UAZipster0305

At this point, I see it more as a couple games of survival to maintain respectability. The race to Detroit was mathematically possible on paper. I thought we could win at Miami, but that was before the Woodson suspension and the Sands injury. I expected the "Race" to be spoiled in front of a respectable home crowd by OU, but alas...

My how the perspective on this has now changed. At the time, I agreed with you, CK. However, I think Miami's talent is clearly better than ours. We are also no longer healthy. OU doesn't beat themselves, and I don't see us playing out-of-our-minds well against them either. I expect that we will get beaten soundly and have our rivalry game to determine whether we are bowl eligible. If we lose both, Bowden's job is on the line. I think getting to a bowl game will be (and should be) enough for him to keep it. In any case, I think that a condition of him staying should be to find a new offensive coordinator.

Yes, the two early season losses hurt. However, it is best that they were early in the season. Without a doubt, we are a top 4 team since then. Among common opponents, Standford lost 2-0 at St. Louis (where we tied 0-0) and tied 1-1 at home to Washington (who we beat 2-0 at our place). Stanford also lost 2-0 at home to Tulsa. If WF and IU both make their conference finals and UA and Stanford win theirs, I think those are your top 4. I think the performances of UNC and Clemson in the ACCC will be a huge factor though.

In comparing the coachs' poll to the RPI, I think we have a good shot at the #4 seed provided we win the MACC. FIU seem to be a strong team. They have beaten lower competition soundly and have a small handful of wins against notable programs. They are likely worthy of a top 8 seed. I don't give them much of a chance if they have to play in Ohio in mid-November though.

And Louisville's #4 was completely out of nowhere...NCSAA#9 and RPI#6. Such things could happen again, but I doubt it. With MSU out of the B1GC, worst case for us would be Michigan beating Indiana in the final. Also, UNC-Clemson in the ACCC would be bad for us. This is the one way I could see us excluded from the #4 if we win the MACC.

That's definitely not good for us!

Agreed! Reinforcing several of the points I made above.

If we win the MACC, I actually think we could get the #4 seed. No way will the committee put 3-4 ACC teams in the top four seeds. I think rooting for any of these teams is very much a wash. They are all ACC and B1G, so they all play each other. One winning, helps the others' RPI indirectly. The one situation where I could see it benefiting the Zips is if both MSU and ND win their conference tournaments. Those two things along with the MACC would give us the four seed. While the RPI considers the entire season's resume, the committee uses wild cards, such as best current teams as consideration for seeding. If it was all done by RPI, there'd be no need for a committee.

When I was a student and lived in the area, there was nothing I'd rather do on a nice fall evening than go to a Zips soccer game. It was an event to look forward to. Even as a youth, being a ball boy or going to an occasional game with my parents or teammates were memorable events. I have watched the Zips play VCU in Richmond and against UNC in Chapel Hill...both thrilling wins! I have every intention of traveling to the College Cup in Philly from Baltimore, if we make it.

I stand corrected. Kudos for being open-minded enough to attend in spite of not being soccer fans.

A legit point as the WC certainly gets the attention of the casual sports fans. However, I think the only truly casual fans at Zips soccer games are the students who attend because it is the cool thing to do.

It's great to see WMU doing well. It gives us two more solid RPI games per season and adds credibility to MAC soccer. The most fans ever was under 6k, not between 6 and 7k. I think fans not showing up for UA games like they have in the past is due to a handful of things: 1) The program has already succeeded to the pinnacle...a National Championship. Unless another one of those is imminently obvious to the casual fan, it's just another season. 2) Embick does not have the bulldog-instigator personality that Porter does. Charisma matters. How awesome was it to see Porter essentially pick fights with the B1G teams (especially OSU, Michigan, and PSU) and then take them to the woodshed on the field? Coming from Akron, we all have a chip on our shoulder and whether intentional or not, Porter played right into this. "We will play anyone, anytime, anywhere." 3) The local media and social media have not created a buzz throughout the local community. 4) The viewing opportunities are now so good via ESPN3. I've watched every game from my living room in MD. I miss the atmosphere of FE Stadium - CC Field, but living in another state, ESPN3 is an unprecedented option. 5) The early losses to apparently no-named programs on the road to start the season were a buzz kill. Utah Valley and Denver have had much success in recent seasons, and Embick is fully justified in scheduling them for RPI purposes, but the casual fan does not have this advanced knowledge and the corresponding appreciation. The US not participating in the World Cup does not have anything to do with college soccer. If anything, the strengthening of MLS enhances the college game because of serving as feeder programs much like college basketball and football. MLS has also given better opportunities to players from throughout CONCACAF, and the success of other CONCACAF countries is a reflection of MLS. This is overlooked by those who think the USMNT sucks and under-performed. They definitely under-performed, but the quality of their competition was as good as it has ever been.

At this point, it would be ideal for WMU to not have to play the MACC. They definitely did not have a top four year, and probably not even a top eight. Hence, beating us will likely not push them much higher with seeding. However, losing probably bounces them down 4-6 spots.

I don't know why you are arguing. I fully qualified everything that I said, and I'm elated that we are 5-4(and more importantly, 4-1).

