Zippy989 Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 From GOZIPS.COM Day Date Opponent Location TV Outcome/Time Sat 09/10/2005 at Purdue West Lafayette, Ind. TBA TBA Sat 09/17/2005 at Middle Tennessee State Murfreesboro, Tenn. TBA TBA Sat 09/24/2005 Northern Illinois Akron, Ohio TBA 6:00 PM Sat 10/01/2005 Central Michigan Akron, Ohio TBA 6:00 PM Sat 10/08/2005 at Buffalo Buffalo, N.Y. TBA TBA Sat 10/15/2005 at Miami (Oh) Oxford, Ohio TBA 2:00 PM Sat 10/22/2005 Army Akron, Ohio TBA 6:00 PM Sat 10/29/2005 at Bowling Green Bowling Green, Ohio TBA 4:00 PM Sat 11/05/2005 at Ball State Muncie, Ind. TBA 2:00 PM Tue 11/15/2005 Ohio Akron, Ohio TBA TBA Wed 11/23/2005 Can't State Akron, Ohio ESPN2 1:00 PM Observations: First. Anybody else surprised to see Can't game at end of season??? Last few years, both schools have moved game to early in the season and have drawn nice crowds. Nicer weather and rival game...If we switch it with NIU and you'd sell out the Bowl. Can I assume ESPN2 had something to say about that?? Second. Look at the meat grinder in the middle of the season -- @ Miami, Army at home then @ BG... should have put a bye in there somewhere.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InTheZone Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 Alright, I've got to say, I'm stunned by the placement of the Can't game. Not just because it's at the end of the season, which has been proven to draw much smaller crowds, but also because I know for a fact that JD Brookhart told his team in winter workouts that they were opening up against Can't State on ESPN. So I apologize for bring false information onto the board, but I guess Brookhart delivered false information to his team because I heard that from a number of different people on and close to the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InTheZone Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 Other observations.....Ohio on a Tuesday night at home...another possible ESPN contest?? And the Can't game... ONE O'CLOCK ON A WEDNESDAY???? EVERYONE WILL BE AT WORK, NOBODY"S GONNA BE THERE!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangaroo Craig Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 If we're out of the race in November, then the Can't game is not going to draw well. However, if the Zips are in the thick of things then both Can't and OU should be good crowds. I am not concerned about Army. Unless they have all of the sudden gotten very good, I would not consider them to be part of the meat grinder. Army is a CUSA bottom feeder. Miami and BG along with NIU and Purdue will all be difficult games. NIU might be the only slightly winable game amongst those. The only reason why I say that is because it is at the bowl where the Zips always play tough. I like our chances at home against Central, Army, Can't and Ohio. I also like our chances on the road against Middle, Buffalo, and Ball State. That looks like seven winable games to me. If they stub there toes in one like they did last year against Middle, then 6-5 looks pretty good. Right your checks boys! Its time to purchase season tickets again! Go Zips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangaroo Craig Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 That 1:00 Wednesday game has got to be a misprint. If that is right then Mike Thomas, Laing Kennedy, and ESPN are all on freaking crack! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsbandman Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 I do not like this schedule. The Can't game on ESPN could turn out to be a disaster if both teams are out of it. I'm hoping the 1:00 is a misprint. Seeing an empty bowl on national tv is not something I would consider good publicity. I do like that we are challenging ourselves with the scheduiling, meaning no more Howards or Cal Polys. But I agree that there should be a bye in there somewhere. We beat Marshall coming off a bye. At least we can showcase a little of this on ESPN. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 Maybe they've got something up their sleeve on this one guys. I've got a lot of respect for what the athletic dept has done and I've got to believe there is a reason for this. I'm going to predict that that game will be billed as "The last Akron vs. Can't game at the Rubber Bowl!". I have no inside information. Sure, you could have put that game at any point in the season and billed it this, but if we're not in the hunt, then you need something to pull in a crowd. There will be a good crowd for NIU, but late in the season when it's cold, and we're not in the hunt, you need something to pull in a crowd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 Oh, yea, I hope that 1:00 on a Wed. is a typo also. That would nullify any added crowd if it is indeed the last UA vs. Can't game at the bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted April 13, 2005 Report Share Posted April 13, 2005 HOLD ON NOW. I read the article at Gozips.com and the game is on the Wed. before thanksgiving. Now I can see that pulling in a crowd! Nice move athletic dept! I'll still stand by my