Class of 82

Get Jim Dennison.Just kiddin... at least sorta. He's pretty well done now. But he's a better coach than any that have come since he was here, IMO.

Growing up in Akron during the 1960s, the Acme-Zip game was a highlight of life each fall. The Rubber Bowl packed with 35,000+. Tailgating with my whole freaking neighborhood. The crowd pumped. The Akron band. The Goodyear Blimp. Skydivers. Insanity everywhere. And almost always a great football game, win or lose. (Usually a win, though!) Wow... I know it was not the big time as far as college football at that time, but man... that was some special stuff boys and girls. How could you not grow up to be a Zips fan then? If it wasn't the big time, it damned well felt like the big time, I can assure you.I'm 51 years old now. I want that feeling back. I know it can happen. This city needs it. This city deserves it. This city doesn't even really remember how great it used to be. And how great it can be again.GO ZIPS!

I guess I'm of the mindset that the appropriate time for evaluating such things is when the season is over. Any AD worth his salt evaluates every program every year, based on all of the perameters deemed important. Winning certainly tops that list, followed by the overall direction and progress of the program.It does seem likely JD is headed for a fairly severe and thorough review at season's end. I think he did a good job when he arrived of building on what Lee Owens had done here (and Lee did help us, imo). But it does seem that, for whatever reason, JD's been unable to put the program into that next gear. From a purely personnel standpoint, I don't think JD has recruited much better than Owens did. Marginally better, maybe. Throw in the added pressure of the new stadium and the expectations it quite naturally creates, and I think it's safe to say that JD is definitely sitting in the hotseat. But, that's the life of a football coach, I guess. And he is being paid handsomely enough to endure philosophically whatever comes his way.At any rate, I think we have a good AD in Rhoades and a top-shelf president in Proenza. I trust they'll do what's right and proper.

Sure. But it seems to me there is some reasonable middle ground between settling for mediocrity and burning players and coaches at the stake after a hard-to-stomach loss.

I look at it this way. People all around the MAC know without a doubt that the new stadium... coupled with the field house and the whole Lanscape for Learning re-make of the campus... is putting Akron light years ahead of the rest of the conference when it comes to facilities. If I were a BUGS fan, I'd be a little jealous, too. And it would be tempting to cast a few stones while the casting was still good.Reality is about to come smashing down on their pathetically bitter little heads, though.

Didn't Toledo get shut out at HOME the week before they beat Michigan AT Michigan?Getting beat sucks. But it's no reason to jump off the High-Level Bridge.And maybe it's just me, but even with the very real disappointment I'm feeling right now... this Zips team is performing substantially above my expectations before the season started.

I chose the combination category. Poor play calling (totally baffling trick play near the goal line!) was critical. Jacquemain is what he is... an okay quarterback and not a superstar. Defensively, we have struggled at times in nearly every game.

Well, it's a lot easier to pay people to come to your place when your place actually generates some revenue. This is why Infocision Stadium is such a crucial piece of the puzzle for Akron. It's almost insane to think that our MAC home schedule might bring an actual profit and that marquee opponents from the Big 10 or Big East might actually come at little or no net cost. I think this is almost guaranteed in the short term. And if we can actually get this program winning and maintaining interest, there's no reason our home schedule can't just get better and better.And what the heck. I see no reason not to keep scheduling at least one or two big pays on the road every year. It only makes sense. And the better we get, the more chance we have of turning big pay days into a marquee win every now and again.

Hey skipzip,Do you remember dodging cars on Buchtel Avenue?The change from the late 70s and early 80s truly is a mind-blower.

About nine or 10 years ago, the university issued a slew of bonds to finance a $250-million campus building program for a new student center and rec center, along with several academic, administrative and parking facilities and lots of landscaping improvements. As I understand it, those bonds are being repaid by general revenue and additional student fees (ie., parking, etc.) The Field House and the Stadium also are being funded through bonds, but with the very important addition of substantial donations from local individuals and corporate interests.If I'm wrong, or if I'm omitting anything significant, I'm sure someone will correct me. (LOL... as uakroid just did!)It really is a beautiful campus for being in the middle of a fairly major city, isn't it? What a change from when I atternded, even though it had it's own unique charms then, too.

Explain to me why we have to win all these things first before we "move on"?Can't we get really good somewhere else just as easy (if not easier) than where we are?I'm not saying we are moving or not, I just don't understand the point of "winning" and THEN moving.I don't know exactly what Class of 82 meant, but if we do not start to win consistently over the next few years, 5 years from now the Info will be half full on good days and on other days Mount Union will out draw us.. Few fans, no revenue, no recruits, no conference would be interested.I agree. But then the answer is to start winning consistently, isn't it? In the long run, a crappy Big East or C-USA program that can't compete with the best MAC teams isn't going to draw any better than a mediocre MAC team that can't beat the best MAC teams.What needs to happen, IMO, is for the brain trust running our program to take full advantage of the new stadium and the excitement (and attendance) that it generates. If we do that, then maybe someday we can "move up" to a better conference and actually be ready for it when we get there.

