skip-zip

Redshirt = scout team He won't learn one more thing on scout team at the end of the year that he doesn't know right now. Not starting Nicely this year would be like not running your fastest, healthy horse in the Kentucky Derby because you want to breeze him some more so he knows how to run around the track in a circle. No offense Zach, but offering the idea to redshirt potentially one of the best QBs in the league is an example of how comfortable UofA fans have become with losing and the "building process". The Zips have 12 games THIS YEAR, not next year. Fans have bought tickets for this year, not next year. Fans want to see winning this year. It's time to start winning. 20+ years of losing and "building" is enough for me. I can't take it anymore. I'm not saying that's what we should do unless Nicely will sit anyway. I'm saying that if Rodgers wins the job, we shouldn't let Nicely waste a year on the bench if there's the option to redshirt. As for him not learning anything that he doesn't already know, you're telling me that he has a 100% knowledge of a brand new, fundamentally different offensive scheme that he's never played before after just a month or two of practice? He's perfectly comfortable taking snaps under center after spending his entire life in the shotgun spread? I would agree with everything you are saying here, except that with Matt's injury, and knowing that he will run the football from time to time, we can't be left in a situation where we'd have to turn to a backup with no experience.

K-Roo....the title of this thread says it all. In fact, Syracuse has had a lot to lose EVERY time they've played us. They are in the Big East, and we are one of the worst teams in the 2nd worst conference in 1-A. It's pretty much been that way all of the 3 seasons we've played them, and I'm sure they were thoroughly embarrassed when we won in Syracuse 2 years ago. I'm just hoping they aren't quite yet on that road to prominence again, as some of the information about them might indicate.

Thanks for the update, Hilltopper. I'll never forget his performance as a freshman in that game against Xavier at the JAR about 15 years ago. One of my most memorable Zips games ever. I only rank the 1986 OT game against Cleveland State, and the OVC Championship Game a season earlier above that one.

Strange. That's all I can say.

Why wouldn't it be OSWho? They are the closest high-profile school, they have a good soccer program, and it's a sport where we have beaten them several times in the last couple of years. I'm dissappointed if we are not going to play them as well. How in the world could anyone expect us to have a rivalry with Hartwick? How many people have ever heard of it? Or, could even tell you where it is located? I have to be honest. I cannot answer that last question myself.

Hence why teams should schedule beatable BCS teams, not $ games. I had hoped that my use of the word FORMIDABLE would get noticed. I wouldn't expect a MAC-level school to make progress in the "others receiving votes" category, or have any chance of reaching the top-25, if they do not beat a significant opponent. It all depends how you are defining the word "beatable", but if it means possibly beating a bottom-feeder Big 11 school, do you think that would get all that much attention on the national stage? I don't. Ball State was in the top 25 in 2008, and their best wins came against Indiana and Navy. CMU was in the top 25 a couple of years without beating a single BCS opponent. You just need a good record and then build a lot of hype to get voters to notice. It's not so much who you beat, it's how long you stay unbeaten, scheduling bottom feeders and winning only hurts when you are in title contention and that is not going to happen for a MAC school anytime soon. I was just going to comment on ZachTheZip's post when I saw yours pop up as well. I think all of those situations that ZTZ mentions were undefeated teams. And I've said many times on this board that an undefeated team, in either basketball or football, would almost surely be ranked by season's end. But, as we see every year, it's such an improbable task to play perfectly and without any letdowns throughout an entire 12 game schedule, and into the bowl season. Out of the 120 D-1A teams, we maybe have one team each year that does this? Or, sometimes NONE. I think the much more likely scenario to get ranked for the duration of the season is to have a great record, and also have a marquis win or two. And I believe marquee wins for MAC schools are wins over anybody in the Big 6 no matter their notoriety. So schedule the Syracuse's, Indiana's, Iowa State's, NC State's, whoever we can foresee as a competitive game and a chance to win and remain in position to be ranked nationally at season's end. That is when people will start to take notice and you will see the perception of the MAC begin to strengthen. I would agree with you, except that with the absence of any significant opponents there's no room for error. You're hoping for the improbable chance of being one of those 120 teams that is lucky enough to go from wire to wire without a single loss each year. And by scheduling even lower-level BCS teams, which in many cases will be road games, you are decreasing that probability even further. Even Boise State, who had a weak overall schedule strength (and we are in the same boat because of our conference), was able to use that big win over Oregon early in the season to say, "we belong with the top teams in the country". When we think we are ready to be a Top-50 program, then we should want to show that we can beat a Top-50 program. Same with the Top-25.

