Blue & Gold

I agree. I'm tired of playing the elite BCS schools. The odds of us winning those games are nil. I'm all for scheduling middle-to-lower BCS schools and mid-majors. Why not SMU, Marshall, Memphis or Tulane from C-USA, or any of the Mountain West or WAC schools. I'm all for being competitive and winning. Winning will build the fan base; people like to be associated w/ a winner. If we win enough, and build up the program enough, the occassional Top 10 BCS opponent will be okay. I say we go for being recognized as an elite mid-major program before we start scheduling the perennial Top 10 schools. If we could be associated with Hawaii, Boise State, Marshall (the old Marshall) and be ranked in the lower part of the Top 25 I think we'd max out the stadium every week.

We definitely need more concerts downtown. We currently don't have any at all. Neither the Civic nor EJ Thomas bring in bands. An arena could be used year-around to bring patrons to the restaurants downtown before and after events.I believe the Chaifetz Arena is saying that they'll have close to 200 events per year, or something like that. I'm as excited about the new football stadium as anyone; I've been waiting for that announcement for about 10 years! But the Zips will only play there what, 6 times per year? Then we'll probably host a high school game of the week, which would be 10 more events per year. Add in the high school playoffs and that's another, what 5 events per year. And then I know they're planning to host some band shows, so, we'll say 3 band shows per year. Added together that's around 22 events per year. Needless to say downtown establishments will benefit far more from an arena than from the football stadium. Downtown really needs a quality arena venue.

Here's another very nice, new facility just opening at St. Louis University. It has a capacity of just over 10,000 (from my understanding that is not including seating in the 14 loges). I think 10,000ish is the capacity we should one day aim for. That's a completely uneducated opinion, but I don't think we'd want an arena the size of Cleveland State's, right? You go to a game there and the CSU Convocation Center so cavernous and empty it's a depressing environment. I don't know, maybe my thinking is too small? Anyhow, check this out:http://www.thechaifetzarena.com/

There has been some talk that both Akron and Cincinnati made offers to him for football, but that he is likely to accept a track scholarship somewhere else.That may be true. But from my experience w/ Rivals and Scouts, I'd be willing to bet my money that he never actually received an official scholarship offer from either Akron or Cincy. However, I'm sure he'll be offered a chance to walk-on at a few schools; maybe earn a scholarship in another 2 years. Maybe not.

Harvey completing a degree would be the best day in JD's coaching tenure.Well said. That would be a victory for all of UA. That's what these guys are supposed to be in coaching for to begin with, right - to help mold and develop the next generation's young men. Go David Harvey! Even if you never suit up for the Zips again, we're all pulling for you to get your degree!

I'd pay it.

According to a player on the team, Akron will be sponsored by the LeBron line next season. UA had a contract that with Adidas that expires after this season. I look forward to seeing all the new gear!Amen and hallelujah! I'm hitting the Team Shop, busting out my credit card, and maxing it out on Nike/LeBron Zips gear! Oh, yeah, and I still want gold uni's.

We did get rocked. It was an ugly game. Western is a very good team, but not that good. Our 3 senior leaders are all hobbled right now - Nick Dials, Cedric Middleton and Jeremiah Wood. We're all feeling pretty bad for these guys because they've been key players since their sophomore seasons and it's just pretty painful watching our seniors gimp around out there. For their sakes we're all crossing our fingers that they get healthy by March. (But when you play 2 games a week, what are the odds of that? Honestly, probably not very good.) All 3 have lost at least a step, and Jeremiah doesn't have much lift off the floor right now, to put it mildly.

Plus a couple of kids out of Strongsville (D. J. Woods and another one I can't recall) and a linebacker out of Hudson (Niam) who seemed to have all of the tools. It is always interesting to look at the roster when it is published to see if any of these athletes caught on as walk-ons. Unless the Captain has some insight????? D.J. Woods signed with Cincy.

It's kind of a shame that all 3 will be seniors next year.

It'll be interesting to see how JD uses both Andrew Johnson and Bryan Williams together. They're such great athletes that we need them both out on the field. That would also utilize Alex Allen alot as the 2nd string RB.

Ouch. We lost out on 2 of our 6 3-star recruits. Ouch. Rivals has WR Marcus Cooper listed as still committed to Akron but not yet signed. What do you guys think is up w/ that?

Check out these SWEET grey uni's OSU wore last night. Why do they do EVERYTHING better than we do? Those grey uni's are unique and very "cool." Why can't we be unique and cool? Like some of us have been saying for 2 years now, we need to bring the GOLD uni's back! Very simple. They are unique; while literally EVERYONE has white - few can have GOLD. Why in the bloody hell not take advantage of that? And they're SWEET! http://www.ohio.com/sports/osu/15344066.htmlAlso, man do we need to hook up w/ Nike! We need LeBron to stick tight with this U and be in our corner! What a natural fit too - LeBron and UA! Did any of you guys see the soles of the new Nike LeBron's? They've got a little street map of Akron on them! He's definitely a homeboy!

