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Game 12 (Week 14) vs Toledo - 7pm EST (TV - ESPN2)


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I might be a broken record, haven't caught up with what everyone else is saying.

 

What a win for Joe. For all the crap I've given him, he rightfully shut me up last night. That was hands down his best win at Akron, and outside of a couple poor drives, he coached a great game.

 

Think about what this means for the seniors, after all the heartbreaking close losses they've gone through to be able to get a send off like that at home against a 7-4 Toledo team (who was projected MAC title contenders).

 

Also, for the young kids. This gives them a lot of hope in the off-season. 4-8, with a BRUTAL non-conf schedule. Three conference wins, including beating your archival by 20, and sticking it to a solid Toledo team.

 

I was at the game last night, much like some of you all. You could tell this team wanted that game BAD. Toledo's bench was all huddled on the heated benches, not really caring about what was going on on the field. Akron's sideline was jumping and moving. Seeing the team celebrate on the field for 10+ minutes in the freezing cold, knowing what that means for the seniors is awesome.


Go Zips

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9 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

This game is one to be savored. It's no time to bitch: schedule, coach, AD, Info, etc. Forget it for a while. We won a damn game at the end of a brutal season! The team never quit and we can celebrate that. I realize Toledo handed us the game. Talk about role reversal, we have done that too many times to count. We didn't play that clean of a game, but for now, who cares - we won! I don't know if this will turn the program around. That is to be decided in the off-season as we search for talent and next season as we put that talent on the field. For now, we have hope! Thank you Zips. Thank you seniors.

Perfect sum up. How many games did these seniors watch Akron hand them the game? When Toledo tied it and got the ball back, I thought "man, not THIS game." but they stood their ground. That's TWICE now against EMU and UT, they closed out a hard fought win against, to their credit, decent MAC teams. Progress is progress. With the non-conf schedule next year, I think 6-6, 5-3 is an incredibly realistic goal for the Zips.

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I was at the 2013 game when Bowden's 4-7 Zips showed up and beat Toledo to become 5-7 for the first time in YEARS. You could feel the program was on the upswing, and the next year the Zips went 5-7 again, but with that progressively better win over Pittsburgh and 2015 went 8-5 with the Potato Bowl win at the end of the year. 

 

Feels like there is potential to go in a better direction. 

 

But let's also pump some realistic expectations. College football has irrevocably changed. We shouldn't, as a fanbase, be chasing a No. 25 overall ranking or major win over a major program. Grind out an existence in the MAC. Be competitive. And find a way to a MAC Championship every couple of years. That's what success at Akron would look like.

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It's a little sad that 4 wins is an improvement, but it is.  I believe that was my prediction pre-season as I expected improvement but not huge improvement.  If they can build on this they should be bowl eligible next year.  That had to be high point in an otherwise awful week for Moorhead.

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1 minute ago, morris buttermaker said:

It's always nice to win... but the fact remains the season was a disaster... winning vs Colgate and Kent State almost dont even count... and winning your last game of the yr is too late.

Ok, and swap out Ohio State, Rutgers, and South Carolina for, say UTEP, Marshall and Southern Miss, we'd be in contention for a bowl. Progress is progress. At the beginning of the year, I said Joe has to go at least 4-8, 2-6 MAC. Well, we got 4-8 out of a rather brutal schedule for Akron (BG, Toledo, OU and NIU). 

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56 minutes ago, KangarooJake said:

Ok, and swap out Ohio State, Rutgers, and South Carolina for, say UTEP, Marshall and Southern Miss, we'd be in contention for a bowl. Progress is progress. At the beginning of the year, I said Joe has to go at least 4-8, 2-6 MAC. Well, we got 4-8 out of a rather brutal schedule for Akron (BG, Toledo, OU and NIU). 

It was a rough season but in no way do I view it as a disaster.  They got beat down early and often in the money games but never quit (unlike the ICoach teams).  They were in 7 games this year and won 4 of them which is the most competitive this program has been in 6 years.  A diaster would have been rolling over and quiting on a cold November evening right before the holiday.  They fought all the way to the end.  The question is can they build on this?

