Blue & Gold

Yes. But one good thing about the MAC is that it provides the potential opportunity for a very mediocre, even below-average, FBS football team to go undefeated in conference & garner a Top 25 ranking. If we're ever going to dominate a conference, the MAC provides the best opportunity to do so.

Well, that throws a massive wrench in things. The rumors were there, but i thought it was just fanciful thinking because the logistics are much too complicated. I expect the MWC will invite more teams on a reactionary basis in the near future. This is a ridiculous development. Texas Christian in the Big East?! The BCS should revoke the Big East's BCS status. They're simply not worthy. lol you realize they are ranked #3? not to mention, who would their bid go to? The MWC who lost utah, tcu and byu? I meant that the Big East is a lousy BCS football conference, not that TCU is a lousy football school. I just think it's an extremely strange geographical fit to have TCU join the Big East & reveals how desperate the Big East is for relevance/strength in football.

Well, that throws a massive wrench in things. The rumors were there, but i thought it was just fanciful thinking because the logistics are much too complicated. I expect the MWC will invite more teams on a reactionary basis in the near future. This is a ridiculous development. Texas Christian in the Big East?! The BCS should revoke the Big East's BCS status. They're simply not worthy.

Thank you, GameChanger! Should be a tough game.

This is the guy the Zips needed: Local product. Dropped 42 on Can't last night. Wasn't pursued by the Zips?! C.J. McCollum Needed

Sadly, this truism is my main source of optimism.

We're not losers anymore! Well... at least we're not total losers anymore! 1-11

Great post. Very real problem. We have to compete with the Cavs, so, while an NBA game is oftentimes more akin to a Harlem Globetrotters game than real basketball, the environment is certainly entertaining as-all-get-out from tip-off to final horn. You can tell our Athletics Department puts about 5-minutes of work into the gameday experience planning. I like all of your ideas, and I know it most likely took you 30-seconds to list your ideas off the top of your head. Sadly, like I recently posted in reply to another thought, it is painfully clear that posters on ZN.O put much more time, passion and thought into solving these problems than our paid UA Athletics Staff do.

Can someone explain how making more empty seats helps? Even if there are two seats taken up per band member (which there aren't) there are still tons of empty seats. Heck, the whole drumline came and stood by the band for the first half and the other side was still 75% empty. The only time it was/will be an issue every year is high school band day and the Can't came when half the people down below are sitting down and/or texting the whole time instead of cheering. It will help by encouraging the upper levels to actually make noise. What is the purpose of having the band? Is it just to have more students cheering for the team? If that's the case you can just disband and let the members show up as normal students. The purpose of the band is to get the crowd pumped up. Right now they are either next to or playing directly at the people who need fired up the least. So what if the seats you vacate remain empty? I would have the upper bowl be rocking and a sparse but fired up student section than have the crowd be as boring as it is now. Or maybe you could listen to my suggestion of moving the students and filling up the end sections with reserved tickets. Then you solve both problems, the upper crowd is fired up by the band and the end seats aren't empty while also unifying the students into one force much louder than they can be currently. For the record, I love this idea. If all the ROWDIES had part of the reserved seats behind the opposing team's bench, and then maybe the South side remains as it is, with ROWDIES and then the band where we usually are. This still has students in two spots but its two adjacent spots that are essentially right next to each other. Also, I think (I could be mistaken) that it is just common practice for pep bands to be situated on the floor. In most areans though I don't think the sections behind the baskets are only four rows. Anyway like I said I like your new seating idea, I just don't know if any of the decision makers would actually be down for that. I like what this thread has turned into. Very creative brainstorming. Sadly, posters on ZN.O obviously put way more time, thought and passion into solving these problems than do the paid professionals in our UA Athletics Dept.

Yeah, because then a hundred more students would show up and there would be no empty seats.... Let's use some common sense. Hey, btw, the UA drumline performance @ halftime was GREAT!!!

Wow! Congrats on that one - he's an outstanding ball player!

Alden was also named to the more prestigious All-Beacon Journal Team, comprising players selected from Summit, Stark, Portage, Medina & Wayne counties (St.V/M's DB Doran Grant was named ABJ POTY): Quote: Alden Hill Marlington, junior 6-2, 220, RB Set the single-season school records with 1,756 yards rushing and 28 touchdowns alongside fellow junior 1,000 yard rusher Dymonte Thomas. Averaged almost nine yards per carry to help the Dukes post a 10-0 regular season record and reach the Division III state playoffs. Named the Associated Press Division III Northeast Inland District Offensive Player of the Year. iCoach better be all over that Marlington-Buchtel game.

Good post. In a few preseason threads I mentioned that I was already more excited about NEXT year than I am about this year - I didn't think we were going to be very good this year. However, our game against Dayton made me think we might have a surprising year THIS YEAR. I'm back to looking forward to next year. I just have my fingers crossed that the two non-qualifiers qualify!!! And you mentioned Norris Cole. That guys great! Did CSU recruit him out of high school? Were we all over that guy's jock trying to get him to come to Akron?! Their guards got into the lane almost anytime they wanted to last night. That's athleticism. We couldn't stop their penetration - AND they could hit from the outside. Once again, as has been a recurring theme since Romeo graduated, we got out-athleted. Oh, and CSU used their athletes to play great defense. We didn't get many easy looks all night long. We'd pass & pass & pass & pass & launch a contested 3. Sometimes we'd hit. They'd run on the inbounds play & make a layup. Not a good formula to get the crowd into the game.

