skip-zip

That was sarcasm.

That actually puts a little pressure on us to beat Indiana. Based on this rating, could we actually end up being the favorite to win against a Big 10 team? On the road? The way we play the first couple of games will determine that.Of course, I'll never be happy when people consider us to be on the same level as football powerhouses Tulane and UAB (the teams in front of, and behind us, in the rankings).

1) If Ohio State is playing at home, it will almost surely be a 12pm kickoff.2) I was going to be really perplexed if at least one of the WEWS/MAC games did not involve either Can't or Akron. We're the only two MAC teams in the viewing area. 3) I wouldn't prefer to start drinking in the Rubber Bowl parking lot at 8am, but I will have to make an exception.

I'll be happy with a .500 record.By the end of last season:1) We couldn't get run blocking.2) We had no pass protection.3) Four OL's graduated (including an NFL-level talent).4) Our best returning offensive playmaker played his last game in an Akron uniform. 5) We finished 5-7.Based on this, to have a chance at a winning record we'd need:1) The MAC's top defense.2) Unbelievably quick development and maturity of some young players, namely the QBs, OLs and DLs.I wish I could create a scenario that says that we have a chance. But I just can't find it among these facts. I'm more than willing to be realistic, and consider this a rebuilding year, enjoy the tailgating, and set my sights on 2008 as our next year to have a chance at contending for a bowl bid.

I agree. I hope everyone comes together to make it a good situation. I've been in quite a few major college football atmospheres over the years. Some are good, and some are "just park as many of these 50,000 cars as you can in people's front yards within a 5 mile radius". Let's hope we end up the better of the two.

g-mann...with respect to your comments, the lower lots of the Rubber Bowl are fairly close to the stadium. Plus, you can get in and out fairly quickly because of the double-lane exiting going right onto a highway. I don't even think it's a mile walk if you had to hoof it all the way from Rt. 224. So, I don't know where you park, but it's a reasonably short walk from the lower lots.As to your other point, I am not going to argue about the JAR's adequacy. In fact, to the contrary, I don't think it's that great of a place to watch a basketball game. But considering that fact that it is still in great shape, we're playing in the MAC, and we're not pushing it to capacity, I'm just not seeing it becoming a top priority for the University for quite some time.

First of all, I've heard from quite a few people that have seen this stadium rendering, and all of them are expressing the same concern about parking. I can only imagine what might happen when 25,000 do show up for a game. That's one thing you have to admit about the Rubber Bowl...parking was easy.Secondly, a new arena for basketball probably won't be talked about seriously until we start filling up the current arena. In addition, unlike the Rubber Bowl, the JAR is only 25 years old, and doesn't present the same urgency. What I'm actually hoping for is that football and basketball will both grow, and the football stadium will get a roof, and the bigger basketball games will be played there. That would be a unique atmosphere, and would take care of the few games a year where the JAR would have exceeded capacity.I hope I'm wrong on this one, but I'm not seeing in the near future, especially if we continue to play in the MAC, where we might need additional seating for enough basketball games to prompt the administration to demolish a relatively-new JAR Arena in favor of another very expensive undertaking.

Different proposals for a new stadium have been floating around ever since the mid-80's

I don't think they can tear it down. It holds up all of the dirt on that hillside (which was part of the reason they built the football stadium to begin with). George Washington Blvd. would collapse, and the mudslide would wipe out Derby Downs.

Bleacher Bum....GoZips88.... Ok, you guys can each have a trough as long as you save me a doorless stall with a cracked porcelain toilet, and the 20 coats of white paint on the walls.Ahhh...what fond memories.

Looks very nice. But I still wanted a bowl. Will I still be able to walk around to the other side to check out the visiting cheerleaders?As for artifacts from the Rubber Bowl, I'd like to take the bathroom stall from the far endzone where I once had to take a dump without a door. I'll set it up in my backyard as a reminder of my years of partying in that place.However, I still think they should leave the Rubber Bowl standing, and bring tourists through it 300 years from now as it resembles the Roman Coliseum.

