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attendance wasn't that bad, 2,958 announced. The stands were filled all around. I think the biggest variance in attendance comes from the student section but it was Halloween, a lot of students were partying. A lot of parents were taking their children trick-or-treating. According to a friend, there were plenty of empty seats at the Horse Shoe yesterday even though they were playing Wisconsin. They go by tickets sold as well.Akron Soccer average attendance is currently up 3% over last year. It's a positive. We had 20+ tailgating for the Bowling Green and Wake Forest game, let's make our goal the 30's for Michigan State.Anything can be sugar coated, but, it's fallen off dramatically over the last several games, and is absolutely shattering the numbers you had predicted, and even the numbers I had hoped for. We can blame it on anything we want...but...Trick or Treating?? Everyone has been able to walk right up to the ropes behind the goal for several games now. It was Senior Night last night, for God's sake. Some blame it on the "MAC portion of the schedule", which isn't a valid argument when we go under 3,000 for Penn State and Wake Forest as well. And again, that's just an "announced" number. Maybe it's hard for some people to take, but I am sure it's not a coincidence that a couple of losses, a couple of ties, and a drop in national ranking has caused a lot of "frontrunners" to drop off the bandwagon.

Since everyone is bringing up this so-called "chart" that determines whether to go for 2 points, let it be known that the "chart" in that situation, when we were down 14 points, says to kick the extra point to reduce the lead to 13 points.I think most of us already figured that out, but I thought I'd post it.

I felt like these last few home games, which were dispersed among a couple of losses, would answer some questions. And apparently, they have. Not about the team's championship chances, but about the fan support. I posed this question not long ago: Were the dramatic increases in attendance over the last year or so a result of increased support for Akron soccer? Or, was it a result of a decent amount of bandwagoners who just wanted to be a part a Zips sport that was #1 in the country?Does the significantly lower attendance numbers the last few games support the latter? Getting a crowd like we had last night for getting a home game against a marquis ACC opponent was especially troubling. But, so have the last few games combined, especially when you know that there's no-shows that were counted in those very average attendance figures.

Did you read posts #18 and 19 in this thread? It was not a sideline decision by the coach.It changes nothing. When there is absolutely no advantage to getting the two points, couldn't the coach be calling off the "option" of going for two beforehand? No matter what his players might see when they run out there and line up?The single point at that particular time was way too critical. It made two TDs with extra points a win instead of a tie. There should not have been an "option" in that situation. The TWO was absolutely insignificant at that point in the game.

I hate to say this, but I think this is now the 2nd game, along with the two kickoffs against GW last year, where we can say that the coach's decision directly led to a loss. I really need someone to explain why making it a 12 point game as opposed to a 13 point game earlier in the half was an advantage. Kick both extra points, and we have another win. It stinks, because the kids are dissappointed, and they played an outstanding 2nd half.

I suppose this was no surprise to most of us, but no MAC team is appearing in the "others receiving votes" of the preseason AP poll.

That pretty much explains my thoughts. What did we have to lose? But, I think the difference is a little more significant than just "a tad". It's a 108 QB rating vs. an 85 QB rating, with an absolutely devastated OL in front of him, and a group of inexperienced receivers and backs. Plus, the ability to be another RB and gain positive downfield yardage when everything else fails. Plus, with Moore being only a Sophomore, and Nicely getting down to the last dozen or so games of his career, it certianly makes a lot more sense to be expending our development efforts on the guy who can possibly be more of a long term solution. I'll be watching closely tomorrow to see how a Mississippi boy responds to 30-some degree weather.

Thanks! I was pleased to hear of their return to TV. Maybe I am too old to admit that I watched this, but I just can't deny that I loved this outstanding humor.