What's unappealing about the MAC is the lack of any money whatsoever, along with being forced to play weeknight games just to have the chance of being on TV, plus playing a bunch of no-name schools, plus the terrible officiating, not to mention that nobody will take the team seriously as long as they are in the MAC.Being the premier power in the MAC doesn't mean anything to anyone beyond the 200 or so fans of the conference.Lack of money? That has a lot more to do with empty seats in the Rubber Bowl than the conference we're affiliated with. If we consistently fill the new stadium, getting decent home-and-home agreements becomes more than realistic. Heck, Indiana is the opener. I think that will be only the first of many good OOC home games to come.And if being the premier power in the MAC is meaningless, then we're in deep trouble, because we haven't even been consistently competitive in the MAC since we joined. So far, our achievements in the MAC include one shared division title that got us nowhere and one minor bowl game that we lost.Bottom line... I guess I'm just encouraging a little patience and pragmatic realism.

I'm sorry, but I simply don't see what's so unappealing about the MAC. Without Cincy and Louisville, C-USA looks an awful lot like the MAC in my eyes, only a lot more spread out and disjointed (not to mention unstable).And if you ask me, the Big East's BCS standing seems more than a little precarious, and the BCS is the primary reason you might want to get there as far as football goes, isn't it? In basketball, I fail to see how adding Akron would be seen (at least as things stand currently) as a positive gain by the other schools.Maybe it's just me, but the prospect of becoming the premier power in the MAC sounds pretty darned good and pretty attainable. When we do THAT, maybe I'd be ready to talk about other goals. But what's wrong with first things first?P.S. Just giving my opinion. No intent to insult or disrespect anyone else's opinion, which they are fully entitled to.

I love the Zips. I'm proud to be an Akron fan. I'm ecstatic about the new stadium as the crowning jewel on a rejuvenated campus that just might be the nicest urban campus in the country. The sky's the limit on Akron's future in NCAA athletics.But the idea that we've somehow "outgrown" the MAC is just silly. Strike that. It's not just silly; it's absurd.Let's win a few championships in football and make a few trips to the NCAA tournament in basketball. Let's fill our new stadium game in and game out for a couple of years. Let's fill up the JAR more than once or twice a year. Then maybe... just maybe... we can start talking about this.My two cents.

There was some (very) preliminary talk several years back about building a Syracuse Carrier Dome type of facility downtown for UA football and basketball that would also have doubled as a convention exhibit hall to accommodate larger events than the Knight Center and a site for concert-type events similar to the Q-Arena. Never panned out because it would have required a very complex financial arrangement between UA, the state, the city and the county. I think it could have been a nice option, though. In the long run, it would have been a more economical approach for all concerned, and it would have been a great addition to the city building on the success of Canal Park.Still, I'm pretty pumped about the new stadium on campus. As for the JAR, we'll just have to live with it for awhile longer. Despite the JAR's pretty substantial shortcomings, that isn't the end of the world.

RPIs are from here: http://www.kenpom.com/rpi.phpFor better or worse, my understanding is that RPI is the rating given the most credence by the NCAA selection committee.An explanation of RPI and the formula it uses can be found here: http://kenpom.com/blog/index.php/weblog/rpi_help/

Wins against Miami and Ohio, along with Temple beating ranked Xavier, have plunged Akron's RPI from somewhere in the 120s down to 77.Can't State is 35. Miami is somehow hanging in at 47. Ohio is 54.The MAC West RPI are as dismal as their records. Toledo is lowest at 164. Ball State is alleged to be the 283rd best team in the country. Over the course of the rest of the season, this is way bad for the Zips. Even just one or two losses to teams with such huge RPIs will be crushing, RPI-wise.Here are current MAC Standings and RPIs. (from kenpom.com)Through games of Friday, January 18 EastCan't St. 14-3 3-0 35Akron 13-3 3-0 77Bowling Green 7-8 2-1 203Ohio 10-6 1-2 54 Miami OH 6-9 0-3 47Buffalo 5-9 0-3 210 WestToledo 5-10 2-1 164 Western Michigan 8-8 2-1 195 Eastern Michigan 6-9 2-1 244 Central Michigan 5-8 1-2 180 Northern Illinois 4-11 1-2 271 Ball St. 2-13 1-2 283 P.S. Worst RPI in America? At 341, it's Eastern Illinois, which is 1-16. Somehow, they were able to knock off Murray State in overtime.

Hey Scott,Excellent post!It may not be translating into butts in the seats just yet, but there IS a higher interest level in Akron football around the area these days. I trace it back to two games, first the dramatic win over Marshall in Charlie's senior year, and the MAC title game and that incredible Getsy/Hixon touchdown. (Sadly, last year's win over NC State, which COULD have built on that momentum, was followed by that ugly egg laid at Central Michigan a week later.)I wrote in another thread that I've never been more optimistic about the future of Akron football. The disappointing loss to Temple is aggravating in the short term, but it does not diminish my long-term hopes and expectations at all. Will we be the next South Florida and be ranked #2? Almost assuredly not. But I do believe Akron has an incredible upside that is unmatched by the vast majority of so-called "mid-major" programs, and certainly the rest of our MAC brethren.Anyway, enjoyed your take... a lot.Go ZIPS!

