Akron to play Ohio State to open the 2024 season

[Spin]

On 11/23/2023 at 7:09 AM, GoZips86 said:

 

Akron should drop down to FCS. Yea board, dislike this post, quote this and trash me. I don’t care. At least at FCS we may be able to win and host a playoffs game. Being a guaranteed win for these big programs is bullshit. Expecting fans to accept it because it’s a payday for the university not only is bullshit as well, but also a clear sign your program does not deserve to be FBS. 

I brought this up several years ago and was thoroughly thrashed, so get your helmet ready.

 

it doesn’t effect the other sports, it makes the football team easier to build and more entertaining, we can play at our appropriate level IMO. And we wouldn’t be the laughingstock of college football. We use to fill the Rubber Bowl when the team was good, local corporations sponsored us and highlighted us in their stores. Ticket giveaways. 
 

I love going to Rubberducks games. It’s a fun time. I don’t want to see them play the Yankees and Cubs. And I don’t see how a MAC program will ever have a chance to climb out of the FBS basement. The football budgets are just too ridiculous between the power 5 and the bottom end conferences. 

Edited November 25, 2023 by Spin

[Hilltopper]

11 hours ago, GP1 said:

If the fans hardly get to see any games because the University schedules away games for paydays, how do they benefit from facility improvements?

Sometimes sacrifices must be made in the short term to get where you want to be in life. Short of finding some other donors like Matt Kaulig, this is the only way to get the funds needed. Akron is not exactly brimming with deep pocketed corporate donors. Dr Miller has spent his entire tenure trying to get the finances of UA under control. He has made significant progress with more to come. Guthrie has done the same in the athletic department. Change in large entities is hard and sometimes people don't like the changes. See the complaints on here about paying for parking or the menu at the club level. Sometimes, you can't have your cake and eat it too!

[zippy5]

JFC. Cancel a home game vs an SEC team and then three days later complain about attendance and suggest we play neutral site games in Florida. We are so stupid 

 

 

 

 

[exit322]

On 11/23/2023 at 7:09 AM, GoZips86 said:

Akron should drop down to FCS. Yea board, dislike this post, quote this and trash me. I don’t care. At least at FCS we may be able to win and host a playoffs game. Being a guaranteed win for these big programs is bullshit. Expecting fans to accept it because it’s a payday for the university not only is bullshit as well, but also a clear sign your program does not deserve to be FBS. 

 

They're either unable or unwilling to compete in FBS.  FCS is the only logical solution.

[ewbrooman1]

24 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

JFC. Cancel a home game vs an SEC team and then three days later complain about attendance and suggest we play neutral site games in Florida. We are so stupid 

 

 

 

 

I can't read article, but maybe  they could think inside the box and play games on Saturday and field winning teams and stop scheduling rivalry games during midweek. Geez. 🙄

[exit322]

14 minutes ago, ewbrooman1 said:

I can't read article, but maybe  they could think inside the box and play games on Saturday and field winning teams and stop scheduling rivalry games during midweek. Geez. 🙄

 

So from my prior comment - it's definitely "unwilling."  This is just dumb.

[Reslife4Life]

How would a neutral site game in Florida benefit anyone? If fans aren't going to games where the actual school is, who is going to go to a MAC game in Florida?

[LZIp]

6 hours ago, Reslife4Life said:

How would a neutral site game in Florida benefit anyone? If fans aren't going to games where the actual school is, who is going to go to a MAC game in Florida?

Yeah I generally like to give people the benefit of the doubt and like a decent amount of what Guthrie has done, but this really makes me scratch my head.

[Let'sGoZips94]

8 hours ago, zippy5 said:

JFC. Cancel a home game vs an SEC team and then three days later complain about attendance and suggest we play neutral site games in Florida. We are so stupid 

 

 

 

 

 

Pay wall.

 

What's the gist of the article? Any specific details outside of the quote in the tweet? If not, this is a pretty pee poor look after the Kentucky cancellation. 

[Sergeant Zip]

 

[ewbrooman1]

6 minutes ago, Sergeant Zip said:

 

Yeah, dig a deeper hole. Good grief.

