johnnyzip84

This is for those of you who think ODU going to C-USA is a stretch, let's make a few comparisons. Category/Akron/Old Dom Undergrads/24600/18600 Post-grads/4,600/6,200 Endowmnt/$133m/$170m The above statistics are somewhat of a wash. ODU is located in Norfolk, VA. It is the leading university in the Tidewater region (Hampton Roads), which encompasses the sizeable cities of Norfolk, Virginia Beach (largest population in state), Hampton and Newport News. Two HBCUs (Norfolk St and Hampton) plus the smallish, elite College of William and Mary (of which ODU was actually a branch campus to begin with) offer meager competition in terms of local collegiate sports. Now here is the key statistic for ODU. The Tidewater region is the third largest metro area in the country (behind Vegas and Austin) without a single major league franchise (football/baseball/basketball/hockey/soccer). So the 1.6 million metro area residents do not currently have local major college football or local professional sports at the highest level as a distraction. I believe (as do the folks who run C-USA) that ODU is perfectly poised for significant growth in terms of athletics, particularly in football. The Tidewater region is a hotbed for recruiting (Vick brothers, etc) and Va Tech USED to own the area, making their ascent to the upper portion of D-1 possible over the last few decades much easier. I can tell you that the Hokies (or Wahoos) won't be too happy about getting another FBS competitor in the state. I've said before that the history of ODU (or any FBS newcomer) in football is largely irrelevant in these decisions. But even so, ODU has come out of the gate VERY strong, winning 9, 8 and 10 games in their 1st three years against decent FCS-level competition. Let's put it this way. They would have smoked the Zips the past two years. I'll bet they do just fine in C-USA.

Confirmation from the Virginian-Pilot

I realize the original USFL said similar things early on, but if you take the new USFL leaders at their word they do not intend to compete with the NFL. They plan to be a minor league “feeder” system, much like what was envisioned by the old (1965-1969 R.I.P) of which the were a VERY brief member in 1967. And this news is just in. Jeff Garcia has been named to the USFL council, in some sort of player development role.

Hometown article on Jarrod's development

LBJ flies Akron elementary school children to Miami to witness him receiving MVP award as a reward for good grades.

Thanks, Hilltopper, for including Larson, as I was hoping someone would. I've read about that Tampa win. Apparently the Zips played the Spartans a few times back in the day, some games including future 49er Freddie Solomon (recently deceased) at QB for Tampa. R4R, you have a good point on the 2008 Buffalo loss as being a tipping point in the recent fortunes of the program.

With talk of the FUTURE (especially conference realignment) dominating much of the off-season discussion, I thought it might be fun to balance some of this with a topic centered on the PAST. We’ve talked a LOT on this board about the various coaches in Akron’s D-1 history. And we’ve also discussed recollections of numerous memorable games, good (not so many) and bad (too many), over the years. So I came up with the idea of combining the two concepts into a “poll” of sorts (too complicated for a real “poll”, but hopefully this will still be entertaining in its own way). Here’s the idea. I’m going to list what I believe are the biggest wins and worst defeats for each Zip head coach during his tenure (it’s up to YOU to decide what “biggest” and “worst” mean to you). I’m starting with Dennison (because I never saw a Larson team), but feel free to go back as far as you’d like. I’m curious to see how much consensus there is or isn’t. Dennison Biggest Win – Zips shutout Ball St on the road in 1976, 3-0 (Cards were MAC champs) Worst Defeat – Austin Peay blows out the Zips in a 1980 Rubber Bowl matchup, 41-14. Faust Biggest Win – Home standing Zips crush the UC Bearcats 31-0 under a warm autumn sun in 1989. Worst Defeat – Delaware STATE explodes on the Zips 52-26 in a horrifying 1987 Rubber Bowl tilt. Owens Biggest Win – Tough call here (almost went with the Jason Taylor “win” against Va Tech), but I finally decided on the thrilling 35-29 comeback victory over Navy in Annapolis, with Roger Staubach and other Midshipmen alums observing their 1999 homecoming game. Worst Defeat – Miami U actually takes a knee BEFORE HALFTIME, in a humiliating 65-0 shellacking down in Oxford to close out Owens 1st year at the helm in 1995. Brookhart Biggest Win – Getsy-to-Hixon with 10 seconds left, and Zips nip NIU 31-30 in 2005 MAC Championship. Worst Defeat – Any loss to K.E.N.T. blows, and the 37-15 whipping of 2006, after the Zips started the season so well in Raleigh, ranks up there in most sickening losses of all-time. Ianello Biggest Win – The coin says the 22-14 win over Buffalo to close out the 2010 season and provide Zip fans with only their third FBS victory at the Info to date. Worst Defeat – When you lose a home game to a team from the Big South, that’s all one needs to know: G-Webb 38, Zips 37 (OT) 2010.