This makes me wonder if many of the big publications are assuming that Harvey will end up being here when they assessed our potential for this coming year. It's just not likely that many of them would have investigated all of the details of that situation beforehand. They just don't spend that kind of time on the MAC teams. In fact, a friend of mine in the media once told me that the big publications look at the smaller conferences this way...1) How many games did they win the previous year.2) How many starters do they return.This could be the reason why the MAC champion is often a surprise.

Dr. Z....you are correct. Things do sometimes fall into place, as was the case for us in 2005.On the other hand, sometimes thing totally do not go your way, and you end up losing more games that you should have.This is why you can't assume that every bounce will go a certain team's way when analyzing their projected outcome for the coming season. If we make that assumption, then virtually every team in the MAC can make a legitimate argument that they will win the title.

This is certainly an "everything must fall into place" assessment. And we all know that things don't work out that way very often.I agree that our defense has great potential. And we'll need to hold several opponents to 14 points or less to win some of these games.Which brings me to the offense. We scored a TOTAL of 7 points in our last TWO games last year. Our running game deteriorated, and our QB was pressured relentlessly. If you think that problem will correct itself anytime soon with several new, inexperienced offensive linemen, you're really the eternal optimist. It's still hard for me to see this as anything other than a rebuilding year with better results coming again in 2008.On a more positive note, anything can happen in the MAC, and usually does. So, at least we have that going for us. Which is nice. Oh..and I do agree...we will NOT lose to Can't State at home.

I'm a little dissappointed that it won't be a bowl-type design. I think that two opposite sides of stands just doesn't create the same atmosphere as a rounded design. And although our AD says that he wants this facility to rival anything in the country, this stadium isn't going to do that.I am at least now somewhat relieved that it will have the flexibility to expand.Nice to hear mention of the possibility of a mini Carrier Dome type facility in the future. I remember this being talked about extensively back in the 80's. Maybe it will finally become a reality at some point, and give our basketball program a venue for big games without having to build a new basketball arena.

Captain..I can't believe to this day that they let us load onto the busses, and into the Rubber Bowl, with large quantities of beer in our hands. It was quite a night. However, my companions and I decided on Schafer instead of Keystone. For those of you who weren't around at the time, that Murray State game on ESPN is also the reason why the center light stand at the 50 yard line is painted green (as if that was going to make much difference). They thought that it would make it blend in more with the green color of the field. I recall people throwing seat cushions at the high school bands at halftime. And Beer Balls rolling around on the field from time to time. a-zip...we made a huge "human tunnel" for you guys that night. And another player I know from that era has since told me "all I could smell as we ran through that tunnel was alcohol".

a-zip...I certainly respect your opinion as someone who was a player during that transition. And I'm sure most of what you are saying is exactly as you saw it. Yes, I think Gerry took alot of heat for what amounted to administrative decisions. But, I disagree with you that we would be where we are today if coach D had remained as coach. We needed a high-profile guy, who could recruit on a high enough level to get better players in here FAST, and could get us better scheduling and TV appearance. With all due respect to a great guy, and a loyal Zip, Coach D probably didn't have the skills, or the name, to make those things happen for us. I would like to add to one thing you said. Yes, our attendance was really good during the 1985 season, but much of that had to do with the huge push in the community to sell tickets to get our 17,000 average that we needed to move up to division 1-A. However, being a student that year, I acknowledge that you guys had a good team, and more people should have been there to support you, regardless of whether there was a big marketing push or not.

Captain. That's correct. 1987 was our "lame duck" final year in the OVC, and in D1-AA. And Faust had already taken over as coach that year.One of the interesting things that happened that year was that Faust and Frank Beamer became friends. They were sort of the two outcasts among the OVC coaches since we were moving to 1-A the following year, and Beamer was leaving Murray State to take the job at his alma mater, Virginia Tech. This relationship that formed between them that year was the reason why we were able to get several future games scheduled with V-Tech. Does anyone remember our game against Murray State (with Frank Beamer still their coach) at the Rubber Bowl on ESPN Thursday Night Football in 1987? What a wild night.

