Lee Adams

I am picking Akron. But, I wonder if this could turn into a track meet by accident. We know Zips' defense is bad. Can't imagine BGSU defense is better. Neither team has anything to lose. Both looking at this as its only possible win this season. Might have been fun to watch in person.

Early this AM heard Phil Steele talking about this on one of the local sports talk shows. On the football side sounds like what most people already knew. The P5 schools call the shots in football. They haven't needed the NCAA for a long time. If those schools go off on their own it may help the Akron's of the world. They can play at their own level. Reorganize conferences. Maybe set up a legitimate playoff system amongst conferences of similar competitive levels. Lets see what the big boys do. Lets see what schools survive the current situation.

We can go back and forth on whether the current situation is because the 'cupboard was bare' when Bowden was let go OR because the current staff has not recruited well and has not used the 'talent' that was left properly. Back in 2004 when Brookhart was brought in after Owens' departure he had some good talent brought in by Owens, used it and started recruiting some missing pieces. I believe Owens even had at least a .500 season or better in 2003. Certainly that cupboard wasn't bare. J.D. decided not to do a complete tear down. He brought in some transfers and JUCO's and hit the jackpot in 2005. Never quite lived up to expectations after that though. J.D. even admitted he made some mistakes in recruiting after 2005. Bowden left some decent players on the roster upon his departure. Not enough to win consistently but definitely serviceable at this level. Unlike J.D., Arth has decided to do a teardown and get the underclassmen playing experience. It takes longer. But if it works, or hopefully WHEN it works there should be more consistency on the field. Right now with young players and new assistants at several positions not to mention the crazy season progress has been limited. I am not making excuses for the way Arth chose to rebuild. Right now it looks bad especially on the defensive side of the ball. Depending on what next season is going to look like Arth is going to have to make a choice. Either 'bite the bullet' one more season or bring in a few more JUCO's and transfers to try to kick start it. As I said before in the MAC you eventually have to fill in with those types of recruits to a greater or lesser degree. I think at the end of this season he will know better which of his guys can play and coach at this level and which ones he will need to replace.

! step forward 2 steps back. The Defense is a broken record week after week. Can't stop the run or pass. They constantly look lost. One would expect even with an undermanned squad there would be some improvement at this point. Coaches aren't coaching them up or making adjustments. That might normally call for some changes on the defensive side of the ball in the off season. But...what competent D coach would want to walk in to the mess That is the Akron D and possibly ruin a career. Not much light at the end of that tunnel. Surprised Miami didn't hang 'half a hundred' on them. Still think the offense can be competent with improvement in the O line and at QB. However its obvious unless Akron can run and run and run the passing game can not carry the offense. Other than Gibson's sack yardage they only ran the ball 15 times for 25 yards? They were down 24-0 at half and only threw the ball 27 times for 141? Can't play catch up that way. Miami knew Gibson couldn't carry the offense and planned to take Dollard out of the game. They did. No adjustments from the coaches apparently. Arth is going to stay with Gibson for now. But, if he doesn't improve they are going to be breaking in a new QB next year. Again, changing the offensive staff isn't likely to bring in high quality coaches. Who would come. Where is Jim Dennison when you need him?

Right on about the LB's. Not physically up to par even for the MAC. No shutdown DB. Where is Dwight Smith when you need him(LOL). But, please don't go back to Nelson at this point. His train left the station 2 years ago.

If I had to guess Arth might be tempted to improve his defense with a couple of transfers/JUCOS just to support what appears to be a developing offense. At the MAC level almost have to do that at some point. Not to the extent Bowden did it however. If Arth can coach up a QB, whomever that may be, the offense should be significantly better than under Bowden and..... Assuming a full schedule is played sometime in 2021,obviously not certain, if Arth finds a competent QB, they will be competitive next season.