GoZips.com also has the game listed on Comcast Local. But I've never heard of the station. Is that Kalamazoo's cable provider?

Thanks Captain! This is one of the most exciting days of the year; it's like Christmas morning!Go Zips!

That is a very interesting site. Thanks for the link! Their ranking system is certainly complex! I didn't take the time to read how they calculate their results; I probably wouldn't have grasped it anyhow - engineering is not my bag. But just looking at the results really demonstrates how difficult it is to rank college b-ball teams (and, for that matter, college football teams as well). A couple of observations:VCU: 3 very nice!UA: 87 whatever - check some of the weak schools ranked higher than the Zips:Duquesne: 53 they dropped us from their schedule after going 0-5 against us the last, what, 7 years?Toledo: 80 we were up on Toledo by 24 before we cleared the benchCleveland State: 74 we can't get good 'ol CSU to play us anylonger, and look who their ranked right above:Dayton!: only 75?! aren't they in the Top 25 in the nation? But they're only 75 in this mid-major poll?St. Louis: 67 They SUCK! Big time!Wright State: 66 Once again, we can't get them to schedule us (I see an unfortunate pattern developing)Temple: 27 A good team, but, once again, a victim of the Zips this seasonCan't State: 21 Darn flushesMiami: 16 this really reveals how important sos is in most peoples eyes. We rolled MU by, what, 16, but it could have easily been by 26Ohio: 12 Once again, a good team, but once again, a victim of the Zippers. Again revealing the weight of sos.Man, I've already wasted 20 minutes of my day on this post! Anyway, that is a great site! Lots of fun! Always fun to debate who's better than who. But, man, it's so subjective. Fortunately this isn't life 'n' death, right?!

I don't remember Cornell Mann. Did he get much playing time? 1993 was about the year I started following the Zips closely. I remember my first favorite b-ball Zip was Tron Jenkins! That has to be one of the coolest names ever; Tron Jenkins. He could ball. And even when I was young and inexperienced in the ways of the world I still thought the JAR was a dump.My gloomy, but fortunately uneducated prediction: WMU 75, UA 65.

Perhaps we could host the mighty fighting rams of VCU?! Oh, wait...

We're glad you're part of our family! One thing you'll quickly notice about us Zips fans is that if you're practicing and playing hard, we're gonna love you no matter the outcome of a game! We're the biggest group of die-hard homers you'll ever meet and we're most definitely in your corner!And congratulations on receiving a D-1 college athletic scholarship! Your parents must be proud! Less than 1% of high school athletes are talented enough to play at this level. Imagine that, less than 1%! So again, congratulations!Also, I hope you're looking forward to playing in the beautiful new stadium! (After the last year at the Rubberbowl I know you will be! )

That plasma center is an embarrassment. It attracts the kind of people that we don't need hanging around our university students; the sort of person that any good parent wouldn't feel very comfortable knowing their son/daughter must walk by on their way to class everyday. Man, that sounded insensitive but I'm just tellin' it like it is.

I'm not sure I understand how the substitutions work. Is Chase supposed to always watch for another LB coming on the field and know that he's the one being replaced? Couldn't/shouldn't the incoming player notify whoever he's replacing to make sure he gets out? Or did he miss a signal from the sideline? Why was all the blame on Chase...shouldn't it be a coordinated effort?I'm probably biased, but I don't think it was really Blackburn's fault. I noticed that after the incident, Tom Coughlin wasn't upset at Chase, but was sure chewing out his Special Teams Coach. I think it was probably more of a coaching error thingy.

I'll toss out my opinion: J-Wood's the man. He's our MVP. His statistics still bear it out, even though he's currently playing on a gimp knee. But even if he wasn't statistically lighting it up, his presence out there alters the way teams can and do play us. Wood is often triple teamed! I don't think you can say that about anyone else in our conference. I think all the coaches know he's the best player in the league. I just hope his knee starts shaping up.

Not to mention Jason Taylor geting early recognition.Yeah, what a night for the Zips! We need to bring those guys in and recognize them at the Rubberbowl next year.

Didn't Can't already stomp GU earlier this year? And GU's still talking smack? Whatever.

Here's what we need downtown! This is the link to the soon-to-be-open Bank of Kentucky Center. The Center is the new arena for the Northern Kentucky University basketball program (has anyone ever heard of that school?!) as well as concerts and other events. It's a 10,000 seat structure and looks great!http://www.bankofkentuckycenter.com/