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I'll have that 1986 classic at the JAR etched in my brain forever. And that's probably also why I was quite disappointed that the game last season at the JAR only drew 2,700 fans, with both programs being at high levels again, just like the 1986 game. That game 25 yrs. ago would have drawn four times that many people, if they had only let them all in the door. So, it seems there's a looooong way to go to have this rivalry "back, in a big way".Ken+ might continue to drift further into the rear view mirror if they continue to have players sitting at the police station and the courthouses

I agree. But I love the 6pm games anytime of the year. I don't care much for having to pack up the car at 7am to go tailgating. And if you still need to stop at the store to pick up last minute supplies or food orders, it's really tough.

And Owens. I don't personally know anyone who views our athletic success in a positive light during his tenture.My recollection is that Bobinski's mis-step wasn't the hiring of Owens & Hipsher (both did some heavy lifting in their time here) .. it was the knee jerk 5 year extensions offered at the urging of Terry Pluto.Interesting observation. Still to this day, I can't believe how many people still remember the article in support of him that appeared right next to the standings showing our dismal status in the All-MAC sports rankings.

And Owens. I don't personally know anyone who views our athletic success in a positive light during his tenture.

I compared the experience and philosophies of our coach to our president. And it was fair. And someone had to get defensive and play the "just blame it on Bush" card. Sorry guys. I had to respond.Zach..this is a great point to pull out. If you're perceiving his points as being that you're either "building" or "tearing down"....where's the third highly-desirable option of "reaching a successful level and staying there" ??

I think the last article pretty much said the same thing. And just like that article, it scares me to hear that the intent is to stay on the same path. Obama's been saying something similar for the last 2-1/2 years also.

Bingo!! Either that, or they just felt that doing the responsible thing is something that they aspire to as an athletic department Seriously, I know OSWho fans who really believe that all of these self-imposed penalties are showing that they really do care, and want to display their good character to the rest of the collegiate athletics world.

Someone check my trivial memory! Wasn't Sweitzer the QB who also returned kicks? He was, I think, in the top 5 in the nation in kickoff returns (#!?). Though I don't think I ever saw him play, I met his girlfriend, who was a cheerleader with Coleman Crawford's BB team, which visited the isles in 1990. Ahhhh, the legendary headless Zippy trip! You're probably right about that and I know he had a gun for an arm throwing out runners from third base as a baseball Zip.Sweitzer was from Indianapolis area. His brother played (DB, I think) for Miami (O). I think it was 91 that his GF was in Hawaii. Coleman, I think is still coaching in Dallas.Are you sure about that? I recall Jeff being from West Virginia (Brooke HS?).That's right. He was from West Virginia, not Indiana. I believe it listed his hometown as Folansbee.

Having moved right after college, my greatest Rubber Bowl memory is meeting JohnnyZip84 at the Ball State game during the final season (and arguing with Nate Davis' family ). I saw the Marshall game on ESPN. One of the announcers mentioned that the University bought the Stadium from the city for $1. The second announcer stated "The University got taken". I think the Info was a good idea and one day it will pay off. Side note on the Barker perfect game. I was a student at Akron that year and some friends of mine had decided to go to an Indians game that weekend. Had we picked Friday we would have seen Barkers perfect game, Sunday was an Indians double header win. We picked Saturday, a blah Indians loss. I went to Indians fantasy camp in January 2008 and faced Barker in the "Pros vs. Joes" game. He struck me out (and he wasn't trying hard).No kidding. Everyone in Akron claims that they were at the Marshall game, and at the Akron/Can't blizzard.I have to admit, I let my group talk me into leaving the Marshall game early because we were 100% sure that it was over. I remember listening to the ending on the radio on the way home, and almost driving the car off the road. I also have to admit that I couldn't even convince myself to leave the house the day of the Ken+ blizzard. Maybe I would have done it if I was 20 years younger. To this day, I have to chalk this up to "Akron Bad Luck" that maybe the most important home game in the history of Akron football was played in such brutal weather conditions and road conditions that very few people were able to enjoy it.

