RowdyZip

I'll be curious to see how all of Coach I's recruits turn out on the field, including Jawon.

These topics and posts are getting old. We get it. You think Akron should be 1AA. The vast majority of folks here, and alumni in general, most likely strongly disagree with you. I'm beginning to see trollish tendencies.

We'll break 20k, I won't say easily, but we will. It's opening day, labor day weekend, 70 and sunny and a (crappy) Big East team in town. The team hasn't had a chance to get thwomped by some big boys yet so there is optimism in the general public that knows nothing of Zips football. (Disclaimer: I have optimism every year prior to the season, this year more than some others, but for those that know nothing of college football, every season might as well be a clean slate)

Heart: Zips 27-17 Head: Cuse 42-14

Probably liquedated Steve & Barry's merch? There was one thing that place was good for, college gear.

Well, I'm not sure who this guy was for them, but maybe it'll level the playing field a little with our Center injury issues.

I hate Bleacher Report. Everything there is sort of tongue-in-cheek (not necessarily this one), and very poorly researched. All rivalry aside, I'm not sure how you could leave K-ent off that list. They've been more miserable than us the last few decades.

For a little local color, I'd second Luigi's. Good Italian food. Local institution. Decent prices. Located Main St. on the north end of downtown. Short drive (5 -10 minutes) to the stadium. Also, if you're a comics fan, the creator of Funky Winkerbean lives outside of Akron and he used Luigi's as the model for the restaurant Montoni's in the comic strip. Website: luigisrestaurant.com. I'm a fan of Luigis. However, don't go after about 10pm on a weekend unless you want to wait a decade and bring cash. I think they're still cash only or local personal checks.

First thing that jumps out: K-ent @ Akron during winter break. Thanks, MAC! Edit: Ohio @ Akron Jan 12th (also break). Thanks again, MAC!

Things I noticed at the scrimmage. I tried to post these on my phone as a sort of "notes" way, but it was way too hard to see the screen in the hazy bright sky. I sat in my seats on the 40 yd line on the north end of the upper deck. 1) Jalil Carter is a solid #2 option for Nicely. And yes, Patrick Nicely is your starter. Showed good hands on a couple catches and great field vision in a couple special teams returns. 2) Zack Campbell: HOLY COW! Yes, it was one of about 4 of his punts, but it's not often you get a football audience to collectively gasp at a punt. The team was lined up at the 40, he landed the ball at about the 2 yard line (it would've been a touchback as it bounced into the endzone), but that thing went a solid 70 yards IN THE AIR from where he took the long snap. Text book punt. Won't miss that goofy rugby style bs. 3)PK was not that horrible. Marchese missed the one FG in the scrimmage portion of the practice. Igor has the leg, let's hope this new staff gets his head in the right place because he has the talent to be a top kicker in the conference. 4)Fundamentally, everything looked more crisp than I saw in the Brookhart era. A few too many penalties on both sides of the ball for my liking, but route running, ball protection from the TBs, and even the transfer from C to QB looked good. Rodgers and Potts each lost one snap, I believe. PN 7 looks like he has the drive to make sure he's the guy. Hopefully we're set at QB for 3 years. 5) Nothing was changed in the stadium. No noticeable upgrades, at least to my eyes. I'd love to see the ribbon board extended around the stadium covering those eyesore rivets that are silver in color up against the blue steel. I wanted a pepsi, there was one stand with no line and I paid $4. Free cookies were a nice touch. They did run out of refrigerator magnets, which is kind of silly seeing as there were maybe 1000-1200 people there. I'd be curious to see how season tickets are comparing to last year. It was nice that the U did have some reps out at least discussing with fans. A couple guys sitting behind me committed to reserved seats a few rows back. Oh, and rosters were nowhere to be found until about 30 minutes in when again, an employee popped out of the tunnel and offered me one. Nice touch, but would've been better to have it in my hand going to my seat. Two weeks away, can't wait to be back in that parking lot and back on that bench. Go Zips! Beat Syracuse!

I would be interested in attending some away games. I'm currently lining up a trip to go to Bloomington, it'd be icing on the cake if UA provided a bus.

