Football Season Preview, Part 1: Offense

The season is upon us, ladies and gentlemen. In two short days, you will be able to watch your Akron Zips tremble before the might of the Ohio State Buckeyes on national television. Dare I suggest we see the first major upset of the year with this game? A boy can dream, right?

Let's kick this season off with a preview of...

The offense.

It can't possibly get worse than last year, can it? Out of 120 teams, the Zips ranked 108th in passing offense, 101st in rushing offense, and 118th in points scored. Yeesh.

Quarterback:

This year we have a serious quarterback battle on our hands, folks.

1) Patrick Nicely, a junior, and last year's starter. He struggled under Rob Ianello's new pro-style offense, completing only 49.4% of his passes for 1,753 yards, 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. See those horrible offensive rankings up above? This guy was a huge part of those. Through the first half of the season, Nicely showed everything but the promise of his freshman year. He rarely threw the ball well downfield, and consistently scrambled straight into a defender. Closer to the end of the year, however, he started to look a little more comfortable.

2) Clayton Moore, a JUCO sophomore, originally signed to Ole Miss. He looked a lot more composed than Nicely in the Spring game, but that's hardly a suitable method of identifying who the better quarterback will be.

3) Zach D'Orazio, a freshman that looked equally impressive in the Spring game.

Running Backs:

We will likely see Broderick Alexander carry the ball early on in the season as the only returning running back. His statistics weren't very pretty in 2009 (59 carries at 3.4 yards per carry) and he missed all of 2010 with an Achilles injury. Freshman Jawon Chisholm will almost certainly see some carries as well this year. He ran 14 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the Spring game.

Wide Receivers:

You probably just heard me sigh. Jeremy LaFrance is gone. Jalil Carter is gone. We're left with Antoine Russell (13 REC, 221 YDS, TD), Richard Hall (16 REC, 149 YDS, TD), and a whole bunch of nothing else. Whoever grabs the quarterback spot this year is going to need some serious help.

O-Line:

Jake Anderson and Zac Kasparek return to lead a not-as-terrible-as-every-other-position offensive line. Unfortunately, injuries throughout the Spring have left the rest of the offensive line very thin.

Roo News 8/29/11

It's that time of year again. The Akron Football Zips take to the field on Saturday to take on the *gulp* #18 Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Zips Sports Blog is back in action.

There are a few changes to the blog this year. For starters, since I've graduated from the University of Akron and can't attend all of the games in person, I will no longer be able to cover soccer or volleyball like I have in the past. The good news is that I can cover football and basketball with a little more detail. You can expect a preview and a recap for each televised game this year, and I will do my best to make it to the non-televised games. Last but not least, I will be double-blogging, writing over at Akron Sports Now. Most of my posts will be duplicated there, but not all of them.

A football season preview will be up within the next couple of days, so stay tuned.

Zips Football Preseason Q&A

For those that aren't aware, I was recently involved in a preseason Q&A with College Football Zealots. Check out the full article for more in-depth coverage, but here is the Q&A session itself:

In Ron Ianello's first year, Akron went 1-11 last year including an OT loss to Garner-Webb. What are your overall thoughts on Ianello and what does he need to do better this year?

I'll start by saying I was personally against the firing of previous head coach J.D. Brookhart. The man was a mastermind at adapting to situations (many Zips alumni have set records at positions that they didn't start at). He recruited very well, but he didn't recruit very deep; so when star quarterback Chris Jacquemain was dismissed from the team for an unknown repeat violation, All-MAC wide receiver Deryn Bowser broke a leg, and bruiser runningback Joe Tuzze and backup quarterback Matt Rodgers found themselves in similar situations, there was no possibility of adaptation, resulting in a 3-9 record. However, when the vast majority of the fanbase called for Brookhart's head on a platter, the athletic department was forced to do something.

I had originally thought that Rob Ianello was perfect for the team; he was a Top 25 Recruiter, and came from a solid Notre Dame squad. A lot of the horrid record is a result of a Zips squad that Ianello didn't recruit. Jacquemain, Bowser, and Tuzze, who were almost all of Akron's offense at the beginning of the year before had all graduated. On the other hand, the rest of the record is a result of terrible decision making and ridiculous playcalling; the most questionable was Ianello's decision to go with proven-terrible kicker Igor Iveljic as opposed to promising Sophomore T.J. Marchese. Had Iveljic not shanked twoextra points during the Gardner-Webb game, that spirit-breaking loss would never have happened. Another choice was a switch to a pro-style offense as opposed to the spread being run by Brookhart. In order for a pro-style offense to work, a team needs a quarterback that is comfortable in the pocket and a running back that can run straight up the middle to pick up yards. The Zips had neither of these. In order to improve, Ianello is going to need his recruiting class to fit his offense; and it wouldn't hurt to throw away those 3-yard flat routes during a 3rd and 10.

