LoyalZIP

Yup. This is without a doubt a good move, and I would imagine he'll do well there. It sounds like the staff pool at UC has exploded, he'll be getting a hefty bump with a much better chance of landing a really good P5 HC job barring disaster. He has shown he wanted out of Kent badly, which is not surprising at all when you consider all the factors. Horrible scheduling, dump of a stadium, terrible facilities, bottom of the FBS salary, midweek home games in empty dump of stadium, small staff pool, fan interest that makes Akron's fan base look enormous. It's just a bad place to coach, especially if you're there for more than a couple years. It was only a matter of time. MAC coaches have done this move plenty of times before. Pete Lembo, Dan Enos come to mind. Jason Candle was rumored to be a candidate as OC at Miami last year too.

Man he wanted out of there BAD 😂😂😂😂😂😂

HE LEFT 🚨

Thamel is reporting Sean Lewis is the leading candidate for Prime’s OC position

Harrison Waylee of NIU hit the portal a couple days ago. That’s a huge one, as he was the most important player in the program besides Lombardi. Bad things are happening in Dekalb. Next year is a make or break year for Hammock.

Not surprising. Thanks for sharing @94zipgrad

It depends. The one from this past Friday I would be more inclined to say it was one Undercuffler, but it could also be on Price. The CMU one was 100% on Price, and Joe said as much. Sucks either way, that's for damn sure.

I went back to 2004 to take a look at kind of a goofy-but-telling stat I've had in mind as the season went on. How much greater was the Zips' biggest loss compared to their biggest win in the MAC schedule? In just three seasons since 2004, the largest margin of victory was greater than the largest margin of defeat. In 2005, the Zips beat Kent by 32, lost to Miami by 28. In 2017, the Zips beat Ball State by 28, lost to Toledo by 27 (though I would argue the MACC was a bigger butt-kicking). In 2022, the Zips beat NIU by 32, lost to OU by 21. 2022 was also the first time since 2004 that a first-year head coach won at least two games, as Bobby I, Terry, and Arth combined to go 2-34. Other numbers, notes, and observations: In MAC play, the 2022 team scored 82 more points than the 2018 team, while giving up just 12 more In MAC play, the average scoring margin of the 2022 team was -3.75. In 2018 it was -12.5 The 2021 MAC Champion, NIU, went 6-2 in MAC play with a -1 scoring margin DJ Irons finished 5th in QB efficiency and 5th in total passing yards, playing in only 6 MAC games. The TD numbers weren't there, but Akron did finish tied for 4th in rushing TDs in MAC play, despite the lowest rushing totals in the league. The Zips scored 26 TDs in MAC play. The defense gave up 26 TDs in MAC play. Zips finish 4th in MAC rushing defense, allowing 3.8 YPC and 138.1 YPG Despite having the no. 1 passing attack in the league, the pass defense never really came along. They come in 9th in the MAC, and only intercepted 5 passes in MAC play. Unfortunately, Durant's final pick should have been a game-winner, but... Special teams cost the Zips at least one more win on the schedule (BG), and the numbers back it up. They only averaged 34 net punting yards all year. Zip kickers were 8-12 on the year. Definitely need improvement in these areas next year. The Zips allowed 36 sacks in MAC play, while only coming up with 13 of their own. That contributed greatly to the field position deficit throughout the year The defense was the best in the MAC at getting off the field on 3rd down, allowing just a 30% conversion rate. Conversely, they were 10th on 4th down conversions, with Friday's game-winner being the most egregious Zips finished 4th in red zone conversions, scoring points 28 times in 32 trips. They were 8-8 on field goals from the red zone. 20 touchdowns was definitely not enough though.

Sanity prevails in Cincinnati. Lewis or Linguist would have been gone within 3 years.

Predictions? I’ll throw out a couple names, without looking at the roster. QB Dijon Jennings—behind Jankowski on the depth chart is telling if you ask me, especially with Wasel coming in. TE Tristian Brank—one of the better Arth guys. About on level with TJ Banks, but could soon get lost in the passing game in another year A couple WR not named Alex Adams or Daniel George. Perhaps Anthony Williams hits the portal once again. Caleb Anderson seems like a nice prospect, hopefully he sticks around. Could see Tony Grimes leaving, the staff seems to be more bullish on Bobby Golden. LB Andrew Behm—Arther, doesn’t belong here. Had a moment or two. RB Jonzell Norrils—another Arther that perhaps on a far worse roster stood out more. It’s a shame because I was really excited about him when he committed. OT Xavior Grah—incredible size, incredible ineptitude. Great human who has a great future.

Two of the leading finalists at Cincinnati are Sean Lewis and Mo Linguist. No, I’m not kidding. It has warped my mind for 24+ hours now and it still doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.

Free throw shooting: awful Three-point shooting most of the game: awful The last lineup on the floor: Mitchell, Lyles, Mayfield, Wilson…………Garvin Clarke Onto Mo Williams and Jackson State.

JU is a great backup. He will not go out and win the MAC East. He was forced to win it with his arm today without the new and improved Cam Wiley run game, and he played decent, but too many times he wasn’t able to finish any plays with his feet, and had we had the option today, the Zips would have gone out on top. The problem moving forward is Irons will be sidelined for quite a while with this shoulder thing, I think into spring ball and perhaps longer. Wasel is indeed coming in early, and could in turn get some more quality reps in spring and perhaps put his name in the hat. This offense can only go so far with a pocket passer. And while the win over NIU was absolutely huge and valid, NIU has been in tank mode and now their program is falling apart, so the Zips were also fortunate to catch them at the right time. The Zips played excellent with both QBs at different points of the year. Like Joe says, this is a meritocracy, and whoever leads the Zips offense in Lincoln Financial Field will be the one who wins the job.

