Lee Adams

No what!? Thats what 'the experts' said in 2005. No way Akron could beat NIU 2 times in one season. I assume you know how that ended? Not saying that this team is as good as JD's 2005 team,its not! But If these guys get on a roll I want to be in Detroit to see what happens. Better than what has happened the last 6 years.

If you have never been there,and there has only been one other in 2005,for long suffering Akron fans there is nothing better.

Unfortunately, if what we thought made much diff. these guys wouldn't still be doing what they are doing. You have to remember that the Leakin' Urinal and even the Lame Squealer are not the highest quality of newspapers anymore. Used to be when I was growing up in the '50's,'60's and '70's. Not any longer. They can't attract quality journalists anymore. Please!

Why?

What you need to remember is that if OU loses to Toledo like Akron did and if OU has already beaten Miami,OU has 2 conference loses. Right? If Akron losses to Miami on the road they have 2 conference losses right? One in the division one outside the division,right? OU lost to Central previously. Thats 2 losses outside the division. Unless OU completely falls apart,which is unlikely, Zips, even if they lose to Miami and Toledo beats OU, HAVE to finally beat OU to win the division. When you are this close in November,you better do it yourself! It might be another 12 seasons before it happens again. And, for those who will settle for a bowl game,even if you lose the MAC Championship game you go to a bowl. Takes care of everything.

Who cares what Thomas and Alexander write. They have been doing it for years. Carping about it here won't change that and only gives them the 'credibility' of attention. Stop,please. If the Zips win the division then everyone here should start e-mailing Thomas,Alexander,The Leakin' Urnial and the Lame Squealer and overload them with comments. Enjoy this run.

Well,1 down and 3 to go. Not sure if I would lump Miami in with KS.U though. If Ragland is back at QB thats an even tougher one down there. Miami is solid. Buffalo with its #1 QB is and will be a tough out in the future. I still think its going to take getting the OU 'monkey' off their backs to get a trip to Detroit. But,Akron's defense doesn't match up well with OU's running game. But,just like the UB game you find a way to keep it close and win at the end. Right now it doesn't matter how. Don't know how many of you were around to actually see the 2005 season. What a hoot. But, the Zips did the same thing then. They kept games close enough to give themselves a chance to win in the 4th QTR. They beat NIU at the Bowl during the regular season at the last minute. At the time NIU was the best team in the MAC. Zips got some breaks with the tiebreakers,had to beat KS.U in the Blizzard Bowl on Thanksgiving And the rest is history. Right now folks don't worry about how, as long as they do it.

Brad Detweiler made an observation in their postgame that seemed pertinent. He said when Akron really decided to or needed to run the ball late they had the O-Line down in the 3-point as opposed to the 2-point. His observation was that was helping the O-line get a better push at the line of scrimmage as opposed to when they were in the 2-point. Obviously,when Sands got the ball late the running game took off. Anybody notice what the O-line was doing on runs earlier in the game. I was too cold to notice.

Didn't think it deserved ejection either. Initially I thought they might have flagged him for raising his forearms up around the head but not targeting with the helmet. If he has had ejections previously they were looking for him. The zeebs do that.

Gotta figure out how to grab a piece of something to put over my fireplace. Any ideas? Last game at the Bowl in 2008. Against who? The Buffalo Bulls. Several OT's. Great game to watch. Unfortunately UB(with James Starks) won the game. Probably cost the Zips any realistic chance of winning another division.

After looking at the prediction not sure about the Akron defense 'bouncing back'. I think the offense is going to have to put up some higher numbers than it has been averaging in the conference so far(see above stats). I realize that UB's stats got skewed during the WMU multi overtime game but if the passing game doesn't step up tomorrow its still looks hard for the Zips to run the ball. They are #9 out of 12 conference teams. UB hasn't been any better in that category though. But,Akron has been gashed all season on the ground. Chuck needs to dial up some heavy pressure early on their QB to see how he reacts. Make him throw into the strength of the Zips D,the corners. And, Bowden needs to figure out how to get Woodson off early and score early. The longer UB hangs around,well we know. And,they are certainly not intimidated playing here. The weather looks like it could be a factor especially if it becomes windy. Biggest November game in quite a while. They have a real chance to win the division IF they beat Buffalo.

