Lee Adams

Finley was bad from the jump. Puzzled me as I watched. The O line didn't seem THAT BAD. something else going on there.

I watched the offensive debacle, offensive in both senses of the word. I have no idea what was wrong with Finley. He wasn't that bad last season. Something more than a sore arm going on there. With that said, that was a bad Wyomong team and should have been beaten. My comment again and again has been that if football is to continue being played at Akron it has to be at a level where the program can consistently compete. That is NOT at any DI level. Hasn't been. I watched this program in the '60's and '70s when it was ALWAYS competitive. Look it up. I would be all for dropping back to DII. I don't think this program would be real competitive even at I-AA. And at that level you are still getting players poached by bigger schools. I'd rather watch them play competitive games against the IUP's,the Ashlands, Sag States, Grand Valley States etc. etc. as opposed to the crap we see now. Maybe something is brewing with a new sheriff in town. As for the rest of this season, go to most of the games,hope they beat KSU and see what happens.

General observation...Akron looks small. Some speed. O line is still weak. Finley just looks lost. Defense is small. If Wyoming ran right at them they could roll. Wyoming looks beatable but Akron isn't going to score with Finley tonight.

I like some of the loaded backfield sets. But Finley is taking a dump right now.

Finley looks like has a sore arm.

I do see the line is now 7.5 with O/U 50. Looks like the winner needs to generate some offense. Think its either Wyoming going away or maybe Akron pulls one out late. I doubt the defense will hold a lead.

If you are at the airport and want to eat go south on I-77 a couple of exits and get off at Portage St. and turn right. The area is called The Strip. There are tons of restaurants of all kinds. Easier to get to if you are out of town and near the airport.

I find it interesting that oddsmakers who never see teams like this play can influence fans and bettors so much. Since neither team has taken a snap against an actual opponent what do you base your speculation on. I would thank that the overall level of play in the MWC is better than that in the MAC with a couple of execeptions at the top of the MAC. It would sure be nice if the Zips could win an opener against an actual DI opponent. But Wyoming may be bad in the MWC but thats not the MAC. Better keep this one close early. Score first or could be a long evening.

Speaking of the schedule. Wyoming is a 9.5 point fave coming in here in August. Projections around 5 wins. May not be the best way for the Zips to start an already strangely developing season.

A lot of this sounds good. I am afraid that a lot may be difficult to put into operation. When we talk about 'needs based financial support' for athletes. I am wondering where that money is going to come from. With the current political environments in Washington and Columbus the politicians running the show right now aren't allocating more money to higher education. If anything its generally getting reduced. Where do you get the additional financial aid that would be necessary? Athletes allowed 'to earn a living'. What are the parameters? How much can they work to earn a living? They still have to attend classes, do school work and practice and play their sport. I worked part time jobs while in school. I didn't play sports. I couldn't work enough to 'earn a living'. I would love to see the P4 schools go away. I would love to see the NFL have to do what baseball and hockey do. Develop high school athletes who can't or don't want to attend college in a minor league system. The NFL has gotten a free ride on this. Start spending some of those billions of $$$ developing your own players. That would help eliminate some of the BS that is going on at the college level. How do schools like Akron really expect to consistently compete the way the system is currently set up? Frustrating. Great discussion.

I was about to renew my long held season tix. After reading all this I have to ponder. First, I am not in any way defending the so called 'rating system' the NCAA uses. It has never really worked before and as many here have pointed out it is probably even more antiquated now. How do you keep track of the movement from program to program. Schools have different academic standards. On and on. I also see here that some are again mentioning dropping down in level of competition. I assume there are rating systems that apply at all levels of scholarship sports? I have no idea what the new administration's attitude is about the football situation other than it doesn't want this situation hanging around its neck for long. Do they fire Moorehead now. Not likely given the calendar. Do they wait to see how the season goes into October/November? Do they seriously consider overhauling a football program that can't seem to gain traction at the end of this year? Can Moorehead et. al remediate the academics enough this year to buy some time. Or, does Moorehead bow out and move on. OR, does the adminsitration seriously consider a drop down to a lower level of competition in football? Now about those season tix?!

Just speculation like everything else here but it seems OSU might make a little more sense. Isn't there an Oregon connection with the departing Chip Kelly and Moorehead? Help me out here. Ryan Day may want someone who is might run an offense similar to Kelly's. Actually I think the bigger isue for OSU is finding a D coordinator who can coach up that side of the ball.

Do we have a new AD?

I think a significant number of us have been sseing that. Akron can do nothing to change the direction of DI football.Lets stop talking about basketball. Its a different world. For god's sake a a major university just hired $ Bill Belichick as its HC. He hired Ernie Lombardi as his GM! $ Bill said he was going to run UNC like a professional football team. There is no reason for teams at the MAC level to play or be connected with programs like that. We can hem and haw all we want about what we think would make Akron football consistently competitive where it stands now. Given the current state of the University overall, especially financially there is little reason to believe that the Administration is going to make a bigger commitment to football specifically or to athletics generally. Its time for athletics programs at the MAC level to either collectively or individually go a different direction. By the way, do we have a new AD yet?