prediction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipboy Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 General thoughts - from a crowd standpoint I was Can't was first. That would be a guaranteed 30K. 2 home games in Nov at the end of the year on weeknights, I don't know about that. NIU should draw well as the opener. After that, it will be a crap shoot. The good is the team can settle in for the 1st 2 weeks before MAC play. If the Zips somehow beat NIU, they have a chance to be 3-0 heading into Miami and no worse than 3-1 heading into BG for a possible shot at the MAC East lead. If Nov 23 turns out to be the last game ever at the Rubber Bowl, it may draw well regardless. But who is going to go on a Tuesday night vs OU? Regardless, glad to see the schedule is out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 You beat me to the punch Zipsrifle. I think they stand to draw a good crowd that day as a lot of people take the day off of work and will be looking for something to do. If it appears as if the Tuesday game against OU will have a disasterous crowd, they could move it back to Saturday. I can see the Zips being 4-2, if not 5-1 if we play well against NIU, after six games. The following week they play Miami and I'm not convinced this Betts kid is all that good and maybe an upset could be in order. I like our chances against OU, Can't and Army. I think Ball State will be looking to kick our ass after what we did to them last year and we could have trouble there. I've been saying this for months, the Zips are going to win seven games next year. Write it down. If they are in the race next year at the end of the season, the long layoffs between games at the end of the year will benefit the team. A lot of this will also depend on the quality of the MAC next year. I see no evidence that the league will be better next year, which is encouraging because the Zips will play better. Oh, by the way, I just heard on television that silicone breast implants may be coming back. No debate on this one, that is a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 i still think the Can't game should be first. later in the year we may in the race, but most likely Can't won't. they will bring no fans.if the weather is bad ,and both teams are out does anyone seriously think 30 k will be there. Can't fans won't care if it's the last game at the bowl( if this is true)? the first game the year the weather will most likley be good ,and Can't will bring some fans.i hope the a.d knows what he i doing, but i think it's a big mistake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zips Win! Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I don't like the Can't game being played at the end of the year, either. But if ESPN says we will give you a game if we dictate the schedule, I guess you have to take it. Look, the week before Thanksgivng will be billed (by ESPN) as MAC rivalry week. Miami plays Ohio on Monday, Toledo plays BG on Tueday and Akron plays Can't on Wednesday. Again, I prefer this game to be played on September 3rd, but this is how it is. Not sure there are 7 wins on this schedule......yes, it could be tougher, we could have Western and not Central..... nontheless I see CMU and Buffalo as wins, 6 pick'em games, with BG, MU and PU as longshots, at best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zippy989 Posted April 14, 2005 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Kangaroo Craig... you do agree then that playing @ Miami and @ BG in 2 out of 3 weeks is a meat grinder??? Bad enough we have to play them both away but this schedule is practically back-to-back on top of it... that's a killer.... The good news is that, barring expansion and re-alignment next year... we get Miami and BG at home for 2006. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Man, at first I was totally against this Wed. at one o'clock game. Me personally, being a former player I prefer the Can't game being at the begining of the year for a couple of reasons. You are always hyped for the first game, but with it being a rival game you will be even more amped. Nicer weather brings a larger crowd. Winning an opening rival game brings people to more games. Personally I think this has the potential to be more bad than good. With it being at the end of the season if things don't go the way "we" expect. We could be out of the MAC race and be on national television with an empty stadium. But I will keep my fingers crossed for the contrary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingZip Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Don't see how any of you people see a seven win season out of this schedule. 0-3 out of the box is a mortal lock. Purdue = loss. Akron could not beat MTSU at home with Charlie, it ain't happening on the road. Ditto for Northern Illinois. CMU and Army at home are tossups and so are Ball State & Buffalo on the road. 0-3-4 Akron is not going to go to Miami or Bowling Green and win. 0-5-4 Can't and Ohio games are tough to call because of the time of year. 0-5-6 I do not see any clear wins with a young line, first year QB, and a tough early schedule. Last season's team rebounded from the 0-3 start due to veteran leadership. This team does not have that type of personnel. If the team splits the tossup games from above it's a 3-8 season. Just winning the home tossups makes it 4-7. 