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Balsy

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Posts posted by Balsy

  1. Just because someone is an Akron alumni doesn't mean they're going to care about the football team. People enroll at Akron for the education - that doesn't mean they have to become a sports fan.

    People want to be a part of something, to have an identity with something. If you have piss-poor alumni who aren't active, who don't care about being active, it spawns piss-poor students who don't care to be apart of it. I'm not saying all Alumni need to be active, but those who care (or at least pretend to care), do need to be.

  2. Schedule bigger opponents? We play Pitt and PSU next year. Pitt will make a return trip to Akron. How many more big opponents do we need to schedule?

    What I'm saying is: that's a good thing. However, we're not going to see the increase in attendance until those years. Appalachian St. Good big name. Marshall, good big name. Pitt, good big name. Next year I'm actually anxious to see the attendance because we stand a good chance of starting 1-0, something I've never seen since I've been following the Zips.

    From a student's perspective: Evening games to late afternoon games are better for student attendance. And the attendance numbers show that explicitly. Less students attend the early games.

  3. For those concerned about attendance, take a look at this stat: The Big Dialer has been open for five seasons now (09, 10, 11, 12, 13). And attendance has been (of course) rather lax. However 2013 is the best average attendance of home games since the stadium was built.

    AVERAGE ATTENDANCE PER YEAR

    2009: 17,382.

    2010: 10,184

    2011: 15,734

    2012: 9,275

    2013: 17,850

    Now I know this doesn't translate into "butts in seats"...or if these numbers are even real...but I do think they hold value in the amount of support that we're receiving from the community. From being at games since 2009, I'd have to say that an increase in attendance was visible. More games appeared to have more involvement (and were thus somewhat more fun) from my modest student seating.

    There are two things I can think of that would increase attendance: Schedule more late afternoon/evening games early in the season. Schedule bigger name opponents (and actually beat them) And schedule the Can't v Akron game earlier in the season.

    Lets be honest: if Joe Akron is not going to come to a noon or 1:00 or 2:00 Saturday afternoon game. Joe Akron is going to be watching State Ohio or other Saturday afternoon business. Our best chance is to catch Joe Akron when both of those things would be close to being done.

  4. Until we get alumni supporting us and not OSU, Michigan, etc... we will always have these attendance issues. We need Akron alums raising zips fans, not little Buckeyes.

    100% agree. But how do we reverse that? I've spent my college career trying to get other students out to support the Zips, and to support the Zips above any others. I and my friends were always in the minority. I went to an OSU watch party today and wore my zips jersey. People ask me why and I tell them "because I'm a Zip".

    I think it starts with building the community. Akron doesn't have a sense of community. I don't think I've ever encountered Alumni involvement (outside...I regrettably say...pathetic little sports support groups) with current students. And I'm sorry, but that's EXTREMELY important to the legitimacy of being whatever it is that you are. Alumni breed the tradition, breed the respect, the honor and the drive to be or to want to be that.

    Winning will help with attendance: but we Alumni have got to be more involved with the UA community.

  5. 3 yards? It was first and goal at the ONE in Michigan. It was 3 yards away when we lost 2 yards on a 1st down run.

    It was not first and goal. It was third and one. I was there, I remember. The pass was completed on second down, should have been a first down...and was originally called a first down...the refs stopped to do a review (after time ticked away) an then said it was third and inches on the one. We lost on a 4th down play.

  6. I am genuinely excited about this too! We have a legitimate to a good season next year! I'm not saying this is going to be a win...(hence dooming us with a curse)...but this is a much more winnable game than we've had in recent years. a 1-0 start to a season with a 4 game winning streak (across two seasons) can be all the difference for this program. I may make TWO road trips next year to both Pitt and Penn State next year.

  7. A win over Akron secures a bowl game...that's enough motivation for our players. And it certainly overcomes the moral victory card. Akron does have talent to beat Toledo and if this game comes down to coaching decisions...we're screwed

    As I said before. I stand by my original statement. :bow:

    Akron was playing for just as much as Toledo. Moral Victories go a LONG way when you have a good coach, and players whom are hungry enough to win. Akron has not had a 5-7 season since 2007. That's not motivation enough for the seniors than what is?