[zipsrule]

So this would leave us with 4 homes games a season (assuming 3 road non-conf games)....

Edited November 25, 2023 by zipsrule

[ZippyRulz]

7 hours ago, Reslife4Life said:

How would a neutral site game in Florida benefit anyone? If fans aren't going to games where the actual school is, who is going to go to a MAC game in Florida?

 

potential recruits? that's the only benefit I could see.

[ZippyRulz]

8 hours ago, zippy5 said:

JFC. Cancel a home game vs an SEC team and then three days later complain about attendance and suggest we play neutral site games in Florida. We are so stupid 

 

 

 

 

 

tarping empty stands is thinking outside the box? ok, Charles..

[clarkwgriswold]

Guthrie's football experience is showing:

Clark College- no football

San Francisco State- no football since 1994

Wisconsin Green Bay-  no football

University of Akron- well....

[zippy5]

How about just play on a Saturday you morons

[dre22era]

I dunno why folks are down by this especially when we can barely beat FCS schools. I'm actually looking forward to this match up 

1. I love going to the shoe 

2. This match up gives us national attention. 

3. Regardless how bad we are we always seem to play our best against power 5 schools. 

4. and I rather we play a power 5 than an mid major the average Joe could care less about and the game be buried on ESPN Plus. 

5. If you are mad we are playing the Buckeyes especially if they are the reigning National Champions I bet you probably have an active AARP Card. 

Edited November 25, 2023 by dre22era

[GoZips88]

On 11/22/2023 at 10:43 AM, Akron1 said:

On a positive note, I discovered the new Akron Zips Football Booster Club.  

 

Might be a good way for some of Zips Nation to have a bigger voice.  Sounds like they are attempting to improve the tailgating, help with NIL's and other important issues.

 

https://www.zipsfootballboosters.com/?fbclid=IwAR247ICw81iCZrtZvc5Ng8GhWh1kTWD8iFa-pX70rjl0qWtNzS2e_wGsuac

 

What is the Akron Zips Football Booster Club (the “Club”)?

Formed on July 1, 2023, the Club is a non-profit, §501(c)(7) social club that endeavors to enhance academics and athletics of the football program at The University of Akron (the “Program”) and provide for networking opportunities for our members.  Your membership fee and your participation in the sponsored events allow us to support the Program at the discretion of the Director of Athletics.

 

 

BOOSTER club?!? Looks like they all just came from a funeral and they know they'll be getting together again soon. Will the next two generations need to pull tables together?

[GoZips88]

Kentucky buyout - Was certainly looking forward to an SEC school coming to Akron but understand taking the big buyout given our situation (crappy team, no butts in seats, GREAT economy). There's a certain amount of pride seeing P5-level schools show up in Akron - Syracuse, Indiana, Virginia Tech, Iowa State ... a feeling of we belong on the same field as those guys and you'll come to our house on occasion to play us. Neutral site games, 3 P5s away and even an FCS supposed victim makes it feel, year after year, like we need to do 'tricks' to survive. Give me Toledo's 2024 schedule all day long. Seems to say they have some respect for themselves and are above 'that.' Funny how they seem to go bowling every year too (I know ... that doesn't matter and schools lose $ ... then why do any schools even bother ...).

 

Adding tosu - What GOOD does that game do for The University of Akron brand?!? We get our asses handed to us and make ourselves laughingstock for Akron-grad and other tosu honks at the same time! Far less impact if we get beaten by another P5 school outside of Ohio while taking a payday. Can't wait for family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to drag AKRON's name through the mud yet again next year. TERRIBLE move, Guthrie. 

 

$ going to stadium/progrum improvements - Bought one season ticket this year after a long hiatus. Attended one game and won't be back until we're at least competitive again in the lowly MAC AND the game-day focus/experience is on the game itself instead of everything else between plays. NO WAY I'm going to try to get two words to in somehow to the people I'm with before the sound system blares again. I'll have family and friends over for food and big screen TV before I put myself through that lousy experience again.