I realize that a lot of people here are again frustrated. I have been frustrated for a number of years. Not just the last 5 or so. That said, There are a few ways a new coach can inherit a program. 1)A coach can inherit a stocked program from a successful coach who moves up. 2)He/she can inherit a program form a coach who was fired or 'moved on' because the program was possibly underachieving or not able to develop a consistently winning program. Maybe some decent talent but not enough to win consistently. 3)Finally, a coach can inherit a program that has very little talent capable of performing at the level the school wants to play at. I think we can safely say Akron was not a program Arth inherited from a successful coach, stocked with talent that was consistently posting winning records. Maybe depending on your viewpoint one could make a case for either 2) or 3) in the case of the Zips. I guess I would lean toward 2). That said ,the incoming coach then has to decide how he/she wants to rebuild/build his program. Either pretty much tear it down and build mainly with new recruits. Or, keep some of the players on the roster and bring in lots of transfers and JUCO's. I think Bowden chose the latter mostly. It appears Arth has pretty much chosen the former. That takes longer, obviously. Right now he is having more success on the offensive side of the ball. That figures since he was a QB at the college and pro levels. The defense obviously hasn't caught up yet. The game ready talent either is there and not game ready or pretty much isn't there. Unfortunately, the events leading up to this season placed new coaches rebuilding programs at a big disadvantage to more established programs with established coaches. Arth is still evaluating talent. The rest of this season should tell him several things:1) Does the defense have enough promising talent to make him believe that there will be significant improvement next season with the players he has. Or, will he need to recruit transfer/JUCO's to bolster that side of the ball more quickly. 2) Is Gibson the QB of the future and can Arth 'coach him up' to the point where can become a serviceable MAC QB with the talent around him on the offensive side of the ball. I don't think Kato Nelson is going to get anymore significant playing time save for injury. Could be wrong but, with what 3 games left doesn't seem like that would be real productive for the program. And 3) Arth is going to have to decide if his assistant coaches are up to the task, or not then make the appropriate changes as necessary. I am still hopeful given what the offense has done with a dominant ground game and QB who is still find his way. Just hope we get a full season next year.

Ya, dad was really good. Don't think Jr. got a real good shot to play in the secondary the last few seasons. That lack keeps showing up.

What a shame! They finally found something that consistently works on offense, BUT the defense continues to be a train wreck. They have played 2 really good teams and the defense has fallen apart against both. Give up big plays on the ground and through the air. The overall talent on defense just isn't there. While there are guys who are busting there butts with hustle, they are doing it to try to compensate for a lack of sufficient talent on that side of the ball. Not naming names. Doesn't do any good at this point. It also appears that the coaches on the D side are having problems making adjustments for the second half. The defense is going to take an infusion of talent before we see significant improvement. The offense looks far better than last season thanks to the improved O-line and dare I say a potentially dominant running game. Gibson obviously is going to have to develop significantly so that the passing game can draw some attention of the opposing D. He only threw 15 passes completed 9 with another pick. Its amazing that Dollard had over 200 yards when he was basically the entire offense. Too bad that when your offense finally put up a big number(35) against a decent team you end up losing by 34. Might as well start looking at some different options on defense. Get some size on the field at linebacker and play some young guys in the secondary. And, start leaning a little more on QB play to see if Gibson is going to be the guy next season. There is hope.

Puzzles me about moving Reggie Corner to LB. Didn't he actually come in as a possible CB then move to safety? Think it indicates how thin they think they are at LB

Can't see Zips win. Even if they can run the ball effectively, I fear the D is far too leaky to stop the KSWho offense. Their O is better than OU's offense. Only hoping Akron can keep it competitive and continue to show improvement at least on the offensive side.

Much better than anything we saw last season. Just the fact they have a running game that they can rely on to help control a game is huge. The O-line can actually block it. Seen it for 2 games now. It looks for real. Haven't seen a legit running game for seasons. Liked some of the tighter formations Arth used to force the defense to respond to that instead of the opponents D dictating. Dollard does indeed look like a horse. Stay healthy. Gibson should be able to clean up his mistakes since he doesn't have to carry the offense. Those picks hurt. I love to watch an O-line that can block a running game. They have to clean up the back end of that defense. Can't consistently give up completions in critical situations and not be able to get off the field. Still have to get more consistent play from the D-line to keep the LB's clean to make plays without having to use them to blitz just to pressure the QB. Lean on the run game against KSWho and try to keep Crum off the field. Just be competitive against the. Just wish we could watch in person.

Is he out for sure?

Is there an 'official' schedule out yet? Or, are we still waiting? No fans. Wonder which network might pick up some of these games? Since it looks like week nights maybe one of the ESPN clones. Fox Sports? NBCSN?

