The Rubber Bowl

[UA1987]

As we appraoch the final season at the Rubber Bowl, I thought it might be interesting to hear some of the Zipsnation's experiances at the Bowl.Here are some of mine:The Good: 1987 - my first Akron football game and it was a total sellout (35,000). Crazed fans held their hands up for the 'Wave' that swept around the stadium for most of the game. It was Can't vs Akron, with Glen Mason at the helm for Can't State and Gerry Faust leading Akron. This was a hard hitting close contest, but Akron only had @60 scholarships as we were trying to load up in our first year in Division IA. Can't won that day, but we knocked their QB out for the game (some say it was a late hit). Glen Mason went on to coach Kansas after he took Can't State out to their house and beat them that year.The Bad: Could it be the Fumblerooski loss to Arkansas State, the 0-10 meeting between winless Ohio and Akron, or the blowing rainy loss to 0-6 Army... take your pick.The Ugly: Yes the stinking bathrooms... but I prefer to tell you about a late November game that I attended in the 1990's. I don't remember the exact year or opponent, but I remember walking out after the game, in a cold rain, to see an empty parking lot except for one old motor home parked right next to a homemade looking sign that that said 'Tailgate City'. I wish I had my camera.

[Bleacher Bum]

The Good: Tailgating! God I'm gonna miss tailgating in front of the blimp hangar backdrop and cranking the "Top Gun Anthem" and "Highway to the Danger Zone" every time a plane comes in to land.Another Good: Beating Can't in 2005 to seal the MAC East title in blizzard conditions on Thanksgiving Day. Me and Can't fan were on ESPNU because we got into a snowball fight high in the bleachers. I also vividly remember plastering their mascot with snowballs.The Bad: Gonna have to agree and say the Army game from a couple of years back. Another Bad: This is technically a good for everyone else that was there... The game (I don't remember who against) when Swiger kicked the game winner after the Zips trailed by double digits most of the game. My brother was sick with the flu and wanted to go home early since Akron was getting their butts kicked. The game was on ESPN2 and I remember getting back home and pounding on his door while he slept that Akron was about to kick the game winning field goal. Man, I was PISSED!The Ugly: Gonna have to agree here and say the bathrooms as well. Even though I will be dragging a trough out of the Bowl on November 13.

[bigham78]

The Good: Tailgating! God I'm gonna miss tailgating in front of the blimp hangar backdrop and cranking the "Top Gun Anthem" and "Highway to the Danger Zone" every time a plane comes in to land.Another Good: Beating Can't in 2005 to seal the MAC East title in blizzard conditions on Thanksgiving Day. Me and Can't fan were on ESPNU because we got into a snowball fight high in the bleachers. I also vividly remember plastering their mascot with snowballs.The Bad: Gonna have to agree and say the Army game from a couple of years back. Another Bad: This is technically a good for everyone else that was there... The game (I don't remember who against) when Swiger kicked the game winner after the Zips trailed by double digits most of the game. My brother was sick with the flu and wanted to go home early since Akron was getting their butts kicked. The game was on ESPN2 and I remember getting back home and pounding on his door while he slept that Akron was about to kick the game winning field goal. Man, I was PISSED!The Ugly: Gonna have to agree here and say the bathrooms as well. Even though I will be dragging a trough out of the Bowl on November 13.

Please take a hazmat suit if you plan on ripping out one of the Rubber Bowl troughs. :blink:

[bobbyake]

I'm worried the new stadium might be the end of all the tailgating fun. Are we suppose to tailgate in the parking deck? It would be nice if they bulldozed the Plasma center and turned that area into parking.

[zippyrifle32]

I'm worried the new stadium might be the end of all the tailgating fun. Are we suppose to tailgate in the parking deck? It would be nice if they bulldozed the Plasma center and turned that area into parking.

you and your vendetta against the plasma center...

[g-mann17]

I'm worried the new stadium might be the end of all the tailgating fun. Are we suppose to tailgate in the parking deck? It would be nice if they bulldozed the Plasma center and turned that area into parking.

It's called an "outdoor living room" for a reason.