Hence why teams should schedule beatable BCS teams, not $ games. I had hoped that my use of the word FORMIDABLE would get noticed. I wouldn't expect a MAC-level school to make progress in the "others receiving votes" category, or have any chance of reaching the top-25, if they do not beat a significant opponent. It all depends how you are defining the word "beatable", but if it means possibly beating a bottom-feeder Big 11 school, do you think that would get all that much attention on the national stage? I don't. Ball State was in the top 25 in 2008, and their best wins came against Indiana and Navy. CMU was in the top 25 a couple of years without beating a single BCS opponent. You just need a good record and then build a lot of hype to get voters to notice. It's not so much who you beat, it's how long you stay unbeaten, scheduling bottom feeders and winning only hurts when you are in title contention and that is not going to happen for a MAC school anytime soon. I was just going to comment on ZachTheZip's post when I saw yours pop up as well. I think all of those situations that ZTZ mentions were undefeated teams. And I've said many times on this board that an undefeated team, in either basketball or football, would almost surely be ranked by season's end. But, as we see every year, it's such an improbable task to play perfectly and without any letdowns throughout an entire 12 game schedule, and into the bowl season. Out of the 120 D-1A teams, we maybe have one team each year that does this? Or, sometimes NONE. I think the much more likely scenario to get ranked for the duration of the season is to have a great record, and also have a marquis win or two.

Hence why teams should schedule beatable BCS teams, not $ games. I had hoped that my use of the word FORMIDABLE would get noticed. I wouldn't expect a MAC-level school to make progress in the "others receiving votes" category, or have any chance of reaching the top-25, if they do not beat a significant opponent. It all depends how you are defining the word "beatable", but if it means possibly beating a bottom-feeder Big 11 school, do you think that would get all that much attention on the national stage? I don't.

The challenge always is....can they stay there by winning a couple of their early non-confence games against formidable opponents. If not, they will fall to a more likely level, which is to be regarded as a "good MAC team" for the remainder of the season.

Maybe you should pull your head out..! (just kidding, hehe) Read any of my posts and make that your poll. 2010 On another pole note, I know several lovely Cant cheerleader lasses moonlighting as Pole-dancers if anybody has an upcoming birthday/bachelor party. After last year, I just don't have faith! Now I was there in the time of Danny Ruff and Jack Beidelman. And the Grantland Rice Bowl and some guy named Bradshaw. Glory is possible, but fleeting. akzips71, You bring up a fascinating truism. Forty-plus-years have passed since those days, and Akron would like to believe it has moved up to "Big-Time College Football", but the truth is, we are at basically the same relative spot in the pecking order that we were in during the College Division, and later Division I-AA days. How much energy and $$$ have we spent to keep running in place on this rat trap? And what effect could that $$$ have had, if it had been spent to better the academic standing of the university? This is an interesting comment that comes up from time to time. I am also one of thsoe older people on this board that goes way back before our 1-A days. My response? I absolutely believe that going 1-A was the right move. It was a no-brainer move. We are among the largest universities in the country. The growth of our school was paralleling our growth through the football divisions. It just made sense. And when the opportunity presented itself, we saw an opportunity to move again. And although we haven't had a tremendous amount of success by any means, we have clearly proved that we are one of the best 120 football programs in the county, and have been competitive in our own conference, which contains schools that have been 1-A programs for a heck of a lot longer than us. In my opinion, I think it's crazy to believe that being more successful in a lower division is a better option.

I would take Akron also. The Orangemen will be one of the worse teams in the country this year! No they won't. Syracuse will be a solid middle of the road BE team that probably gets back into a bowl game come December/January. Their new coach is doing good things up there, they had a solid recruiting class, have some JUCOs that are gonna help out, and have some talent returning. They'll be hurt Week 1 without Carter, but let's remember, we were one of the worst teams in the country last year, and we're going into our first game with two completely new systems on both sides of the ball. There will be miscues and indecision, take it to the bank. If I were a betting man, I'd take Syracuse with this spread. I see Orange 14+... but I hope I'm wrong. Whether we any chance of winning this game or not is debatable. But, I am afraid you are right about your analysis of how Syracuse is improving. At least that is what I am getting from my own knowledge, and that of a Akron alum I know who's lived in Syracuse. We need to forget about the luxury we of playing the Syracuse team we played in 08. They are a much different team now.

