Previews, Predictions and Game Thread: Game #10 vs. UMass Tuesday Nov. 4th @ 7pm ("MACTION")

[ZippyDoo]

Not to compare Akron to the University of Pitt NIL money wise, but I know that the back up offensive linemen at Pitt get paid 100k and the starting qb for the season got an NIL deal of 1.8 mil prior to the season.  He is now the backup and will most likely be looking elsewhere come portal time after how well the true freshman is doing.  

I can't imagine what the true freshman is going to get paid to stay there.

 

But this is UMASS...........

 

UMass has allocated a significant NIL budget of approximately $2 million for its 2025 football roster, a figure that is expected to grow to $3 million by 2026. This money is guaranteed and is intended to help the football team compete, with the university making tangible moves to support it. 

Budget: The team had a NIL budget of roughly $2 million for 2025.

Future Projections: The NIL budget is projected to increase to $3 million in 2026.

Funding: This is a guaranteed budget, not just a target, and is a major part of the university's strategy for competing in football.

Comparison: This $2 million budget was noted as being the highest in the MAC conference for 2025. 

 

Just copied that today....

[MangoZip]

15 minutes ago, ZippyDoo said:

Not to compare Akron to the University of Pitt NIL money wise, but I know that the back up offensive linemen at Pitt get paid 100k and the starting qb for the season got an NIL deal of 1.8 mil prior to the season.  He is now the backup and will most likely be looking elsewhere come portal time after how well the true freshman is doing.  

I can't imagine what the true freshman is going to get paid to stay there.

 

But this is UMASS...........

 

UMass has allocated a significant NIL budget of approximately $2 million for its 2025 football roster, a figure that is expected to grow to $3 million by 2026. This money is guaranteed and is intended to help the football team compete, with the university making tangible moves to support it. 

Budget: The team had a NIL budget of roughly $2 million for 2025.

Future Projections: The NIL budget is projected to increase to $3 million in 2026.

Funding: This is a guaranteed budget, not just a target, and is a major part of the university's strategy for competing in football.

Comparison: This $2 million budget was noted as being the highest in the MAC conference for 2025. 

 

Just copied that today....

Wow, that’s amazing. They will not be a MAC doormat for long if those numbers are correct. As far as I know Akron has zero NIL money. Makes you wonder how they distribute that? I assume that QB’s would get the biggest share of the pie but are all starters getting something? Just for the sake of argument if you are dividing that among 22 starters that’s over $90,000 per kid. Is that paid annually? 

[exit322]

26 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

Wow, that’s amazing. They will not be a MAC doormat for long if those numbers are correct. As far as I know Akron has zero NIL money. Makes you wonder how they distribute that? I assume that QB’s would get the biggest share of the pie but are all starters getting something? Just for the sake of argument if you are dividing that among 22 starters that’s over $90,000 per kid. Is that paid annually? 

Oh Akron doesn't have much trouble distributing the $0.

[AkronAlumnus]

31 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

 As far as I know Akron has zero NIL money. 

For what it's worth, and it might have always been this way, but the Fear the Roo Collective has an option to contribute to football. 

[LZIp]

1 hour ago, ZippyDoo said:

Not to compare Akron to the University of Pitt NIL money wise, but I know that the back up offensive linemen at Pitt get paid 100k and the starting qb for the season got an NIL deal of 1.8 mil prior to the season.  He is now the backup and will most likely be looking elsewhere come portal time after how well the true freshman is doing.  

I can't imagine what the true freshman is going to get paid to stay there.

 

But this is UMASS...........

 

UMass has allocated a significant NIL budget of approximately $2 million for its 2025 football roster, a figure that is expected to grow to $3 million by 2026. This money is guaranteed and is intended to help the football team compete, with the university making tangible moves to support it. 

Budget: The team had a NIL budget of roughly $2 million for 2025.

Future Projections: The NIL budget is projected to increase to $3 million in 2026.

