ZachTheZip

I saw that the scoreboard frame was up while driving on Route 8 this afternoon.

Defense in football exists to create and then take advantage of an offense's mistakes. An OT missed an assignment? Defense gets a sack. QB has the ball slip a bit? INT. Misscommunication in the backfield? Tackle for loss. A good defense takes advantage of every mistake an offense makes. A bad defense lets them get away with timing issues and missed blocks.A good offense doesn't make those mistakes, and so nullifies the opposing defense. Akron's offense made so many mistakes with the game on the line that it was way too easy for even the bad MAC defenses to take over a game. That's what needs to stop. BG, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Temple, and Ball State were all decided because of dumb offensive mistakes, not a defense who often found themselves with their back right against the endzone thanks to a horribly timed interception or fumble with no rest from the last possession. Eliminate dumb mistakes, and the Zips had a chance to be 10-2.At the beginning of last season, I said that the Zips could go anywhere from 1-11 to 11-1. Would anybody argue that that wasn't the case? Aside from Wisconsin, the Zips were in every game, and aside from Army they were also in a position to lose every game right up to the end.I'll say the same about this year's team. Aside from Penn State, the Zips have the ability to beat any team on the schedule if they can eliminate or at last minimize dumb plays when the game is on the line. And aside from Morgan State, they also have the ability to completely screw up at the worst possible time and blow the game. I am hoping that Walt Harris can work out the problems with Jacq playing great except when the game is on the line. He was a great MAC QB for the most part, but when he was bad, he was REALLY bad. We should see less of Bad Jacq and more of Good Jacq this season.Also, the defense should be able to disrupt offenses better than last year, with or without Bain.

LinkThe NCAA is implementing an "imaginary arc" under the basket. A freaking imaginary arc. The NBA at least has one painted on their courts. The potential for abuse by crooked refs and idiots here is astounding.

What do you think the team needs to work on the most from last year? In other words, what one thing if fixed would provide the greatest improvement over last year?For me, it's closing out games. The Zips lost to Ohio, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and BGSU by a combined 16 points. The team gave up 21 points to Temple in the 4th quarter after being tied going in, and 23 points to BG in the fourth after having a 13 point lead going in. Akron had a 10 point lead going into the 4th against EMU, and only a miracle won the game. They almost let Syracuse back into the game.Lots of those losses and close calls were the direct result of boneheaded plays, things that shouldn't have happened like INTs or missed FGs. The only thing that kept Akron from winning the MAC East and having a 9-3 record were the players own mental mistakes. The talent is certainly there to be one of the best in the MAC. I am hoping that with Coach Harris working with Jacq that he can iron out his knack for throwing INTs in bunches and at the worst possible time. I think with coach Montgomery running the offense, it will allow JD to focus on shoring up the defense and figuring out what went wrong with the kicking and punting games. It wasn't bad playcalling holding the Zips back or lack of talent, but a lack of focus at critical points. This is what needs to be addressed, at least from my view. What do you think is the biggest problem that needs fixing from last year?

Such is the life of a MAC Coach. He wins, he leaves. He loses, we boot him out. Now, what I'm excited about is the coaching staff behind him. Those guys are lining up to be HC IMO. They wouldn't be doing that if they didn't think Akron had what it took to win with the new stadium bringing in recruits.Maybe that's the case with Montgomery and Okruch. I still believe that Harris came here mostly because of his connection with Brookhart. You just don't go directly from QB coach to the head coach.

I really, really hope that JD can come through this year. I don't want him to leave. We need some consistency at the top. JD is only in his 6th year as a head coach, and already he's the longest-employed coach in the MAC. Turnover amongst head coaches in smaller conferences is a real problem. I want a coach to leave here because he's done a good enough job to be noticed by a top school, not because he couldn't get a winning season.

His previews got scrambled. Yesterday it read "This school's hometown hosts the world championships for the All American Soap Box Derby" or something close to that.

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/3...wn-no-94-akron/They did their homework, for the most part, although I disagree with his prediction of 5-7. They also gave a shout out to Zipsnation.org, so leave a comment there to return the favor.

Get your passports soon, because Steele has us playing in the International bowl.

Anybody pick up a copy of them, or at least look at them long enough to post what they say?Phil Steele has us finishing 3rd in the East, behind Ohio and Temple.All the predictions are so wildly different that I can't really give much credence to them, but it's fun to see how people who don't follow the MAC think we will stack up.

Since when did this happen? Whatever happened to the Roo Zoo?