Back in ancient times they never had a problem 'filling the Bowl' with the Acme Zip game. 2 for 1 tix at Acme stores if I am not mistaken. And that was at the Bowl(RIP). There must be a local business that might be willing to enter in to a sponsorship of some sort for one game to get people into the seats. Those games were a helluva lot of fun. And that was when they were DII. And more often than not they won. Take a shot at it. And yes,the performance on the field must be consistently better season after season. Not just once every 4-5 seasons. Easily said. Not easily done.

Does this mean no more French and Dunn???!!!

Never said anything about wanting to 'eliminate' football. Have said that over and over. And yes, I was a commuter back in the early 1970's. And yes I went to football and B.ball games on my student ID. Not because I was paying the fees,but because I loved watching football and basketball. I paid my own parking fees too. And yes the entire University is in financial trouble. But no, the target is not just the athletic department. The administration is making drastic 'cuts' on the academic side as we write. How will that affect the viability of the University in the future. Stay tuned. If the money from the 'sacrifice' games in football or basketball games for that matter put the ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT on the positive side of the financial ledger we would have been there long ago. We are not there. Why? Someone please tell me.

Looks like the only plan that is REALLY working so far is the so called 'bubble'. The NHL and NBA have sequestered all players and teams in very limited locations. They are however reportedly spending millions of dollars to do so. NHL was smart to go to Canada. But,those are professionals not college 'students'. I suppose that if universities could 'sequester' athletes when the attend classes and play sports it might work. But,somebody else mentioned it earlier. If the schools are just using them to play sports and not requiring them to be enrolled for classwork then they are not student/athletes. Besides the cost of doing what the NHL and NBA are doing would be way beyond the financial abilities of all but a small number of schools. By the way the NHL playoffs have been great.

So where do we go from here? I highly doubt football will be played in the spring. Where is the money going to come from to do that? Loss of 'payday' football games doesn't help. But those games have been played for years and the severe financial problems at schools like Akron,Kant etc. continue. So what do we think a permanent 'reset' might look like for the Akron's of the world? Again the problem has been there for years. The pandemic simply is forcing the the issue to finally be dealt with now. Please, no more 'kicking the can down the road'. What does the 'reset' look like? Any ideas?

We see comments now about 'separation'. I am not real clear on what this 'separation' might look like. Are we talking about about the P5 schools,the real big boys, leaving the NCAA? What about the so called G5 schools like the MAC? What are they going to separate from? I doubt the P5 schools would really want or need those lower level DI schools hanging on to them if they wanted to go there own way. The bottom line for schools like Akron,Kant,OU etc. is to reduce the costs of running athletic programs,drastically. It obviously does not involve playing 'sacrifice' games year after year,after year. Been doing that forever and the financial problems are still there. Continuing to soak the general student body with 'fees' drives students away from the University. It costs too damn much to attend. So what are some possibilities for permanent,realistic COST REDUCTION in these athletic departments? Lets see some concrete ideas. The time for gnashing of teeth is over.

Unfortunately the University can't auction off Infocision and its burden. Also unfortunately, numerous UofA administrations have 'kicked this same can down the road' for years and years and years. The pandemic simply forced this administration to finally have to make decisions that should have been made decades ago. Proenza knew the situation of the Athletic Department in particular and the the University in general when he was in charge. Subsequent administrations have passed it on...until now. Should athletics be more drastically downsized? Should football be played at a lower level if at all? Your response depends on your personal opinion toward athletics at this level. Personally, I hope football doesn't completely go away. But at whatever level Akron plays football I will watch. But, its obvious that its time to pick up this can and finally throw it in the trash.

Thank you! As we now know the University is not done 'looking at' how to possibly make UofA athletics less of a drain on University financial resources. It appears the blowback from the cuts on the educational side has forced the administration to again at least publicly acknowledge that resources going to the athletic department might be 'adjusted' to place less of a financial burden on the student population in general. That population keeps shrinking which means an even smaller financial base to draw from. Can the situation as it stands now continue? Has there even been a FINAL decision as to whether Akron and/or the MAC will even play football this year? Anybody know for certain?

But for the playing field to be 'even' all FBS schools,OSU,Mich.,Alabama etc. have to do it.

Even fewer schollys,even worse.

They don't go for 'free'. Just like I didn't go for 'free'(as I posted earlier) in 1970,1971,1972,1973 or 1974. My student fees helped pay for the athletic programs just as they do, even more so, now.