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I'm just glad we are able to even be talking about Bowl Games, based on where we were at a few years ago. 3 wins to go, and it's a lock. For sure.

I just read a post that reminded me to mention this...... That sideline catch by Coney on 3rd down early in the 2nd half, on that touchdown drive, might have been a SEASON-SAVING catch.

Yes, losing Buford would absolutely be one of the biggest losses to transfer, ever. He ended up starting for Huggy at Cincinnati, and playing in a Final 4. Stars? Romeo still stands as Akron's only ever Player of the Year in the MAC. Boyce won the same award in the OVC days. Tree likely would have equaled that. McLaughlin likely would have done the same, if we were not playing as an Independent by his upper-classman years. A few others have been first team MAC, etc., but nothing close to what these players achieved.

I've been chanting "one down....three to go" also, ever since the game ended. A win for the defense, no doubt. And again, I felt like this was another game where the offense made plays to gain yardage, but didn't make nearly enough plays to score points. This has been a pattern for the AJ/Woodson led offense many times this year. I hope it doesn't come back to bite us. I don't think we can count on having turnover-free and shutout defense 2nd halves to win every remaining game.

1981 Grad. Let me expand on that too, since I touched on it earlier. Just a few years ago, how many players did we have who could get to the rim on their own off the dribble? Before guys like Diggs or Harney, that was nearly non-existent. I might be jumping the conclusions after seeing us play a weak opponent, but it seems like we now might have at least a handful of guys with that ability today.

I think what I enjoyed the most was seeing how "active" and athletically-gifted some of those newcomers were. It seemed like a whole different crop of kids, compared to most of who we've seen come into the program in the past. The interesting part will be to see how they are "molded" by a Dambrot staff. Or, might we be hitting an era where we might start to see guys like this be permitted to run wild a bit.

Akron was better than Ken+ last year. Ken+ losses 3 starters. So, Ken+ gets placed about 40 spots ahead of Akron ?????? I really think this is another area where we get penalized, on paper, for not having any "Stars". Ken+ has their star returning (and the only guy mentioned under their profile), which gets the prognosticators all excited. So be it. Dickie V. has it right, at least when looking at the personnel and depth. We at least, on paper, match up favorably with probably anyone in the MAC.

It's embarrassing just to see UMass listed as the favorite. Even if Home Field is truly the difference.

It was a national story on a major network, which included a former football player of ours, and his parents. I think it was worthwhile to mention it on the Football thread.

Not that this is the kind of publicity you want, but 60 Minutes was doing an excellent piece about rural Ohio kids and painkillers and other drugs last night. I was shocked when Tyler Campbell appeared on the screen, showing footage of him on the field in his Akron uniform, and mentioning the U of A. They even mentioned that "his quarterback" (must not have had permission to use his name) had a similar fate. I'm surprised that these two individuals, from a relatively "small" college in most people's minds, would become the prime example of this problem going awry with major college athletes. Did anyone else see this?

Observations: 1) We struggled mightily to run the football. With the sack yardage, we had as many total carries as yards. That makes it tough for us with a young QB in there. 2) CMU's ability to put pressure on us all day, along with the non-existent running game, tells me everything about who was controlling the line of scrimmage in this game when we had the ball. 3) The defense made quite a recovery after the BG game, against another team who had been able to pile up some big offensive performances at times this year. 4) Still so many critical errors or execution problems that keep us from putting points on the board. We threw the ball effectively all day, until we crossed midfield, got to about the 40 or 35, then we hit a brick wall. Couldn't even turn those opportunities into field goals when the ball was moving up to that point. Very frustrating to watch. 5) I think we could have tried to convert one of those 4th downs in CMU territory in the second half. Instead, we punted every time. And in some cases, we never gained much by punting. When you are not scoring, you need to use that extra down at some point or another. Especially near the end of the game, when you knew that getting the ball back again one more time was going to be in nearly impossible circumstances. 6) I never thought we would win this game, but we COULD have won this game. 7) I still believe this game didn't matter if we could win the last 4, and still make it a successful season. Anything less than 3 wins and we're going to be taking a serious look at making a change.

I prefer to leave the Freshmen out of the question at this point too. Jake will start. Reggie may, or may not. Aaron will definitely not start.

Absolutely. Like I said, the fact that he's getting noticed enough outside of Akron to put him at 14 is pretty amazing.

Wow. Number 14? I think several of us had doubts about whether he'd make the list. Obviously, people outside of Akron are recognizing his potential to be a big producer in this league. This might end up being some kind of record. When Pat shows up, we'll have 3 guys in someone's list of the top 25 players in the league. I'm hard pressed to think that anyone has ever given star-quality accolades to 3 of our players at one time.

If more fouls are going to be called, I can't say that I like that for more than just the reason that the games might be longer. 1) He have not been a great free throw shooting team in recent years. Unless, maybe Jake is ready to play 30+ minutes per game this year. That might be the only thing that would make the numbers come out better with the guys we expect to have on the floor this year. 2) We emphasize defensive intensity. That's not usually a good combination with an officiating crew that might be more inclined to call fouls.

I'm wondering who is going to answer for the staggering drop in donations this summer, as reported in the ABJ late last week. Did anyone else see that?

Just when I thought Buffalo was possibly sliding downhill. And CMU going to the wire against Ball State. MAC Football

At times, Keith has raved about Connor Tava, so I will take that as being a HUGE loss for them.

Unfortunately, in that entire 3 minute clip, played on ESPN, at the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio.... Only one college is talked about....and it's not The University of Akron.

This is from someone who's not much of a soccer expert. I felt like we were not playing well last night vs. most previous games. I think the first penalty kick happened with ZERO shots on goal. We seemed to get somewhat of a lift after that, and improved offensively throughout the course of the game. But, I still think we played a lot of that game without mounting very many good scoring opportunities. MSU was very successful at spending plenty of time in their own offensive end.

Two of those games are at home, and two of them are on the road. Just to be technically correct. Considering the current state of Akron football, where we are still trying to get over another hump from terrible, to average, to contender, I'm just astounded to see someone state that it would be "unacceptable" if we don't win all 4 games in any 4 game stretch. That would absolutely be a breakthrough event for us. It would give us either an 8-4 or 7-5 record. It would guarantee a bowl bid. And it would equal or surpass the most wins in any season in our entire D-1A era. To say that it would be "unacceptable" if it doesn't happen makes me wonder what an "acceptable" season would be for you.

I think you need to have 3 QB's who are ready to play QB, if needed. Unless someone is aware of another guy who is prepared to do the job of a starter, I think we are right where we need to be. In addition, I have started to feel much more comfortable with our WR situation since the first couple of games.

ZipGrad....Why in the world would you call it a Train Wreck if we don't win ALL of those last 4 games? Yes, they are bad teams. But winning 4 games in a row against any D-1A opponents is not an easy thing to do. We'll probably be favored in all of them, but you still need to have pretty consistent play to win 4 in a row in the MAC. You're entitled to your opinion, but I really think you're trying way too hard to try to justify why we need to change the direction of our program. The change is not always good. We've been there. Remember?

I never forget about Jake. In fact, I think his contributions are often vastly underappreciated. I would want him on this list, but he just doesn't have numbers.

One side of me says that we should not be getting destroyed by 50 points against any MAC team at this point. The other side of me is grateful that it still only counts as one loss. Going to a bowl would be a huge lift for this program. Again, those last 4 games will determine that, and will set a course in either the right or the wrong direction for Terry.