Zips OC Promotion

[kreed5120]

4 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

I don't think it will be rigged but it opens up all kinds of possibilities for future ticket holder contests and celebrity in-game involvement.

 

 

Yes, unless they got carried away and bought like a 1,000 tickets, the odds of them winning are going to be insanely low. I actually think someone from Barstool winning is more likely as they're degenerates and have a much larger staff.

 

Big Cat bought 8 and said he was thinking of buying more. Someone like Dave Portney I could easily see buying a chunk. I wouldn't be surprised if the company employees as a whole bought 200 or so.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 minute ago, kreed5120 said:

 

Yes, unless they got carried away and bought like a 1,000 tickets, the odds of them winning are going to be insanely low. I actually think someone from Barstool winning is more likely as they're degenerates and have a much larger staff.

 

Big Cat bought 8 and said he was thinking of buying more. Someone like Dave Portney I could easily see buying a chunk. I wouldn't be surprised if the company employees as a whole bought 200 or so.

 

 

[kreed5120]

5 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

 

This landing a jersey patch deal would be insane. I think that would make us the first in the MAC. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

13 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

This landing a jersey patch deal would be insane. I think that would make us the first in the MAC. 

 

I believe you're correct and the revenue from that would be substantial. P4s are getting 8 figures I believe, so Akron would be high 6 figures at the very least, if not 7 figures I'd have to imagine?

[kreed5120]

Just now, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

I believe you're correct and the revenue from that would be substantial. P4s are getting 8 figures I believe, so Akron would be high 6 figures at the very least, if not 7 figures I'd have to imagine?

 

I would guess $300K-$500K/yr based off what other G5 programs have signed. New Mexico State, which is kind of comparable to Akron in regards to having a fairly high level basketball program, but historically not great football signed a 3 year $1.05 million. 

 

Time will tell.

[ZippyRulz]

If one of these media persons would win it's hard telling what they would try to do with the play calling but JoeMo had better let them do it or there could be some highly publicized blowback. Also, if one of them wins, people might assume it *was* rigged. Dr. G might want to put a bit of thought into how the drawing is managed.

 

 

 

Edited August 7 by ZippyRulz

[LZIp]

Feels really good to have some positive vibes around the program for once. Here’s to hoping we can keep the momentum going.

[csims0917]

It's a stark contrast from last year. The turn around has been outstanding

[Let'sGoZips94]

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Putting the cart quite a bit ahead of the horse here, but if we make a bowl game, do another drawing to have the opening drive of that game scripted by a fan, too. 

 

Not sure if it's too early, but incorporate sales for 2027. 

Edited August 7 by Let'sGoZips94

[kreed5120]

21 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

If one of these media persons would win it's hard telling what they would try to do with the play calling but JoeMo had better let them do it or there could be some highly publicized blowback. Also, if one of them wins, people might assume it *was* rigged. Dr. G might want to put a bit of thought into how the drawing is managed.

 

I don't think it should be rigged. I also don't think they should make one of them a co-coordinator as that takes away from the real winner.

 

They should do what they can to get them to campus. Whether that be having the press conference live on one of their podcasts or whatever. One would think interviewing the winner before or after the game to talk about the experience would be decent content for them. 

[ZippyDoo]

this guy is off the hook....

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

 

 

[Zippy87]

Rigging it for a celebrity or influencer would ruin it, IMO. If they win, they win, but only if it is legitimate. There are a number of ways to run a public raffle to ensure transparency. But they also probably have to be careful to not have someone with any baggage walking around on their sideline in Zips gear. I was pretty stunned they even posted about Dakich. 

 

They probably want to vet the winner, but it also has to at least appear legitimate. 

[kreed5120]

Jon Gruden is entering the sweepstakes.

 

https://x.com/i/status/2086203296415428906

[exit322]

On 8/7/2026 at 1:45 PM, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Putting the cart quite a bit ahead of the horse here, but if we make a bowl game, do another drawing to have the opening drive of that game scripted by a fan, too. 

 

Not sure if it's too early, but incorporate sales for 2027. 

Seems like the sort of thing you could see them do for the Pop Tart Bowl too, given how screwy that thing has become.

[Let'sGoZips94]

Call us Pitbull cause we're Mr. Worldwide.

[Let'sGoZips94]

23 minutes ago, exit322 said:

Seems like the sort of thing you could see them do for the Pop Tart Bowl too, given how screwy that thing has become.

 

I tweeted that idea to the AD yesterday and he replied that it's being added to the white board and under serious consideration. Goodrich rocks. 

[ZippyRulz]

They really need to hire Ernst and Young to oversee this contest but my guess is the winner will be someone like Mrs. Mildred Wigglesworth from North Hill who buys season tickets to watch her great grandson Johnny march in the band and wonders why this coordinator person has to be so offensive.