You're right, predicting the MAC East is always difficult. I'm sure Ken+ looks better than us on paper. And of course, they will have a head-to-head advantage with the game being at their place this year. But, as we've seen before, I hope that Ken+ finds a way to get that "we're a loser football program" feeling once again, and we see them fall apart by mid-season when they were actually expected to do fairly well. But, they certainly have the personnel to make it a decent season for themselves.

Tough choice? not really, football home opener is where it's at. Nothing better! Agreed. And you'll undoubtedly be in the overwhelming majority. In fact, if I were to take a "wild" guess, I'll predict that 20,000 people choose the football game, and about 20 will choose to travel to the road soccer game. Now I'll wait for the "Soccer is going to catch on in America someday" people to jump all over our comments. I actually don't think we'll make it near 20,000, but I hope I'm wrong. I think OSU is off that day so we might get a bigger turnout, and maybe...just maybe we won't have to see any ugly red at the stadium!!!!! I'm thinking a crowd similar to the Indiana game is what we should expect to see. I love soccer, and hope we can get that championship this year, but they are away games. I just don't see why you'd want to go all the way to NC to watch them, when you can watch the home opener for football. It's just hands down a better experience at football games, because it really is more than just a game. Tailgating, partying, basically a full day experience... I still don't understand why some Cowlumbus State fans insist on showing off their Red and Silver apparel at an Akron game. I wouldn't consider myself a soccer fan, but I am a Zips Soccer fan. I agree with you, the reality of the situation with it being a soccer game, and being hundreds of miles away, I expect that the ratio of those who will choose soccer over football will be about 1,000 to 1. I'll also be very interested in seeing what kind of crowd shows up for this game. For decades, we've normally gotten our largest crowd for the first game. Having a better opponent than last year will help. Will Labor Day weekend help or hurt? If OSWho is off, that will help. But I think ultimately, the fact that we no longer have the "first game on campus in brand new stadium" excitement in our favor makes me want to agree with you that we won't get close to the Morgan State attendance from our home opener last year. But, I am still hoping that we can do better than the Indiana game.

Tough choice? not really, football home opener is where it's at. Nothing better! Agreed. And you'll undoubtedly be in the overwhelming majority. In fact, if I were to take a "wild" guess, I'll predict that 20,000 people choose the football game, and about 20 will choose to travel to the road soccer game. Now I'll wait for the "Soccer is going to catch on in America someday" people to jump all over our comments.

OK- I'm gonna reply to my own post. I say we score 4 TD's and have 4 QB sacks. That should give us the W. Oh, it's gonna be a party. I look forward to spending that time with family and friends outside the stadium just as much as the football. The atmosphere in the UA neighborhood was outstanding before the home opener last year. I hope for the same. As for your game prediction, I think I'll probably be happy if our defense doesn't give up 4 touchdowns, and our offense doesn't give up 4 sacks.

Excellent news. Now, we just have to repeat what we did last year, with the exception of the final game. As far as the tough schedule goes, I'll apply the old sports quote, "To be the best...you have to beat the best".

I sure do appreciate you mixing in some good news with another bad prediction about our prospects this season. I really hope that ND game happens. It will be great for the future of our program. Rob ianello said on 850 WKNR friday we play at Tennessee in 2012 I'll take that one too. If our team doesn't start to get better, at least we'll have a good football team to watch. Seriously though...It's essential to have money games, and chances to get noticed on a national stage.

His logic is funny. 12 more points. Well what if they get all 12 in the first game against the FCS opponent and just blow the hole load right there. Right. If only we could all distribute our point production throughout the season precisely at the time we needed it. I think just about every team could justify how they would have won a few more games if this formula were used.

"...Tailback Alex Allen is almost fully recovered..." Damn, I thought he was 100 percent?!? I might have to take one of my wins away from my prediction. IMO having a healthy AA this season is important in the win/loss column. I felt that way last year too.