WOW...this is a good one. It actually slips out of my memory from time to time. Let me add to what you've said .....I think it was ESPNs first Thursday night game ever. Yes, the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders were there. It was also the day we decided to paint the light pole on the 50 yard line green to help it blend in with the field for TV. Most people came by bus from campus, and I remember everyone having beer. People even snuck beer balls into the place that night. I remember seeing one roll out onto the field at one time (I sure hope it was empty). And seat cushions from one of the banks were flying around too. Crazy night. And I think the relationship that started that year between Beamer and Faust led to a lot of those future games against Virginia Tech. I do have a favorite game though. Who else remembers the home opener in 1992 when Darren Alcorn kicked the 57 yard field goal to beat Toledo? I think it was the only time everyone ran out onto the field in celebration after the end of a game. That was our first game ever in the MAC, and the place was packed because it was an Acme-Zip game. That was also the season we went 7-3-1, our best record ever in D-1A. Who would have thought, after almost 20 years, that duplicating such a record would become so difficult?

Someone check my trivial memory! Wasn't Sweitzer the QB who also returned kicks? He was, I think, in the top 5 in the nation in kickoff returns (#!?). Though I don't think I ever saw him play, I met his girlfriend, who was a cheerleader with Coleman Crawford's BB team, which visited the isles in 1990. Ahhhh, the legendary headless Zippy trip! Good Memory!! He returned kicks early in his career before he became the starter after Mike Johnson graduated. So, i'm sure you can recall that he had a lot of speed. He was a great fit at QB in that Pass-And-Pitch offense that we ran during his time at QB, and afterwards with Marcel Weems. Dr. Z...great pic !!

I'm glad someone else can remember that stretch of games. I can't remember the order anymore. I'm too old.I'm not sure why you think that I need to say that there is ZERO chance of a dramatic transformation in order to maintain a consistency in my position. It would shock me, for sure. My position is that I think we've wasted enough time already waiting for "development", and I don't see "the answer at QB" being part of his future.Fair enough My point was that I didn’t think I was grossly misrepresenting your position with my original statement, even if the particular words I chose were not a direct quote of yours.It's cool. I just didn't want to be on record as saying that it's not possible. Anything is possible. It's just looking pretty bleak.

I'm glad someone else can remember that stretch of games. I can't remember the order anymore. I'm too old.I'm not sure why you think that I need to say that there is ZERO chance of a dramatic transformation in order to maintain a consistency in my position. It would shock me, for sure. My position is that I think we've wasted enough time already waiting for "development", and I don't see "the answer at QB" being part of his future.

This attitude stinks IMO. I hope the team proves you wrong.He would have been much better off saying he didn't want the QB to get hurt in a meaningless game, which the vast majority of BCS vs non-BCS games are (with the exception of the pile of cash that lands in the non-BCS teams' banks).When is the last time an Akron QB got hurt against a BCS team? Play to win. Think NC State.I agree 100% with your thinking, Dr Z. But, I also enjoy trivia questions like these. This was pre-BCS, but I think Jeff Sweitzer may have gotten knocked out of a game against the Gators in Gainseville circa 1990. So it seems like it's been a while.See if anyone else remembers this...The game was on TV, and I recall Sweitzer scrambling for a first down on our initial possession. Everyone I was with got so excited and jumped up to "high five" each other. Little did we know that it was going to be one of our only first downs of the game. I recall the Florida game being part of a consecutively brutal Florida/Rutgers/Army stretch of road games (I think those were the three). I know some of the players who can recall the physical test they endured during that stretch still to this day. And I think we almost won two of those games before letting them slip away late. I'd take those days back in a second.

I don't make that claim. But, I certainly join those who are disgusted by what we've seen so far. I also don't base my opinion solely on stats. I've seen enough with my own eyes. But, it's impossible to ignore such awful stats too, and very easy to point fingers at other factors. I think it's foolish if someone acts as if bad receivers and bad protection only exists in Akron. I'm sure plenty of the other 114 QBs with better stats had similar issues. Maybe one could argue that he was actually helped by an experienced backfield? I think a guy is capable of consistently throwing a good ball, or he is not. And I've simply reached a pretty low point in my level of patience after 2 years of this.

I only have one nagging concern.....If Nicely somehow holds the starting job, what would that tell us about Moore? Again, why would this guy accept an offer from a school like Akron to come up here and sit on the bench behind one of the worst QBs in D-1A? If that were to happen, I guess we'd have to assume that Moore failed miserably in his opportunity to impress the coaches.

