Z.I.P.

They're not quitting. 17 pt deficit is 10. No quit here.

Don't tell me. Charlie Coles is coaching their women too?!?!

You know what I would love? An Akron soccer jersey!

Not anymore.then what does Bryan Huettmann do?Was that a serious question??? Bryan's a talented guy, who's spent most of his time keeping track of inventory and sales at the store -- something that should have been farmed out to an accountant or business manager long ago. Better question would be: "Who's creating the vision for the future of athletic marketing for the U?"

I hadn't really thought of it this way, but you nailed it 72_Roo. The Zips basically play an extension of the "total football" championed by the Dutch several decades ago and carried on by club teams like Arsenal and Barcelona.Wiki LinkIf we can win a few NCAA championships, maybe others will climb aboard. There's nothing like success to breed imitation.Alllllllright! I've taken off my wooden shoes, and propped up my feet to type this. Can anyone tell us if Akron was playing Totaalvoetbal when Darlington fell back to play what looked to all to be a defensive midfield role against Virginia in the NCAA title game? If so, who was supposed to come up and fill Nagbe's position -- and where the heck was he? I liked Sarkodie's play on the right wing, and Speas made an honest effort to attack from his MF spot, but no one but Bunbury was making runs in the center of the field for 90% of that game. This is a case where having a single superlative scorer allows the defense to single that guy out while the offense is stopped from playing any sort of triangular passing scheme in front of the goal.Damn! I feel like a coach or somethin. I bet GP-1 just shrugged his shoulders and swore not to open the soccer board ever again. Z.I.P. are you really Johan Cruyff in disguise?Don't tell my friend Ruud Gullitt. I think I could coach de Galaxy better den he.

C-O-N-Y-E-R-S = P-O-Y!

Nice win! Saw the F-lashes twice couple weeks ago. They are a pretty athletic team, but they can't seem to make the big basket when they need it. No "go-to" lady.

Looks like Ohio scored their last bucket midway through halftime. Score changed by two on ESPN a ways late.

I hadn't really thought of it this way, but you nailed it 72_Roo. The Zips basically play an extension of the "total football" championed by the Dutch several decades ago and carried on by club teams like Arsenal and Barcelona.Wiki LinkIf we can win a few NCAA championships, maybe others will climb aboard. There's nothing like success to breed imitation.Alllllllright! I've taken off my wooden shoes, and propped up my feet to type this. Can anyone tell us if Akron was playing Totaalvoetbal when Darlington fell back to play what looked to all to be a defensive midfield role against Virginia in the NCAA title game? If so, who was supposed to come up and fill Nagbe's position -- and where the heck was he? I liked Sarkodie's play on the right wing, and Speas made an honest effort to attack from his MF spot, but no one but Bunbury was making runs in the center of the field for 90% of that game. This is a case where having a single superlative scorer allows the defense to single that guy out while the offense is stopped from playing any sort of triangular passing scheme in front of the goal.Damn! I feel like a coach or somethin. I bet GP-1 just shrugged his shoulders and swore not to open the soccer board ever again.

OK, so here's the way it goes, ya hosers.He has until age 20 or 21 (not sure exactly) to decide which country he will represent internationally. After that, he can't switch...unless he finds a loophole, and FIFA recently opened up a big one, supposedly. Anywho, I'd be surprised if he doesn't take the Canada offer and run north o' the border. Why? Because he's not likely to get any offers to play for the USMNT anytime soon. BUT -- if the US bombs out of the World Cup, mayhem could ensue, and spots could be thrown open to people who wouldn't ordinarily get a shot. So, that's the story, eh.

Maybe we could set up something with ACME; we could call it the ACME-Zip game.There's an idea. Football need to look into that alsoWell, at the risk of sounding like I'm hitting an old horse with a baseball bat...That idea shouldn't be so easily thrown away -- at least it should be studied (not to death on this board though, PLEASE!). The Credit Union Night gets a great crowd versus a crummy opponent whom most of the fans don't know or care about. The Info sells out vs an identical team (was it Morgan State or Stanley U., I forget?), but is barely half-full the next week vs a Big Ten opponent. So -- analyze: What type of marketing phenomena account for this? Is it the amount of marketing, the duration, or the populations that are hit up for attendance? Maybe you can let people in for three bucks with an Acme shopping bag! I think I've suggested this on here already: UA should do a "Grand Re-opening" event for the start of 2010 football. Most people wouldn't even notice it happened once before. Do you think we could pull that off for the JAR? Maybe not...

"Now with MAC play started it is time for UB fans to put their differences aside and bond as one"Good luck with your bonding, boys! By putting their differences aside, I can only think... those who want to remain Canadians, vs those who want to immigrate to the U.S.?I wasn't even aware that they were a rival of ours. I get a lot more hackles up when we take on EMU. Hate those HurEagles.

We could have quite a competition for the Hermann Trophy just from our own team next year. There are probably a half-dozen candidates, beginning with Nagbe and Mwila up front and Ampai in the central attacker position. Then you cannot look past our defenders -- we may have, no probably have four of the top ten individual defenders in the nation. I can't help thinking that I'll have to bring my shades to Santa Barbara next December. Knock on wood. Oh, and congratulations Mr Hermann Award winner, Teal Bunbury of Prior Lake, Minnesota. I think Akron has "crossed the Rubicon", at least in soccer. And Zakuani's overlook last year played a positive impact for Teal this year. Akron has busted through the Mid-Major ceiling in one sport.