On a MAC level, I believe if the University had ANY clue, Faust could have done much better than what everyone saw at the end at Akron. Faust had nothing and had the highest percentage winning season in school D-1A history.What we don't know about Tressel is if he can win without cheating. Anywhere he goes, the NCAA is going to watch him like a hawk...which is why he'll never coach again.For those of you who think Tressel would come to Akron....dream on. It's about the same chance of Urban Meyer going to tosu.Emphasis on the word NOTHING. We didn't even have grass practice fields back then, even though we played many opponents with grass fields. There had to be high schools that were better equipped than us to elevate to 1-A. I think we've only now begun to understand what Gerry accomplished with meager resources at the absolute infancy of our D-1A era.Even worse, the University had no idea as to what to do. People can say what they want about Faust, but he was at ND. He saw what needed to be done...maybe he didn't know exactly how to get there, but he knew what it should look like.I realize that the number of disadvantages that Faust had to deal with go far beyond just not having grass practice fields. Thanks for pointing this out. I just didn't want to rehash things that have been said over the years in other threads. ESPN did a great documentary on Gerry at one time. I think it was pretty accurate, and pointed out that Gerry's time at ND was really a "learning on the job" situation. Fortunately for us, we got him after that 5 year baptism. I guess this all raises few questions. 1) Even though ICoach wasn't the HC at Notre Dame, did he learn enough and make enough connections during his time there to produce victories at Akron?2) Should we expect even more from him because we have so many more advantages that we didn't have back then?3) Is a coach who was previously a Head Coach at a major program (like Gerry) actually our best option? I think Ohio U would agree with such a conclusion.

On a MAC level, I believe if the University had ANY clue, Faust could have done much better than what everyone saw at the end at Akron. Faust had nothing and had the highest percentage winning season in school D-1A history.What we don't know about Tressel is if he can win without cheating. Anywhere he goes, the NCAA is going to watch him like a hawk...which is why he'll never coach again.For those of you who think Tressel would come to Akron....dream on. It's about the same chance of Urban Meyer going to tosu.Emphasis on the word NOTHING. We didn't even have grass practice fields back then, even though we played many opponents with grass fields. There had to be high schools that were better equipped than us to elevate to 1-A. I think we've only now begun to understand what Gerry accomplished with meager resources at the absolute infancy of our D-1A era.

Thank you. Have some of you forgotten about OSWho 9 straight losses to the SEC? His teams getting dismantled in their last two appearances in national title games? His 1-5 record in his last 6 games against Top-5 rated teams? His SOS in the 60s last year, playing with some of the most talented players in the country, which still couldn't produce a national championship opportunity? Some of you need to go run around with some of those brainwashed OSWho fans who proclaim his greatness, despite what the facts show.

One thing I was really focusing on yesterday....OU's devastated Defensive Line vs. Our devastated Offensive Line.It was absolutely no contest.

How'd he feel about the FG attempt, down by 20 in the 4th qtr? Love cutting the margin from 20 to 17 with 8 minutes left. Nice job Rob. Way to quit. FU and your process.You could see the players' body language after that decision. They gave up because they saw that their coach gave up.Why kick a FG down 20 and follow it with an onside kick??? It's like the coordinators are all on different pages with each other and Ianello.Great point. It DOES tell the players that you've given up. And inexperienced coaches would tend to make such mistakes. A TD was the only way to still give us a chance to win the game. I still can't imagine what he may have been thinking, other than possibly wanting to say we put a few more points on the board. But, players want to win games.

Applebee's for me.

I think that Coach Porter trusts his assistant coaches to lead the first couple weeks of practices if needed...I'm sure the players wouldn't mind that their head coach is coaching the Olympic team before coming back here to coach them...Don't be fooled. At least in most sports, being a couple of weeks behind in beginning to formulate your plans for the season put you at a serious disadvantage. Ever wonder why coaches start practices on practically the first hour of the first day that they are allowed?Of course the players and assitants won't mind.

Thanks guys. I was confused as to what this all meant, and how olympic soccer differed from the national team.I guess my immediate concern is, if the Olympics start in late July next year, wouldn't that seriously cut into the beginning of our practices for the season? I think the summer olympics last for 2-3 weeks. Even though soccer has limited interest, at least "soccer people" would see that Akron's coach was selected to coach the olympic team, and that would resonate among high school soccer players across the country who are starting to think about college.

