friends. I can't tell you how many great people I've met via ZipsNation.org, both in the Akron area, and across the country. We tailgated with new friends 3rd&twenty and his wife, and met up with Akronites Dave and Geno inside the stadium. UMass had a large, gated-off section where the students tailgated before the game. It was an absolute mob scene. Kids piled in from the dorms by the hundreds. It was like an army of ants! Unfortunately, the bulk of the students head back to the dorms after the block party. Very few made it in to the stadium. Game result aside, it was a great trip. If you've never traveled to a Zips away game, you should. I've seen some great wins @ Northwestern, Army, NC State and Navy over the years. Some close shaves at Wisconsin and Virginia. And some clunkers like yesterday. But it's always a great time travelling and supporting the Zips. See you @ Auburn next year!

UMass's Bilal Ally runs for 180 yards, but Kato's 4 TD's, 3 passing, 1 rushing, offset it. Zips win by 9.

Dre's departure is disappointing. There's no positive spin to put on it. I'm puzzled why he wasn't a bigger part of the offense this year. He's a legit D1 talent. We forge onward, I guess. Definitely a opportunity for Burkhart and Boogie to step up and seize some PT.

I can respect that.

Meh...it's the age we live in. Players constantly transfer. He did get a couple minutes of PT, but so do a lot of true freshman now-a-days. They can play 4 games before getting shut down for their redshirt. We presently have a lot of true freshman logging big minutes in the secondary. If he wasn't, then the writing was probably on the wall that he'd be better off elsewhere.

I won't let you down!

On the bright side, The Hudson Hammer Jonah Wieland seems to have shaken his early season yips. He had a great day punting the ball.

Why is Burkhart out?

I was disappointed that Joe took the bait when the interviewer called ZipsNation a "Cesspool." It would have been nice if he said "It seems like there're a lot of nice people on that site. Great game photography, some nice player stories and passionate fans. You spent a lot of time complaining about guys that sit in bars all day and watch the games. ZipsNation guys attend all the games." Oh well. As far as Beltz goes - I'll let his interview and content speak for itself.