bobbyake

Videos from the game:

I don't know how "good" they ought to be. Halfway through a huge rebuilding job and starting 3 freshmen they have only a single loss and are ranked number 5 on latest NSCAA poll. That to me,at this point,is outstanding. I think they are good...maybe can develop to be the best this year. I am very impressed that we are doing this wilth freshmen. My point is I think we are not in the to 5 right now. We need to play together more and learn the system. Way to many bad passes and to much passivity. Again...I am NOT an expert. Why the pass all the way back to our goalie from deep in their zone?? I just don't understand the strategy. It's a strategy to pull the other team's defense out. You see this a lot with teams that are good at countering. Easier to beat a few defenders with speed than trying to force one through the entire team.

I agree,,BUT RI and his staff have taken an AVERAGE FOOTBALL TEAM and run it into the ground,,, We haven't been average in 6 seasons. We have been below average in the MAC for the same length of time. Exactly what "average football team" are you referring to? 2006 - 5-7; two of those wins were against non MAC schools (NC State and North Texas) meaning 3-5 in the MAC 2007 - 4-8; beat Army meaning, 3-5 in the MAC 2008 - 5-7; wins over Cuse and Army, meaning; 3-5 in the MAC 2009 - 3-9; win over Morgan St, meaning 2-6 in the MAC And if you break it down to MAC East games, its even worse, 2 wins over MAC east opponents in both 2006-7 and only 1 in both 2008-9. Brookhart's saving grace was AQ wins and beating Can't. He should have been canned after 08, but there was fear of a "bad first season at Infocision". I would prefer the above records over what we're going to have with Ianello.

there's a good chance it wont rain, but it would be nice if they sold Akron ponchos at the gate

Dear Zips Fan, We look forward to seeing you at 7:30 p.m. tonight for our men’s soccer match vs. Penn State at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. As a reminder, umbrellas are not permitted inside FirstEnergy Stadium - Cub Cadet Field. At the stadium gates there will be public bins in which, if you so choose, you may leave an umbrella during the game. Thank you for your cooperation. Go Zips! Sincerely, The University of Akron Department of Athletics This is from an email I got today. Expect this game to have poor attendance due to weather conditions.

the victory celebration:

If you took everyone that sat on the grass or stood during the game, those seats would be filled without a problem. BTW, I'm spending time on an attendance sheet for other schools as well, I've covered the top ranked schools and it appears Akron is 2nd in the nation for attendance. UCSB is 1st averaging 5,033, and Maryland is 3rd averaging 4,093. I'll post the numbers when I'm done. Of course people in GA would fill out the grandstand. Are you suggesting that the people who purchased the reserved seats are choosing to stand the whole game or sit on the grass?? The reserved seats are sold out or nearly sold out and some are choosing to not show up. That's the bottom line. The attendance is still very good. The percentage of sold seats to actual attendance is great. Much better than football. Your passion is obvious. Soccer will not be outdrawing football in paid attendance this year or the foreseeable future no matter how much you would like for that to happen. I'm not trying to sway your opinion, it appears to be set in stone. Just trying to set the record straight. I have sat/stood in the grass instead of the grandstad for games this year. It happens but this is a silly argument. Enjoy the crowd and the atmosphere. I wish it cold last forever. I think the main problem I have with this thread is that Bobbyake did not sufficiently lay out just what his argument is! Perhaps I mssed another thread where it was stated (That soccer does or COULD outdraw Am. Football?). I think that's a possible future reality, considering the "progress" the FB team is making. It's also an argument that is SO politically incorrect, you are going to have rotten veggies thrown at you if you go near some people on the FB board! I started a thread in the football forum for Akron Football attendance. I did mention there that Akron Soccer has outsold last year's Buffalo game and that it is possible Akron Soccer could outsell Akron Football. I honestly thought that we would see numbers similar to the Buffalo game last year but that hasn't been the case. In fact, Akron Football attendance is up 19% this year. I updated the first page of this thread with a chart showing attendance figures for 63 schools. I made sure to include every school that cracked the top 50 last year, and added more just to make sure that when I say Akron is ranked 2nd in the nation, it's the truth. Enjoy the numbers.

If you took everyone that sat on the grass or stood during the game, those seats would be filled without a problem. BTW, I'm spending time on an attendance sheet for other schools as well, I've covered the top ranked schools and it appears Akron is 2nd in the nation for attendance. UCSB is 1st averaging 5,033, and Maryland is 3rd averaging 4,093. I'll post the numbers when I'm done.

I'm working on a big attendance report and wanted to show you the big variance at other schools. I don't see how anyone can complain about Akron's variance after look at this: The NC stats are what I found on NC's site and I verified them by looking it up from the opposing team's site. Those are huge differences. One of the low games was on a Tuesday, so it's not because there was a football game going on at those times.

