Blue & Gold

ABJ: Zips finding their footing on offense “We need a few more explosive plays,” Bowden said. He is right and every coach wants those, but Morgan came close to popping carries for significantly more yardage and Sands actually delivered one.

I noticed De'Andre Brimmage in for a few plays.

Those helmets remind me of being a kid in the late '80's looking through the Beacon Journal when all the pictures were in black & white

Those were the helmets when I first really began following the Zips closely. Gorgeous. They should work them into the rotation.

ABJ: Zips cruise past Cardinals to take MAC East lead Something I learned... Ball State RB, Caleb Huntley, had 107 first-half yards but ended the game with just 129.

Is this something they're planning on doing, or is this just something you've noticed & suggest?

Saw Utomi wearing a tight t-shirt at Chipotle after the Ball State game. He's H.U.G.E.

Though I'm still not happy with the way we lost to both Penn State & Iowa State, all 3 of our losses look more understandable now. PSU - BCS contender ISU - beat Okla. Troy - beat LSU

I'm watching the replay & it was Brian Bell who made the hit on our 4th down goal line stand.

Had a blast today. Been at least a year since I've had that much fun at a Zips game. LOVED the helmets, great weather, nice crowd, fun game where the Zips looked good. Brought some friends to the game today & they all had a good time. I'm going to bed in a very good mood. Go Zips!

He & Matt Campbell were really getting into it on the sideline during your last game.

Amen. By a mile.

On the tv show I referenced above I think I remember Lee Owens saying something along the lines of they wanted to "brighten the uniform up," and they went for a more "Green Bay Packers look." So unspeakably glad we got away from that. I now think we literally have the nicest uniforms in all of football; love the various color combos Akron Zips Equipment puts together.

Seemed A LOT longer than that. I HATED the yellow scheme. I remember watching a Zips TV show with Joe Dunn when Lee Owens unveiled the new yellow helmets. I about choked on my food & threw something at the TV.

Bri'onte Dunn charged with rape & kidnapping

@LZIp, I appreciate the compliment, but I'm no expert. Lol. I guess I just spend a little more time following some of the top local players than most. We missed on a really good LB from Barberton. His name is Keye Thompson (6-1, 210). He's a do everything player, kind reminds me of Julius Peppers. He's going to OU. William Collier is another player from East who is really good. I'd say he's 5-10, 200. He was the excellent backup RB to Todd Sibley at Hoban last year. Earlier this year I mentioned that I thought East RB Devanier Floyd had a good shot at being Ohio's Mr. Football. Well, Devanier is still the starting RB at East, but with Will transferring in, he also gets quite a few carries, so Davanier's numbers are more watered down this year than I thought they would be. Will is also a really good safety. Great all-around player. Two players from East to look for next year are... Kyre Williams, a 5-11, 180 Safety/Corner/WR. He's an athletic, quick, fast, slippery, athlete who East sometimes lines up @ the wildcat on O. Dearius Reese, 6-2, 275 DL. This guys excellent. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on landing him. McKinley's got a junior QB named Elijah Curtis who's been putting up impressive numbers, but he's only 5'9", so it's extremely unlikely we're looking at him for QB. 5'9" QB's who can play at the D-1 level are 1-in-a-million. He'd have to be the next coming of Drew Brees or Russell Wilson. I also like Jackson's QB, Jarret Polotta (sp?). He's got great size at 6'5" & can really throw the ball. Unfortunately he's verbally committed to UMass.

George did point out the significantly less flags the Zips drew last week. HUGE step in the right direction... The Zips had their least penalized game of the season by a significant margin against the Falcons, being flagged just once for five yards. “We need to correct the penalties, because we’re in a lot of tight ballgames,” Bowden said. “We’re trying to get better. We’re trying to win close ballgames.” In their previous four games, UA was flagged 39 times for 393 yards.

ABJ: Zips again looking for ways to replace injured running back Warren Ball

ABJ: Canton's LePear Toles commits to play basketball at the University of Akron starting in the 2018-2019 season This is why I love following & recruiting the local kids: “Akron has a winning culture,” Toles said. “They have won at least 21 games the last 12 years, and it is home."

Another huge, watershed game. This is a very winnable game. For us, I consider any winnable game a must-win. Ball State is 2-3 L (21-24) -vs- Illinois W (51-31) -vs- UAB W (28-13) -vs- Tennessee Tech L (21-33) -vs- Western Kentucky L (3-55) -vs- Western Michigan As 94zipgrad pointed out, a W this week would move us to 3-3 w/ 2 almost-certain losses looming (WMU & Toledo). That would leave us at 3-5, needing to win 3 of our last 4 games heading down the home stretch of the MAC East schedule. Lose this week and we'd have to sweep the MAC East to go bowling.

Fighting to maintain the status quo. You can see it when you're on the outside looking in. Super annoying. Power Five privilege. Lol