ZachTheZip

This is a make-or-break year for Zips football. The team is almost completely made up of JD's recruits. The Zips first true QB battle in recent memory is taking place. The predictions range anywhere from 5th to 1st in the MAC east, meaning that we are a dark horse team. The academic problems are (hopefully) behind us. The talent pool is so deep at most positions that we should never get worn out during the course of the games. What does it all mean?It means that it is essentially do or die for the Zips this season. No one knows what to expect for this season, which means it can go any number of ways. We could blow the season and cause unrest with the coaching staff. We could be completely average and show the local sports fans that 2005 was just a fluke. Or, we could end up going anywhere from 8-4 to 10-2 given our very easy schedule. That would be incredible, we would go bowling, the community would rally around us once again, and all is well in Zippyland. We all hope it is the last option that comes true. Anything less and the season would be a dissapointment. But there's nothing we can do about it except go to the games and cheer our team on to victory. The talent is there, so it's entirely up to how bad JD and the players want to win. Lets hope they want it more badly than anyone else does.

Update from Rasor's BlogSeems like UA is pretty reluctant to show the actual plans, but at least they gave out the details in it. 25,000 and only expandable to 30,000 is in the lower half of the MAC capacity-wise. It had better be the nicest damn stadium I have ever seen if we are spending that much $$$ but it only holds 25,000 including the presumed grass endzone seating.

ESPN Plus deal expands coverage.No mention of ESPNU, or even what channels will be affected.

Lets hope it is going to be one of the proposed restaurants that will be on Exchange outside of the stadium. That would be huge. I am not sure if it is connected to the stadium plans, though. The city has been trying very hard to revitalise the downtown area. That apartment complex with the Chrissie Hynde restaurant in it was the first step. They also plan on demolishing all the buildings adjacent to the Civic theatre and rebuilding the area with new shops and such. Damon's could end up there. Or it could end up replacing Jillians since they closed. There's way too much stuff happening downtown to suspect that any announcements have to do with the stadium at the moment.

Wow. $37.5 million. It looks nice. If that's the case, then with our budget our stadium had better be either the nicest or largest one in the MAC at the very least.

Sounds good, up until the MAC championship and bowl game losses. If we have 8 wins on the season I won't be complaining one bit, but I think if we do get that far we will win either the MACC or bowl game.

Care to share to the board why you believe your football attendance will increase when it has been stuck at 16,000 for years now??? And we all know you never get 16,000 people at a game, so really less than that for years?25,000 is plenty for you guys... PLENTY! Its simple, when you think about it. A new stadium means a whole bunch of people will attend games just to check it out. Plus, if our recruiting classes live up to even half the hype they get, then it is a sign that our team is improving and therefore should get more wins. More wins = bigger attendance.The Rubber Bowl is crap at this point. Nobody wants to get their ass covered in splinters just to see a game. It's off campus and alchohol free, so the students hardly have any incentive to find a way to get there. And we still had the attendance we did, combined with the godawful scheduling (read: almost all home games in late october/november) of the last few years. The new stadium is literally right across the street from about 20 fraternities and sororities, and there should be alchohol at the games. That's nearly another 1,000 per game just from them, not to mention the other students that will show up now that didn't before.Plus, we will not be the only ones using it. Some annual local HS games routinely draw at least 30,000 people. We want them to continue using our facilities and not Can't State's instead. That means we need the bigger stadium.It's all about the $$$ and having anything less than 30,000 is selling ourselves short.

After looking at our schedule again, I decided to see how it stacked up to last years scheduling when all we had to go by was the previous year's RPI. This years scheduled opponents finished the season with an average RPI of 166, not counting NC Central and SC Upstate or the Bracketbuster. Looking back at scheduling last years schedule, our oppponents had an average RPI of 195 at the time of scheduling, not counting the Bracketbuster or Winston-Salem State.That's a 29 spot improvement. It's not where I would like it to be, but it's nowhere near as weak as last years schedule. Then again, if NC Central and SC Upstate suck, which they probably will, it could drag our strength of schedule down even lower than last years. The only way for those games to benefit us is if those teams play a killer schedule because 25% of the RPI is calculated by your opponents' opponents records. Of course, all this means probably nothing because the only way any team from the MAC gets to dance is by winning the conference tournament.