Some numbers on the Zips and Bulls from the MAC website. These are CONFERENCE STATS only. Buffalo: Scoring Offense:#4-30.5/game; Scoring Defense: #10-30.5/game; Total Defense: #11-474.8/game; Rush Defense: #11-222.2/game; Pass Defense:#11-252.5/game; Rush Offense:#10-107.2/game; Pass Offense-#1-321/game(54.5%); Total Offense-#3-428/game. Akron: Scoring Offense-#8-25.0/game; Scoring Defense-#5-21.8/game; Total Defense: #10-451/game; Rush Defense-#9-220.8/game; Pass Defense: #8-230/game; Rush Offense: #9-110.5/game; Pass Offense: #7-212.5/game(56.7%); Total Offense: #10-451.0/game.

Ya think!?

Used to.The Motor City Bowl went to the MAC champ in 2005 after Akron beat NIU in the MAC Champeenship. That was nice because both games were within easy driving distance. There were actually more 'front runners' at the Motor City Bowl than at the MAC Championship. But,thats the way its always been with Zips football. 'Come talk to me when you actually win something meaningful'. And thats NOT a bowl game in Idaho. Bowden and his crew need to step up now and win the division!

All kidding aside,Bowden and his crew now have a chance to make a statement IF! They have their own fate in their hands. When you are this close you HAVE to take advantage. They have to win AT LEAST 3 of the next 4 games to have a chance. Those three wins almost certainly have to be Buffalo,OU(Hi Frank) and KS.U. I would lean toward OU beating Miami which would almost certainly eliminate Miami(w/o a lot of help). Buffalo is eliminated so Zips HAVE to beat them to stay with OU. Buffalo will be tough. Stout defense,sneaky offense. If Woodson doesn't throw the ball with more consistency they will have trouble. He has to play his best ball the rest of the season for this team to win the division because they can't run. The Miami game on the road is a tough get. It comes down to Bowden getting rid of the Solich curse. Bad mouth OU all you want but they win consistently and are usually always competitive. I believe they still have to play Toledo,however. The KS.U game will be what it is depending on what the Zips do over the next 3 weeks. Take it and run with it! Weather on Saturday will be ugly.

The stats from the Toledo game unlike the stats from the WMU game don't lie. Bowden said it: we got whipped defensively,offensively and physically! Brad Detweiler said it also: the Akron defense 'got exposed'. Did we learn anything we didn't already know or suspect? No! The offense can't CONSISTENTLY move the ball much less score enough points. There is little running game. And, the passing game is woefully inconsistent. The defense can't consistently stop the run. Even in the WMU game it gave up lots of yard on the ground. As I said before,the Corner Backs are the strength of the defense. Time to move on to Buffalo!

Anybody know? Is Ragland out for the season? I couldn't find it on the Miami website.

Had to look at the game stats to see how this rolled out. Obviously if you didn't know the score you would think the Zips got steamrolled. WMU: Total yards-426; Rushing yards-244( Franklin-130); Passing yards 182(17-29-1); First Downs-26; TO's-1; Penalties-6-62 Akron: Total-215; Rush-88(Morgan-53); Pass-127(13-24-1); First Downs-14; TO's-1; Penalties-9-93. But,14-13 on the board. Go figure.These are the types of games that happen during a season that can help a team do special things. But,with the lack of offensive production that we see here,you aren't going to win anymore like this. The defense set up the offense big time for one TD on Kyron Brown's pick. Give that side of the ball a lot of credit. It made some big plays at crucial points in spite of giving up a ton of yardage. But,the offense can't keep putting up numbers like this and expect to win from here on out. In 2015 it was the defense that carried that team. In 2005(the best season in my memory) some crazy things happened that led to a MAC Championship. The last month of that season was crazy fun. Who knows.

If you lose to Toledo and then to OU you are behind in the tiebreaker if OU wins out. HAVE to beat OU THIS season.