Morehead St. in 1986. Only title won in the building. It was Middle Tennessee. But I agree with you, with one exception. No better environment, or game.....ever....that can top the game against Cleveland State at the beginning of the following season. Both teams had just come off of an NCAA appearance. You had to be there an hour early just to get a seat in GA. People were sitting in the aisles and on the track before the game even started. We were on our feet the entire game, and it was an overtime contest. Zip37....Nice to see that others were instantly reminded of this game as well.

I'm thinking....what are the chances any of these guys transferred out with aspirations of offering their skills to one of the worst teams in one of the worst conferences. And have to wait a year to even do that?

That's my question, as I said earlier in this thread. Is "great MAC shot blocker" enough to get any kind of attention whatsoever from the NBA? Because, that's really the only thing of real substance that impresses you about his game going into his 3rd year. I'm still hoping for a dramatic turnaround in some other areas. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft/resul...dkenneth-faried I'm familiar with this guy. If the point you are making is that this guy was a 1st round pick, and was also a great shot blocker from a weaker conference (like Zeke), you would be right. But, you might be ignoring his averages of 17 pts. and 14 rebounds per game, and he's been a consistent double/double guy for 3 years, and was close to those numbers even as a freshman. My question again, in response to AdaZip's post.....If he continues to get better and better as a MAC shot blocker, is it enough to get any kind of NBA atttention if the other areas of his game do not improve dramatically?

That's my question, as I said earlier in this thread. Is "great MAC shot blocker" enough to get any kind of attention whatsoever from the NBA? Because, that's really the only thing of real substance that impresses you about his game going into his 3rd year. I'm still hoping for a dramatic turnaround in some other areas.

That's pretty much where I stand right now too, and the reason some of these posts prompt me to bring some folks back to reality.

I don't know how having a debate about someone's NBA potential is "bashing". It's a big and improbable step for a MAC level player to become an NBA draft pick. I would say it's probably flattering for a MAC guy to be getting any NBA talk after his sophomore year. I'm not sure why you state that the MAC title performance was "not a fluke". Right now, it's definitely a fluke. It was one of only a couple of games the entire season where you could say he had an great game. And honestly, it didn't include much scoring. If you want to point to a much better performance, point to the Ken+ home game back in January. And that was 20 or so games ago, and was never repeated. Could those performances become more frequent at some point? Sure. And for me, I'll be happy if he can just get to good college numbers by the end of his career here. 18 and 10, consistently, is still a very big jump from where he is now. And I'd guess it would take at least those kinds of numbers to even be considered in the draft.

I suppose that this is an indictment as to how weak this draft is. I'll wait to see if the Lebron Bashers up in Cleveland go on another tirade thinking that Miami acquired a Cleveland player out of spite.

I know some of these draft picks will make you shake your head. But, these teams are simply looking for guys with something that will help them win games. I think NBA teams are far less likely to need guys with a more complete list of skills than college teams. That dweeb from OSWho got picked simply because he has shown he can consistently hit 3-pointers. He's a one dimensional player. But, if he can hit a few of those in a 5-10 minute stretch during a game, it's a great pick for somebody. Others get picked because they showed that they are a ferocious rebounder who can also hit a mid-range jumper, or simply that they appear to be able to slash to the basket unusually well for their size, etc. To apply this to Zeke's situation, my guess would be the only thing that gets noticed at this point is his shot blocking. That can be a tough one because it's at least partially due to his superior physical stature over the guys in the league he plays in. But, what if someone believed that blocking 8-10 shots a game against NBA players was possible? Or, if he ever shows he can score with any kind of consistency down in the blocks? Or, starts hitting a foul line jumper? Yes, a Sweet 16 appearance would have more people looking at you, but it's not likely to change a wise scout's evaluation of the skills you may or may not have that can help their particular situation.

I laughed hysterically when I saw that they have not yet taken any disciplinary action, and that they are reviewing the situation. What part of HE WAS DRIVING AROUND CAMPUS WITH WEED IN HIS CAR don't they understand?????? What else can you say? Same old Ken+ State.