A couple things.....

[JP Morgan]

1. I Couldn't be more proud of this team, the staff and the fans. This ship has been turned around and is now moving ahead in leaps and bounds.

2. For the first time in 10 years I saw a Zip team that went into a big game with an expectation to win and the intensity and game plan to do it. These guys played like "big time" college football players!

3. In the end this game came down to the Offensive and Defensive lines in the second half. Miami just seemed to take over the line of scrimmage. Frye had less and less time, and the pass coverage seemed to really tighted up for Miami. I wish I could watch the tapes the coaches have to get a better idea of what was happening downfield.

4. Biggs was great! Moves well laterally and can really turn on the speed when the hole opens up.

5. The game plan put together by JD was awesome! He gave our guys every opportunity to make plays....thats what a good coach does.

6. I will miss Frye, he's just fun to watch. Tonight I really got a glimps of his scrambling ability (unfortunatley). He's one heck of an athlete and l look forward to watching him on Sundays. Thanks Charlie!

I don't know about any bowl prospects. I'm going to assume the season is over. I've read here and other places that there may only be 60 bowl eligible teams for 58 spots. If that's true I'll put my money on us being one of the 2 left out. We just haven't had enough success to shake our persona of being "Akron the losers" and face it, we don't travel well. 2-3 more years of sucess, we might change that.

Congrats to Miami, enoy your division crown but don't get to comfortable at the top! The Zips are on the rise!

[zipboy]

Great post JP. You hit the nail on the head, Akron played with the intensity, confidence, and skill to win the game. Miami was just a little better. But Miami had to win the game. Akron did not lose the game. How many times did the Zips make a play when they looked out? A few breaks here or there and we might have pulled it out. It was like 2 heavyweights going toe to toe for 15 rounds. Miami had a little more depth, and as you said, they have strong lines.

Announced attendance at 17.5K? I thought 3K were in the beer tent alone. I guess it evens out. I put the Marshall attendance at 25K and we announce 30. I put this game at 22 and they announce 17.5. Good days are ahead.

More to write later, but what an effort by the whole team. #5 and all played their hearts out and played well. This is the best that I have ever felt at the end of a season. This team really was the one that has layed the cornerstone for the future of Akron football.

[Zipsrifle]

Prior to the game last night, I was glad the Zips were in the MAC East Championship game, but didn't know if they were necessairly the 2nd best team in the East. After the game, I know we are the 2nd best team in the East. We showed up and played hard. Miami took out Toledo and they are a damn good team. We were fighting Miami tooth and nail.

It is amazing how much progress this team has made this season. IMO, anyone in the MAC could have beaten us at the beginning of the year. We made steady improvement every week to get where we were last night. All the Marshall and OU excuses about not winning if we didn't get the turnovers, well, last night we got what, one turnover? We still ran with Miami and it was our fault we didn't win. Swiger missed a FG, that cuts the final margin to 7. If we can Protect frye and establish a running game, we would have taken this one. But we couldn't, we gave our best, and it was a great game.

I'll tell you what, Miami has some outstanding athletes. When Biggs was open deep late in the game, 5 let it fly and I thought it was for Big(gs) yards easy. Then out of no where, I'm guessing it was the safety, comes flying across to knock the ball away. Their D backs knocked down a lot of passes last night. Didn't see that against the other MAC schools. I was a little pissed at the refs for missing a very obvious pass interference against Jabari and never calling the Miami O-Line for a Hold, but, same old same old. Oh yea, what the hell was the sideline warning. I saw 1/2 of the Miami team on the field at least twice and WE get a sideline warning????

Bottom line, we needed 60 minutes of our A game. We got about 40. Miami was the better team and deserved to win. I credit the steady improvement this season to JD and expect another winning season next year. I am actually not that disappointed about losing last night. I'll elaborate late. Nice season guys.

Go Zips!

[mrelegazna]

I read somewhere that AD Thomas said, in hiring coaches, first looks for recruiting ability, and anyone who has read any kind of profile about Brookhart talking his way onto the Denver Broncos staff and all the other stories knows he can do that.