Funding: This is a guaranteed budget, not just a target, and is a major part of the university's strategy for competing in football.

Comparison: This $2 million budget was noted as being the highest in the MAC conference for 2025. 

 

Just copied that today....

Imagine having the biggest NIL budget in the conference and having by far the worst team. Oof

[kreed5120]

7 hours ago, ZippyDoo said:

Not to compare Akron to the University of Pitt NIL money wise, but I know that the back up offensive linemen at Pitt get paid 100k and the starting qb for the season got an NIL deal of 1.8 mil prior to the season.  He is now the backup and will most likely be looking elsewhere come portal time after how well the true freshman is doing.  

I can't imagine what the true freshman is going to get paid to stay there.

 

But this is UMASS...........

 

UMass has allocated a significant NIL budget of approximately $2 million for its 2025 football roster, a figure that is expected to grow to $3 million by 2026. This money is guaranteed and is intended to help the football team compete, with the university making tangible moves to support it. 

Budget: The team had a NIL budget of roughly $2 million for 2025.

Future Projections: The NIL budget is projected to increase to $3 million in 2026.

Funding: This is a guaranteed budget, not just a target, and is a major part of the university's strategy for competing in football.

Comparison: This $2 million budget was noted as being the highest in the MAC conference for 2025. 

 

Just copied that today....

UMass also just hired the AD from Rhode Island to be their 2nd AD for them. They're pretty much paying him ~$380k to just oversee football operations. Their current AD will oversee the other sports. They're very much stepping up financially to try to compete on the field.

 

Hopefully the UMass football coach is as inefficient at spending his war chest of money as Frank Martin has been with his.

Edited 16 hours ago by kreed5120

[kreed5120]

7 hours ago, MangoZip said:

Wow, that’s amazing. They will not be a MAC doormat for long if those numbers are correct. As far as I know Akron has zero NIL money. Makes you wonder how they distribute that? I assume that QB’s would get the biggest share of the pie but are all starters getting something? Just for the sake of argument if you are dividing that among 22 starters that’s over $90,000 per kid. Is that paid annually? 

 

Akron football definitely has some amount of money. Bud helped setup their NIL a year and a half ago. He talked about it in an interview. It's just a very small amount they have, perhaps smallest in the MAC.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Now that the NCAA allows schools to pay players directly Akron needs to schedule 3 P5 paycheck games a year. Take half the money collected from games 2 and 3 and invest it in the roster. That would generate an additional $1M-$1.5M in NIL. The MAC is garbage. We can go 1-3 in OOC play and still go 5-3 to make a bowl as can be seen this year.

[Captain Kangaroo]

7 hours ago, ZippyDoo said:

Not to compare Akron to the University of Pitt NIL money wise, but I know that the back up offensive linemen at Pitt get paid 100k and the starting qb for the season got an NIL deal of 1.8 mil prior to the season.  He is now the backup and will most likely be looking elsewhere come portal time after how well the true freshman is doing.  

I can't imagine what the true freshman is going to get paid to stay there.

 

But this is UMASS...........

 

UMass has allocated a significant NIL budget of approximately $2 million for its 2025 football roster, a figure that is expected to grow to $3 million by 2026. This money is guaranteed and is intended to help the football team compete, with the university making tangible moves to support it. 

Budget: The team had a NIL budget of roughly $2 million for 2025.

Future Projections: The NIL budget is projected to increase to $3 million in 2026.

Funding: This is a guaranteed budget, not just a target, and is a major part of the university's strategy for competing in football.

Comparison: This $2 million budget was noted as being the highest in the MAC conference for 2025. 

 

Just copied that today....

Give @Hilltopper and @clarkwgriswold a 2 million dollar accordion and tell me how melodic the tunes are when they squeeze it.

 

Getting 2 million dollars in NIL money can be easy. Finding players that are worth a damn is a different story. The Mets had a massive payroll and stink this year. The Browns threw a bajillon dollars at a QB who couldn’t possibly have had more red flags. 