Or maybe he made the mistake of saying exactly what he is planning to do.....It makes absolutely no sense for a non-qualifier attend Akron, then transfer. No one does that in Division 1 college football. Anywhere.That's why the prep schools exist. Or JUCO's.In the history of Zips athletics, no "Mr. Football/Mr. Basketball/"Super-Duper All-Star" has ever made a meaningful contribution. In fact, all have been HUGE busts, often barely seeing the playing field or court.Marcus Sanders, Christian Morgan, Nate Robinson, Ryan Bain, John Carson, Emmanuel Smith, Derrick Tarver, etc etc etc.Dammit Cap'n. You've got to lay off your constant digs at All-World Derrick Tarver, the greatest Zip recruit of ALLTIME! You're just showing the world what a hater U R!!!

The MAC has to beg ESPN to show their games. On the other hand, CUSA makes a smidling revenue to be shown on the Sonic Tatertots TV on cable channel 827. WAC schools actually held out for a long time to get ESPN to contribute a total of a few milllion $ for their rights. A few million more than the lowly MAC, that is.

I hope that shot wasn't aimed at me. I'm just delivering the product of ACC & Big Ten whinemaking arts. Don't get overintoxicated, either on the whine, or on our own artistry at futbol. Championships will taste so much better when served with a healthy serving of humility.

I've resisted posting this thread until now, mostly because I know so little about the distribution of scholarship $$ by institutions, and the NCAA's rules. However, I think it is both an interesting and important issue, especially now that Akron is an elite soccer program, competing with universities who consider themselves just as "elite" academically.What has been discussed on the BigSoccer board recently is that the NCAA limit on scholarships for men's soccer is 9.9/year. Now that is a maximum, and many schools have used fewer than the max -- for example, it was reported that Northwestern only uses 4 scholarships for men's soccer, and of course the Ivy League has no athletic scholarships (theoretically at least). That is an institutional decision, based on the priority given to the sport by the athletic department. BUT, if a Big Ten institution gives that low a consideration to the sport, it says a lot about its program and the overall athletic department. The other factor that has been discussed out the ying yang on BS is the amount of academic scholarship $$ provided to soccer players -- and the controversy has been stoked, with the suggestion that Akron and other schools may be gaining an advantage by their ability to provide academic scholarships in place of athletic scholarships. The academic elitists on the board claim that Akron is able to extend academic scholarships to athletes at a higher rate because its overall admission qualification standards are much lower, and therefore academic scholarships are available to students with lower HS grades and test scores -- allowing athletes to acquire a higher proportion of academic schollys than at the elite Ivy League -- or ACC level of admission.I wonder what people here think about this argument. Does it hold any water? What are the NCAA's rules regarding distribution and limits to scholarships? Is it possible for a school to legally "cheat" the limits by providing academic scholarship to top student athletes, thereby having a higher # of athletes on scholarship than their opponents, or than provided under the official limits? As long as a school that the elitists consider beneath their standing continues to outplay their boys on the pitch, there will be charges that they are expanding the rules to leverage their position.Are we cheats?

ColumnSo, the 50% extra that MVC (and A-10) schools budget to BB over the MAC (someone check my estimate, I think it's pretty close to reality) produces a very sizable dividend. That's a pretty good investment, if you ask me. Is there any chance of MAC schools making that extra investment, and it not coming from football, as it does for the opposition (not that we're that much better than them in FB, but at least a division ahead)?

Well...American college soccer is very much like MAC (American) football. Often crappy, ocassionally entertaining, but allowing players who put up big numbers -- especially against lesser competition -- to sign big (by MLS standards, like Zakuani's 175k signing last year) contracts with Major League Soccer. But the majority of US fans understand the ultimate reality -- college soccer does nothing to develop players into world class footballers. Yes -- real fans could see Akron was the most skilled team, because they had the most skilled players with the most international experience, but on that weekend, defensive tactics and play trumped athleticism and skill. American soccer just doesn't develop offensive players who can easily break down defenders while moving the ball to goal. "Big" players are popular to MLS GMs and some EPL teams, where physical play is more important than athleticism or strategy. That is the reason why neither England or the US will be winning any World Cups anytime soon.

Are we talking about American football, or Marine Corp boot camp? Or is there any difference? I think this is a cultural problem -- and that in the US at least, some people have to use violence to express their machismo. In other countries, if you blow a play (like the Iraq soccer team) Saddam's son shoots you.BTW -- I read now that the USF player's father retracted most of the story, and said the coach only grabbed his son by the shoulder pads. See you in court.

Steve's a favorite of Sounders fans already. He should have a calendar out ala JT for Fishfans. See the story appearing at Soundersfc.comhttp://www.soundersfc.com/News/Articles/20...-Down-Time.aspx

Great One,I always expect an interesting read, and often am not disappointed by your analyses of collegiate sports -- American football in particular. But I always end up asking myself: ("Self...") why does GP-1 continuously refer to the Mid American Conference, and those leagues near it in ability, as essentially second, or third-rate crap -- and yet he continues to watch and extemporaneously opine on the continuing crappiness of these less-than-mediocre schools and teams? I wonder if the Great GP-1 has some sort of self-hatred complex that requires him watch that which is truly excruciating for him to observe. Concur?

The Zips lost to a very good team -- which they outplayed for about 35 minutes. AGAIN!!! When will this stop? I think for once, that the cheerleaders should take a hard look at this team's warts, and that Keith Dambrot and the guys in blue and gold need to have some pressure applied. Tear apart the MAC schedule -- and get your 13 or 14 seed in the Spokane Regional. I'm starting to get fed up. I'm starting to be guided by the standards of Caleb Porter's team. Time to step it up!

36-29 Akron at the half!Rhodys scored on a lay-up with 13 seconds, then Ronnie Steward made a layup at the buzzer to make it seven again. Great half. Just gotta keep that momentum the next five minutes. Baron will be screaming at his team in the JAR locker room.