Wyoming alumnus here with questions

[DCPoke]

Thanks for all the recommendations!  We'll see how it goes.  If all goes well we'll be in the area around 2 p.m., check into our hotel and make our way to the stadium area.  Looking forward to checking out your tailgating scene and meeting some Zips before the game.

[Let'sGoZips94]

18 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Lots of restaurants on the strip & if you want a traditional Akron-area chain find the Rockne's 1 block (ish) west of the strip.  There are a handful of Rockne's around the Akron area & I've never not had great food there.  It's your typical sports bar type of place.  If you like burgers get the Mack-the-Knife Jr. with fries. Unless you're a former offensive lineman you only need to get the junior.

 

I'm ~140-145 lbs and my goal every time I eat at Rockne's is to wolf down a Mack the Knife plus the fries. Someday this will probably catch up with me, but that day is not today. It's very, very good.

 

 

 

@DCPoke Ahead of the game on Thursday:

 

- Welcome to Akron. I hope you have a nice experience. Hopefully the forecasted rain doesn't occur around or during the game. Temperature wise, it should be perfect (low 70s/upper 60s). Echoing previous posts, you cannot go wrong with Rockne's on The Strip in North Canton. 

- Much as you believe this Akron game will be a litmus test for Wyoming's season outlook, Akron fans have the same view for our season. We have been very competitive in the majority of conference games the last 2 seasons, but the wins have eluded us for the most part. We finished last year strong and are hoping to build upon that momentum, especially with a rare returning starting QB in Ben Finley. 

- I know you have nothing to do with this, but thank you to your alma mater for playing at Akron. For our fanbase, seeing a non conference D1 FBS opponent at the Info is like seeing a winning Browns season. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's special. Wyoming is a great opponent and when Akron makes the return trip out to Laramie, I'm hoping to make the trip. 

Edited yesterday at 03:40 PM by Let'sGoZips94

[DCPoke]

On 8/25/2025 at 11:39 AM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I'm ~140-145 lbs and my goal every time I eat at Rockne's is to wolf down a Mack the Knife plus the fries. Someday this will probably catch up with me, but that day is not today. It's very, very good.

 

 

 

@DCPoke Ahead of the game on Thursday:

 

- Welcome to Akron. I hope you have a nice experience. Hopefully the forecasted rain doesn't occur around or during the game. Temperature wise, it should be perfect (low 70s/upper 60s). Echoing previous posts, you cannot go wrong with Rockne's on The Strip in North Canton. 

- Much as you believe this Akron game will be a litmus test for Wyoming's season outlook, Akron fans have the same view for our season. We have been very competitive in the majority of conference games the last 2 seasons, but the wins have eluded us for the most part. We finished last year strong and are hoping to build upon that momentum, especially with a rare returning starting QB in Ben Finley. 

- I know you have nothing to do with this, but thank you to your alma mater for playing at Akron. For our fanbase, seeing a non conference D1 FBS opponent at the Info is like seeing a winning Browns season. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's special. Wyoming is a great opponent and when Akron makes the return trip out to Laramie, I'm hoping to make the trip. 

Wyoming has played a number of MAC teams over the past 20 years.  The games have mostly been competitive and a few real nail biters.  Personally I will have been to three Wyoming vs MAC teams when we get to Akron.  I went to Wyoming at Ohio, Wyoming at Toledo, and now at Akron.

[MangoZip]

3 hours ago, DCPoke said:

Wyoming has played a number of MAC teams over the past 20 years.  The games have mostly been competitive and a few real nail biters.  Personally I will have been to three Wyoming vs MAC teams when we get to Akron.  I went to Wyoming at Ohio, Wyoming at Toledo, and now at Akron.

Hopefully it’s good game. In my opinion, Akron easily has the best stadium in the MAC. Just wish there were more asses in the seats! What is Wyoming’s typical home attendance? 

[DCPoke]

44 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

Hopefully it’s good game. In my opinion, Akron easily has the best stadium in the MAC. Just wish there were more asses in the seats! What is Wyoming’s typical home attendance? 

Usually around 20,000 give or take a couple of thousand either way.  When Wyoming hosted Texas and Nebraska a few years back they added 10,00 temporary seats to handle the Longhorn and Cornhusker faithful.  War Memorial Stadium's capacity has been reduced to 25,000 something, down from 29,000 with the recent renovations.  "The War", as we call it, had a peak of 32,000 seats 20 years ago or so, but the number has steadily been reduced with each renovation.  Given that the State of Wyoming's population is listed at 576,851 according to the 2020 Census, I think they've right sized the War.  UW is the only 4-year institution of higher education in the state so it's facilities are top notch because they don''t have to compete with another state sponsored university.

 

The latest renovations to the "War"

 

Edited 1 hour ago by DCPoke

[GP1]

31 minutes ago, DCPoke said:

Usually around 20,000 give or take a couple of thousand either way.  When Wyoming hosted Texas and Nebraska a few years back they added 10,00 temporary seats to handle the Longhorn and Cornhusker faithful.  War Memorial Stadium's capacity has been reduced to 25,000 something, down from 29,000 with the recent renovations.  "The War", as we call it, had a peak of 32,000 seats 20 years ago or so, but the number has steadily been reduced with each renovation.  Given that the State of Wyoming's population is listed at 576,851 according to the 2020 Census, I think they've right sized the War.  UW is the only 4-year institution of higher education in the state so it's facilities are top notch because they don''t have to compete with another state sponsored university.

 

The latest renovations to the "War"

 

The wife of a guy I work with graduated from UW in the mid 80s and was a cheerleader. She still looks good even though she's lived in the greater Phoenix area since then and has a ton of freckles on her cleavage like aging Arizona women get. In any event, she goes back every year for homecoming and still loves it. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, DCPoke said:

Usually around 20,000 give or take a couple of thousand either way.  When Wyoming hosted Texas and Nebraska a few years back they added 10,00 temporary seats to handle the Longhorn and Cornhusker faithful.  War Memorial Stadium's capacity has been reduced to 25,000 something, down from 29,000 with the recent renovations.  "The War", as we call it, had a peak of 32,000 seats 20 years ago or so, but the number has steadily been reduced with each renovation.  Given that the State of Wyoming's population is listed at 576,851 according to the 2020 Census, I think they've right sized the War.  UW is the only 4-year institution of higher education in the state so it's facilities are top notch because they don''t have to compete with another state sponsored university.

 

The latest renovations to the "War"

 

 

This is the biggest difference between Akron and a school like Wyoming. We have Ohio State less than 2 hours down the road, Cleveland State, Kent State, and Youngstown State all within an hour, and Toledo, Bowling Green, Miami OH, Cincinnati, and Ohio all in the state as public DI universities. This doesn't even include Dayton and Xavier as private but popular institutions in the state as well. The trade off is we have the pro sports - Browns, Cavs, and Guardians - 45 minutes north of Akron, so that's cool. However, all of this takes away from Akron, and it sucks to an extent. 

 

The War looks beautiful (and packed).