Q has one important thing that all the new guys do not. He has proven performance during big games. I want him out on the floor when the game matters most.KD loves Q. He gives Q the ball in isolation & tells everyone to clear out. I don't think I've ever seen that from KD before.KD realizes what he has with Q. And we saw it more and more as the season progressed last year, even in critical situations. It was because he's one of the few guys we've had in the program in the last several years with the ability to take someone to the rim, one on one. And with one year of experience on top of those raw skills, I see him as our best offensive weapon this year.

No no no...I'm just trying to understand what this means. Isn't the national team coach a full time, year round job? Do we pluck someone different from the college ranks every 4 years to coach the Olympic team, like we do for USA Olympic basketball?Can someone please explain all of this to someone who doesn't understand?

I'm not getting this. He's been selected as the coach of the next Olympic team? If so, wouldn't that be HUGE national news?

It's also sad to think that over the last couple of years, we've traded places with EMU. Instead of EMU, I'm afraid that we've become the team in the MAC that all of the other fans look to and say, "We need a win. Good thing we have them coming up on our schedule".

I did pay attention to this last year. And those 20 points would have made a difference, and certainly would have put us well above OSWho. But it really doesn't matter. I've mentioned our high finish to a lot of OSWho fans over the last several months, and the typical pompous idiots just brush it aside as if it was some obscure contest that nobody ever hear of. Apparently they weren't paying attention to the continual "Capital One Impact Play OF The Day" that appeared in so many sports telecasts. But, of course these are the same people who would have been shouting from the rooftops if they had won it. So, my better instincts tell me that they just ignored the results all year because they didn't win, and can't come to grips with the fact that us "peons" up here in Akron, with no budget, were able to equal their athletic success.

I think it would be great if people started tailgating for Soccer too. You sometimes see a few people out there. It helped when it was preceded by a football game, like we saw a couple of weeks ago. We will get one other opportunity like that, on the 29th of October. But, the football game is at noon this time, so I don't expect as many of those people to stick around all afternoon.Bobby, these next couple of games will be the real test with soccer attendance. It's dropped dramatically since we had a loss and the weather has gotten cooler. And now another loss, and possibly a drop out of the Top 10. So, are all of these people bandwagoners who only cared when we were the top team in the nation? Or, are they going to show that they really want to support Akron soccer? I sure hope it's the latter, but I have serious doubts.

I was hoping that I would not get another confirmation that the Sun Belt is legit. And I was also hoping that I was wrong when I said that the FIU team that beat us was just an average Sun Belt team. But....we probably all noticed that Arkansas State put a beating on FIU last night, and pretty much buried them in the Sun Belt standings. Not what I wanted to see.

I may have to suspend my betting theory this week. I expected a lower line also.First of all, put it all on the Zips. Then you won't have to worry about having any cash the rest of the season. These games have a tendency to be close if not really competetive. Akron looks like they are playing well ...but...not really. This is a week Solich has to love. Hunker down and tell his team its a must win. Go out and bust them in the chops.There's no "supposedly" to the injury problem in Athens. First of all, the entire defensive line graduated last year. Every starter from this year's line is now out with injuries - three with season-ending knee injuries. One linebacker (leading tackler) has leg issues and is only 50%. Starting corner has a broken shoulder.To increase our odds of winning I recommend attacking their corner with the broken shoulder.And throw all of the passes high, since he probably can't lift that arm past his waist.

+1.But I'd take anything over simply renovating the JAR. Not from you!!! They renovated the Hartville hardware many times and now are building a 9 acre beautiful facility. The renovations at the old building did not stop the new one from being built. Same here. I think the JAR should be continually upgraded and renovated. It can be used for many things down the road. But build a BASKETBALL facility. It should be GREAT for basketball. Don't make the same mistake they made when they built they JAR. Wait...and do it right. Do not compromise.So why would they have to wait to get it right? Why not get it right now? I think Dr. P is a man of action and thus far his actions have revitalized the campus.I'll dream along with Hilltopper.Replacing a crumbling old football stadium could be justified as a necessity. Replacing a basketball arena that was just built in the 80s could not.We can continue to harp about "but we need it to grow the program" all we want. But, I'll still expect the idea of a new arena to stay in the "discussion" phase for several more years.