As much as I dislike the Flushes, I like to see them and Akron both competitive in the East...makes me hope that spanking them for the Wagon Wheel can also mean a trip to the MAC title game one of these years...doubly sweet. I hope K.e.n.t. loses every game by 50 points. I hope they draw under 9k, instead of their goal of 90k. I hope they continue to arrest their alumni who tailgate at homecoming. I hope they get busted for multiple major recruiting violations. I hope 45 K.e.n.t. players get arrested in an ugly, drunken street brawl that makes national news for 5 weeks. I hope Doug Martin gets another contract extension after a 2-10 season. F K.e.n.t. I hate K.e.n.t. +1 +2 You have to admit, Martin is quite entertiaining though. And I think he's had more gaffes over the years than Joe Biden.

I sure do appreciate you mixing in some good news with another bad prediction about our prospects this season. I really hope that ND game happens. It will be great for the future of our program.

I know you are out in California, so you can't follow the team all that well. The quarterback I'm speaking about is Patrick Nicely. He's very good. Here is a link where you can learn more about Patrick I'm always happy to help out those who are a little less-versed on the Zips program. Then I'll give you a little more follow-up information about the 1995 team, and verify something I said earlier, so that you can add this to your wealth of knowledge. I think on two separate occasions on this thread, you said that Lee had NO quarterback heading into the 1995 season. And I stated that he had a freshman QB who just came off of a record-breaking performance. And I did verify that my memory is correct. Magrell threw for 347 yards against Ball State in a game at the Rubber Bowl in Nov. of 1994. It was an Akron single-game record, and withstood as a record until Charlie Frye came along. And the amazing thing is, he did NOT even start the game. I think most people would feel a lot more confident about that QB situation entering the next season, compared to the situation we have now. In respect to your overall "this group of guys is more talented than that group of guys" remarks, here's where I think the problem is. We can look back now and see the progression of the careers of players during the transitions of other Akron coaches. We can't do that now. We have no idea where the careers of these players are going. I remember listening to the Magrell game against Ball St on the radio, because the game was played in Muncie. Link Nevertheless, it was quite a performance from a true FR coming off the bench as you noted Skip. But I also have a recollection that Magrell and LO's incoming staff immediately had "issues". Whether is was the change in scheme, personality conflicts or whatever, I believe it was pretty clear early on that Brian would not remain a Zip for long. While there are some similarities to the QB situation in 2010 (change in scheme), I think the chances of Nicely pulling up stakes are pretty remote. Like you, no doubt, I was at the "loser bowl" versus OU later that year. It's just my opinion, but I'll take the talent from last year's Zips over that squad hands down. If the Zips somehow manage to win only 2 games this year, it's ALL on iCoach, IMHO. Good post. That's precisely why I pointed out the obvious difficulty of predicting the future when comparing teams during different transitions between coaches.....because of a situation like we had with Brian. I was mostly referring to the point someone made about the number of returning starters, which is pretty darn near the same, and both were bad teams. And of course, the comment that the 1994 team had no QB. I guess we were never going to know everything about what happened with that situation. Everyone was pretty excited about the potential of our new QB over the next few years, and rightfully so. When you see a guy come right out of the gate with a record-breaking performance, you probably could never predict what transpired the following season. What a shame.

I said this on another thread, and I'll repeat it here.... With all due respect to everyone who wants to be a prognosticator, there's one major problem here: We KNOW how certain players peformed over the next 2-3 years after Lee's departure. We have NO IDEA what is going to become of the players we have now. And once again (as GP1 points out), would someone please remind the Lee fans out there about Getsy, Biggs, Alleman and Hixon before we have to hear any more "JD won because of Lee's players" remarks?

I know you are out in California, so you can't follow the team all that well. The quarterback I'm speaking about is Patrick Nicely. He's very good. Here is a link where you can learn more about Patrick I'm always happy to help out those who are a little less-versed on the Zips program. Then I'll give you a little more follow-up information about the 1995 team, and verify something I said earlier, so that you can add this to your wealth of knowledge. I think on two separate occasions on this thread, you said that Lee had NO quarterback heading into the 1995 season. And I stated that he had a freshman QB who just came off of a record-breaking performance. And I did verify that my memory is correct. Magrell threw for 347 yards against Ball State in a game at the Rubber Bowl in Nov. of 1994. It was an Akron single-game record, and withstood as a record until Charlie Frye came along. And the amazing thing is, he did NOT even start the game. I think most people would feel a lot more confident about that QB situation entering the next season, compared to the situation we have now. In respect to your overall "this group of guys is more talented than that group of guys" remarks, here's where I think the problem is. We can look back now and see the progression of the careers of players during the transitions of other Akron coaches. We can't do that now. We have no idea where the careers of these players are going.