 

The Zips have gone 0-11 when they were playing with the same budget as the other MAC programs. Today we’re actually better than some teams that are outspending us.

 

Joe is looking at a very realistic 6-6 season, where he’s had an on/off trading table to feed his Division 1 athletes, he was not allowed to travel and recruit this spring, he lost his on-line recruiting subscriptions, has the smallest staff and budget in D-1, allowed 25% fewer practices than his competition…one could argue this season is as miraculous as any in Zips history.

 

This staff is here because they believe in Akron. Brookhart’s kids were born here. Moorhead is from less than 2 hours away and really values being close to family over a fat contract. Ferri is a local guy who loves being back in NE Ohio. Tibesar is a wizard when in comes to scheming to outwit opposing offenses with a random assortment of mercenary talent. 
 

Hope the AD doesn’t blow this and tell Joe he needs to win 7 games or he’s out next year. Support this staff who’s worked miracles in 2025 and see how it plays out. 
 

If we lose to Kent this week I have no problems accepting ridicule. But we won’t. Football is interesting and fun again. Go Zips! 🦘💪🏽

[clarkwgriswold]

9 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Give @Hilltopper and @clarkwgriswold a 2 million dollar accordion and tell me how melodic the tunes are when they squeeze it.

 

 

I could really play a $2,000,000 kazoo or vuvuzela.

[LZIp]

On 11/5/2025 at 11:27 AM, kreed5120 said:

 

Do you really want to see a repeat of our game against FAU? Any average MWC, AAC, or SunBelt team would likely mop the floor with us.

 

Is that the year we got ran off the field by Toledo in Detroit? Going to the MAC championship with some college buddies was a fun experience regardless of result. 
 

We haven’t had much to enjoy being a Zips football fan, so I’ll take what I can get. If either Wyoming or UAB can pull off an upset, they are bowling. Even if not, im not sure they’re that much worse than other middling conference teams, and I think we’re better now.

 

If we lose to the top teams (Miami, Toledo), have a winning record against decent teams (CMU, Buffalo, Ball State), and sweep the floor with the teams we’re supposed to beat, I’d say we’re a good team that deserves to play in a bowl. 

[1981 grad]

I would also like to see us go to a bowl. We have had such a long streak of losing that winning 6 games and going to a bowl is indicative of a successful season.  I hope if we do win 6 we ask the NCAA for an exemption from their ruling we are not bowl eligable and that take them to court if they do not back down.  My understanding is that Michigan is bowl eligable because the people who cheated are no longer with the team and the NCAA felt it was wrong to penalize the current team for misdeeds of the people who are no longer with the team.  Using that logic, Akron should also be bowl eligible.  

[GP1]

14 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Akron football definitely has some amount of money. Bud helped setup their NIL a year and a half ago. He talked about it in an interview. It's just a very small amount they have, perhaps smallest in the MAC.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Now that the NCAA allows schools to pay players directly Akron needs to schedule 3 P5 paycheck games a year. Take half the money collected from games 2 and 3 and invest it in the roster. That would generate an additional $1M-$1.5M in NIL. The MAC is garbage. We can go 1-3 in OOC play and still go 5-3 to make a bowl as can be seen this year.

Id rather proceed with less extreme measures. 

[zippy5]

My sources say we'd get the waiver removed if we get to 6 wins

[1981 grad]

In the 2nd half Mass reminded me of past Akron teams that were totally outmatched at every position and almost every opposing play was a positive one and we would shoot ourselves in the foot when we did make a good play with a stupid penalty.

 

I give the Mass. coach credit.  They finally get a stop in the 2nd half and their defensive back gets a penalty for taunting and Akron keeps the ball.  The coach sent the player to the locker room, do not stop at the bench, do not keep your uniform on, just head to the showers.   How many times did we see stupid personal fouls from Akron players when the team was winless and getting killed.  Taunting when you are 0 and 8 and down by 21 points.  Hit the showers.