 

Tarping - ESPN and CBSSN generally do a decent job of keeping camera angles tight. Nothing says "We KNOW people don't and won't attend our games." more than tarping large sections of a stadium off. Compared to many other stadiums across the country, ours is beautiful and just begs for something on the field to return butts to seats. Don't hide YOUR embarrassment under a tarp, Guthrie. 

 

More scheduling - Is it REALLY that hard for the MAC to schedule rivalry games when weather is decent and on a SATURDAY?!? The ESPN/CBSSCN baloney sandwiches on Tuesday and Wednesday nights in November just suck but, hey, we do what the 'fancy man' tells us to do. #MACTION!

 

Can we just get some DECENT pitch-and-catch football? Thanks to streaming, I can watch almost all if not all games around the country any given week and I have. It's a pleasure to watch teams like SMU, Troy, UTSA, Memphis, Liberty, Western Kentucky, App State, James Madison, Wyoming, Fresno State, South Alabama and even Jacksonville State. They may not win every game but damn near every game is at least watchable/entertaining and reasonably fundamental. 

[Spin]

12 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

potential recruits? that's the only benefit I could see.

Or the opposite. “Hey, it’s not 10’ and snowing here. I want to transfer.”

[Reslife4Life]

12 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

tarping empty stands is thinking outside the box? ok, Charles..

And one of the tarps is the UA Alumni Association! Wouldn’t the whole point of these to be to get money from sponsors? 
It looks to me Charles has completely dropped the ball on corporate sponsorship in venue. Crystal Clinic is gone from everything even the JAR scoreboard, the ads on the Infocision scoreboard look like they have been there since 2009, total lack of in game promotions, etc. This is how you make money, especially lower tier athletics. 

[Spin]

“I love going to the shoe”

 

you have 6 chances a season. And probably one or two chances at seeing a close game.
 

“This match up gives us national attention. “

 

All bad. “Let’s see if OSU can score 70 on them this year LOL!!!”
 

“and I rather we play a power 5 than an mid major the average Joe could care less about and the game be buried on ESPN Plus. “

I had a LOT more fun watching the Akron Rubberducks win the Eastern League Championship a couple years ago than watching them get smeared by a Major League franchise with a $350,000,000.00 payroll.

 

“If you are mad we are playing the Buckeyes especially if they are the reigning National Champions I bet you probably have an active AARP Card. “

Nope. Just want to see my team play in competitive games.

[zippy5]

10 hours ago, dre22era said:

I dunno why folks are down by this especially when we can barely beat FCS schools. I'm actually looking forward to this match up 

1. I love going to the shoe 

2. This match up gives us national attention. 

3. Regardless how bad we are we always seem to play our best against power 5 schools. 

4. and I rather we play a power 5 than an mid major the average Joe could care less about and the game be buried on ESPN Plus. 

5. If you are mad we are playing the Buckeyes especially if they are the reigning National Champions I bet you probably have an active AARP Card. 

Kentucky isn't power 5?

[Ham]

Kentucky is not in the mix for a shot at the national championship.  I would love to talk to a recriut (HS, JUCO, or transfer)

about the chance to go up against the best.  If that prospect shy's away from that oportunity, it might be time to move on.  What is the difference between a 3-star and a 4-star?  The 4 is committed to one of the big boys.  We can give the 3 a chance to PLAY 4 years and show he was 4 star material.

[Lee Adams]

On 11/22/2023 at 12:32 PM, KangarooJake said:

Toledo fans for a while were bragging about high tailing to the Big East around '05 '06 if I remember correctly. Similarily, NIU fans were "rumored to be joining the Big 12"

 

Aren't they sure glad they didn't? Exhibit A: Cincinatti, something I think all of us saw coming. UC is 3-8 and Akron is 2-9. 

 

Another thing, who would honestly take Toledo? Let's be real. Big Ten? Big Twelve even? Doubtful at best.

American Conference. Comparing Cincy's record given its competition to Akron's record given its competition is well, the old apples and oranges thing. When was the last time Akron beat Toledo?