  8. I love how some folks are hitting the panic button after a couple of losses in games we were near double digit underdogs. They'll get adjusted. We lost two of arguably the toughest positions to lose, and they were star players and leaders (Abreu/Zeke). We'll be fine.

    I completely agree. Though I had hopes of the Zips winning one of those "Big" games vs. MTSU or SMC...I'm not in a panic. It makes me wonder if anyone ever actually watched this team last year. Yes were 26-7, but did you guys actually watch the games...not read box scores.

    When we were on the 19 game winning streak I distinctly remember growing grey hairs watching the team look horrible. They looked horrible for the first half of a lot of games last season, going into half time with (at many times) a deficit, if not a small margin over a terrible team. I guess what I'm saying here is; nothing else matters but the W or the L. All else is secondary.

  9. I have told multiple people this and most think that I am crazy, but I believe that Bowden will stay here. He doesnt need the money. He cant catch his dad in victories. He can, however, do something that would cement his legacy as a coaching great.....he could turn one of the worst programs in the country into a nationally relevant program.

    I agree with this 100%. Every single time I hear coach talk, and read about what he has to say I get the implication and the feeling (though I understand feelings are irrelevant), that this is it for him. If he can't get it to work here than he's done. If he can get it to work here, he's done and will continue to ride that success.

    For our sake, I hope (and subsequently believe of course) that Akron is the last bastion for the Bowden boys.

  10. UCF throttles Rutgers tonight. (Yeah, the same Rutgers that Fresno fans count as a quality win. :lol:)

    Is there any doubt UCF was the best team the Zips played this year? I think the Knights would win convincingly over NIU. Waddaya think?

    Absolutely agree. At the time we were all very upset about the loss to the UCF Knights...now I don't thing it's that bad of a loss.

  11. 1.) Is this success evidence of moving in the right direction or is it a function of competition

    2.) What are your projections for next year with a solid recruiting class coming in

    3.) How big of a role do the MAC schedulers play in determining success

    4.) Where have the Zips shown the most improvement and is it sustainable?

    1. Yes absolutely. This year we not only beat the teams we were supposed to (something we failed to do last year *cough* Miami *cough* FIU), but we also played better teams to the last play of the game on three occasions: Michigan, ULL, NIU.

    2. I'm always overly optimistic, but I see a 7-5 season next year.

    3. It plays a HUGE roll. We've got to slowly make progress to competing in our own conference before we can consider being better. Conference play is going to determine if we get a Bowl game or not without getting to the MACC.

    4. Defense and Recruiting; and I expect both to be sustainable.

  12. I guess a bowl game or potential MAC title is less to play for than a moral victory. What a stupid comment...

    Because Toledo stands a chance to beat...NIU? And Toledo is already bowl eligible. I'll take playing for a moral victory from an underrated underdog to an overrated non-coference championship contender looking for a bowl game (whom already qualifies for a bowl).

  13. st,mary's, and mtsu are losses to mediocre teams? LOL.

    Double Lol. Though I'm EXTREMELY disappointed in the Zips, we should back up from the cliff. St. Mary's will be a top-25 team (mark my words) will win the Hawaii Classic later. We've got to focus taking care of every game up to that point. Oral Robert, Detroit (who we unfortunately lost to last year), and then focus on being one of the three teams that can go 2-1 in Hawaii. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are 8 teams...1 will go 3-0, 1 will go 0-3...3 will go 2-1 and the other three will go 1-2. We better make sure we're NOT the one of the teams that goes 0-3 or 1-2. Period.

  14. We are missing way to many shots. We're not going to win games shooting 48%. We're especially not going to win games if we're shooting 5-19 in three point shots. We've got to make a couple of those. By my recollection, there were 3-4 OPEN 3 shots that we missed. That's just absolutely unacceptable. that's 9 points left on the court, not to mention the layups we should have made.

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