Hi akronad,How long? I guess that's always the question, isn't it? And I'm hoping the ship get's righted, too. Anyway, I'm NOT saying Brookhart is above criticism. As a fan, I've certainly got my beefs. Like you said, the team we're seeing underwelm us on Saturdays is JD's team, not somebody else's. And it is not a minor matter that so many recruits have proven unable to make it as college student-athletes. In fact, I'd call that a pretty darned serious issue. But losing to Temple on Saturday, by itself, is not a firing offense, imo. I don't like it, but to call for heads in mid-season seems a little too much like needless panic.When the season is over, that's when ADs and presidents should be making their evaluations and judgments. Could Brookhart be fired at the end of the year? Unless the bottom totally falls out of the season, I seriously doubt it. Should he be feeling some heat at this point in his tenure? Sure. Do I still think he's a good coach? Yeah, I do.Whatever happens though, one great thing we have going for us is that with the addition of the new stadium is that Akron's attractiveness as a head-coaching job is entering a previously unknown sphere. Added to the Field House next door, we will have gone from arguably the most poorly equipped and housed program in the country (let allone the MAC) to by any definition one of the true elites when it comes to facilities and amenities for football. Should the unfortunate need for a new coach arise, I like our chances to draw a pretty impressive pool of candidates, certainly better than what we've had to choose from in the past.At any rate, I'm pretty darned worried about how this season may be going, just like most fans here, I'd guess. But I'm more optimistic about Akron's longterm future in football than I've ever been. And I think with good reason.Go ZIPS!

Hey Lee,Take a chill pill, dude. Brookhart isn't the first coach to have a team lose a game it should win. Nor will he be the last. And, as has already been pointed out, Brookhart is the best coach we've had here since we jumped to Div-IA. (They should have never "promoted" Jim Denison to AD, but that's water over the dam.)I look at Brookhart as I think most people do... a young coach with lots to prove but a pretty substantial upside.Looking at Rhoades, it seems to me you need more than a couple of years to fairly evaluate an AD, which is why they are such critical hires in the first place. The jury is still out, imo, but I think so far he's doing and saying most of the right things. (That a successful HEAD golf coach would leave for an ASSISTANT's job smells funny, to me but I'm honestly not sure what to make of that rather freakish event.)As for the stadium, you're crazy if you think Rhoades and Brookhart were not factors in the stadium project coming through. True, negotiations over the gifts that make it possible are not their doing. HOWEVER. Do you really think InfoCision and Summa would give such tall money to the program if they thought it was in questionable hands? Secondly, do you think for a second that this stadium would have happened without the MAC title and bowl game of two years ago? If you can even CONSIDER answering yes to those two questions, then you are an idiot.GO ZIPS!

FinalOhio- 48 EMU- 42Late in gameBuffalo 43 Toledo 261st quarterMiami (!) 16 BG 0CMU 7 Army 2Miami seems to be coming on strong.

Akron 28 Temple 24 Unfortunately, I think close games are just part of this Zips squad's make-up. We should win big, but I have a feeling we'll be on the edge of our seats at the end. A must-win game for Akron.

I think right now Jabari's gotta be the guy, at least in the East.You can also make a strong case for Dan LeFevour, the QB at CMU. He racked up 500+ yards of offense against Ball State. In six games, the kid has thrown for roughly 1,500 yards, with 11 TDs against 4 INTs for a pass rating of 131.8. He's also run for 340 yards and four TDs.I voted for Arthur anyway because I'm a total homer

I'd only be concerned if Akron was on that list. I shudder to remember that we were that bad once. And not all that long ago.Trust me. The MAC is plenty tough enough that Akron will have to play very well if it hopes to win it. We have a shot, but it's way far from in the bag.As for Toledo and NIU, I'm shedding no tears.

Brookhart is the only coach who has brought us a MAC title and a bowl game. Is he the second coming of Woody Hayes? Of course not. But I think he's show that he's a decent coach who kids seem to respond pretty well to.My only real beef is the totally unacceptable number of recruits who aren't able to stay eligible. That has to change, and I believe Rhoades has publicly made that clear.As for the defense, well, it sure looked pretty formidable in the Horseshoe. Brookhart has said on numerous occasions that it is the difficullty of finding enough good D-linemen that necessitates the 3-3-5 scheme. In other words, he's trying to make the best of a bad situation. While I'm no expert by any means, it sounds plausible to me. An undermanned D-line getting dominated more often than not in the Owens era was always our Achilles heal, even when we had Jason Taylor. I don't know what's going on with the defense at the moment, but I have to believe losing Mackey was a far-greater loss than most of us may realize.Anyway. My two cents.