ZachTheZip

I'm really hoping that this also involves Gonzaga at some point. We go out to Wyoming and then to Gonzaga to play them there, and then the next year they both come here and we get them at home.

It's not too late. One more loss, and then it's too late. As of now, we can still go 7-5 if we win out, which would get us in a bowl. Just 1 loss and we're done for and it's time to look to next year.

ESPNU has been added to the Time Warner lineup, plus it should be on most sattelite carriers as well. You should have no trouble finding it on TV.

That crap's on Rick Chryst. He has been plunging the MAC ever lower down the conference food chain ever since he arrived in Cleveland. He controls the conference schedules. If he doesn't want a team to win their division, he'll make up a ridiculous schedule that kills their chances. He actively encourages teams to play lots of money games because the MAC can't afford to help out it's schools athletic budjets at all, and those money games destroy teams chances at bowl eligibility. Bowl games are the only real way to get the conference any recognition. The more the merrier. The MAC consistantly has bowl-eligible teams that are left sitting at home, while no other conference has that happen to them because the fans of not only the school but the entire conference would be up in arms. We don't have that. And don't get me started on his taking focus off of basketball so that we can "improve" our football programs. What a joke.Is it then Rick Chryst's fault that we only have 4 home games this year. And of those, only 2 Saturday games. Or does that fall on Mack? I want to know who to bitch to. I understand playing at least one "money" game, but 2 or 3 is ridiculous! I suppose one could excuse the UConn game because how many of us, along with the entire nation as a whole, thought UConn would be having as good a year as they are. I don't really have any figures on any of the other MAC schools, but I'm almost sure everyone has more home games than we do. I can't really count the Army game as a home game. This pattern seems to be our lot in life as ZIps fans.It's a combination of both Chryst and Mack's doings.Chryst controlls the MAC portion of the scheduling, but he also somewhat controlls the non-conference scheduling by limiting the travel budgets that the MAC gives teams to play eachother. It's the reason te MAC plays so many Big 10 teams: we can't really afford to travel much farther. It's why we don't work towards home-and-homes with conferences like C-USA and the MWC more often, instead of getting pulverized for cash and no return trip like we do now. Chryst also controlls the media aspect of the MAC TV packages, so that is why we play so many weekday games: to get on TV, although it comes at the price of playing three games in just over two weeks, and no weekend games because it reduces our chance of getting on TV. But you have to ask: would you rather play off TV on a Saturday, or play on ESPN on a weekday in a game where if you lose, you can't just sweep it under the rug because the entire country including many recruits saw it, but if you win it's a huge boost to your program. It's too much of a gamble for my liking.Money games are essential unless we find a viable source of income from the luxury boxes at the new stadium which may make our football program self-supporting. That would eliminate our sure-loss-for-cash games and possible help us get bowl-eligible more often by scheduling more winnable games in their place, which is the real way to make money. Mack has to schedule these games because at this point we have no choice. He chose to play only one non-conference "home" game this year because they are strapped for cash within the athletic department budget. Also, many games were scheduled far before Mack ever arrived here. This awful scheduling is a remnant of a time long past when the philosophy was that we knew we couldn't win so we might as well make some money when we lose. It was not a philosophy that cared about the future, and now we pay the price.

That crap's on Rick Chryst. He has been plunging the MAC ever lower down the conference food chain ever since he arrived in Cleveland. He controls the conference schedules. If he doesn't want a team to win their division, he'll make up a ridiculous schedule that kills their chances. He actively encourages teams to play lots of money games because the MAC can't afford to help out it's schools athletic budjets at all, and those money games destroy teams chances at bowl eligibility. Bowl games are the only real way to get the conference any recognition. The more the merrier. The MAC consistantly has bowl-eligible teams that are left sitting at home, while no other conference has that happen to them because the fans of not only the school but the entire conference would be up in arms. We don't have that. And don't get me started on his taking focus off of basketball so that we can "improve" our football programs. What a joke.