Average PPG differential in MAC play: -3.75. A field goal. The 2021 Northern Illinois Huskies were MAC champions by winning closely nearly every week in MAC play. The 2022 Akron Zips finish dead last, losing 5 of 7 MAC games by a touchdown or less. A game of inches, and the Zips are closer than college football thinks. I’d expect the o/u on 2023 wins set by sports books will be in the 4-5 range. Bet the farm on the over.

Flashes up 14-2 on South Dakota State in the blink of an eye. Amazing.

Every single Achilles heel made its appearance today. Field position, late half TD, untimely sacks in late game situations, Clyde Price fumbling with a chance to easily seal the game. They played well enough to win in almost every MAC game this year. This one sucks man. Absolutely sucks. Bright future though. What a roller coaster ride. Edit: Aginst St. Francis to open the year, they converted a 4th & 10 in OT to survive. In the season finale, the defense fails on 4th & 10 again. Crazy

COME. ON.

Go WIN IT!

What a shame…

Can these boys overcome their 2022 Achilles heels of late half TDs and losing the field position battle?? That would be huge.

Happy Season Finale day! I cannot say enough how much I’ve enjoyed watching this team play. As frustrating as the results have been most weeks, they’ve looked like a real football team in every single game and I am once again proud to be an Akron Zip. The future has never been brighter! BEAT BUFFALO!!!!

I’m not big on making score predictions, but I certainly would take the Zips to cover. They opened as 13.5pt dogs, and it’s shot down to 11 a lot of places. There’s a ton riding on this game for both programs. Buffalo was the MAC’s golden child at the mid-point of the year, starting league play 4-0 before losing at Ohio by 21 (wasn’t even that close, really), blowing a big lead at CMU, and blowing (another) lead to Kent last week. They of course need this one to go bowling. The Zips, on the other hand, can smell blood in the water after finally getting a taste of victory after close losses to Liberty, BG, CMU, Kent, and EMU earlier in the year. And they did it in dominating fashion, against a team they should have beaten. Cole Snyder isn’t going to blow anyone away as a QB. The Buffalo run game is what will make this one a real challenge for the Zips. It’s always good, it was under Leipold, it remains under Linguist. Defensively, the Bulls are pretty decent as well, and have come up with some timely turnovers in their wins. This should be a really fun game, with the focus of the college football world as multiple programs’ bowl hopes hinge on what the Bulls do tomorrow. Let’s show them that it’s a new era of UA football! Go Zips!

I always like to compare teams and compare situations. When we look at the past couple editions of Akron men's basketball, we can see quite a few similarities. Going into last year, many people on here in the preseason thought we would be heavy favorites given the development of guys like Freeman and Ali and the addition of KJ Walton and this guy from South Florida. All of this despite the loss of LCJ. A close game where you outplay Ohio State and deserved to win, followed by a couple cupcakes and then a disastrous trip to Florida that resulted in a 3-3 record and a starter leaving the team. Next game? A home game against Marshall that took next to a miracle to win. 4-3 The 2022-2023 Akron Zips retooled and reloaded again, losing Ali to the portal and now Mike Dawson to injury. They open the year with an impressive (albeit they have struggled too) win over a good South Dakota State team, followed by a bit of a puzzling loss to Mississippi State. Then the ship was righted with a beautiful win over WKU, followed by a somewhat acceptable LSU loss and a Coulda-woulda-shoulda painful loss to Nevada. Then a trip to Marshall where they dug themselves in a hole too early and just couldn't quite claw out. 3-4 I would be very upset and panicking had the 21-22 team not beaten the Kent State Golden Flashes 75-55 in the MAC Championship game, but I'm not there yet. I have indeed seen some things that are troubling to me. Sammy Hunter is giving me the biggest Maishe Dailey vibes and that scares the s*** out of me. Thankfully he's got a great attitude and has shown he can add to the game in other ways, but man, it's been a month and it's time to get the head out of the gutter. He is the difference between being an average mid-major and being a great mid-major. Also, Hankerson shot the lights out in his entire career at NIU, and played an excellent game to open the year. While he's also a great defender and teammate, he's ice cold. And last night in particular and in a few games this season, X has had some unprecedented cold spells. There are more new faces being forced to contribute than I was hoping. The back court potential of X along with Tavari is extremely intriguing, especially with Tavari's performances against some really good opponents. Nate Johnson has shown some awesome flashes, but has greatly regressed since the WKU game. Kobe Mitchell and Amani Lyles still look like freshman. I guess in the transfer portal era, it's a bit too much to expect Groce teams to have it rolling in November. But losing a guy like Ali as far as ability and usage kind of killed any hopes of that. I don't even care about an at-large bid, I just want to put a whole season together, beat a few Q1 teams, maybe get ranked. Every goal is still on the table, though, and it's much easier to be bullish about this group than last year.

Freeman has had much better games. No doubt. His defensive rebounding did help keep UA in the game all night though. He was dreadful handling the ball, though, And everyone looked lost when they got the ball within 10 feet. I’m also shocked with how bad our proven shooters have shot the ball. X and Hankerson can’t hit anything. Wide open or not. And X has been missing free throws at an alarming rate, as has Freeman. Very disappointed, but thankfully plenty of time to right the ship. The doctor has ordered some cupcakes, let’s eat! Go Zips!