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Thanks. This just about hits it on the head. And don't worry about the basketball. We're taking care of that now too. I know Bobby started a trend that we thought would continue, but it's back now.

Let me guess, without watching. They schedule tougher to improve the program? Hmmm. And the other sports are paying attention?

Yes, I've heard the stories about the lottery over the years. I had no idea he got back into coaching again. I clearly remember him being the DB coach during the Faust era. Thanks for the update.

Should we start Alex Allen to QB next week? Really, not much is working well at all, and I am tired of harping on the same things all over again. Bottom Line: We had one offensive TD against Syracuse, and that was on a 12 yard drive after a fumble. And this week, our only TD came on a trick play. I do want to give some credit to our defense. I think they said during the game that we were 5th in the MAC. In most years, we would have taken that, and it certainly is an accomplishment considering how much they are on the field. But with all of the things that have been happening this year on offense (too many to mention), it's unfortunately not good enough to carry us to victories. And I still believe there is a tremendous amount of room for improvement in the tackling department.

I don't know why this topic ever started either, but I will chime in.I'm glad some people brought up the recruiting aspect. When we lost at Can't a few years ago, I knew that if that trend continued, we'd have some disadvantages that didn't exist previously. So, when we beat them at the Rubber Bowl the following year, I thought it was a vitally important win for the future of our program. I have no doubt that a recruit who is considering either Can't or Akron pays attention to how the programs have fared against each other in recent years. And if that loss started any kind of trend of Can't superiority over us, it would have hurt our recruiting efforts for many years. I don't think rivalries are something that are designated by somebody. They form themselves through the history, the matchups, and the attitudes of the players and fans. And the close proximity of the schools, and some of the animosities that have taken place over the years fuels the fire even more, and is proof that this game means a lot to players and fans, no matter what their records are. I have a sick feeling in my stomach for days on the rare occassions that we have lost this game over the past few decades. And I know other Akronites that feel the same. If that's not a rivalry, I don't know what is.

I know. Pretty minor league to be using a few portables....isn't it?

Well, as much as I would hope that this is a situation that is looked at differently, I have to look at some comments here as "wishful thinking".Going all the way back to the Mid-80s Huggins era, the "just pay them so they won't leave" theory hasn't worked out quite like most of us would have liked. The reality is likely that we will not open up our pocket books for a head coach, and assistants, for a non-major, non-revenue-generating sport. And knowing that the program has sustained many coaching changes suggests to me that it's even more unlikely that we'd view this is as a "we have to keep this guy...no matter what it costs" type of situation.As loyal as I am to my alma mater, if I was a soccer coach, and had the opportunity to coach soccer in the ACC for $250k, I'd have my bags packed this afternoon.

That's why I am predicting a game somewhat like the Syracuse game. A couple of touchdowns on odd plays, and the rest of the game being bored to tears with our production.

Oh...and our only scoring will come on an interception return...and a kick return.

Ever since the beginning of the season, when I thought we were actually going to be a pretty good team, I still looked at this 3-game road stretch as the barometer of our season. I had hoped it would be a period where, if we survived it, we'd be well on our way to accomplishing something to be proud of. Now, I see the last game of this 3-game stretch as possibly the final nail in the coffin.The only thing encouraging to me right now is seeing that Miami game NIU a game last week. If not for that, I would have possibly predicted a big-time blowout. But, maybe they aren't really that good, and it is MAC football, where anything can happen, right?NIU - 31Akron - 14

Funny Story.Last weekend, I was at a birthday party and saw a very old friend of mine who is a huge OSWho supporter. And I have been getting under his skin for the last couple of years....sending him e-mail links to stories, such as when we beat OSWho in the NCAA tournament last year, and when we beat them this year, and when those rankings come out every week.It's funny that the only thing he can say right now is..."you don't want to go into the NCAA tournament undefeated". And I laughed. What a great position to be in...right? The only negative thing anyone can say right now about our dominant soccer season is THAT. What a great position we are in right now. I'm even thoroughly enjoying sending him e-mails saying things like, "it's funny how you folks down there in Cowlumbus spend more money on athletics than any school in the country, and you can't beat little ole Akron". I'm lovin it. I'm ready to take a trip to Raleigh. Let's keep this thing going, and get every bit of enjoyment we can from the fact that we have the best soccer team in the state, and the country right now.

This is really exciting. We are probably in a position now where our national recognition will give us access to some of the best players available every year. And that puts us among those teams where "if everything falls your way" you have a chance to win a national title just about any given year. If only soccer was more highly regarded, this could really help the exposure of our entire athletic portfolio.