3-4 wins is what I expect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flipthezip Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Ideally not the schedule we were looking for. I'm just glad we do finally have a schedule. Insiders tell me that this is at least the 13th different schedule proposed by the MAC office to the schools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InTheZone Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Don't see how any of you people see a seven win season out of this schedule. 0-3 out of the box is a mortal lock. Purdue = loss. Akron could not beat MTSU at home with Charlie, it ain't happening on the road. Ditto for Northern Illinois. CMU and Army at home are tossups and so are Ball State & Buffalo on the road. 0-3-4 Akron is not going to go to Miami or Bowling Green and win. 0-5-4 Can't and Ohio games are tough to call because of the time of year. 0-5-6 I do not see any clear wins with a young line, first year QB, and a tough early schedule. Last season's team rebounded from the 0-3 start due to veteran leadership. This team does not have that type of personnel. If the team splits the tossup games from above it's a 3-8 season. Just winning the home tossups makes it 4-7. 3-4 wins is what I expect. Go find a Can't State website to post on you Golden Flush p.o.s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kangaroo Craig Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I do agree with you Zippy 989 playing MU and BG on the road two out of three weeks is going to be very difficult and may cause our guys to get beat up pretty good. Hopefully we come out of Miami unscathed. At least that way we'll be ready for Army. It could be one of those seasons where one or two early games will set the tone for the entire year. I trust that J. D. will have them ready to play. Go Zips! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I agree that there is higher risk to having the game late in the season as opposed to the beginning of the season. The Trs. night game, IMO, had already become a tradition in its short 2-year existence. No arguing that the atmosphere was electric. But, I think what is coming into play here is the University taking a risk to gain more national exposure. I’m sure they’ll pull out all the stops to pack the house. ESPN said they’d show up if we played the game at this time, and marketing went for it. You’re wondering why you can’t get a leather Zips jacket, well, nobody outside of greater Akron knows we exist. This is a way to get more exposure and increase the demand for Akron products and tickets. This strategy could very well backfire. Two crappy teams playing for nothing in bad weather would give a negative image of UA. I’m thinking that they saw the turnout for ESPN last season and are hoping for the same this year. Hey, you’ve got to take risks to get ahead. Can't hasn’t been doing much creative scheduling to bring in more fans and raise their exposure. Like I’ve said before, we’re fighting for the same players and fans. A loss against Can't would not fair well for the Zips. A win on the other hand, will continue our dominance over the Golden a$$e$. Add a packed house and a good position in the division and the Zips look sweet compared to Can't. Bottom line, I give them credit for trying new stuff. That’s the only way we’re going to improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsbandman Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I agree that there is higher risk to having the game late in the season as opposed to the beginning of the season. The Trs. night game, IMO, had already become a tradition in its short 2-year existence. No arguing that the atmosphere was electric. But, I think what is coming into play here is the University taking a risk to gain more national exposure. I’m sure they’ll pull out all the stops to pack the house. ESPN said they’d show up if we played the game at this time, and marketing went for it. You’re wondering why you can’t get a leather Zips jacket, well, nobody outside of greater Akron knows we exist. This is a way to get more exposure and increase the demand for Akron products and tickets. This strategy could very well backfire. Two crappy teams playing for nothing in bad weather would give a negative image of UA. I’m thinking that they saw the turnout for ESPN last season and are hoping for the same this year. Hey, you’ve got to take risks to get ahead. Can't hasn’t been doing much creative scheduling to bring in more fans and raise their exposure. Like I’ve said before, we’re fighting for the same players and fans. A loss against Can't would not fair well for the Zips. A win on the other hand, will continue our dominance over the Golden a$$e$. Add a packed house and a good position in the division and the Zips look sweet compared to Can't. Bottom line, I give them