Here is an interesting article from CNNSI comparing various strategies college teams use to defend the perimeter.

+1

Coach Bowden slides in at #3. It'll be interesting to review this list after the next few seasons.

As suggested, here is a place to discuss the possibilities of a spring league in Akron, whether it be of the college variety proposed by GP1 or a reformed USFL (of which there is a follow-up story in today's Beacon Journal. Here are a few comments/corrections I have from what had already been posted on this subject in the previous thread: For azipper 1) YSU is an FCS school - the "C" in FCS stands for Championship, as in they decide the champion on the field. The "B" in FBS stands for Bowl, as in they play for a chance to go to a bowl game. I know some people still long for the D1 and D1-AA categories, but seriously how long does it take for something like this to sink in? As I say that, I realize the new playoff format could likely force this to change altogether once again 2) Actually, the only sell-out in Info history WAS against Morgan St (so Morgan St was a bad example). Pertaining to GP1's proposal 1) The issue about the NFL draft is a big one (for me). I think it (playing in the spring) could clearly affect our recruiting. One of the reasons why the USFL was successful (IMO), was the fact that there were more than enough pro-caliber football players than the NFL could handle in those days. The USFL took full advantage of that, and I'm afraid the explicit lack of opportunity (regardless of how remote it may be for the individual recruit) to play in the NFL would seriously dilute the talent pool in a proposed spring (college) league. 2) I do like the potential for differentiating yourself from the rest of college football, but bullet 1 might be a showstopper.

Here's a 2011 clip of Romeo (#11 in yellow) showing he's still feisty!

Zips 1st to offer speedy CB Marcus McShepard from Cleveland Heights. He sounds excited. I'd love for the staff to get an early verbal (for UA) to get the ball rolling

ONE D1-A/FBS college fute-bool program, TWO D1-A/FBS college fute-bool programs, THREE D1-A/FBS college fute-bool programs……..ah ah ahhhhhh

In addition to LB Kurt "Dadgum" Mangum?

+1 Franco tosses TD in the West's big 45-24 win over the East in PA all-star game.

Lost Lettermen says we're #117 (out of 124 in 2012, in case you're counting).

Oooops I believe they mean U-19 AMERICAN FOOTBALL (not Soccer) team I have to admit, the success of UA's soccer program and the number of players who have performed for the US in other (soccer) competitions make this a mistake that's easy to understand. His HS coach at St-X is the US head coach, so that also makes sense.

This is simply outstanding field research, Keener! I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for a few of these.

It sounds like ODU is still weighing the move to FBS period. The interesting thing to me in this article is that C-USA apparently wants 16 teams in the end. They have 13 without ODU. MTSU is supposedly under consideration. Is UA?

I must have missed that earlier thread, Dave. Certainly even more emphasis on offense would seem to be something TV would favor. That's what made the AFL more watchable, even when the overall product was weaker than the NFL. The USFL (of which I was a big fan) is an interesting analogy. I agree that football, if done right, will succeed at any time of the year. So would the "spring game" become the "fall game"? Here are some other ideas to consider for the new association: 1) I realize a football only has 4 seems, but maybe some sort of red, white and blue color scheme could be devised for the "official ball". 2) Go ahead and pay players - although this could backfire when the ex-BCS schools decide to offer much bigger numbers. Perhaps an even more progressive approach might work even better. A percentage of TV/gate revenues, in combination with the scholarship, might work. While the ex-BCS school may offer more guarenteed money, I doubt they'd allow the players a certain percentage of their total revenue. They're too selfish for that. 3) Provide a more comprehensive health insurance plan than the NCAA. 4) Put more focus on player safety, through both rules and equipment changes, than the NCAA.

I've been resistant to this concept of yours for some time now. But now I'm thinking it might be time to give it some serious thought. If you break away, then you don't even necessarily have to market yourselves as inferior to the ex-BCS schools. Think "AFL" when that league just got off the ground. The key would be the same as it was for the AFL. If this new association could manage to land a national TV deal, it might be able to not only survive but compete. You could even alter the playing rules a little to set your new brand apart from the NCAA.

There is no such thing as AQ any more (see myriad stories on new 4 team "playoff" in FBS).

How soon will we hear the words, "that dadgum Mangum"? So in 2012 Arizona gets a transfer LB in his final season from the state of Ohio, and Akron gets a transfer LB in his final season originally from the state of Arizona. Truth can be stranger than fiction.

+1 That would go well with the Bow-B-Q sauce I'm developing.