And on the other hand, this is a good point too. If the soccer Rowdies (or perhaps they're merely students) would come to the JAR the place would be packed and jumping. It's absolutely pathetic if it requires a #1 national ranking to get students out to an athletic event. I understand not wanting to set foot in the Info right now, but the basketball game last night was one of the nation's premier mid-major match ups of the entire season! Why weren't more people there?

I loved that cheer. I was very disappointed when no one heeded the Rowdies call. But don't give up. Keep on keeping on. The team needs you to! (I was in upper GA & I stood up ) There is a culture issue here. I took a friend to the game last night, and walking from the parking deck to the JAR he noted, "Pretty somber crowd for a basketball game." He noticed that the crowd of people we were walking with weren't even talking much amongst themselves, let alone shouting "ZI - PS!" or something... anything. I don't know what to think about that - and frankly, I was a bit enlightened when my friend made the outsider's observation - being an "insider," I had taken the quiet walk for granted. Maybe something strange is up with UA athletics? And did anyone notice the "Sweetheart of the Night," that Zippy picked out? God bless her many times over, but she must have been 75 years old - sitting in lower reserved. Those sorts of people aren't going to rival the Cameron Crazies anytime soon. For the first time I'm thinking we just need to renovate the JAR - lower the capacity a bit by getting rid of the bleachers & move the upper sections forward by removing the track. If the JAR is that quiet during a game, could you imagine how the limited noise we presently have would absolutely dissipate in a real arena?

Good for Alden! He deserves it. He's only a junior, but I trust iCoach has most definitely offered him already.

I'd be awfully nervous if they end up hiring Chuck Martin. He guided Grand Valley State to a 74-7 record over 6 years! That's sick! Even if Brian Kelly gets credit for origianally building GVSU's program, Chuck Martin sure did one heck of a job sustaining it - and with his own recruits. The dude obviously knows how to coach. On the other hand, I suppose there is a big difference between D-II & FBS. Idk, for the record, I was one of the folks who emailed TW suggesting Chuck for our HC vacancy. But TW's paid to know more than I do, so go iCoach! Go Zips! Boy, these are dark, trying and nerve-wrecking times for Zip football fans.

This right here shows just how difficult it is being a Zips fan. There are a lot of programs, big and small, in this country that, if they went 0-10, would have hours long radio programs on multiple stations dedicated to the team. What to do with the team, how much longer should the coach get, who should be the next head coach, what positions do we need to be recruiting for, whose to blame for this debacle, etc., etc., etc. What do we get in Akron? Apathy. We're all begging and pleading and bending over backwards to kiss the royal hinney of the folks who give us 2 minutes of air-time every once in a while. Tragically spot on. If the Browns, Indians, Cavs or Buckeyes suck, the media cries, grieves, wails, hand-wrings, rages, vents, analyzes, springs hope, etc. If the Zips suck, no one but the diehards know because the media refuses to acknowledge our very existence. If the Zips are amazing, we're lucky to get an in-passing mention on the evening news. Screw Cleveland. Being absolutely ignored by the media has plagued the Zips as a tremendous barrier to general recognition/validation for decades now. The Cleveland-centric media gives more coverage to the Cleveland Gladiators than they do the Akron Zips, for crying out loud. I hope we stomp the crap out of CSU tonight.

This rivalry has been on the shelf for far too long. I generally only get butterflies before we play two teams each year - Can't and CSU. I'm thrilled to see this hate-hate relationship back!

Glad to see Eric doing so well.

ABJ article Way to go, Rachel!

What is the story with SMU, Blue & Gold? I bet things like this happen much more often than anyone would expect. Could Auburn leaving the SEC trigger another conference shakedown? Ahh, sorry - I should have taken the time to be more precise. The SMU "Death Penalty" happened yeeeears ago - when I was a little kid, maybe before I was born, Idk. I do know it was way before I knew anything at all about college football. But SMU used to be a perennial national power. However, they were cited for multiple & serious recruiting violations & had a ton of schollies taken away - almost killing the football program.

It already is. A little birdie in the Hawaii Athletic Department told me San Jose St could announce their departure shortly. That guy who's been the commish for the past 20 years should have his statue dedicated outside a sewage treatment plant. Right. If I remember correctly, just a few years ago the WAC was home to a number of BCS-busters: Boise State, Fresno State, TCU & those epic, high-scoring Hawaii teams, one of which went undefeated until getting beaten by Georgia in a major bowl game.

Lord, have mercy! Sounds like AU may get the dreaded "Death Penalty," ala, SMU? Thanks for summarizing this, DiG. I hope you keep on top of the story for us - I just don't have time to dig through all that info. Also, it makes you wonder what goes on at many other "top" programs.