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I'll always remember Terry Bowden saying you go from losing big to losing small to winning small and then winning big. 

 

I think this season we went from losing small to winning small. Hopefully we reached a turning point for this program and can use this momentum moving forward. 

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13 hours ago, UAZipster0305 said:

And like you always say, @GP1, it's the MAC, you can count on teams to beat themselves.

 

Toledo beat themselves tonight every bit as much as we beat them, but I will take it.

I looked at the stats and play by play of the game. If I hadn't known the score I would have figured Toledo won. 

A few observations: 1)while Akron didn't have a huge number of yards on the ground Moorehead seemed committed to putting more running plays in the offense. Hope he remembers next season; 2)Finley and Bullock were on the field at the same time a little more. At least created some confusion for the defense; 3) No picks by Finley. Not a great % or yardage, but took care of the ball. No fumbles either. 4) The defense showed up. 'Bent but didn't break'. Gave up a lot of yards, but made plays. Nunnally, is just a beast. Hate to see him go. McCoy, Summers, Lewis in on lots of tackles.

Didn't think Akron would win this one. Ya, Toledo helped. But ya gotta hope that there is some carry over to next season.

Hopefully they can keep some key guys, but some bigger schools are going to come looking. But its hard to predict with a new AD coming in, the portal etc.

Enjoy this one right now.

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3 hours ago, egregiousbob said:

Moorehead describes preseason schedule as "ridiculous and non-sensical."  Not a fan of previous AD, I assume.

 

 

 

 

He was very non committal about being back next year and also threw in a couple jabs about the schedule as well as the budget (“or lack thereof”). My guess is that he is going to have a talk with the President and/or the new AD and demand more for the football budget. This could get interesting. 

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34 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

He was very non committal about being back next year and also threw in a couple jabs about the schedule as well as the budget (“or lack thereof”). My guess is that he is going to have a talk with the President and/or the new AD and demand more for the football budget. This could get interesting. 

He definitely could’ve been more committal, but I took it as more of a pragmatic answer, not like he’d actively look or consider moving on.

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On 11/27/2024 at 9:19 AM, morris buttermaker said:

It's always nice to win... but the fact remains the season was a disaster... winning vs Colgate and Kent State almost dont even count... and winning your last game of the yr is too late.

 

I mean, I'm the debby-downer who thinks the U would be better served getting rid of the football program instead of keeping it, and even I can acknowledge that 4-8 is better than 2-10, 1-11, 0-12. It's a step in the right direction.

 

The days of firing a coach after a down season for a school like Akron should be over. The U has bigger problems than Football (27m deficit) and we cannot afford to keep firing coaches to to try to be "competitive" in a sport that it's literally impossible in 2024 to be competitive in. 

 

If the Zips are 6-6 next year, yes, that would be improvement. Hell, returning to the Bowden Floor of 5-7 would be an improvement.

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23 hours ago, morris buttermaker said:

It's always nice to win... but the fact remains the season was a disaster... winning vs Colgate and Kent State almost dont even count... and winning your last game of the yr is too late.

Do you think OSU, SC, and Rutgers are taking a win off their record?

 

Negative Nannies are real tiring.

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22 hours ago, ZipCat said:

 

I mean, I'm the debby-downer who thinks the U would be better served getting rid of the football program instead of keeping it, and even I can acknowledge that 4-8 is better than 2-10, 1-11, 0-12. It's a step in the right direction.

 

The days of firing a coach after a down season for a school like Akron should be over. The U has bigger problems than Football (27m deficit) and we cannot afford to keep firing coaches to to try to be "competitive" in a sport that it's literally impossible in 2024 to be competitive in. 

 

If the Zips are 6-6 next year, yes, that would be improvement. Hell, returning to the Biden Floor of 5-7 would be an improvement.

 

What is a Biden Floor?

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