The Zips scored 15.6 points per game last year which placed them 118th out of 120 teams. Who needs to step up this year on the offensive side of the football to help get this fixed?

To say Sophomore Patrick Nicely was disappointing last year would be an understatement. Injuries and experience from the year before kept him in the top spot, but he was clearly uncomfortable passing in the pocket, and didn't show much improvement throughout the year. He ended the season with 10 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. The good news for the Zips is, somebody is going to step up this year, whether or not it is Patrick Nicely. Zach D'Orazio and junior college transfer Clayton Moore both looked solid throughout Spring practices. Newcomer running backs Jawon Chisholm (14 carries for 142 yards and 2 TDs in the Spring Game) and Marvin Staten also looked great throughout the Spring against a solid Zips linebacking corps, and if they too can step up, we'll see some offense in 2011-2012.

Akron was in the bottom 20 of the Nation for pass defense last year. Who are some newcomers that you think can come in and make an impact on those numbers?

Devonte Morgan and Johnny Robinson, fellow Glenville Tarblooders, are two very promising defensive backs in this year's recruiting class. I don't expect the pass defense to improve much this year, but with a (hopefully) improved offense comes more time of possession and less time the defense spends on the field. If the Zips can start converting some third down plays this year, that alone will improve the pass defense.

Looking at the schedule, what are the most important games this year?

The Zips start the season with three grueling games against Ohio State, Temple, and Cincinnati. Even if all three of those are lost, winning the next three against VMI, Eastern Michigan and FIU would leave them with a 3-3 record and a winning streak to carry them into heavy conference play. The Akron team we saw at the end of last season would do more than hold their own against any of those three teams, so a win in all three isn't much of a stretch for the imagination.

What is the one game on the schedule that the fanbase wants to win the most this year?

Kent State. No question. If you attend a social event on the Akron campus, at some point throughout the night you will hear one person shout the time, and the rest of the room shout back "And Kent State still sucks!" The Battle for the Wagon Wheel is an intense, heated, fairly even rivalry that will make or break a season. Although if you ask some of the Zips fanbase, they'll agree that it would be nice to win a bowl game.

What is your gut feeling on the final record for the 2011 season and what makes the season successful in your eyes?

If the Zips can sweep the three-game streak against VMI, Eastern Michigan and FIU, they can end with a 6-6 record and possibly make a bowl game. If not, they are a 3-9 team. There's no way we'll see another 1-11 season, but the Zips are not yet a contending team under Rob Ianello; there are inexperienced players at every position that are going to be severely tested this year.

Roo News 4/17/11

Football:

Playing under a special scoring format, the Akron Zips offense defeated the defense 82-36 yesterday. It was a little more of a blowout than I expected, but the fact the offense outperformed the defense doesn't surprise me at all. The Zips have never had a shutdown defense, generally allowing the opposition to pick up a few first downs before having them punt it away.

All three quarterbacks played very well:

Last year's disappointing starter Patrick Nicely threw 7-11 for 103 yards. Junior college transfer Clayton Moore was 11-14 for 122 yards with a touchdown, and Zach D'Orazio threw 5-8 for 127 yards and a touchdown.

It looks a tad better for Moore (D'Orazio's yardage is a little misleading; one of his five passes was a 77 yard touchdown) than the others, but Nicely's experience is the most important item on his résumé.

I would point out how great it is that the quarterbacks combined completed 23 of 33 passes for 352 yards and two touchdowns, but we all saw how miserable our pass defense was last year.

Here's some better, less misleading statistics:

Jawon Chisholm (who?) was named the offensive MVP...for his 14 carries, 124 yards, and two rushing touchdowns. Last year's rushing defense wasn't nearly as bad as the secondary, and with the worries over the rushing game, this is very good news. On top of Chisholm, freshman Marvin Staten ran 14 times for 50 yards.

On the defensive side, safety L.T. Smith had 10 tackles, and cornerback Bill Alexander had eight. Last year's team leader in the tackling department, Brian Wagner, only had four; a testament to the performance of the offensive line and running backs.

