The Steel Tire Rivalry

[ZachTheZip]

I had just heard about this on Wikipedia. Akron has a rivalry with Youngstown State where we play for the Steel Wheel. I am only 18 and don't remember anything about playing Youngstown State in any kind of rivalry. Was it before Akron was a DI school?

[Zip_ME87]

I believe that Akron played YSU at the Div I-AA level when I first enrolled at UA. Then, when the Zips went to Div I-A, UA continued to play YSU. It was frustrating that Jim Tressel's Penguins won more often than not even though the Zips had moved up a level.

[ziptrumpet87]

Yes, it used to be a big rivalry, but not as big as UA vs Can't. Zippy and the YSU penguin would often steal the show with their sparring.

[Zips fan]

The Zips are 14-19-2 all-time against YSU and has fared poorly during the end of the the series. The Zips were 2-7-1 from 1986-1995 when the series was dropped. The Zips are now head and shoulders above YSU and would probably be a 25-30 point favorite. I see no real benefit of renewing the series. The Zips are aspiring to be the top school in MAC and compete at I-A level. Playing the local I-AA might be inexpensive, and in NE Ohio might draw better than N Texas, but I would rather see the Zips staying with a I-A only schedule.

[Balki Bartokomous]

I say we try to win as many of these prize wheels as possible. The steel wheel, the wagon wheel. The cheese wheel. We keep winning these and we might be able to build some sort of device that is capable of transporting people from one place to another, utilizing wheels. Perhaps a horseless carriage of sorts. I believe people from Can't call them oppressive, hate mongering devices, hell bent on rounding up hippies and ruining their "buzz".

[Captain Kangaroo]

Playing the local I-AA might be inexpensive, and in NE Ohio might draw better than N Texas, but I would rather see the Zips staying with a I-A only schedule.

Playing local 1-AA schools is no longer inexpensive. Now that the 12 game schedule is en vogue, YSU can now travel to Penn State...Ohio State, etc and rake in big $$. YSU can, and has, demanded "North Texas" money to play the Zips. There are no more cheap 1-AA home games to be had.