So what time does Lot 34 open up for tailgating? With the kickoff around 6pm...is 1pm too early to set up? I know some places let you set up early and they just send someone around to check for passes or take money. Will Lot 34 be a cash lot in 2010? I still haven't received my tix/parking passes so I don't know which yet we'll be in yet...but want to find out about the lots in general and 34 specifically as that is one of the ones I heard we could be at. Lot 34 is a cash lot. It's too far away to really be considered for a premium lot. If you want to take a look on a map, it's the paved lot on the corner of Wolf Ledges and Carroll streets. Other options might by lots 27, 20, 35, 47, and 42. Wherever you end up, expect to walk about 1/2 mile to get to the stadium. Parking wasn't as important when designing the stadium as simply putting it on campus instead of 5 miles away in the suburbs like the Rubber Bowl. Check the campus map for a good look. Be sure to click either the hybrid option in the google map, or the "dimensional map" tab at the top for two better views. Looking at that map, has anyone ever parked over in lot 54 on the edge of route 8? Might be a fun place to raise the flag and get some reactions from passing drivers.

I don't mean to be negative or rude, but why are we reserving ANY area for VISITING fans? I'm not a lot 34 regular (yet), but I'd be as pissed as I was when I got the boot from lot 9.

Ahh...the Couch kid. Yeah, what happened to him? Didn't he win the NFL Punt Pass & Kick contest?

Now is the time for Zips football optimism, so I say, "YES!" I think I'll be in attendance @ UK, as well as the first two games. Hooray for football season!

I believe Ennis is a 2011 recruit...Sanders is a 2010 PG prospect. So Zach is right...unless there was another decommit, i'm not sure where the scholarship is coming from. Someone on Yappi doesn't have a clue, they think he's taking Humpty's spot.

Dave In Green, right on. B & G, you contribute a lot to this board and most of it is well-spoken and intelligent. However, for a sports fan in Akron or Canton or ANYWHERE in NE Ohio to not associate with teams from NE Ohio is ludicrous. Do you really expect all Akronites to kiss this guys proverbial arse? Come on. Akron may not be Cleveland, but last I checked, the only professional team in our town was the AA Akron Aeros. Perhaps we should've been angry that LeBron didn't sport the black and purple rather than that hideous NY logo? Look, I grew up on the east side of Cleveland (about 30 miles east) and moved to Akron for school about 10 years ago. I now reside about 45 miles south of downtown CLE in North Akron. Should that 15 miles have made me lose loyalty to my "hometown" team? LeBron made his choice, and he'll continue to digest it for the rest of his career. There's a reason they say that "you can never come home." He won't be welcome here, not in public or in private. He won't appear for his bikeathon next month, neither his 2nd fiddle self nor his new star Mr. Wade. B&G, you are in the minority if you don't associate with Cleveland sports teams. Unless you're that guy that's a Yankees fan, Saints fan, and now, well, a Heat fan. It makes me wonder how you remain loyal to the Zips.

LeBron can go to hell. Never come back, you're not welcome here. Please, go 82-0 next year, then blow out a knee getting off the bus. Gilbert has passion, something our other owners need.

If he played six more years, we would only get 12 plays out of him. No thanks. Yeah, I was never quite on that hype train either, I was just wondering if he had attempted to petition the NCAA for a 6th year or if his back was that bad that it wouldn't matter. Perhaps the coaching staff told him he wouldn't have a scholarship for a 6th year. Anybody in the know?

Speaking of Mr. Bain, if Alex Allen can get a 6th year, why haven't we heard about Ryan? He only played a couple downs in one or two games, right?

Commit copyright infringement, lose ownership of business, alienate 75% of city...sounds like bad business decisions in addition to awful service and a filthy restaurant were the primary culprits.

It's been a long time since I've laughed audibly about a text "news" article. Thanks for the chuckle, it's sad but mostly metaphorically accurate.

We all knew this was bound to happen eventually. The big boys couldn't wait around any longer to see more "BCS" busters come from other conferences. Remember how close Ball State was two years ago? Lets hope the investment UA has made in football gives us just a slight glimmer of a hope to get a foot in the door. I find it highly unlikely, but if there were schools to have a remote chance in the MAC it would be UA, Toledo, and Buffalo.

Haha. Phew, it's nice to have a real "insider." It's hard not to be paranoid in NE Ohio, you're right Zach. Glad to see the kid has his head screwed on straight. We're headed for big things in the basketball world here at UA and Zeke is going to be a big part of it. And as poorly as the Indians are playing and as bad as football is expected to be, I'm already looking forward to seeing the new and improved Zeke & Co. on the hardwood.

That better be a joke. Presuming it is, I'm not laughing too hard. If facebook is any indicator, Mr. Marshall is not enjoying his time in Akron too much recently. I haven't heard anything concrete, just observing.