THIS year, without having much of a chance to recruit, all he has done has taken lemons and made lemonade. I don't know if I've ever seen a gameplan, week in and week out, that so masterfully plays into a team's strengths and downplays its weaknesses.

What I'm getting at is, we know from this year how well he coaches, and yet his tag upon getting hired is how well he sells and recruits. How scary good might we be in a few years? I don't want to put the cart before the horse, but it's hard not be really damn excited. And I think a decisive (8-3? 7-4?) winning record and a bowl game is a VERY realistic hope for NEXT YEAR, even without Frye. Who would bet against what Brookhart can do?

[zipboy]

Amen Brother. JD is the real deal.

[Zipsrifle]

I'm going to get beat up on this one, but I think there were a few positives with the Zips not winning on Sat. (OK some are a little selfish)

I'll get the selfish stuff out of the way first. The only Bowl game I can make it to is the GMAC bowl. For the other Bowls, I already have a X-Mas vacation booked and being as cheap as I am, I'm not going to throw a couple grand away to make it to the Zips first bowl. Honestly, I gave it some thought, but I can't justify it.

My second concern is also selfish, but in a UA sort of way. Honestly, I don't want JD to become the next Urban Meyer. We all know JD is a mover and shaker. He came beating down UA's door when it seems others had to be shown where the door was. If he were to turn this program around too fast, he'll be HOT property with nothing to keep him in Akron. I'm afraid that if the program builds too quick, we'll be good, but won't build up the fan base with the success and if we get a crappy coach afterwards, we'll be in the same position we were last year, good talent, not great coaching.

I'm hoping that it takes JD a little while (3-4 more years) to get this program where it will be contending for the MACC every year. By then, we'll have built up our fan base, hopefully a new stadium under construction, and JD will have a lot of time and effort invested here. Makes it harder for him to leave, easier for UA to give him more money. I think JD is the real deal and I'm thinking long term right now.

[mrelegazna]

Rifle, you put to words a fear that I dared not speak of...how long are we gonna have him for?

The only way I see us losing him after next year is if we go 11-0 or 10-1 or thereabouts, and even I the ever-optimistic don't see THAT happening....so he should have at least two more years with us, and that means two more full years of not only Brookhart, but two more years of his assistants who will be (if they aren't already) big disciples and absolute authorities on the Brookhart way. So if Brookhart leaves, we may not experience too much of a dropoff if we just promote one of his assistants....pretty soon you're talking about a year-after-year run of excellence which has a way of perpetuating itself sometimes, regardless of your coach, once you've made your mark on the national landscape (I hate to say it, but Can't basketball is a good example).

This is all a glass-half-full way of looking at it, but there you are.

[Z-P]

Easy there guys..............you'd better slow waaaaay down.

Our "run" was against the bottom of the entire D1A Universe except for the Freday Night Shocker...........keep that in mind.

Also, (somebody pointed this out in another thread) if we are being looked at for a bowl bid, it's because of 5, not our power rating.............

Don't set yourself up for a big fall by placing too much on the new Staff's Back too early.

Don't "Git Them Undies in a Bundle" just yet..............

[KentZip]

Good advice to slow down.

If the day ever comes that the program has been elevated to perennial MAC powerhouse with bowl bids and a new stadium, Mike Thomas will have the mandate to spend previously unheard of money to keep JD here. Would that keep him from accepting the head coaching job at a larger school? Maybe, maybe not. But don't forget that the money can be a huge equalizer.

[zipboy]

Akron did not have the talent BG had when Myers took over. There is still a long way to go. ZP is right, we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Hopefully Akron builds itself up enough that if and when JD is that hot of a commodity, he may stay longer than expected. Bob Pruett is a great example. He spurned "larger" schools in the past to stay at Marshall. But it would be nice to have a coach leave for once because he was recruited not that we needed to dump him. Is Bob Huggins the only guy you can think of where this was the case?