Well, first of all he doesn't have to be looking for a "P4" HC job. We may know that soon. The portal has already started to open. We still have to see how many others bail. They are losing key D players to graduation. In this day and age its hard to evaluate a team's overall roster until the dust from the portal has settled. What may look good in December may not look so good in April. I am HOPING that Moorehead can keep most of this group together through 2025 and see if he can get them to maybe 5 wins in the MAC.

And its only gonna get worse. Its the hamster on the wheel. It keeps moving but ends up in the same place. The 'mid-levels' like Akron and the rest of the MAC now have to overhaul their rosters pretty much every year. They get a decent player from the portal. Whether its a DI castoff or a prospect from 1-AA or DII. Those kids either don't work out or contribute little taking up a scholly or they come in, play well, hit the portal and get picked up by a better program. Maybe a few who play well stay a second year but probably not enough to keep the roster very competitive. The 'mid-majors'( with the 1-AA's second) may be in the worst position of all. Their best players are gonna move up, or try to constantly leaving holes in their rosters. Look what Cignetti did to James Madison. Took a bunch of kids to Indiana. You are right its 'grotesque'. What do you do. Can't compete with the Big Boys. Its even difficult to be consistently competitive at this level. Stuck in the middle is know place to be. Either gotta be a top dog or get out of the rut. I know what I would do but nobody wants to hear it again. And, I'm not suggesting dumping football.

If he goes all bets are off for 2025. Possibly a lot of his recruits would bail. All new staff. Too bad.

The wins that count are the wins in the MAC. The yardstick for me is being competitive in the MAC. They haven't even done that recently. I'm looking at a minimum of 4-4 in the MAC on a regular basis. When you get to 5-6 wins there you have a good shot at playing in the MAC Championship game. And, most likely you are going to be bowl eligible. You beat your 1-AA opponent and hope you are competitive against another mid-level team. Win games in October-November. Hopefully thats how it sets up for 2025.

That entire 2005 season was memorable. Beating NIU during the season, the'Snow Bowl', the MAC Championship win, then the almost comeback win against Memphis State in the Motor City Bowl. But I'll go back a lot farther. The 1976 season when Akron won 2 DII playoff games at the Bowl. The second was deemed the Knute Rockne Bowl. My buddy and I were there with a bottle of Southern Comfort as I recall. It was cold. Zips won the first overtime playoff game in NCAA history. They were good.

I looked at the stats and play by play of the game. If I hadn't known the score I would have figured Toledo won. A few observations: 1)while Akron didn't have a huge number of yards on the ground Moorehead seemed committed to putting more running plays in the offense. Hope he remembers next season; 2)Finley and Bullock were on the field at the same time a little more. At least created some confusion for the defense; 3) No picks by Finley. Not a great % or yardage, but took care of the ball. No fumbles either. 4) The defense showed up. 'Bent but didn't break'. Gave up a lot of yards, but made plays. Nunnally, is just a beast. Hate to see him go. McCoy, Summers, Lewis in on lots of tackles. Didn't think Akron would win this one. Ya, Toledo helped. But ya gotta hope that there is some carry over to next season. Hopefully they can keep some key guys, but some bigger schools are going to come looking. But its hard to predict with a new AD coming in, the portal etc. Enjoy this one right now.

That was adumb play call.

So the new AD will have to accept the situation into which he/she had no input? That person HAS to keep the current HC? Or,everybody has already been fired, its all yours? The caveat is that the administration has already picked a new AD, got that persons input and will go with that persons decisions. If thats the case just name the new AD? Still think if Akron somehow beats Toledo it might change the equation.

Conclusion?

They better. There will be big decisions to be made regarding the coaching staff on Wednesday 11-27. The University needs to stay out in front of the situation or its going to be even more difficult than it already is to get a decent AD candidate. And, there won't be any decisions on coaches until the new AD is here. I'd like to see them take a shot at an AD from a succesful lower division program. I'd look at DII as well as 1-AA. With a new AD I'm not so sure that keeping the current coaches around is a lock. I know finances are an issue as always. But, will a new AD agree to come in here and agree to keep the coaches? Maybe not real appealing to a good AD candidate. Beat Toledo and the leash might get a little longer. We shall see.

Nice to beat KSU. But, please curb the overall enthusiasm. Coming up a 7-4 Toledo team that just got beat by one of the 2 best teams in the MAC. They are in a bowl game. Don't know what their attitude will be on Tuesday. If you can beat them that might change the equation for what happens the next day. But, a sign of progress would be beating a really good MAC team, finally. Stay tuned.