No offense to the donors that made our stadium happen, but you have to admit that "Summa Field at Infocision Stadium" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. When they purchased the naming rights, they did so for publicity reasons. As long as the media refers to the stadium by it's proper name, the publicity will continue to be there.That being said, I have noticed a small but growing amount of support to give the stadium a nickname. Lee Jackson Field is called "The Jack", and Rhoades Arena is called "The JAR". They're shortened versions of the official name. Unfortunately that doesn't work too well in this case. The nickname that's gained the most support is "The Pouch". At first I thought that those who were advocating it were doing so to mock the stadium's name or out of contempt for UA for some reason. Now I understand that we need something catchy to use when talking to the fabled "Joe Akron" about our stadium. Something to instill pride in the program that relates to our mascot. Something to offset the inevitable mocking of the official name by non-Akron fans.The Pouch works. It evokes a feeling of being closed in, which is something the architects are going for to make the place more intimidating. Kangaroos have pouches. All the other major stadiums around here have somewhat catchy nicknames, like the Horseshoe, The Big House, The Jake, The Q, etc. We should follow suit.What do you think? I think it sure helps keep a conversation moving when talking you your uncle in Missouri when you can say The Pouch instead of something like "Akron's new stadium" or "Infosumma" or something else because you're struggling to avoid using such a cumbersome name constantly, while also trying not to be too generic by constantly using "the stadium".

From CFN's Penn State preview: Their greatest weakness is our greatest strength. They didn't play anybody last season who could throw the ball well until USC, and then they got torched. Jacq and his receivers will shred PSU. If the rest of the team can play well, this game will be a great one.

We simply can't play "interesting" teams every year, if by interesting people mean local BCS teams. If your dad thinks that craptastic Minnesota is more interesting than Central Michigan, it's his own fault for not paying attention. This is what we're dealing with: the perception that the absolute worst of the BCS teams are still more entertaining than the top of the MAC.Akron can't do anything about playing 8 MAC teams a year. It's suicide to go out and play 4 ranked teams to make up for it. So we're playing Morgan State. It's not about the opponent for that game. It's about opening a new era of college football in NE Ohio. We're playing Syracuse on the road, are they more "interesting" to watch than OSU beating up on Toledo? Besides, if somebody prefers to watch OSU beat up on Toledo on TV instead of watching Akron beat up on Toledo in person, we can't win them over as a fan. What about Indiana? These teams are the epitome of suck, but there are people convinced that they're still better than watching teams that would beat them 9 times out of ten. Big Ten country has the worst mentality I've seen. Nothing exists beyond the Big Ten and a few top-10 teams that show up every year like USC. If we were to play TCU or BYU, teams that would kill most Big Ten teams, there wouldn't be the least bit of interest from the fans around here.

Orientation was a fun day for me. Not so much for my parents, though, who thought of it as a major life-changing moment. It's just a day where you get yourself organized for a bigger change to come. Have fun, relax, and let the people in charge walk you through it.I don't know how many people you might see on campus. Spring semester ended a few weeks ago and the summer crowd will be out there, but it's not nearly as crowded.

Seems like it all comes down to spending money. You can tell which teams are spending and which aren't.

Very few students are on Zipline in the middle of summer break. We'll see more than 1600 at every game unless the weather sucks.

How's about not screwing up to cost us wins? Last season the team was so close to beating Cincinnati, BG, and Buffalo but each time one critical mistake doomed us. That's the difference between a 8-4 record and a 5-7 record, winning the East, and making a bowl. They're so close to being good that it's frustrating. Clean up the mental mistakes and we're a top MAC team with the potential to be much more.

Welcome to the good side, Class of 82!No more excuses. No mroe moping around feeling sorry for ourselves and blaming it on some stupid "curse". It's time to take control. We have everything we need to create a great athletics program. All that's left is to actually do it. As fans we should be doing what ever we can to progress the situation.

So why CAN'T we have a Zips call-in show on WZIP? It would sure beat the saturday morning polka hour.

I'll let the sarcasm slide. No, I can't provide a list, but collegiate sports have been going on for a long time. You don't think that some colleges stopped funding sports during the great depression or WWII and then brought them back once they had the funds or the numbers to field a team again?

CFN doesn't understand how the MAC bowl contracts work. For some reason they have a WAC team playing in the GMAC bowl instead of the MAC champion. They also don't understand that both division champions are guaranteed a bowl, assuming they are eligible. That leaves only one other spot.I think that Akron will go bowling, either in a MAC bowl or as an at-large by getting to 7 wins.

http://www.jjhuddle.com/blog/post-detail.php?p=2763He visited Akron, and we offered him a scholarship. He must have shown something special. I do wonder what a HS freshman was doing visiting a college campus, possible coming along with his older AAU teammates? College was the last thing on my mind as a frosh.

I'm glad to see that Karriker has returned. We can look forward to an improved band when we open up the stadium. Just one more thing falling into place to make this football season potentially awesome. Now if only we can figure out where to tailgate...

Somehow I knew you would be the first to respond, GP1. If the Cavs manage to wake up out of their funk and go on to win, then we can associate our team with a winner.It can seem desperate to compare us to the Browns, but Cleveland is in a unique situation with the city's psyche being so fragile. They're more desperate than we are.As for the MAC, they're not going to becomre more entertaining even if Akron suddenly became like Utah or TCU, constantly challenging for a BCS spot. That's because the rest of the teams still suck. We can't do anything about the quality of our conference opponents. We can only continue to improve. If we want an exciting matchup, it will have to be a non-conference opponent.