ZipAlumn...the 7-3-1 record was in 1992. Some of the old Dennison loyalists (it sounds like you might have been one) surely might still feel bitter about the entire thing. And I kind of understand. But this football program needed to grow. And even though you stopped buying your season tickets, sales of season tickets increased dramatically when Faust was hired.I'd sure rather be where we are now, with a chance to compete on a D-1 level, and the chance to play in bowl games, rather than getting no recognition at all playing the Murray States and Tennessee Techs of the world.

The 7-3-1 year is not ONE of the better years we've had...it still stand as THE BEST record we've had since we turned 1-A.I think some of the other impressive things that happened were that we had a winning record in only our 3rd year in 1-A. And Faust did have 4 winning seasons as our coach, while battling with the slow progress of the new facilities he desperately needed, and the ongoing battles with the NCAA to allow us to have an equal number of scholarships as the other 1-A teams, which was a significant disadvantage in terms of depth. And I'll still argue that it was a bad idea to fire Faust when we did, because we had no plan in place to bring in someone who could provide us with some of the advantages that we lost when he exited.I wouldn't trade those days for anything (well, a few more wins would have been nice). It was exciting to be around campus and see the press people from all over the country, and think that we were the first school in the country to be doing what we were doing. This also was the beginning of us getting games on ESPN. And all of this was happening at the same time that our basketball program was earning our first birth in the NCAA tournament.Great memories.

Interesting. I just got involved in a conversation about Faust in another thread. And he certainly comes up in other conversations on here from time to time. Thanks for providing us with this update.I'll have to agree that he won't ever be regarded as one of college football's best tactical coaches. But he did bring in some great recruits to help us grow our fledgling 1-A program. In fact, I personally know some good Akron players from that era that say they would have never even had Akron on their radar if it wasn't for Faust. Beyond that, there's so many other intangible that he brought with him. His contacts at the major college level got us some games against teams we would have never been able to schedule otherwise, and some great position coaches. Plus, he was a great PR man who was able to get us some good exposure, and some increased attention from the community. It was an exciting time for those of us that were around when we made this historic transition. Based on the facts that have shown just how difficult it is was in 1985 (and today, for that matter) to successfully make the jump to 1-A from 1-AA, I'm not sure where we'd be today if Faust had never come to Akron.

Z.I.P. - thanks for that tidbit. Coach Faust brought many intangibles to his position here, because of his relationships around the country. And that was something we desperately needed in order to successfully move up a level. I still believe today that it was absolutely the right choice to bring him here to elevate our football program into the D1-A era.

Thanks for the refresher course. It's been over 20 years now since graduation, and that's how I remember it as well.

Thanks for the link to the list. This reminds me of quite a few I had forgotten about, but it also brings up more questions. For instance, Bobby Lyons played for the Browns, and for the Minnesota Vikings. So, he played for several years in the NFL, and it doesn't show that. And, it appears to show that Mike Brake is a current TE for the St. Louis Rams? I wasn't aware that he ever played in the NFL at all, let along for the last several years. And, it also only mentions a few CFL players. There has to be quite a few more of those. For instance, Brian Hilk played LB in the CFL for quite a few years in the 90's, and it doesn't mention him at all.

Like I've said from the beginning....I'll be dissappointed if this stadium doesn't look 20-30 years into the future with its construction. If this doesn't happen, we'll end up with another Rhodes Arena. I'm just not seeing how a simple stadium, with 25,000 seats will meet the needs of the University or its fans as the school and its athletic programs continue to grow.It also still irks me to know that if we had put another 10 million dollars into the fieldhouse, we could have had an indoor domed football stadium.