[Zipsrifle]

I believe that the existing parking lots can be used for tailgating and rumor has it that open containers will be tolerated. I know where I'm going...Shrank South. I don't think I can swing the cost of tailgating by the stadium.

[GoZips88]

Good: Any win over Can't State or OU. Acme-Zip games with my mom and a packed house ... too far and few in between. Warm fall days or nights watching the bugs swarm around the crappy lights and planes making their approaches for landing. Parachute jumpers delivering the game ball (one guy hurt his leg on a hard landing if I remember correctly; I don't think they cared much for the light poles either). ANY game that wasn't against a I-AA opponent. The windy game against Virginia Tech. Catching the Simon and Garfunkel concert back in '83 from the 50-yard line halfway up on the home side. The UA band marching through the open end of the stadium onto the field playing the fight song. Not being able to make the Army game. Making and throwing paper airplanes.Bad: Cracked/broken seats. Crumbling concrete. Losing the lead and game against Marshall a few years back. So few people showing up for games you could almost sit there and count them. Ugly: TROUGHS! (A variety of sizes to choose from!)

[johnnyzip84]

Good: Alcorn's game winning FG (56 YD?) against Too-lee-doo, BEATING Marshall on their last two trips (including the chance to talk to Jason Taylor on the sidelines with my youngest and his friend), MAC East clinching Snow Bowl over Can't, Thursday Night ESPN game against Murray St. (Cowboy Cheerleaders amd Gerry's Kids), trouncing Cincinnati 31-0 in 1989 (think how shocking THAT score would look in 2008), 3 OT 65-62 win over EMU, hanging tough with Va Tech on defense and special teams play alone, and anytime Narducci's Penguins visited.Bad: Losing 17-0 in pouring rain to Middle Tennessee in a game in which UA could have secured their 1st (and only) OVC crown, getting BLOWN OUT by DELAWARE STATE (NOT Delaware!!!), Schifino dropping probable 1st down pass against Marshall late in the game to set up Herd rally in 2000, blowing lead to UConn the week before, opening loss to Can't in 2003, blowing lead to Temple last year, and anytime Tressel's Penguins visited.Ugly: Loser Bowl in 1994 against OU (at least we won!), Faust premiere against Salem (though Salem QB Jimbo Fisher DID manage to distinguish himself after this 35-0 loss to the Zippers), the "Black Hole" closed end zone, the ubiquitous troughs/light poles, and HS playoff games (particularly involving Massillon or McKinley or both) usually out-drawing the Zips.

[bigham78]

I said it before. There are plenty of places to tailgate near the new stadium. I’ve been to dozens and dozens of college campus across the nation and I can tell you, there are no colleges out there that have acres and acres of open parking adjacent to their stadiums. Just take at look at Ohio St, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan St just to name a few nearby. They don’t have acres and acres of land available next to their stadiums for tailgating. But, they all have great game day experiences for home college games. Georgia fans have to take shuttles from remote parking lots and Georgia Tech is located in Midtown Atlanta requiring you park all over the campus and both of them have great game day experiences for home games. U of A will be great on game days once the stadium is there on campus. But, for goodness sake please stop whinnying about wide open adjacent parking that most colleges don’t have. But, they all seem to have great tailgating anyway.

[Z-P]

I'm more newbie than most of you catz.............Bad..........Army, hands down.Good..............the Byron Leftwich injury game.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The good: The abundance of alcohol.The bad: All too often, the football.The Ugly: The visiting K.e.n.t. fans.

[Dr Z]

The Good: Getting to watch Taylor, Alcorn, Frye, Smith, Derr, Schifino, Hixon, Payne etc.....(too many to list, you get the idea)The Bad: Our schedule hasn't been conducive to good tailgating (not enough early home games & bad weather)The Ugly: Watching the Zips try to play defense over the collective years I have been watching. (and the concessions)

[bigham78]

The Good: This is the Rubber Bowl last season The bad: I won't be able to throw the switch to blow the place up. The ugly: See The Bad.