Men's Soccer:

When did Lee Jackson Field become Cub Cadet Field? I completely missed that one.

The men's soccer team tied Xavier 2-2 yesterday in a Spring Exhibition game at....Cub Cadet....Field. That sounds awful. While we're at it, why don't we rename Jacob's Field to Progressive Field?

The Zips goals were scored courtesy of Darren Mattocks and Scott Caldwell. Mattocks ended the day with four shots and three on goal.

I know these are just exhibition games, but the ties are worrying me. With seven new starters, and the results to date in the Spring schedule, I hold no hope of a repeat championship, and I highly doubt that the team will make it back to the College Cup.

Valparaiso is next up on Wednesday, at 7:30pm, at good old Lee....Cadet Field.

Roo News 3/29/11

Football:

The team has now been through four practices, and play their Spring game on April 16th. According to head coach Rob Ianello, the coaching staff is being smart about how hard they work the limited number of both offensive and defensive linemen.

Men's Soccer:

Now 3-1 in their Spring exhibition schedule, the Zips took down Michigan and Oakland, both 1-0 victories. The goals were scored by Chad Barson and a new transfer from Loyola-Chicago, Kayvon Afsarifard. I am only slightly worried that the only goals came from defensive players, as teams are not nearly as aggressive in exhibition play.

The "new Zips", with 7 new starters, play a home exhibition against Maryland on Saturday at 2pm.

Roo News, 3/1/11

1) The full football schedule has been released, although since the non-conference schedule was already out, there aren't any real surprises.

Sat, Sept. 3 @Ohio State

Sat, Sept. 10 Temple

Sat, Sept. 17 @Cincinnati

Sat, Sept. 24 VMI

Sat, Oct. 1 @Eastern Michigan

Sat, Oct. 8 FIU

Sat, Oct. 22 Ohio

Sat, Oct. 29 Central Michigan

Thu, Nov. 3 @Miami (Ohio) ESPNU

Sat, Nov. 12 Kent State

Sat, Nov. 19 @Buffalo

Fri, Nov. 25 @Western Michigan ESPNU

Other than the quick Thursday away game (after a home game just a few days before) the schedule looks great. The team will almost certainly start 0-3 (although it's always a close game with Cincinnati), but if Ianello can keep them focused after those three games, what should be easy wins against VMI, Eastern Michigan and FIU follow. A 3-3 Akron Zips team at that point is a very realistic possibility. After that it's a matter of taking control of the home games against Ohio, Central Michigan and Kent State. Three wins there (or during the three late away games) would make us bowl eligible for the first time since 2005.

Also, why is this the year that the only televised games are away games? For three years I've gotten into games for free for being a student, and almost all of the televised games have been home games. Now they switch? Criminal.

2) For the second time this season, Nikola Cvetinovic was named the MAC East Player of the Week. He's been marvelous lately, shooting 66.7% from the floor and an incredible (compared to the last two years) 88.2% from the free throw line (15-17).

3) Speaking of the men's basketball team, they take their 7-game win streak to Ohio today at 7pm. This is going to be a great game, so it's a real disappointment that it's not being televised. The Horizon League televises its games for free online. Hear that, MAC? Probably not.

The key to this game will lie in the matchup between Alex Abreu and Ohio's D.J. Cooper. These two are both flashy point guards, and last time Cooper completely outplayed Abreu, dishing out a ridiculous 15 assists.

As much trouble as the Bobcats generally give us, our three-point defense has improved tremendously from the last matchup, when Nick Kellogg and Tommy Freeman together shot 11-17 from beyond the arc.

4) The women's basketball team also has a big game, coming tomorrow at home against Kent State. Even though KSUcks, their women's basketball team currently stands at 19-8. Kara Murphy, the Zips' only senior, will be honored at halftime.

Roo News 2/3/11

1) The men's basketball team lost yesterday's game at Eastern Michigan 60-56. It was a poor shooting night for both squads, with the Eagles shooting 40.8% and the Zips just 30.6%.

Eastern Michigan's Brandon Bowdry was the easy MVP of the game, shooting 9-15 for 25 points and 12 rebounds.

Nik Cvetinovic had a monster night on the boards, pulling in 16 total (10 offensive!). He also had 13 points. Zeke Marshall led the Zips in scoring with 15, to go with 7 boards.

The Zips travel to Toledo on Saturday.