If it's true, it shouldn't be a surprise at all. ACC is a premier conference, our coach has been successful, and once again, it's a school with the resources to pay a coach that kind of money to coach a non-major sport.

I noted that they mentioned the words "his presence" at least a couple of times in the article. I've mentioned in previous posts that this, alone, will be helpful to us initially. It looks like we'll have to be very patient on the rest. Although, I would have been happier if I had heard that he swatted at least a couple of shots.I know they didn't mention any names, but I hope the references to guys fighting for playing time means that guys like Bardo and Sweich have been working hard to improve their situations. That can only help us.

In my opinion, Singletary shouldn't even be allowed to ever play college basketball again.

3) Being forced to go to your 2nd string, and then your 3rd string QB just a few games into the season can certainly cut down on scoring. I'm not going to agree that you can put all of that blame on the coach when he has a situation like that.4) I'm glad you brought this up. I checked the Syracuse stats from last year. We rushed for well over 200 yards in that game, compared to ZERO this year. With 4 starters returning on the offensive line, have they regressed? Or, are the RBs really performing that bad?5) Not that I don't think Torrence should play more. But...the last I checked a fumble is a far more devastating negative play than a dropped pass.6) Couldn't agree more. And I'll never forget that game ending punt return against WMU. 8) It all comes down to how committed they were to playing for JD. 9) I'm hoping only a few points, since we'll be at home. How we perform this Saturday could change that also.10) If anything, I've been labeled as "too positive" over the course of our last few losing seasons, so it's nice to see someone view me otherwise for a change. Last year, I really believed that we were taking some steps forward, and I defended JD staying on board to keep the train moving. The offense showed great improvement, and some of our performances against teams like BG, Cincinnati, and Buffalo gave me encouragement that we were moving in the right directions. It's hard to feel that way now. Despite the injuries, things are falling apart rather quickly, and a lot of people that you would expect to be improving as players are not. I don't think it can get much worse.

I'm not debating your opinion. Actually, you say some good things here.But, the highlighted statement above would be false. Wasn't he named the starter by 3 different offensive coordinators in Cleveland? You might want to check that.

I'm usually just fine with people having their own opinions, but for some reason you just make me sick. I know I shouldn't have this reaction to a forum poster, but I can't help feeling that you have a real problem with being fair and reasonable.I don't think myself or anyone else here who hopes Charlie does well is expecting him to become Peyton Manning.But just isn't a winner?In particular seem to remember a game against Marshall where Frye displayed amazing heart. He was magic and seemed to will a win in a very hard fought game. And of course, winning MVP of the senior bowl was a fluke too, since he "just isn't a winner"I know those things are anecdotal, but I watched him play and I saw a winner.And....10-2 record his senior year of high school.7 wins and 5 loses his junior year of college.6 wins and 5 loses his senior year of college.If not for the Michigan State / Hawaii debacle, he would have led us to our first-ever D-1A bowl game.Won the MVP in leading the North to victory with an outstanding 2nd half as starter....against many soon-to-be NFL players.Sure looks like a loser to me I hate to get into the old Charlie Frye debate, but you are really grasping at straws.High school record...any kid that goes to a D-1A college should have a winning HS record. It's about what he did at UofA. 19 D-1A wins in four years is not impressive....especially in the MAC.His junior year, two of those seven wins were against 1-AA teams. Don't tell me he could have beaten another OOC D-1A team because it just didn't happen. He never beat a BCS level school and both Jacq and Getsy beat them.6-5 his senior year could have easily been 4-8 if Brett Biggs was not placed in the starting line-up.Thanks to Charlie for that bowl game he didn't get us to.MVP of an exhibition game......That's like being MVP of a pre-season football game.The list of things Charlie almost did is much longer than the list of things he did do.My friend, I know you are a big Zips fan...but you are "grasping at straws" to find the negatives. He did pretty well, under adverse circumstances, and fares favorably well against other NFL QBs while in his first couple of years. Beyond that, maybe you are looking for additional negatives, and I am looking for positives. We both have a different viewpoint on this. And really, neither of us will probably ever know now how things would have turned out had he started his career somewhere else.

