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Correct. And Bernie has not been the only one who's been around here. This connection between current Akron Football, and the memorable 80s era of the Cleveland Browns could really impact our support. You never know. But just like any publicity effort of this kind, you run with it and see what happens. You have nothing to lose.

That was an exciting season for more reasons than being the best record in our I-A history. It was also our first season in the MAC, after playing about 5 seasons as an Independent, so there was a prize to play for. But most memorable for me was that Toledo Acme/Zip game where Daron Alcorn kicked the 56 yard field goal to end it. Still to this day, that might be the best Steve French radio call of all time. That's interesting that the OOC games were at the back end of the schedule.

Go to Roosters in Belden Village. Plenty of TVs and a Sport Bar atmosphere. Are you familiar with the Tilted Kilt? I believe they are all over the country. There's scantily clad girls with Irish Kilts that's pretty easy on the eyes. There's one in N. Canton.

Larry's ties back to the Browns are extensive. It goes beyond Bernie. But, Mr. Kosar seemed to be having a great time mingling with fans out in the parking lot prior to the game. It's a shame that he clearly shows the signs of an ex-player who got knocked around a bit.

You think? I mean, I'm sure we'll drop with a loss to an unranked team. But, with our SOS and a ranking that should still stay in the Top 20, I don't think we're in any danger right now. Can anyone here with more knowledge of our past NCAA invites (or snubs) provide any info. where we've possibly been in this situation in the past, and been left out of the NCAAs?

In my opinion, it's impossible to really separate CMU, WMU and Toledo at this point. They all have had some really good performances thus far, and can all boast about posting quality wins. I think the only reason CMU is getting a little more attention from the national pollsters is because they have a "ranked team" win, even though it was highly controversial, and probably should have never happened.

Without continuing any discussion about the Marshall fans "loyalty", or lack of, please note that the same thing happened in the App. State game against Miami in the 3rd quarter. I caught this line from the game article. Miami eventually rallied with two quick touchdowns and increased its lead to 38-10, which led to many of those 34,658 people not wearing green and orange to start heading for the exits.

Ahh...I'm glad to see that someone else sees this exact same potential path. I already started a Thread on the WMU game a few days ago, and mentioned this very same scenario.

Ever since this schedule came out, I never thought that winning BOTH Marshall and A-State was a possibility. But, I also thought that the road game in Huntington would be the most difficult. So, I am just thrilled to still have a chance to be 3-1 in the OOC schedule.

And I explained why.

Say what you want about their "large and loyal fan base", but that changes quickly when you are getting your A$$ kicked at home. Trust me, when we pulled ahead again by 20 again towards the end of the 3rd, the pathways to the exits were more crowded than the seats. And I assure you that there were less than 8k in that place for most of the rest of the afternoon. And honestly, I was just trying to illustrate the massive difference in size and noise between Madison WI and Huntington WV, after someone commented that you could actually hear the Akron fans this week.

We were just as loud as ever. But there's a big difference between trying to be heard over 80,000 others, and only 8,000 others.

Every time I meet a new, passionate Zips fan, I tell them that I wish we had THOUSANDS more like him. So please, aim higher !! Thanks for all that you do here and your commitment. And thanks to Dr. Z as well.

However, since the injury has already happened, we can cheer for the coach to do what's best for the young athlete, and keep him out so that he recovers fully and is ready for the remainder of the season.

I'm glad they aren't on our schedule this year. The crossover games against Toledo and WMU will be challenging enough...but BOTH are at HOME. But, I sure wouldn't mind if we are lucky enough to play CMU on Dec. 2nd in Detroit

I don't remember ever seeing Van on the field, but he was dressed. The word was that he tried to "give it a go", but was kept out once the game started. I indicated before this game that all we need to do with this offense is plug someone in there who can get us about 10 productive carries. He did FAR more than what I expected. But we all need to keep in mind that this will remain a spread-it around-the-field air attack. And I don't see that changing, no matter who is in the backfield. My only worry is that we need the bigger backs for short yardage situations. I'd almost feel better using Chapman in a "wildcat" formation for those kinds of plays right now, like we did at one juncture in this game.

