Let'sGoZips94

Don't forget Murray State.

This one is big. Tulane is only 228 NET, but that will rise. They have Akron (42 NET) and UC San Diego (63 NET) as the big challenges left in their OOC. Add those and their AAC schedule (Tulsa, USF, Wichita St, Memphis, FAU, etc.) and this could end up being a Q2 opportunity since it's on the road. They are 8 deep and tall/long although a lot of their scoring production comes from the 6'3"-6'6" portion of their roster. Need to win this to help establish our legitimacy. Cannot be looking ahead to Vegas.

Mission accomplished.

Brisco is in.

Barre had the heart condition flare up at Duquesne which seemingly really limited his availability. The hoopla surrounding him came from his highlight film when he committed. He's quite athletic and long; fits this system really well once he gets going.

Gotta find a way to get more students out to the game. Run a contest for an automatic A on a final or something. 😅

Nice finish to the half. Not a great half and still put up 49 pts with a 13 pt lead. Scary.

Holy finish by Tavari.

If Akron would've won 6+ games, they easily would've won a lawsuit vs. the NCAA due to the NIL environment (preventing earnings/future earnings for players). They punished Akron thinking Akron wouldn't win 6+ games.

According to one of the big posters on Bobcat Attack, they're working on a negotiated settlement. If that's between the University and Brian Smith, it sounds like Brian Smith will no longer be the coach going forward.

There are currently 11 teams on the schedule vs. top 200 NET. A couple of those teams we play twice. I believe that's the exact same number of top 200 NET teams that we had on the schedule last year (again, a couple of those teams we played twice). It's not the schedule that would hurt us, it's the results. Last year, we lost to Arkansas State, Saint Mary's, Milwaukee, Yale, Princeton, and Ohio. We weren't competitive in any of the games except Arkansas State and Princeton. Akron still ended the season 94th in NET with a 130 SOS (I believe this includes the Arizona game). Akron this year has played much better in their 2 losses (Purdue and Yale) and still has OOC games vs. Bucknell, Tulane, and Murray State (this is the big one). Demolishing the bad teams and either winning or being very competitive vs. the good teams matters, which we've had solid results with thus far. According to Warren Nolan, our current SOS is 74th. If we can win out in the OOC, Akron will be in the discussion for the top 25 come January.

Yes because the publicity from the sanctions was already quite public and large. Had Akron won 6 games, the NCAA would've been forced to drop the sanctions due to public pressure and lawsuit fears. You can have issues with how Akron has done things all you want. I think it's silly to waste time hashing out those details. Fact of the matter is, you asked a question, I answered. You made another comment that completely contradicted itself, and I pointed that out. I don't care if I get called a Joe hater or whatever. I want Akron football to be successful, I believe it can be successful, and I'm tired of hearing about all the excuses as to why Akron can't win while I watch other programs in similar situations actually win. Coaching matters, and I don't believe we have a winner at HC. Period.

Curt Cignetti went 11-1 win JMU in 2023. They were in their 2nd year of FBS and not eligible for any bowl games. The NCAA ultimately removed that restriction due to national pressure at the end of the season, but I'm not sure how Cignetti was able to recruit, motivate, and win under those conditions (he also went 8-3 in his first season).

Joe won 4 last year with a schedule that included 3 P4s. The 5 wins this years with 1 P4 on the schedule is actually a step back in my eyes. I don't see the program progressing under Joe, so taking 1 step back to 2-3 wins to take multiple steps forward with hopefully a better coach is worth it in my eyes. We're going to lose however many players in the Portal and have a new QB. It's not like we can expect the same group of guys to grow together and hit that next milestone, and I don't see Joe as the guy to pick up all the pieces again and progress this program any further.

1) My expectations are to find a coach who loves football so much that he doesn't give a damn about the excuses. 2) If a football coach is worth their paycheck, they find a way to win 2-3 games within the first couple of years, then push .500 or better in years 3 or 4 - especially in the MAC. Terry Bowden went 1-11 in his first year, then 5-7 in each of his next 2 before going 8-5 in year 4. Sean Lewis at Kent went 2-10 in year 1 and went 7-6 with a bowl win in year 2. 3) What are we doing comparing Akron football to the Big Ten? Nobody is asking Joe to compete against P4 schools. 4) Joe is in year 4 at Akron. He faced 4 new HCs this year and a 5th who got canned weeks after our game vs. them. Joe's record in those games: 2-3, including a loss to our rival who had only won 1 game the previous 2 seasons. This schedule had 8 wins on it. Joe found a way to lose 4 of those and stole one vs. Buffalo. 5) The eye test of the discipline (or lack thereof) and X's & O's on the field aren't meeting expectations. Those two categories are completely independent of any financial troubles that allegedly plague this program. The play calling and execution sucks. The stupid penalties and mistakes we consistently see suck. Money isn't fixing that. 1 more practice a week isn't fixing that. If the 1 extra practice is a big deal, maybe someone should've raised Hell when the NCAA decided to only punish Akron despite several other schools in the same time period also failing the stupid APR metric. Once the program decided to roll over and accept the punishment, that can no longer be an excuse. As fans, if we continue to allow the program to use all of the excuses as crutches for their shortcomings, they will continue to fall short.