Edited Sunday at 02:33 PM by ZippyRulz

[Hilltopper]

9 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

They really need to hire Ernst and Young to oversee this contest but my guess is the winner will be someone like Mrs. Mildred Wigglesworth from North Hill who buys season tickets to watch her great grandson Johnny march in the band and wonders why this coordinator person has to be so offensive.

Hall of Fame worthy post!

[kreed5120]

If Robert Morris was smart they would have countered with a promotion allowing a season ticket holder to serve as honorary defensive coordinator for the first drive. Benefit would include travel and hotel stay with team.

[roopride]

We need to start a Jon Gruden fund. Offer to buy the rights from whomever wins. We  donate to Gruden. 

[lance99]

On 8/8/2026 at 5:37 PM, kreed5120 said:

Jon Gruden is entering the sweepstakes.

 

https://x.com/i/status/2086203296415428906

I am not sure if I want Chucky even remotely close to this.....

Edited Sunday at 10:04 PM by lance99

[GP2]

Article about this in the Athletic

 

One lucky Akron football season-ticket holder will get to call plays for the opening drive of a college football game. Really. Sort of. Which is a nice reminder of why we love this dumb sport.

 

It’s a pure publicity stunt. Old-school, huckster carnival barking.

 

On Aug. 4, the Akron Zips football program announced a promotion in which every season-ticket holder is entered into a raffle; the top prize is the chance to script play calls for the first offensive possession of Akron’s home opener against Robert Morris on Sept. 12. The winner, announced on Aug. 19, will get to spend two days hanging around practice and team meetings ahead of the game and consult head coach Joe Moorhead on the first 10-15 plays. The school dubbed it “Offensive Coordinator of the Game.”

 

Akron’s athletic director hatched the idea. A briefly reluctant Moorhead — once an SEC head coach at Mississippi State and offensive coordinator at Oregon — warmed up to and ultimately encouraged it. Brainstorming ways to generate excitement and ticket sales for a traditionally disappointing football program will turn a Zips fan’s armchair quarterback dreams into reality. Or it might not even be a Zips fan. The promotion’s spawned enough broader interest that the winner could be a Robert Morris troll or podcast host.

 

Either way, it worked. It’s early August, only weeks away from kicking off the season, and college football diehards are talking about Akron.

It’s why college football is special.

Athletic director Andrew Goodrich had the idea to have a fan script the team's opening offensive plays. It's led to a historic ticket surge.
For such a buzzy promotion, it’s pretty low stakes. Robert Morris is an FCS opponent, and Akron itself is a humble Mid-American Conference squad, one most fans only watch in midweek MACtion or blowout losses against the Big Ten. Moorhead promised he won’t “let the circus roll into town” and will retain final say over the actual play calls. Akron is simply selling the experience. The sizzle.

 

But it’s not zero stakes, either. The Zips have one of the smallest annual football budgets in FBS, yet it is still about $8 million. While that may pale in comparison to Ohio State pouring more than $100 million into football this season just two hours down the road, it’s a significant line item for a public university. Plenty of jobs and livelihoods are at stake within the Akron football program, and it’s still electing to pass the sticks to Joe Sports Fan for a few plays.

 

That quirky fanaticism could only exist in this sport. The NFL and its professional counterparts would never allow it. Minor league baseball does it all the time, but no one actually cares about the wins and losses. College football is wonky enough to go for it and prominent enough for it to resonate. The Zips haven’t been to a bowl game in 10 years. They had a winless season more recently than a winning one. It had to try something different to get butts in seats. Still, a week after the Robert Morris game, the same Zips will play at Minnesota, a Big Ten squad with College Football Playoff sleeper potential. The sport really does contain multitudes.

 

“Once the shock value wore away and we discussed some benefits, now you see (the promotion) spoke for itself,” Moorhead told The Athletic.

 

It also comes at a welcome moment in the sport’s trajectory, when a bunch of not-so-fun nonsense is dragging things down. So much attention on college football is fixated off the field, or on an increasingly uncertain future. Congressional legislation and eligibility lawsuits. Transfer portal tampering. A head coach leaving his team in the midst of a Playoff run. Needless CFP expansion debates and Super League chatter.

 

Then suddenly, the very same sport that takes itself too seriously reminds us that the fun, dumb stuff is what we love about it. An anthropomorphic Pop-Tart toasting itself. A winning coach getting dunked with a tub of Duke’s mayo. Pitbull partnering with FIU. Turnover chainsaws in Corvallis, the Sooner Schooner in Norman and Jump Around in Madison.

 

Akron gave us a nice pop of flavor to cut through the glut of court battles.

 

A one-off Akron football promotion won’t solve all of college football’s issues. The sport’s future remains murky. But at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Sept. 12, the Zips play the Colonials on ESPN+. I’ll be watching.

[zippy5]

It's great. It's died down a bit, and will pick up again next week when they select the winner, then will die down again and pick up around gameday time. This is like 6 weeks of publicity for us