Earlier today, I pointed to the game at home vs. Western Michigan as a potential game where we might see some additional activity from the local college football fans, if we keep winning. Our "inner circle" appreciates a quality win like this, but it isn't going to rattle many cages just yet. And the media (or lack of) isn't going to help.

Since we never get an opportunity to mention "National Rankings" in regards to Zips Football..... Real Time RPI has us jumping to #64 today, with the Marshall Win. http://realtimerpi.com/college_football/ncaaf_power_rankings_Full.html No MAC East teams ahead of us. The closest is OU at #81.

I pointed out earlier that we should credit our coaches for the ways they adjusted during the game. So, I am glad someone brought this up. I can recall plays where I saw Ulysses Gilbert was shifting more toward the middle of the field before the snap. I never identified how often, whether it was because he was filling in on certain downs for the interior LB, or that there were only 2 LBs on the field at that time. And apparently, based on what you are saying, this alignment was happening quite often. Thanks for posting.

I get the physical paper. After maybe the biggest road win in Zips Football history, there's a couple of paragraphs in the lower right corner of the sports page, with a little bit more to finish the story on Page 5. It's just a little game summary. No pictures. No quotes or comments from anyone. Written by a "Staff Reporter" Sick.

You got it right. A few of the angles where you couldn't see the ball appeared as if the ball may not have come loose until his back hit the ground. But ONE of the angles where you could see the ball clearly showed that the ball was still on the QB's body....but NEITHER hand was on the ball. This is why it may have not appeared to be a fumble initially to some people. We were probably very fortunate that there was an angle that clearly showed the officials that the ball was loose.

This may trigger some early interest. It might even get buried for awhile. But, I can't help but to start thinking about this game today. If some of you haven't noticed, Western is 3-0 with 2 WINS against the Big 10, and we get them at HOME, which will happen right after what hopefully will be two conference "warm up" games against Kent and Miami. As an early look, what might it mean to us to knock off a potential favorite to be the West champ in Akron, and be 3-0 in the conference race at that point. And would it be enough to generate some additional interest in Akron? I have my doubts about whether it would be significant enough, but at least a run at a good season would happen sooner than it did last year, and give it a chance to secure some additional local interest.

Good thoughts. I used to complain a little bit about the amount of personal attacks on this site. But over time, I've come to realize that it's probably to be expected on an open forum. People who choose to try to boost their own self esteem anonymously by attacking others on an internet site is certainly not unique to this forum. I choose to ignore it. At times, I even find it amusing. But, I respect that everyone chooses to handle it differently. It certainly hasn't ever made me want to stop participating here. With that said....I still really wish (and I've expressed this many times) that the primary use of this forum would be to share information about the Zips, and more importantly, to use this as a tool to help build support for Zips Athletics and turn our area into a true "Zips Nation", which is what it should be.

I wanted to point out one other thing to those who were watching the game: Does anyone remember the series in the 3rd quarter where Marshall was about to punt the ball, and they showed their QB on the sidelines throw his helmet down, and it bounced about 8 feet in the air? That was a big moment. I said to myself "We've really got them now...and they know it". After that point, I felt like they stopped playing. What a great example of how a team was playing so well just an hour or so earlier, and switched to a team that had completely lost their composure and will.

On the topic of KEEP CALM, I think it's just as important to "not freak out" when things are going badly, as it is to not get too far ahead of ourselves when things are going well. We've all been through this too many times. We beat Pitt two years ago right after getting blown out by Marshall. Last year, we had the breakout offensive game against Louisiana, right before we couldn't find the end zone at all the next week against OU. Wisconsin played awful today. Today, we played dominating football for 3 quarters. Would things have been different if we were playing Wisconsin today? Maybe so. But the moral of this story is that you just don't know how a team is going to perform from week to week, especially this early in the season. Today just happened to be our day. Last Saturday was not. And next week is still unknown.