[zip81]

The good:I forget the year, but we beat Toledo with a 50 + yard field goal in the final seconds of the game. I met the holder for that kick at the Bowling Green tailgate last year in BG.Broadcasting the City Series double headers on WAUP in the late 70's. Who could forget South v. Buchtel, affectionately called the "Soul Bowl."The Acme-Zips game when it was a true community event that packed the bowl year after year.The 1976 Pioneer Bowl team. Watching the AAA championship game with my dad in 1972 as Warren Western Reserve wins the state against Youngstown Cardinal Mooney.Any win over those egg-sucking morons in Can't.Playing Intramural flag football on the old Astro Turf. The bad:The 1973 Falls High-St. V game when the Refs ripped us off with a bad clipping penalty allowing the Irish to beat the Black Tigers. Boooo Booooo.Broadcasting an Akron North-East game in 1978 when a fog rolls in to the Bowl...couldn't see a thing from the press box, but had to call the action (or fiction).The toilets. Who decided to paint over the pipes and urinals anyway????? The way the Bowl looks now. It's a freaken embarrassment with the end-zone covers and those speakers on the scoreboard.

[johnnyzip84]

The good:I forget the year, but we beat Toledo with a 50 + yard field goal in the final seconds of the game. I met the holder for that kick at the Bowling Green tailgate last year in BG.Broadcasting the City Series double headers on WAUP in the late 70's. Who could forget South v. Buchtel, affectionately called the "Soul Bowl."The Acme-Zips game when it was a true community event that packed the bowl year after year.The 1976 Pioneer Bowl team. Watching the AAA championship game with my dad in 1972 as Warren Western Reserve wins the state against Youngstown Cardinal Mooney.Any win over those egg-sucking morons in Can't.Playing Intramural flag football on the old Astro Turf. The bad:The 1973 Falls High-St. V game when the Refs ripped us off with a bad clipping penalty allowing the Irish to beat the Black Tigers. Boooo Booooo.Broadcasting an Akron North-East game in 1978 when a fog rolls in to the Bowl...couldn't see a thing from the press box, but had to call the action (or fiction).The toilets. Who decided to paint over the pipes and urinals anyway????? The way the Bowl looks now. It's a freaken embarrassment with the end-zone covers and those speakers on the scoreboard.

Excellent list, zip81! I had forgotten how much fun those intramural games were there

[GP1]

The Good: The Alcorn fieldgoal to beat Toledo. Great moment for the team and the fans as they rushed the field.The Good Honorable Mention: I forget the year and the score, but Derr kicked a game winning FG in a track meet of a game vs. EMU (I think). I love high scoring games and I could have watched that game all night.The Bad: The scoreboard with multiple lights out on it in game one of the season.The Really Bad: The refs field microphones that never seem to work. Couldn't they send an intern out there every Friday to test it before the game?The Ugly: Delaware St. 52-UofA 27 (not sure that was the exact score). Delaware State had three interceptions for touchdowns and they blocked a punt in the end zone for a TD. We had a much better team that was "debacled" (word invented by Emmitt Smith) by Delaware State. That game must have lasted four hours.Worst Prediction Ending In A Humorous Manner: The guy who is GP1 telling a teammate on the team bus going to the RB before the Delaware State game, "These guys aren't very good. If we get a lead, they will fold like a house of cards. We will win big" In the fourth quarter, teammate responds, "So much for that house of cards Einstein."

[GP1]

For those of you not old enough to remember, the Rubber Bowl used to have dugouts on both sides that went below field level. You can see the top of them in this picture. Years ago, the demolished the dugouts and somehow filled them in.

[bigham78]

For those of you not old enough to remember, the Rubber Bowl used to have dugouts on both sides that went below field level. You can see the top of them in this picture. Years ago, the demolished the dugouts and somehow filled them in.

I not only remember the dugouts. I remember the old scoreboard that was inside the arch. They used spell out the names for HS and Akron U and their opponents. The game clock had the minutes in the middle and an actual second hand. I remember when they use to use the tunnel up by the Rubber Bowl sign atop the Bowl. The HS bands would park and march in through the tunnel. They did that until the early 1970's before changing to coming through the gates. How that for dating myself?