BG can't stop the run at all. That means that CJ7 gives us a much greater chance to win. If CJ11 stays in the whole game, things will get ugly.Has anybody been e-mailing DLM so that he asks JD about what happened to CJ7? If we were any other town with any other newspaper, we would have had a column with some sort of answer by now.

http://www.gozips.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPS...;ATCLID=1292798ROCHESTER, Mich. – Elliot Bradbrook and Matt Tutich gave the 17th-ranked Akron men’s soccer team a 2-0 lead and the Zips held on for a 2-1 victory over Oakland Tuesday afternoon at OU Soccer Stadium.The Zips (12-3-2) struck first midway through the first half. Much like he did at Buffalo, freshman Steve Zakuani made a run with the ball. However, instead of taking a shot and having a teammate bang home the rebound, he passed to Bradbrook who converted an open look inside the box for his fifth goal of the year.Oakland (9-6-2) looked to tie the match with 10 minutes left before halftime when it got a penalty kick. Junior Evan Bush, who had two saves in the match, turned away the shot that was sailing towards the right corner of the net to keep score 1-0. Then, after Oakland hit crossbar in second half and still down 1-0, Bush made another nice save right on the goal line to keep Zips in front. Just a few minutes after Oakland’s near goal in the second half, Akron pushed its advantage to 2-0 in the 57th minute. Anthony Ampaipitakwong found Matt Tutich, who beat Oakland keeper Steve Clark one on one for his fifth goal of the season. It marked Ampaipitakwong’s team-best ninth assist of the season.Oakland cut its deficit in half with three minutes left. Martin Sandell sent a ball in off a corner kick and Sabastian Harris headed the ball past Bush for the goal.“This was a good result against a strong Oakland program,” said UA head coach Caleb Porter. “We let our guard down a few time, which almost cost us. We will learn from those mistakes. However, we controlled the match a majority of the time and deserved the win.”The Zips out-shot Oakland 9-7 and held a 6-3 advantage in corner kicks. Akron will conclude the regular season this Saturday (Nov. 3) at Western Michigan. Match time in Kalamazoo is set for 2 pm. If the Zips win, they will be 2007 MAC regular-season champions and host the MAC Championships (Nov. 16 and 18) as the top seed at Lee Jackson Field.Way to go guys! One more win and we win the MAC, which makes every single MAC tourney game a home game. Lee Jackson field had better be filled to capacity for every game.

The alumni association sponsored a free trip to the Cavs' home opener. Many Alumni and AK-ROWDIES went. Too bad they lost.

Here's an interesting store brought up in the ABJ about some property bought where the new dorms are planned.http://www.ohio.com/news/top_stories/10908881.htmlA blanket land acquisition for the University of Akron's new stadium has turned out to include a house owned by the son of a UA trustee who stands to make a 40 percent increase on his September 2006 purchase.The purchase was approved in June by the UA Board of Trustees with Trustee Jack Morrison abstaining though the resolution did not give details of the individual properties.One of those properties was a 118-year-old home at 334 Spicer St. purchased from Jack W. Morrison Jr.'s Braymor Development.The son purchased the three-bedroom, two-bath home in September 2006 for $77,000 and sold it to the university in August for $110,000.The transaction came to light this week when it was discovered among those the university submitted to the Ohio Controlling Board for approval.UA spokesman Paul Herold said trustees gave the purchase authority to the administration in June to speed up the process of acquiring land for a new stadium.''I think the intent was to move quickly on all the properties within the project area footprint,'' he said. ''The parcels did not require additional board action.''But the purchase raised eyebrows at the seven-member Controlling Board meeting Monday, with Sen. Ray Miller, D-Columbus, and Rep. Jay Hottinger, R-Neward, voting against it.Hottinger said the purchase ''certainly doesn't look or smell good.''I'm at a loss to explain this. I hope it was just poor judgment and lack of foresight on the part of the university,'' he said.He questioned why the university did not purchase the property itself a year ago and how it could justify paying such a steep increase in a declining real estate market.The younger Morrison could not be reached for comment. Both son and father are attorneys who work for Amer Cunningham in Akron.The son's property was one of 14 the university submitted to the Controlling Board on Monday as part of its ongoing efforts to amass land for a stadium east of campus and west of state Route 8.Many of the properties were covered by the June resolution and were not independently voted on by trustees.In the case of the Morrison property, the university hired appraisers John W. Emig and Howard Myers, both of whom put the value at $110,000, which is the price UA agreed to pay.That was more than 40 percent higher than the $77,000 that Morrison paid for the home in September 2006.The university justified that with a list of the many improvements it said Morrison made during the year he owned the house.That included repairing the ceramic tile in the kitchen, installing plumbing and a new washer and dryer in the laundry room, installing new fixtures in the bathroom and installing a new furnace.According to Myers' appraisal, Morrison spent $28,000 on improvements, excluding his own labor or contractor skills. In his report, Emig said Morrison was leasing out the home for $900 a month at $300 a bedroom plus utilities and that he had put in $34,000 in improvements.This was the second time the Controlling Board has raised questions about a UA purchase.In August, it questioned UA's $22.7 million purchase of Quaker Square because the value set by the Summit County Fiscal Office was only $9.8 million.The purchase of the hotel, shopping and dining complex for a residence hall leaves the Radisson, owned by David Brennan, husband of UA Trustee Ann Amer Brennan, the only hotel in downtown Akron.Jack W. Morrison Jr. owns 10 other properties south of the university all purchased this year on Rankin, Power, Kling and Brown streets.Herold, the UA spokesman, said he did not think the university had plans to purchase them.''At this point we are not in negotiation with him, and I don't believe we are trying to buy anything,'' he said.The Controlling Board is composed of six state legislators and one state official who evaluate purchases valued at more than $25,000 by public agencies and institutions.