credit for trying new stuff. That’s the only way we’re going to improve. The problem is I don't think our team is ready for us to be taking risks like this. We are not to the point where we are annual contenders in the MAC. We have a young and inexperienced football team and may very well have a real down season next year, and that does not spell good things for this game. You have to take these things into consideration when making moves like this. I would have rather seen us pack the house against Can't in the beginning of the season and had no ESPN. Let's first worry about building a football team, then we can worry about exposing it once we have a team to expose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 Let's first worry about building a football team, then we can worry about exposing it once we have a team to expose. We've been "building" this team for years. Our year was supposed to be two seasons ago. Are we going to wait every 4 years to get national exposure? We were supposed to suck last year and look what happened. I do, actually, agree with you that this year is going to be rough. 7 wins, though possible, is not probable. From the feedback I've been reading here, I think MTSU is going to be really tough to beat given our current situation. I also think Ball State is going to be after us too. OU and Can't are going to take a few years off of my life too I have a feeling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryno aka Menace Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I agree that there is higher risk to having the game late in the season as opposed to the beginning of the season. The Trs. night game, IMO, had already become a tradition in its short 2-year existence. No arguing that the atmosphere was electric. But, I think what is coming into play here is the University taking a risk to gain more national exposure. I’m sure they’ll pull out all the stops to pack the house. ESPN said they’d show up if we played the game at this time, and marketing went for it. You’re wondering why you can’t get a leather Zips jacket, well, nobody outside of greater Akron knows we exist. This is a way to get more exposure and increase the demand for Akron products and tickets. This strategy could very well backfire. Two crappy teams playing for nothing in bad weather would give a negative image of UA. I’m thinking that they saw the turnout for ESPN last season and are hoping for the same this year. Hey, you’ve got to take risks to get ahead. Can't hasn’t been doing much creative scheduling to bring in more fans and raise their exposure. Like I’ve said before, we’re fighting for the same players and fans. A loss against Can't would not fair well for the Zips. A win on the other hand, will continue our dominance over the Golden a$$e$. Add a packed house and a good position in the division and the Zips look sweet compared to Can't. Bottom line, I give them credit for trying new stuff. That’s the only way we’re going to improve. That was well said ziprifle I couldn't have said it better Zipbandman I understand where you are coming from but it is a double edged sword. The more exposure a recrute knows the school is going to get the better chance you have of signing them. I agree with ziprifle lets shake things up and take a chance. If you don't ever take any you will never gain anything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipsrifle Posted April 14, 2005 Report Share Posted April 14, 2005 I have to say that there is one BIG reason I really like this schedule....I can go to almost all of the games. Last season with the exception of NIU, everything was quite a drive for me from Michigan. This year, Purdue, Miami, Ball State, and BG are all well within range. I think I can hit 9 games. The exceptions being MTSU and Buffalo. I'm not to confident on the team right now, but even if they really suck, I'll probably go to the games anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RACER Posted April 15, 2005 Report Share Posted April 15, 2005 im not so sure this team can't win six of those games.if we can't beat can't, ball state, cmu and ohio, u then the program is in big trouble. none of the teams while miami,bg , n.ill are solid teams are not even close to virgina last year. i think our occ schedule is alott easier than last year. army ,msu, purdue. purdue lost thier qb also. army is terrible,and mtsu is not exactly usc. that's not to say i don't think we won't have problems. the one thing i feel good about is our defense. let me explain. it would be almost impossible to play as badly as they did in the first three games. these are mostly new (young)guys that can only get better. the defense(personell) we had last year never got better over three years most of those guys were here. i am worried about the offense though. without frye to turn nothing into something,and a new o -line i would not want to a rb this year. hopefuly they will prove me wrong. i do think if any of our qb's gets time to throw we have some great wr's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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