2) The women's basketball squad dropped another conference game to Toledo, falling to 2-7 in conference play. Rachel Tecca had yet another double-double (her 10th of the season...so does that make it a double-double-double?). To be fair, the Rockets are leading the MAC at the moment. The lady Zips next head to 9-13 (3-6) Northern Illinois for a 4pm Saturday matchup.

3) The football team signed 23 total players to the squad. It breaks down to:

5 offensive linemen

4 defensive backs

4 defensive linemen

3 running backs

3 quarterbacks

2 linebackers

1 wide receiver

1 kicker

And a partridge in a pear tree. What does this all mean? Well, we at least know we have some depth at quarterback now. Maybe having his job threatened will help make Patrick Nicely a better passer. Probably not.

The large number of linemen and running backs is also a great thing. The linemen because our offensive line was so horrid last year, the running backs because, well...we don't have any good ones now that Alex Allen is gone.

The 1 wide receiver worries me. We were really stretched last year halfway through the season.

We'll see if Rob Ianello lives up to his reputation as a top-25 recruiter. Heck, dare we hope to win 2 games this season?

You can see a more detailed summary and player profiles for this year's recruiting class here.

Roo News 1/28/11

1) The 2011 non-conference football schedule has been released. Here are the first four games of next season:

Sat, Sept. 3: @ Ohio State

Sat, Sept. 10: FIU

Sat, Sept. 17: at Cincinnati

Sat, Sept. 24: VMI

I like this. We all knew that first tune-up away game against a Big Ten team was coming. Cincinnati is a great team as well, but one that we generally play well against. That will probably be a 5-15 point loss. In terms of the home games, the rare Sun Belt/MAC matchup against FIU should be a good home opener, and as long as the FCS match against VMI doesn't turn out like last year's soul-crushing overtime loss to Gardner-Webb, we may see a 2-2 Zips team going into conference play.

2) The men's basketball team has another televised game on Sunday, so if you're not willing to pay the $15 to watch it live, tune in to ESPNU at 6pm.

3) Did anybody else watch the Knicks beat the Heat last night? Aaah, that's just good for the heart.

Roo News 12/13/10

1) The men's soccer team outfought Louisville 1-0 yesterday to bring home Akron's (and the MAC Conference's) first team national title.

The first half was a flurry of Akron passes, as the Zips were outpossessing the Cardinals 61-41 at one point; however, Louisville came out of the first half with more opportunities, and seemingly most of the momentum.

The first 43 minutes of the second half were a different story. Akron continued to dominate possession, but also kept the ball in Lousville's half much longer than the first 45 minutes. The lone goal of the game came from Scott Caldwell off an an Anthony Ampaipatakwong cross in the 79th minute. Caldwell's first shot was blocked, but he quickly found it again and drilled it through the top of the net.

What ensued next was the most bizarre final two minutes of a soccer game I've ever seen. Louisville pushed the ball forward and kept it there, firing shot after cross after cross after shot into the box. At one point, David Meves came off the line to punch a ball but missed it, leaving him out of the goal, but Chad Barson stepped in to deflect the next shot, and then after about 10 more seconds of city-wide heart attack, the ball rolled safely out of bounds.

Needless to say, this win is huge for Akron. This men's soccer program has been building up for years, and after last year's disappointing finals loss in penalty kicks to Virginia, another runner-up finish would have only proven to the naysayers that mid-major programs aren't capable of winning it all. With great head coaches like Caleb Porter and Keith Dambrot, and a (good?) hire of Rob Ianello for football, the Zips athletic program is skyrocketing.

2) In much less exciting news, the men's basketball team was trounced, pummeled, steamrolled, and then curb-stomped for good measure by the Temple Owls. The final score was 82-47. The Zips scored a grand total of 5 points in the final 14:27 of the 1st half, shooting 6/30 in the entirety of the half.

Alex Abreu and Steve McNees each scored 11 to lead the team.

It won't get any easier. The next game is away at Minnesota on Wednesday. Tune into the Big Ten Network at 8:30pm for coverage.

Catching Up 11/29/10

What a hectic few days of sports, folks. I've just awoken from my turkey-induced slumber, and holy cow, where do I begin?

Football:

How about football? They did it! Every Akron fan that watched the end of the Zips' 22-14 victory over Buffalo feels like Kevin Garnett right now. Despite the officiating crew's attempts at keeping Buffalo in the game (some ridiculous late-game calls and reviews), the Zips closed it out thanks to a (who else?) Brian Wagner forced fumble.