Yeah, and when we get to play in the NCAA tournament beyond a 1-and-done, we'll get better teams to come here as well.Winthrop is one of the toughest teams on our schedule this year, along with Austin Peay (who returns all 5 starters this year).

If winning is all that matters, than no, there is no improvement because neither coach has/had a winning record. To me, there's more to college football than winning, but to most people like the community that is supposed to support the team and pay the bills, for example, doesn't care about student-athletes or school spirit or pride, they want to root for a winning team. The thing is, they have no winning team to root for on the gridiron. Who the hell would want travel to a crumbling stadium where you can get ass-splinters and where there are no doors on the bathroom stalls and no railings on the stairs just to watch a bunch of losers get their ass handed to them once again?I know better -- many of us know better -- but that is the public perception, and that is what dictates how our football "business" is run. Very few schools make money from athletics, but at the very least, we could try not to LOSE more money than before. That would be an improvement, but we are still faking attendance numbers and still pouring money into a failing program. An overhaul is needed, whether that would involve firing everybody and starting from scratch is not my call to make, but something needs to change. The thing is that we have no catalyst to spark the change right now and are stuck in a mode of perpetual suck.

I'm serious when I ask this. I really find the whole recruiting thing borring so I really don't follow it....What makes those web pages experts? There are hundreds of potential players out there. How do they know who is good or not? How does a player get on their page? Who decides who is good or not? What do the different "star" levels mean?Could someone please take a quick shot at answering this? I really would like to know.A recruit with more stars is supposedly better. Those web pages are not experts, they just collect data, and rate recruits that have offers from schools with huge fanbases with more stars so their web traffic goes up. Most players get on the sites by contacting them, or by having a news story written about them. More stories/offers, means a better rating. Their thought process is that if they have a bunch of offers from big-name schools, they must be better than other recruits. If that recruit verbals to a non-BCS school, though, they drop in the rankings regardless of how good they are because in the eyes of the recruiting service if you choose to go to that school, you obviously aren't as good as they thought you were (and their pageviews suffer from the smaller fanbases accessing the site).

JD want's to prove his point, at the expense of the team, the players, the fans, and the athletic department's money. We'll see how much longer they put up with it. I know I'm through. And nobody better give me this "Well, Temple and Buffalo are better this year" bullsh!t. They're better because the rest of the MAC sucks more than usual.Most Zips fans may be ready for basketball season to start, but don't forget that we have a top-25 soccer team that will be playing in the MAC tournament at home soon. When BBall season starts, I'll be there, but for now, the Jack should sell out for every tournament game, and there needs to be at least 50 AK-Rowdies giving the other team hell. Winners win, and losers lose. Men's soccer team is comprised of winners. They deserve much more support than they get. Football, however, is showing that they are losers, and losers don't get support. Fans vote with their wallets, and losing teams lose money more than winning teams. Remember that college football is a business, and a way of advertising your school. Does Mack Rhoades want to waste millions of dollars on a produst that the communitty thinks (perhaps rightly) is a laughing stock?

Well, It's time for me to head out. Anybody else wondering what would happen with CJ7 in there running in that strong wind?

Buffalo on the 2 yard line. They're about to score. They have us figured out.TD Buffalo. 22-10, EXP pending.

End of 3rd. Akron down 16-10.

Buffalo seems to know how to beat our defense now. It usually takes about 2 quarters to figure us out, and they have it.

Mackey in at safety.

3rd and 6 on the Akron 35. Incomplete, bad throw. Akron to punt.

CJ11 scrambling, throws to Owen for 28 yards. Taken back on an illegal foward pass. Beyond the line of scrimmage.2nd and 15 on Akron 15.Williams gets the 1st down on a 16 yard run.

Buffalo to attempt a field goal. Up... Good.Buffalo up 16-10

Mondo is hurt again.

Bulls to go for it on 4th and 1. They get it.

They're running all over us without Starks even in the game.

CJ11 gets sacked (what a suprise ). Akron to punt.