Blue & Gold

I'm just thinking Kelley (sp?) will restore them to glory. He may not. Who knows? You're probably spot-on. I'm probably just showing my age with still thinking of ND as being or possibly being a premier national power. Should Florida State be on the ACC list? Man, what's happened to them? They were also a (THE?) dominant national power during my formative college football years.

I previously posted that the BCS - Non-BCS dichotomy is a false one, or at least way overblown; that there are really only perhaps 20-ish traditional programs I'd be afraid of scheduling, year-in-and-year-out, if the Zips were any good at all. Unfortunately, when I look @ the conference breakdowns, the Big 10 has more teams I'd try to avoid than any other conference, SEC included. Here are the only BCS teams I'd be extremely hesitant to schedule if I were non-BCS. (Note that all the other BCS schools generally get destroyed by these select few teams too.) Big 10: 1. Columbus State 2. Michigan (I'm assuming Rich Rod is going to restore them to national prominence) 3. Iowa 4. Wisky 5. Penn State (why do we love to schedule these guys?) 6. Nebraska (I know, I know, I'm one year ahead of myself) *A top-tier MAC team competes @ the same level as the rest of the Big 10 SEC: 1. Florida 2. Tennessee 3. Georgia 4. LSU 5. Alabama *A top-tier MAC team competes @ the same level as the rest of the SEC ACC: 1. Miami 2. Virginia Tech *A top-tier MAC team competes @ the same level as the rest of the ACC Big 12: 1. Texas 2. Oklahoma *A top-tier MAC team competes @ the same level as the rest of the Big 12 Big East: none Pac-10: 1. USC 2. Oregon *A top-tier MAC team competes @ the same level as the rest of the Pac-10 Independant: 1. Notre Dame (Again, I'm assuming Kelley is going to take the Irish back to national prominence.) Please spare me the exceptions which prove the rule. This is based on tradition, or an average year, or year-in-year-out, whatever you like to call it. (I know Stanford is having a great year, Cal had a great run for about 5 or 6 years in a row; Missouri had a good 3-year stretch, etc., etc.) So that's it, folks. If the Zips were even a mediocre D-1 team I'd be amped about playing any BCS school not listed above (as the Zips stand presently, we get beat by IAA's.) So, how many programs are on the list? 18. There's not even 20 BCS schools on the elite list. The dichotomy is not between BCS - non-BCS. The dichotomy is between these 18 schools and all the rest. *Of course, I should clarify, that by "top-tier MAC school" I basically mean the best 1 or 2 teams in the league. Lol.

Get out of your hotel and head down to Penn Ave, go to Rolands, great beer selection. When your done there continue down the strip, you can't go wrong with bars down there. If your hungry, go to Primanti Brothers, if you like sushi, to to the sushi bar at the Westin. If you need to do something spiritual, go to The Church, also close by. The Strip Distict is great. If you've got the time, just walk around and pop into different joints & check them out. And, of course, on the south side of downtown, take a ride up the Duquesne Incline if you can.

I really only like scheduling a 1-AA if it's for the season opener. It's an easy win ( ) and essentially serves as a "Fan Fest" scrimmage to get the team prepared for the rest of the D-1's. Many of the Top 20 programs do this, so I don't think there's any reason the rest of the D-1's shouldn't. It's fun for the Un-Top-20's to assert dominance, if only for a week.

FYI. The Tap House has recently repainted the inside Red and Silver. I was stunned. I don't know when it happened, but it had to have happened in the last couple of weeks. That's the last time I try to go there to watch a Zips game. When are we going to get a place again like the OBC? from what I hear they are trying to open up in the merriman valley. YES...and if they do they will have one customer that will be there at least once a week. I love the valley and I hate the valley. I love the valley because I love everything Akron. But I hate the valley because it takes away from downtown. We need the OBC to open downtown within walking distance of UA & the Info. Downtown is the face of a community.

And on the other hand, this is good perspective. Basically KD's strategy for b-ball scheduling.

On the one hand: Screw the BCS - non-BCS dichotomy. Most of the BCS schools play at about the same level as the upper tier MAC schools. There are really only about 20 BCS programs we should avoid playing. I, and everyone else could list them off the tops of our heads. We all know who the perennial Top 20 programs are. Penn State and Ohio State happen to be on that list - and for some reason we've been real fond of scheduling those two teams lately. 'Cuse, Kentucky & Indiana ain't on the list. They suck. We just rrrrrreeeeeaaaaaalllllllyyyyyyy suck. If we even had a mediocre team we'd probably be sitting at 3-1 right now. Unfortunately, we may be the 3rd worst team in all of D-1 ball. (Ahead of only EMU & WKU.)