The only way for a "mid-major" to get an at large is to either win their conference or go undefeated and lose their championship game while being ranked in the top 15. I like this years schedule more than last years, except for the game against NC Central and NC A&T. The biggest concern is winning the tournament in Alaska. That is the key to getting off to a fast start and not killing our RPI (not that it means anything anymore). Looking back, you could argue that losing that first game in the tournament last year ruined the entire season. I don't want that to happen again.

I'm sorry eguins, while that stadium is very nice, I will be severely dissapointed if it is not a bowl design. I just want to be able to walk from one side to the other with no interruption in seating. Even if it is open on one side I will be happy. Anything less and it shows that we are content with our position in the football world and have no aspirations of moving up. I hope another JAR situation isn't about to unfold, where we settle for what we can get after promising so much more.

I've stayed out of this meaningless thread for a while. I'll bit this time though, but don't expect me to reply again to this thread.First of all, I agree with Hilltopper's second to last post. Why do we feel the need to take potshots at former UA athletes? Especially ones that did so much for the athletic program? This is an Akron Zips fan website. Frye is a former Akron player. Why shouldn't we support him here, of all places? Well, the first thing that comes to mind for me is his leadership. He is the unquestioned leader of the offense out there on the field, even though a few other players have tried to steal the spotlight. He has great scrambling skills for an NFL QB, which I feel are underutilised. Hopefully the new OC will take advantage of his strengths and not rely on the same ineffective crap the Browns have been doing the last few seasons. The players all seem to love him as a QB. He has good chemistry with his teammates. He has a better arm than people give him credit for. He obviously isn't perfect, and is definetly not a top 10 QB, but he is not the worst in the league.If you want to bash him and pull up stats reflecting on the O-line more than what he brings to the table as a QB, then go do it on a website that isn't so closely affiliated with him. Complaining about him here is like if someone insulted a close friend of yours to your face. We know he's not perfect, but we still like him.You can't win here.

Wow. That's crazy. I hope he recovers soon. That could have turned out much worse than it did.

I'm up for that, but only if they're Thinmints. Mmmm... Thinmints.

In mid June, whom do you expect to be purchasing September Akron/Army tickets? Akron fans? Army fans? Local businesses?I know that nobody from Cleveland, the casual fans who just want to see a game, will buy anything until they arrive at the ticket window. If NIU/Iowa can sell 45,000 tickets in a month, why haven't we even broken 5,000 yet? I really want this thing to succeed, but I am having a hard time being optimistic about it. I hope I am proven wrong once Labor Day rolls around.

I just crosschecked Patriotbowl.com and Ticketmaster. Apparently they are still selling seats at the 50 yard line in the first five rows of seating. Everything else is still available, so that tells me that barring some blocks of seats picked up by businesses, they haven't sold more than a few hundred tickets. We'll be lucky to fill up four sections with actual people in the seats.

I haven't heard any figures, but I know that the people in charge of this thing think there will be at least 40,000 in attendance. I think that is wildly optimistic, myself. We don't have the draw of a Big-10 team coming to play us, plus this thing is in Cleveland, where most people think UA is D-III and the city of Akron is so small that it has only one zipcode.

You may be correct. I don't think playing the high school team in Cuyahoga Falls would help our RPI very much.

Here's the video of the interview.

This was said in the defenseive preview, where they lumped special teams at the end.

Anybody here an Insider that could tell me what it says?Also, Foxsports will have the CFN preview of Akron on Sunday. Today they are previewing Can't.

Please be a bowl... Please be a bowl... Please be a bowl...

I just went up to campus to sell some books back from the spring semester (what a scam), and they had much of Spicer street painted in orange markings. I'm starting to get excited.

The latest I heard, the groups organizing this thing have increased their predictions to 40,000 in attendance. I really, really would love to know what makes them think that we will get even half that if we are lucky. I just don't see it. I really hope they are right and I am wrong, but they just seem so completely unrealistic that it gives me the feeling that the series will be an absolute failure, because their expectations are way too high.Also, does anyone know if students get in free? It is a "home" game, after all.

It was the $1,000 question? Ha! That means it was supposed to be one of the obvious answers, then. Nice.I'm glad he lost, too.

My personal favorite had to be the "failure" sign we had at the Can't game. There's just something awesome holding that up over the heads of all the Can't students while they are leaving their own arena in defeat."We got Wood" was a close second, though.