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I can't believe I see that someone is predicting a big crowd. Come on. November, maybe 50 degrees, and a team with two wins, and an opponent which doesn't come close to resembling the Cinderella image from last year? "Ticket Sales" of 18,000 with half that much in attendance, if we're lucky. The Game: Please, please give me an effort like the first half at Ken+ last year. At home, we'll hang onto that lead this time, even though we haven't played well at home up to this point. But, we can't allow Archer to get loose for any carries over 10 yards. Zips 31 Criminals 24

I've already expressed enough of my disgust over this situation in the past, but let me just add this... If this guy ever becomes the "leader" on my alma mater, I'll probably save myself the embarrassment by telling far fewer people about where I went to college.

I was down on the sidelines during a recent game when Joe made sure his radio mic was OFF and yelled at an official. To put aside the job he was doing for a minute, and start chewing on an official like he was any other fan, certainly proves where he stands among Zips fans.

Last week was the first time in quite a while where I could say that a good performance one week (NIU) carried over to the next game as improvement, and a win. You could possibly point to our great effort in 2012 against FIU which carried over to a win against Morgan State as another instance, but a bad I-AA doesn't quite paint the same picture for me. Now we have a chance to string together 3 good performances in a row. Not sure if we are ready for that quite yet, but Terry's done some great things in his past. Maybe it's time for it to start happening here. I'm still think we did some really dumb things last week when we could have blown out Miami. If we do that this week, we'll surely be the victims of a blowout ourselves. I'm going to hold out hope that this is a true turning point, and give Akron a narrow win at home. Zips 28 BSU 24

I wasn't sure of the number either, but you were closer than me. It was 5,800 for that Sept. 2011 game against the OSUcks. Still, a little disappointing for me if the enthusiasm has dropped to half of the level that it was for a similar game two years ago. I never hoped to be right about this, but I really think that the "non-soccer Zips sports fans" who were willing to taste the success and experience something different are starting to drift away again. It may take long winning streaks and #1 rankings to bring them back in those kinds of numbers again in the future.

I hope that he has at least communicated to the guys up front on kickoffs to beware of the kicker dribbling the ball 10 yards and covering it himself. I hope I NEVER see that again. That was a game changer, and it should never happen.

Our first chance to measure ourselves against a good MAC team. And I remain completely baffled in terms of what to expect after the ups and downs of the first 4 games. Only because it's a road game do I feel that we could lose by a wide margin this week. And the way BG dominated us in the 2nd half of last year's game (including shutting us out) is still too vivid of a memory.

Amen. But, you may not have noticed that it did mention the Suckeyes in the article in making their point about some teams being plopped into top spots.

Great win. That's 7 straight games with a victory (one tie) against OSWho. And some rough play and a couple of skirmishes, which continues the tradition of the folks from the holy Cowlumbus State hating the idea of losing to the "inferior" University of Akron. But, I did notice the attendance. A perfect night drawing 3,300 when a September weekday game against the Suckeyes has drawn as much at 7,000 plus in recent years?

Let me correct you on these two points: 1) The schools in the top conferences are not "scrambling". Many of those teams are just fine once their conference games are figured into the equation. 2) You need to have some connections in the athletic dept. There is a genuine concern that fewer and fewer "money games" will be available for us once the Big 10 and other similar conferences have to upgrade their SOS to have a chance at playoff consideration.

Until people start showing up to defend the almighty Suckeyes. Happens all the time.

That's part of the problem. They won't schedule us. Take basketball, for instance, where they were forced to play us in the 1989 NIT, and have dodged us ever since. And now that we are very successful, what are the chances they will schedule us now? It's a sure way to make sure you don't get beat by other teams in Ohio, and risk losing credibility in basketball recruiting in their own state. I give them kudos for continuing to schedule us in soccer, although we've kicked their tails something like 5 or 6 games in a row now? Who knows about the future of the occasional football matchup. With the new national championship qualifying criteria, they will have to stop scheduling the way they do with their OOC games, since the abysmal Big 10 schedule, plus the lineup of cupcakes (which is a word you can apply to most of their schedule anyway), will hurt their cause substantially in the new system.

As I've said often, if fans in this area want to establish the same presence that Cincinnati Bearcat fans have solidified in their area, this is the type of activities and attitude that need to become more prevalent.

That's my point. I don't want to diminish what they did either, but if the Michigan game was an absolute anomaly, and doesn't elevate our level of play in the future, then it's just another loss. I'm hoping that's not the case, but yesterday's performance has me leaning in that direction. I hope I feel differently after next Saturday.

Most of us that know football certainly knew that ULL was a decent Sun Belt team, and that the Sun Belt has become very comparable to the MAC, and that we are on the mend as a program. But, I think many of us were hoping that our level of play against Michigan was somewhat of a breakout, or at least a big step forward. So, it was an anticipated game for that reason. But personally, I'm leaning more in the direction that Michigan was just a spectacular, singular performance this morning.

We needed to try to get to that QB, but they just countered by starting to roll him out. Just another instance where we were outcoached and outwitted in this one.

Of course you'd have to get paid. I wonder why anyone would wear that red and silver crap voluntarily?

Here's how I see the MAC Stadiums. For the most part, whenever someone builds a brand new one, it will bump to the top of the list, until someone else builds a new one. That is, if we assume that every school in the MAC is smart enough to do their homework when making the investment, and will include comforts and amenities that surpass their competitors. So, for now at least, we reign supreme

Haven't you guys seen her on the Bill Doraty car commercials too?

How must Brandon Weeden be feeling today? He's now the lame duck QB for one of the worst teams in the NFL, and knows his franchise will be replacing him, and he still gets to get his arse kicked around for 14 more games. Other than wanting to switch places with him for his paycheck, I wouldn't want to be him right now.

LZip: Again, I don't believe that a "mass influx" would happen. I already said that. I was just criticizing your comment that it won't have any affect at all.

Lance99: When I made reference to "local media", I'm referring to Akron media just as much as Cleveland. So, my comment was referring to how much OUR newspaper, in particular, might be covering the Browns debacle instead of the possible resurging Zips.

I had two lifelong Browns fans call me this morning to say that they want to join us on Saturday. I already said that a failing Browns team may not pay big dividends for us, but to state that it doesn't help direct any new attention to an alternative such as Akron at all is ridiculous.

I'm thinking this can go two ways: 1) The Browns might get MORE attention for awhile on local media because of this trade, which takes attention away from the Zips. 2) Some fans might start jumping ship and possibly looking for something else to do this fall. So, it's hard to say if this helps us at all, at this point. It certainly makes the Michigan news go away pretty quickly.

If we truly "have momentum" and plan to "keep it rolling", this needs to be a convincing win. Zips 42 Cajun Man 24 If we play defensively the way we played in the first half against Michigan, and offensively the way we played in the 2nd half against Michigan. Zips 52 Cajun Man 7