Again'the Toledo game is going to be difficult. Have to win the East. That means must wins against OU(finally?) and UB(a must). Miami is swallowing hard right now w/o its starting QB.KS.U is KS.U. If you lose to the East teams its like losing 2 games in the standings because you lose the tiebreakers. If they can beat OU and UB, they win the tiebreaker against OU and eliminate UB. 7 wins gets you the division . 5 wins means you have lost in the division and probably are out. 6 wins with one against OU(damn) and you probably get it. Gonna see what Bowden and his crew are made of!!!

Now,just win the East. That means you HAVE to beat OU,finally. The division games now become THE most important. Even if you don't beat Toledo,you hold serve at home against UB,OU and KS.U likely with those 6 wins you get the division. And,Miami is taking the hard swallow right now. So,you hang a second loss on OU,and that IS the key game,come up with a big effort against UB who is really solid,in good shape. UB has 2 losses. Miami has 2 losses. OU only 1 loss. If it comes down to KS.U last game,I think it ends like 2005. Just don't go to sleep on UB. We don't need no stinkin' tiebreakers.

OMG! Maybe the Zips have to lobby the MAC to have games played on 'the day of rest'. JUST KIDDING! Knock me over with a feather! This is definitely a signature win for Bowden!. Now just win the East!

After watching WMU last week and given what we have seen from the Zip's D its gonna be tough for them to slow down the WMU running game significantly. They have a very physical O-Line and Franklin is a horse. And,they have two other backs who are very effective. Unfortunately the strength of the Akron D aside from Gilbert appears to be the CB's. Does Amato take the chance of trying to put 7 in the box consistently to make WMU throw a bit more and hope the DB's can play head up? What they can't do is commit penalties! No penalties! On the other hand, Woodson is going to have to play his best game. And,the WR's are going to have to give him some room to throw. Gotta have a completion % over 60 so there are not a bunch of '3 and outs'. No turnovers. 0! If Woodson can't find an open receiver he has to throw it away or better yet run the damn ball. He hasn't consistently shown the willingness to do that this season. If Wolf can get himself open and Woodson looks for him Wolf could be a big possession receiver this week. I think the only way Zips run against these guys is off the pass. They might be able to break a couple if they don't try to slug it out with the WMU D-line. Zips O-line isn't capable of that. That said if they could steal this one you might have a 'Novemeber to Remember'. Remember 2007.

Watched a good deal of the end of the WMU-UB game. I would agree that UB is much better than most believed. Leipold(is that correct) has done a nice job up there. And,UB got hosed on a couple of questionable calls from the good old MAC officials or the outcome might have been different. Oh,well. What I saw from WMU scares me. They have a big physical O-Line. They have a big physical RB in Franklin who runs through people. They can throw the ball when they need to. Their D-line is big and physical. UB had a nice looking QB and a couple of receivers that gave WMU some problems. Its easy to see what kind of players Fleck was recruiting to WMU. He wanted to look more like a Big-10 team than a MAC team. If WMU gets their run game going early and Akron can't throw the ball effectively and accurately might be a long day in Kalamazoo. BUT,remember 2007, the Zips 'Akroned' them.

Was at the game. Not going into the stats. This was a game Zips had to win. Nothing new there. BSU was reportedly without 5-6 starters on offense including starting RB and others. They looked it on that side of the ball. Didn't really notice anything I hadn't seen previously from the Zips on offense.They were able to move the ball when necessary on a mediocre defense. Wodson still runs hot and cold throwing the ball. Made some really bad throws. But,two of the TD passes were on the button. Woodson worked the ball in a few times when the receivers had little separation. Wish he would cut down on some of the on-field antics though when plays don't go right. Completion percentage does need to improve. Play calling at times seemed to lose focus which affects what happens on the field,obviously. Didn't hurt to much this time however. Akron defense played well against a short handed offense. Thats what you are supposed to do. Still gave up way too much on the ground. That will kill them against WMU if it continues. With OU and Miami losing at home the task is much more clear. Win at least 4 of the next 6 and that gives you a realistic shot at winning the division.