[Z-P]

Some of these posts really touch me.If you look way back to the 70's say...............was there a moment in time where UA could have pushed up to be big time and just missed the opportunity? I mean in your opinions. It sounds like the pulse was much stronger way back then,

[bigham78]

Some of these posts really touch me.If you look way back to the 70's say...............was there a moment in time where UA could have pushed up to be big time and just missed the opportunity? I mean in your opinions. It sounds like the pulse was much stronger way back then,

One of the years back in the 70's UofA had 36,000 for the Acme Zip Game, 20,000 plus for and close to 20,000 for Youngstown St and decent attendance at the other two home games. IMO, had they spent just a little more monies on the falling down Rubber Bowl, kept a decent product on the field and scheduled a few more afternoon games which is what both and YSU games were that season. They could have built on that season.

[zip81]

Some of these posts really touch me.If you look way back to the 70's say...............was there a moment in time where UA could have pushed up to be big time and just missed the opportunity? I mean in your opinions. It sounds like the pulse was much stronger way back then,

I think that moment was 1985 when Gerry Faust became head coach. It was the University's first statement in going big time. Faust had sites on making Akron a D-I Independent major program, such as Penn St. and Syracuse at the time. He thought Akron could do better than the Mid-American Conference.Two things happened that crushed those plans.1. The move to the major conferences, where all the big-time independents started joining up, thus killing the "independent big time" programs...except for that team in South Bend.2. Faust didn't win.At the news conference announcing he was taking the job, Faust said a major factor in his decision to take the Akron job was the stadium.Akron had the enrollment, the stadium, and now the commitment to go big time.It all flopped with a losing, or at best, .500-win program.Another shoe to drop was Bob Huggins leaving when Akron had to leave the Ohio Valley Conference, and thus the automatic NCAA bid, because football went to I-A. The OVC had, and still may have, a rule that says all members must compete on the same level....that meant I-AA for football.Man, Huggins was pissed.The school struggled to find a basketball conference with an automatic bid. We were going to join the Northeast Conference with such major powers as Marist and the two St. Francis schools. If you would have seen Huggins at that news conference, you would have thought he was at a funeral. We withdrew our membership in the Northeast Conference...had to pay a penalty...because I believe we joined the AMCU-8 with Cleveland State, which was a new conference and was on the waiting list for an automatic bid. I can't remember if we formally joined the AMCU-8 or how many years we played in that before joining the MAC. The AMCU-8 has morphed into a lot of things and I believe most of its members now play in the Horizon League with a lot of the former members of the old Midwestern City Conference with teams like Detroit, Butler and St. Louis.Ah...the memories.

[RootforRoo44]

The good: The abundance of alcohol.The bad: All too often, the football.The Ugly: The visiting K.e.n.t. fans.

AMEN!

[K-Roo]

I believe when we joined the Association of Mid Continent Universities (AMCU) it was known as the Mid Continent or Mid-Con... It is now The Summit League... "The Summit League was known as Association of Mid-Continent Universities (AMCU) from 1982-1989 and Mid-Continent Conference from 1989-2007."The Horizon destroyed the Mid-Con/Summit:Former Members:University of Akron 1990-1992 Mid-American Conference University at Buffalo 1994-1998 Mid-American Conference Central Connecticut State University 1994-1998 Northeast Conference Chicago State University 1994-2006 Independent Cleveland State University 1982-1994 Horizon League Eastern Illinois University 1982-1996 Ohio Valley Conference University of Illinois at Chicago 1982-1994 Horizon League Northeastern Illinois University 1994-1998 Disbanded sports Northern Illinois University 1990-1994 Horizon League University of Northern Iowa 1982-1991 Missouri Valley Conference Missouri State University 1982-1990 Missouri Valley Conference Troy University 1994-1997 Sun Belt University of Wisconsin-Green Bay 1982-1994 Horizon League University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 1993-1994 Horizon League Valparaiso University 1982-2007 Horizon League Wright State University 1991-1994 Horizon League Youngstown State University