Blue & Gold

Excellent post, Wadzip. (I'm out of "Likes" for the day.) I'll just add that I don't think anyone thinks landing the local recruits will enable us to beat a team like Wisky. But, IMHO, landing the local recruits will make us a contender in the MAC year-in and year-out & take us bowling. These are some very good players who've given us verbals. To take the next step we'll have to eventually land the Weston Bridges (Copley - MSU verbal), Todd Sibley's (Hoban - Pitt verbal) & Malcolm Robinsons (Massillon DT - Purdue verbal) of the area. The OSU, Michigan & Notre Dame recruits are always going to go to OSU, Michigan & Notre Dame. but at least we're no longer losing the recruits to Toledo & Ohio. Hopefully soon we won't be losing recruits to Purdue & Pitt-level programs either.

Kobie's built like a tank. I went to a Barberton game earlier in the year & could pick Kobie out of the crowd of players from 100 yards away. And he can run quite well. Looks like a great future LB to me.

Most (all?) on this board wish you guys were back in the MAC. Myself included. It's a good rivalry and I hope it's a good game. We're not yet sure what we've got with our team either.

Pittman played some interior DL last season IIRC. Maybe move him back inside? (Let him flex his muscles & prove his manhood on the interior DL ) We've got more depth at DE than DT. DE - Marcus DT - Hamilton DT - Pittman DE - Venckus There you go, coach. Just solved the problem. Now I wish we could play Wisky again

I didn't realize K.e.nt scheduled two FCS schools. So I went to check out their schedule & see that they're playing the Alabama Crimson Tide on September 24.

K.e.nt lost to FCS member North Carolina A&T last night.

CMU -v- Okla. St. https://www.google.com/#q=central+michigan+vs+oklahoma+state

I was only able to watch the first half, but it doesn't look like anything changed in the 2nd half. We're going to be okay. This was just a bad matchup. We're not going to face another OL or DL like Wisky's the rest of the season... bowl game included. Wisky's an elite-of-the-elite program. I'd rather play Minnesota... Northwestern... Purdue... Illinois... Rutgers... Maryland... Penn State... Iowa... almost any B1G school (save OSU & Mich.) than Wisky. Going forward, we may not beat either Marshall or Appy St., but I'm betting they'll both be great games. I still think we'll win the MAC East. I think we'll get run in the MACC game (man, the west is stacked!), but we'll still go bowling. Shake it off, Zips. No shame in getting out-athleted by Wisky.

Those who can't... teach. Lol.

In the midst of a smack-talking thread, I'll drop my sobering prediction. Wisconsin controls both lines of scrimmage, gets out to an early lead and is never threatened. Our DE's are better than Wisky's DE's, but you won't be able to tell today. Unless Jelani Hamilton is a revelation today, our DT's are going to get consistently pushed back by Wisky's OL - minus Grice & Coe, we just don't have the beef up there to stuff the run (against a team like Wisky). Add to that our inexperienced LB's. Ulysses Gilbert will have a great game statistically, but the D won't be able to stop Wisky's 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense. The D will get worn down and it'll get worse as the game goes on. I also predict Wisky will lull us to sleep and hit a couple of big plays. This could get ugly. Our potential-laden, but inexperienced OL won't look half as good as they did last week against VMI. And they struggled to run block vs. the Keydets. Prediction: Warren Ball ends the day with less than 50-yards rushing. Our OL pass protection won't be half as good as it was against VMI, so TW-13 won't have time for long plays to develop & will have to rely on the short, quick passing game - Wisky will be able to crowd the box & play our WR's tight one-on-one. We'll complete some passes but won't break the long one (okay, maybe one). I'll predict Lane has a decent day, and JoJo breaks an exciting play or two, but we struggle to put it in the end zone and struggle mightily in the kicking game. When Wisky's not putting the ball in the end zone, their kicker is hitting 40-yarders. I think the single biggest key to the game will be how our DT's fare against Wisky's OL. The new DT's didn't impress me much against VMI last week. Wisky in a walk away.

You don't understand. This is The University of Akron. You're asking for the moon.

Great news to wake up to! Go Zips!!

Much more entertaining than the VMI pre-game thread.

We should give LeBron an honorary diploma. Or make it super easy for him to take online courses, or something. Make him a UA grad.

I'm w/ MDZip. I like Los Venerables. It's all been good natured. Go Zips! Beat the Possums!

Not so fast, ZippyRulz! I was watching the Iowa game and thought I heard "Akron" as well, but it is actually "Akrum." Akrum Wadley. I had to check it myself! Here's Iowa's roster. http://www.hawkeyesports.com/roster.aspx?path=football&roster=224&sort=position Btw, I love the way Iowa displays their online roster. Well done.

Always look forward to both your football and basketball posts, wadzip.

Gilbert. Our next NFL LB

Excellent pics, Good Doctor! ALWAYS look forward to these! Glad to see they let you on the field.

Gotta be glad to get this scholarship back. I don't want to say JD regressed during his senior year, but he sure didn't progress. The player I saw play as a junior had a lot of potential. The player I watched play a handful of times as a senior wouldn't set foot on the court at Akron.

That game was UGLY. And kinda boring. That first half was difficult to sit through. I hope the 12K return. I thought Ball looked amazing. When he wasn't being hit as soon as he touched the ball, he's got a very real burst and strength. Honestly, what a crying shame he sat the bench for 4 years @ OSU. Frenchy mentioned on postgame his score tonight was his 1st career TD. What a waste of talent. He could have been a 3-year starter for 100 other D-1 programs. As someone mentioned, the D needs leadership. We miss Cody Grice. I saw him at the game. Maybe get him back on the sideline? Frenchy mentioned during postgame that the D POTG was DeAndre Scott precisely because he gathered both the D & O on the sideline (when the Zips were only up by 2 in the 3rd Q.). I guess he chewed some butt & the Zips immediately went on to score 21 unanswered. Maybe that's precisely the development the D needed going forward. Maybe the D has found it's leader. And those were the best looking Zips uniforms I've ever seen. To my dying day I'll maintain that the gold helmets are my favorite... but not really. Those uni's we wore tonight are the absolute best in all of college football. I take that back... in all of football. Period. (With the lone possible exception being the San Diego Chargers.) Where's Jelani Hamilton?

I noticed that too. Definitely a little faded since the Info opened. I did notice on the scoreboard they replaced the A-Roo head with the Z logo. It looks sharp; love the Z. Now not only do we have the world's most famous mascot, but we've got the world's coolest logo.

How's the turnout for the festival?