Blue & Gold

San Francisco - Cal & Stanford.

How many communities in the United States have not one, but two D-1 college football programs? Philadelphia? Let's see... Temple... no, Villanova's only D-1 (FCS, I know) in basketball. Chicago? Northwestern... no, NIU's too far away from Chicago to realistically count. Los Angeles? UCLA & USC... yes! Los Angeles! And Akron... UA & KSU. Wow! Akron's got something New York doesn't have; Philadelphia doesn't have, & Chicago doesn't have. Only Los Angeles shares this distinction! So... here is the big article from the ABJ the day before the big game!:

If we win the MAC Championship, do we get an automatic bid to the NCAA's?

Listening to you guys who are both passionate and educated about The Beautiful Game always makes me wish I understood the game on a deeper level.

Both STVM & Hoban have great student cheer sections (especially Hoban - wow!). Wonder if we could tap the UA students who went to STVM & Hoban & simply ask them to start to take leadership w/ the Zips' student section? It might be a step toward changing the apathetic student culture. Jackson & Hudson also have great student sections. And there are plenty of others. Could we intentionally target these students from around the Akron area and explicitly ask for their help/leadership? Just by looking at the InfoCision seating chart & doing the math, it looks like the student section would seat around 750-ish. What if each player was allowed 3 "Special Student Guests" where they invite 3 friends. These friends get a special ticket that says, "Thank You for Supporting Me" & a pizza/pasta dinner in the Student Center before the game. An administrator talks to the students and thanks them for supporting their friend - it means a lot to them - after putting in hours upon hours of hard work & then playing a violent sport - to see friends in the stands. Take this time together to teach them a new cheer once in a while. Teach the words to the alma mater & fight song. Teach them the history of UA football & show them the weekly hype-video. Then march them all to the Info (before the pregame band show & before the Zips take the field), sit them together in their assigned seats, where t-shits are waiting for them - maybe the t-shirt has the player's # on the back? During the game have a special vendor for the "Special Student Friends" section occasionally come around & pass out free popcorn, hotdogs & coke. Do this for every home game. Idk. If every player asks 3 friends to come (we'd have to figure out a way not to duplicate friends) that's over 300.

If true this is best for Marcus & I'm 100% all for it... but of course disappointed because I enjoy watching him play so much. Here's to a speedy and full recovery and to representing the Zips well in the NFL. P.s. It's been pretty obvious he's been playing hurt this year.

I still have nightmares about that game. I was looking forward to that game for a month expecting to beat K.e.nt down. In my mind that's where Brookhart's career changed directions. We were coming off a MAC championship & started the season well. Then the wheels came off & we didn't ever really bounce back from that point on. After Josh Cribbs graduated I thought, oh well, he was a once-in-a-lifetime problem the Zips would never have to deal with again... then along came Edlemann.

^^Thanks, man. How have I not heard that before?! Not bad at all!

After years of being a Zips fan, I'm gun shy as well. Too much awful football & too many disappointments. A voice inside my head keeps telling me not to let myself get too excited. But screw that! Crush the dirty hippy future pizza delivery boys!

Fellas, I was only joking about the Chrissie Hynde thing. I like the Pretenders (yeah, largely because Chrissie's from Akron), but The Black Keys is where it's at right now. (Truth be told, I'm not a huge Black Keys fan either. But I also like them largely because they're from Akron.)

Yeah, graciously, Chrissie Hynde didn't explicitly name Akron in the song. But the song's about Akron. Chrissie should write a tune about Akron's comeback!

Excellent article.

VEC? And what song?

I like WMU's attempt. But IMO it's gotta feel organic; can't feel contrived. Maybe we could grab onto a song by the Black Keys? Chrissie Hynde & The Pretenders' classic My City Was Gone is about Akron, but probably not a song we'd want to identify with. Lol

Great post & thank you!! (I'm out of "Likes" for the day. Lol)

Ohio.com http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/men-s-soccer-akron-0-vcu-0-zips-yet-to-allow-a-goal-at-home-but-have-to-settle-for-tie-in-double-overtime-1.715115 Haven't read the article yet, but the headline puts a positive spin on it: "Zips yet to allow a goal at home but have to settle for tie in double overtime"

On Danny Clark de-committment from OSU. http://www.ohio.com/blogs/varsity-letters/abjvarsity-1.279974/hoban-quarterback-danny-clark-walks-away-from-ohio-state-commitment-plans-to-look-at-other-colleges-1.715135

If our D can't stop K.e.nt, then they won't stop anyone the rest of the year. I'm predicting 35-3 Zips.

Heard on the radio last night we're just not connecting on passes like we have in the past. Is this correctable? Are these mental errors made by younger players, or is this a lack of skill that we're gonna have to just accept & get used to this year?

I think this is actually a really good article. Lots of stats I personally wouldn't have known hadn't GT published them. And I didn't get the vibe GT was saying we might sink back to a 5-7 level. I just got the vibe that the D is much weaker than the O & is still a work in progress. "The primary issue revealed itself in last week’s 45-38 loss to Appalachian State at InfoCision Stadium. Backup running back, Jalin Moore, subbing for the team’s starter, rolled up 257 yards rushing on 39 carries against the Zips, the first time a back had bruised a UA defense that way in more than a decade." And Bowden is apparently willing to tighten the rotations & keep the best players on the field as much as possible: “We need to go out there and find the best 11 people and keep them on the field as long as we can and make sure each person does his job,” Additionally, Amato states he's not thrilled with the intensity with which the D is practicing throughout the week. I won't post the quotes because I've posted so many already. Lol. Give Ohio.com a click.

^^ It's telling when your Defensive POTG is a S (Guizer) and the highlights all show him making plays ~10 yards downfield.

Here's the article. ABJ/Ohio.com http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-football-lack-of-tackling-chemistry-on-defense-a-source-of-concern-heading-into-game-against-rival-kent-state-1.714970 Defensive coordinator and associate head coach Chuck Amato knew it wasn’t going to be easy given the amount of talent that is gone off of last season’s stellar unit. But the struggles the Zips have had on defense are something UA fans are not used to seeing. “I’m not either,” Amato said. “You can tell the fans that. I’m not either.”

Excellent post, Zach. Thank you. I know we've been saying this for years now, but UA Athletics could learn a lot by simply spending some time with the guys down the street. Here's another article on the RubberDucks from today's ABJ. They've been selected to represent the Eastern League as a candidate for the John Johnson President's Award, which, I guess, goes to the most outstanding franchise in minor league baseball. http://www.ohio.com/sports/rubberducks/rubberducks-selected-as-eastern-league-s-nominee-for-top-honor-in-minor-league-baseball-1.714947

I couldn't believe the # of DL who Amato was subbing in-and-out in the App State game. None of them, of course, could stop App State's monster OL (much like Wisky), but it bodes well for how we'll hold up in the MAC East. I saw all these guys play on Saturday: Jamal Marcus Se'Von Pittman Darius Copeland Jelani Hamilton Brennan Williams Davon'te Jest Deon'Tae Moore Daumantus Venkus Christopher Spruil Ibrahima Camara And that's without Boxen. They were all pretty good... but none of them were often in the backfield making plays against App State. App State won the push on the line of scrimmage just about every time.

I have no idea. Oh, and btw, in re-reading my post about Featherstone and George, it sounds like I'm comparing the two and am dissatisfied with Featherstone's play & thus missing George. That's not what I meant. I was just attempting to point out that we're pretty stacked at S. Guiser Turner Featherstone George