I wouldn't be as concerned as previous seasons. We have a reputation now as a big boy program. We have a handful of marque wins and have been on a tear since the third game of the season. The team that should be concerned is WMU, particularly if we beat them in the MACC. They have no reputation or history, few big wins (vs. us at home and vs. Michigan at home, and maybe at Butler), a bad loss (4-1 at Portland), and a bad tie (at Eastern Illinois). If we win out, we will get a Top 8 seed and have an outside chance at a Top 4 depending on how the rest of the field closes out. On the other hand, if WMU loses to us in the MACC, I think they will be luck to be seeded in the Top 16. Conversely, if we lose the MACC, I think both WMU and UA get Top 12 seeds. Beating us twice in one season would carry A LOT of weight and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Everyone is looking past Miami based on our record versus theirs. The point is, based on records, we should have a clear advantage. However, we are a few opponent mistakes difference from being 3-6(2-3) than 5-4(4-1). This is not going to be an easy game! If we were 3-6(2-3), the world would be ending and everyone would be calling for Bowden's head while the talent on the field and on the staff would be no different. The plays that made the difference in these games were out of our control. Again, in the MAC you can expect teams to beat themselves. Nonetheless, this should not promote an over-inflated opinion of ourselves. We are still a middle-of-the-road MAC team that is on a good run and has had some wonderful fortune. I hope it continues. The schedule sets up for our best season ever in terms of win total and perhaps only our second-ever bowl win. This good fortune could be the boost the progrum needs to finally excel to the upper 2-3 in the MAC.

I wouldn't think so. They beat us head-to-head giving them the tie breaker. If the shoe were on the other foot, I wouldn't want to be co-champs. We'd have earned the MACC outright as they did. I don't see them beating us twice in one season though. They can have the regular season. The MAC Tournament and NCAAT seeding are much more important. We are hot at the right time of the year.

Of course, take the points! And ball-control offense is not our game, as you mention. To win with quick strikes against a talented offensive opponent, our defense must get key turnovers AND the other team must make some crucial mistakes. Those factors differentiate the outcome of the Troy vs. the WMU and UB games for us. This is the MAC, so it's reasonable to expect Miami to beat themselves. And though we've won the WMU and UB games, those could have easily have been losses. What would all of us be thinking about the season and the future of Bowden had they been losses? The margin is razor thin. I'll take wins any way we can get them, and this is going to be a tough one.

You're right. An alternative to keeping the Miami offense off the field is also to pressure their QB enough such that that he doesn't have time to get the ball downfield. Against OU though, the starting Miami QB was a good runner. If he can escape pressure, our overpursuit at the line of scrimmage will be our downfall. I can't count the number of times we've been burned and beaten by an athletic QB. I still think our best chance to win relies on ball-control offense. This is a much more difficult match-up than it appears on paper. I hope the Miami team that Kent beat shows up on Tuesday night.

I've been absent from the board for a while, but have been following consistently ever since. I was a bit shocked to hear KD was leaving, but I am not disappointed or upset. Our program rose to new heights because of him, but it certainly plateaued many years ago. Even he knew that. It was time for him to move on while he was still respected in the profession and young enough to start a new tenure elsewhere. That said, the timing was ideal because Groce was available and interested. Aside from being my doppelganger, Groce is young and has experience winning in the MAC and the NCAAT with a MAC team. New pinnacles await! I think in five years or so, we will find that John Groce is to Keith Dambrot as Caleb Porter is to Ken Lolla. No more excuses about the MAC being a one bid conference or P5's not scheduling us. The bar has been raised.

I like our chances if we can limit James Gardner. That guy has NFL size and hands, if not speed. The best way to do that would be to keep him off the field with ball-control offense (i.e. an effective UA running game).

Looks like you were the only one in here, Z.I.P. Kudos on that passion. At 2PM in Hawaii, you shoulda been out on a surf board and watched the game on replay rather than live. Marshall played with heart, but just couldn't hang talent-wise. If not for some very solid play by their keeper, it would have been 4-0. I haven't posted in a long while, but have been following closely all season. Zips are in full form: composed, confident, and a complete team including the subs. Not a single opponent has scored more than one goal on us. We have only allowed 8 goals in 16 games, if I counted right. That's outstanding. The first two games were enigmas, and I don't think WMU can beat us twice in one season. Three more wins and we could be looking at a top 3-6 seed. I really wish we had those first two games back.

Just curious, where is the future Dr. Sanda headed for medical school? You can PM if such information shouldn't be posted publicly...or not it all if you or he thinks it should be kept private. I am in medical research, and my significant other did plant and soil science research in graduate school, which is the same field as Tyler Sanda's Honor's Research Project.

You disagree based on what? UA has never been held in high esteem as an overall institution by major rankings. This would not be any different had certain faculty remained in spite of the Scar. And its irrelevant here because the ABJ was reporting on one person's opinion that was ill-formed and has no impact on a UA-UM relationship; therefore, it's not news-worthy. My point of this being an example of bottom-barrel journalism remains. Yes, the ABJ should have reported on the issues you mention. You didn't need to be condescending about it.

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/indian-researcher-slams-university-of-akron-1.751631 How is this even news? A headline and story for this, are you kidding me? Maybe if it was included as a few sentences in the original article (cited below), fine. The guy who is quoted is not even a relevant administrator. Just an early-career UM alum who looks at the rankings and sees a problem. The ABJ might as well be reporting on what people write in opinionated blog posts. Always an agenda. A perfect example of why journalism in this country has been dead for 15 years. http://www.ohio.com/news/local/university-of-mumbai-eyes-akron-for-potential-u-s-campus-1.750745