I'm usually just fine with people having their own opinions, but for some reason you just make me sick. I know I shouldn't have this reaction to a forum poster, but I can't help feeling that you have a real problem with being fair and reasonable.I don't think myself or anyone else here who hopes Charlie does well is expecting him to become Peyton Manning.But just isn't a winner?In particular seem to remember a game against Marshall where Frye displayed amazing heart. He was magic and seemed to will a win in a very hard fought game. And of course, winning MVP of the senior bowl was a fluke too, since he "just isn't a winner"I know those things are anecdotal, but I watched him play and I saw a winner.And....10-2 record his senior year of high school.7 wins and 5 loses his junior year of college.6 wins and 5 loses his senior year of college.If not for the Michigan State / Hawaii debacle, he would have led us to our first-ever D-1A bowl game.Won the MVP in leading the North to victory with an outstanding 2nd half as starter....against many soon-to-be NFL players.Sure looks like a loser to me

He also holds the record for being the only opening day QB traded the following day after opening day.Anybody can complete a lot of passes in the NFL to guys out of the backfield. The key is completing passes downfield. With a weak arm, he can't complete passes downfield. The bottom line is Charlie is not a winning QB. He didn't win in the worst conference in D-1A and he didn't win with the Browns. That's why Charlie doesn't get on the field...he just isn't a winner.Maybe you are not a Browns fan. If you were, you would know the entire story behind why Charlie was let go instead of Anderson. The entire time Anderson and Frye were together in Cleveland, barring injury, Frye won the starting job. Every time. As far as your comments about "anybody can complete a lot of passes out of the backfield", you may not know that all of the figures on completions, yardage, average yards, attempts, etc., are ALL taken into consideration when figuring a QB rating. And once again, Charlie's is pretty darn good under the circumstances he was playing under, and very favorable compared to other first and 2nd year QBs.

Actually....Anderson didn't have a good season in 2007....he had a handful of good GAMES....and those were some pretty awful teams that he padded his stats against that year.Your chart above even further convinces me why more and more Browns fans surely wish they had kept Frye. I never saw Anderson as a guy who was ever going to be accurate enough to complete much more than half of his passes, and he keeps proving me right, and has now reached new lows. Charlie was at 60% as a rookie, and showed it was no fluke by far surpassing it the following year. And again....with a bad supporting cast.

Maybe, but we set minor league baseball attendance records.Just gotta win once in awhile, put on a good show for families, advertise. Fans will start coming.I like how French tells it like it is. This is not going to be a "we need to leave the MAC" rant. But, winning games against our current level of competition is only going to take you so far in terms of increased attendance. Very few people in the area even know how Akron is performing in a given year. They don't care. All that matters to most is what the big boys playing for national championships are doing. That won't change to the degree that we all want it to change just by winning games against Can't, OU, Buffalo, etc.

The highlighted area above is the understatement of the year. He never had a running game, played behind a makeshift offensive line that I recall went through several Centers because of injury. And even Braylon, despite his dropped balls, was out with a broken leg for a good amount of Charlie's starts. Compare that to most of the two-year period after he left with a healthy Winslow, healthy Edwards, two pro-bowl caliber offensive linemen, and a running back with pro bowl appreances. Despite all of this, Charlie holds one of the highest rookie QB ratings in NFL history....even higher than P. Manning!, along with a very good career completion percentage, and one of the highest single-game ratings in Browns' history. And he could move in the pocket, and run with the ball. With what he accomplished, under THOSE kinds of circumstances, i'm not sure why there's so much negativity about him. I bet a lot of Browns fans would love to give him another shot right now. And just look at some of the other QBs around the league. I am not saying he was going to be great, good, fair, poor or otherwise in his career. We don't know. But, based on what he did, and the circumstances, and how it compares to most QBs early in their career, I think it's hard to be critical of his time in Cleveland.

Remember something....Huggins was also an assistant at Ohio State and West Virginia before taking the job at Walsh. If you recall, we were also playing in a weaker conference that had much less exposure, and didn't even have 1-A football. Plus, I would regard Bob as a "highly successful" NAIA coach. And he had very, very strong basketball ties in Ohio.I am not disregarding your point, or the possibility of this happening. I'm merely pointing out that, as a D-II or lower level coach, Bob had quite a few other things going for him that made him a good candidate for the job. I don't care if we take a coordinator, or a 1-AA head coach. I just want the best guy. But, I think you have some serious hurdles to overcome in terms of connections, recruiting, etc., if you hire a coach who is not a well-known entity, which can be a big issue with those lower level coaches. Remember, we recruit nationally now...and should have a guy that is known nationally.

not to beat a dead horse here, but coaching is the reason.Teams with a good coach and leaders on the team persevere through adversity. Teams without good coaches and leaders on the team do not. Simple as that.It looks like you don't care much for JD as a coach, which is fine. But, your comments here just don't make sense.First, you say that good coaches (referring to Can't) help teams get through adversity. When did Can't's coach suddenly become classified as good? Overnight?Secondly, you say that leaders (referring to Can't) help teams through adversity, and it's already been mentioned that Can't has already lost two of its biggest leaders this year.