FCS is D1 as well

Tailgating must end rule? Sez who? Even Uncle Tommy stopped by and declined a free beer at the tailgating party I was at between games. I believe we were located in parking lot #12 on campus. The party lasted right up to 15 minutes before game time. Actually it's 2 hours after a game, which was about the interval before the soccer game http://www.gozips.com/gameday/fb/tailgating Are people tailgating before standalone soccer games - I'm not even sure. good question, thinking about setting up a tailgating event for Wednesday game. Doesn't hurt to test the rules.

If you look at the football attendance thread, I've shown that football attendance has increased 19% this year over last year. I don't see where I'm denigrating another program. I made an argument in that thread, which was Akron Soccer program could outdraw Akron Football. It officially did for one football game being last year against Buffalo. Overall, I gave up on this argument because it can not be proven based on official attendance. If you look at the football attendance thread, there's speculation about how they come up with that number. Because of the speculation, it's hard to take that number as a serious measure to compare with Akron soccer. So if you want to continue thinking Akron football outdraws Akron soccer, I have no argument against that. But you have to at least respect that you would have a poor argument to say Akron soccer does not outdraw Akron football based on actual butts in seats. I'm not here to argue with you, I grew up playing American football and it's still my #1 sport. I think what we have with our soccer program is special and make observations that are unique to Akron, like attendance. I did not edit the original chart, sorry if it created confusion. There have only been 13 home games (8 last year and 5 this year) so far over the past 2 seasons if you don't count the playoffs, which I don't. Although official football attendance is up 19%, it doesn't represent the actual situation our football team is in. Akron soccer attendance is up 28% and does represent their situation better.

Statistically... you compare the first 5 games last year to the first 5 games this year ….or the average for ALL the games last year to ALL the games this year. Your analysis is flawed....but it probably does not make any difference. It does look like you are manipulating the data for your argument. FYI Here is a question for you. Do you think that the Zips football team would play in front of 66% capacity if they were the defending national champions?? The Soccer team did just that last night. ANSWER: No, odds of hitting 66% are small I'm not making any argument here in this thread, just showing the numbers. Hard to see how they're manipulated when this is all we have to compare with. You have the first 5 home games this year vs first 5 last year, then you have overall. All the data is given so you can make your own statistics if this boggles your mind. If you take only seating into account, Akron soccer is bringing in over 100% attendance for each game. Akron football will never win more than 2 games in a season with Ianello as the coach so why play what if's? Akron Football averaged 16,132 the year after they won the MAC championship and went to the Motor City Bowl. That is only 49% of the Rubber Bowl capacity for that year. BTW your question is flawed. You asked if Akron football would play in front of 66% capacity if they were the defending national champions. They would have to play in front of exactly 66% for the answer to be a yes. Whether they played in front of 80% or 50% wouldn't matter because exactly 66% is what you asked. It is easier to give a no answer given the odds of hitting exactly 66%.

4. attendance is up 19% over last year

there are people who don't like to stand the entire game. Until they build more seating, you're going to see a variance like this. Getting the casual fan to return to the games requires proper seating. This is a good problem to have but requires immediate attention. I hope to see further stadium expansions next year. Also remember that OSUcks had a football game at 8.

Akron Soccer attendance is up 28% this year over last year Over the past 2 seasons (13 home): 5 Home Games above 4,000 - 38% 3 Home Games between 3,500 & 3,999 - 23% 2 Home Games between 3,000 & 3,499 - 15% 2 Home Games between 2,500 & 2,999 - 15% 1 Home Games below 2,500 - 8% Akron is 2nd in the nation for attendance:

USA Today gives you their complete rankings and it's not looking good for the Zips http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt11.htm The Zips are ranked 182 which is well below a lot of FCS teams. I believe there are a total of 256 teams in Division 1 football so Akron is ranked above 74 teams. The Zips are ranked below 71% of the teams in Division 1 football. Go Zips!! Youngstown State is ranked 166 which makes me surprised a certain troll hasn't been around.

attendance is up 19% this year over last year, that has to count for something.

I went ahead and updated the 1st page of this with the new results. For anyone that is interested, the Zips have improved over last year by 19% and are having their 5th best year over the past 10 years. This is the progress Ianello is always talking about, they're figuring out better ways to fudge the numbers.

Whoever does the dj'ing for these games sucks really bad at it. I want them fired before Ianello!!!

was nice meeting everyone at Manny's. Even though Akron took a loss today, I'd rather lose to UCSB than Cleveland St. We have the playoffs and I believe this team still has time to jell to prepare for it. I'm not worried about rankings because I believe we'll be again

114. EASTERN MICHIGAN (3-2) The buzz: Why is a team with three wins ranked this low? Two of the wins have come against FCS foes and the other against Akron, which, right now, is the equivalent of a FCS foe. Next game: Saturday at Toledo Ouch it's a good thing we don't play Youngstown State this year

stream to the game if you don't have Fox Soccer Channel http://www.justtvnuts.com/fox-soccer-channel.htm

Strongly considering Manny's for this game, anyone else besides Crew8?

here's the highlight video http://www.mlssoccer.com/videos/?catid=114&id=19655