AA seems to OFTEN trip up before he even hits the line of scrimmage.

I'm probably taking two friends down to the Barley House for the game. Anyone else going? Will there be a better Zips destination?

What do you mean by, "after what happened to Sullivan, Steward, and Humpty,"? Sullivan wasn't quite good enough to get any PT. Steward was, very unfortunately, chronically injury-prone. Humpty was a good player and received a lot of PT. The fans were strongly supportive of all three. Could you please flesh-out your observation?

I hate to admit this before I've even seen the team play their first exhibition game, but I'm already more excited about next year than I am about this one. And concerning the topic of this thread: KD's a great guy. Ethical. Hard-working. Intelligent. Energetic. Passionate. Bleeds Akron blue & gold. We couldn't do any better than KD.

I know our football team sucks - basically always has. But I'm continually amazed/disappointed that we can't get numbers like this out to the JAR for men's basketball.

DT Demetrius Conwell. I'm dating myself with that one. This name goes back to when I began closely following Zips recruiting.

There's room for all. We can have a depth chart. E.J. Lilly & Christian Morgan! Yessss! Those are classics! I was completely amped when we signed both of those guys. How about the 3-Time Mr. Football candidate RB from Ravenna? Wasn't his name Marcus Sanders? Ran for like 4,000 yards his senior year. He may have gotten 3 carries for us during his career.

Whoops. CK & I were posting this @ the same time. Edit: Mod Merged.

Here's an article by TG in today's (9/21) ABJ: Ianello Seeking Patience Here's a worrisome quote: "After the decent start against the Wildcats, UA was dominated in the middle two quarters, being outgained 150-8 in total yards in the second period and 210-33 in the third period. The Zips had only 46 yards of total offense in the first half and 79 yards through three quarters. With reserves in the game through most of the final period, the Zips managed to finish with 172 yards to 544 for Kentucky. Of particular worry for the Zips is that the running game could produce only 67 yards rushing on 37 attempts (a 1.8 average). That came against a Kentucky defense that was ranked 94th (out of 120) against the run nationally, permitting an average of 188.5 yards in its first two games."

Wish I could have seen it.

I was at a wedding and unable to see the game. I was, however, able to listen to the 4th quarter. Steve French made it sound like Nicely was really bad. I don't have much to say about the game, except for the fact that I like how our D played in the 1st 1 & 1/2 quarters. Our new white jerseys look cool. There's a good pic of AA on GoZips.com. Oh, and I'm glad Giorgio Bowers got some time @ RB. From what I've seen of AA ('Cuse & GW), he just doesn't seem to hit the hole hard or fast enough anymore. I can't blame him, RB's a punishing position, let alone after a few bad injuries.

Anyone know if any local establishments are carrying the game? The Tap House, perhaps?

We beat Kentucky 21-20 & ZipsNation rises in one voice and pronounces iCoach a genius. We then immediately commence fretting about losing him at season's end to a BCS school.

I was stomping my feet for the Zips' D last week v. GW, even though I thought it was disgraceful that we were in such a close game with a 1AA. The first two weeks of the season were unmitigated disasters. The next two weeks are likely to be the same. But I'll be there v. Northern Illinois, once again stomping my feet for the D!

I'm generally disappointed in the crowds we get at Zips games, but this photo goes to show that you've got to win to expect big crowds.

I see that iCoach is the first coach lined up for the "Lunch With Coach" series. It's scheduled for this Thursday @ The Barley House. I'm going to assume they were thinking that by scheduling Ianello for this week the football team would have a good showing against 'Cuse plus a beat-down of a D-1AA under our belts, but would get the lunch w/ iCoach out of the way before we get our @sses handed to us @ UK & IU. Did anyone think we'd get thrashed by 'Cuse & beaten by a 1AA? Honestly, I still can't believe it. How low can you go? That's going to be one depressing lunch w/ the coach.

I don't listen to the 1350 show. They can call it what they like, but it's not an Akron sports show. It's the same-old-same-old Cleveland and Columbus routine. If they were bashing ZipsNation, like you said BZ, at least they were talking Zips. But, sadly, I don't find it difficult to believe they were chiding us for wanting to win and reminding everyone that UA is not a football school and, once again, reinforcing the negativity by stating that they never will be. Anyway... back to Columbus State & the Browns...

The score is impossible to predict as it will depend entirely on how merciful UK decides they want to be. I have the feeling it is going to be one of those horrible, and all-too-frequent games against a BCS school where we're just relieved every time our O get a first down or our D keeps the opposition from scoring a TD - you know, when simply holding the other team to a FG seems like a small victory. It sure ain't easy being a fan of the Zippers.