Super-kudos to the 5,216 loyal fans that were in attendance the day after Thanksgiving.

Patrick Nicely finally looked like an FBS quarterback, completing 13 of his 24 passes for 193 yards and 3 touchdowns, and not a single interception. Each touchdown went to one of Akron's top receivers:

Jeremy LaFrance: 6 REC, 65 YDS, TD

Jalil Carter: 5 REC, 109 YDS, TD

Gary Pride: 1 REC, 15 YDS, TD

Keith Sconiers: 1 REC, 4 YDS

Also, this had to be an emotional game for 6th-year senior Alex Allen, and it showed in yet another impressive rushing game. He was given the ball a worthy 32 times and ran for 120 yards, but didn't reach the end zone. Nate Burney ran 4 times for 24 yards.

And, as always, Zack Campbell!

Zack Campbell: 5 punts, 185 YDS

On the other side of special teams, the Ever Dependable Igor Iveljic earned his nickname with two (count 'em!), TWO missed extra points. The Slightly More Dependable Branko Rogovic took his place and made a 39 yard field goal.

We finished with an FBS-worst 1-11 record, but the play of this team since the shutout at Temple, has been very promising (defense included). Add to that mixture that Rob Ianello is known for great recruiting, that the current players have already had one full offseason with Ianello, and that we have a fairly young team (other than Alex Allen and Jeremy LaFrance, who will be sorely missed), and we may see a 4-6 win team next year. Want evidence? Look at the MAC East Champion Miami Redhawks, whose team last year looked an awful lot like ours...

Men's Soccer:

The MAC Champions advanced to the Elite Eight yesterday, defeating an Indiana Hoosiers squad full of "the rich tradition of IU soccer" 2-1.

Let me just start by saying "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

After last year's horribly disappointing runner-up finish, everybody that follows Akron soccer has been anticipating this year's championship matchup. That's a deadly thing. The team has been beaten by a mediocre Cleveland State team and gave up two very late goals last week against West Virginia. Any one of these tournament matchups has the opportunity to dash our hopes against the brick wall that we call sports, and there are still three games to go for a championship title.

Seeing the win today was like Christmas in...November...

After a hard-fought scoreless first half, Michael Nanchoff put Akron up 1-0 in the 53rd minute. One minute and eight seconds later, Darren Mattocks intercepted Hoosier goalkeeper Luis Soffner's pass and put in his 18th goal of the year.

Indiana pressed hard in the final minutes, scoring in the 82nd, but couldn't get close in the final few.

Here's what I'm wondering: How many incredible seasons is it going to take for people to start talking about Akron's rich soccer tradition?

Men's Basketball:

The team fell to 2-2 after losing 64-51 to Cleveland State, but at least in four games, they have a better record than the football team's whole season; so even if they finish with 2 wins, we'll still be able to say "it could be worse". Isn't optimism GREAT????

Basically, the Zips' hot 3-point shooting fizzled out during the wrong game. Cleveland State is a great team, yet they were held in check for the majority of the game, even though the Zips were led in rebounding by 6'4" Brett McClanahan (7) and 6'0" Darryl Roberts (5).

Some notes (all bad):

- Zeke Marshall played like a Zeke Marshmallow, scoring a team-high 14 points and sending 4 balls screaming for their mommies, but grabbing just 5 rebounds, allowing way too many inside points and dropping seemingly every pass that came his way (5 turnovers in reality).

- Nikola Cvetinovic was grade-A ball hog, putting up shot after shot, even though he was obviously cold. Don't be fooled by his 4 assists. Teams are starting to figure out that nearly every time he gets the ball he's going to spin to the middle for a layup. He finished 1/10 shooting with 6 points and just 3 rebounds in 30 minutes.

- Why is Mike Bardo not playing more? He had 4 rebounds and and a block in just 6 minutes, as well as a SICK follow up shot for his only points. The rebounds show just how much of a presence he is in the paint. He would have come in handy while Cleveland was catching fire in the paint in the second half; Cleveland State's Jeremy Montgomery and Trevon Harmon (who put home a momentum-crushing dunk over Zeke in the final minutes) had their way with Zeke Marshmallow multiple times.

- The bench (other than Bardo) is disappointing at best so far. Quincy Diggs had the most minutes with 10, and finished with 5 points and a rebound. Alex Abreu played 6 minutes and accumulated a foul and a turnover. Josh Egner had 1 block in 5 minutes, and Dakotah Euton bricked three times and had 1 assist in 7 minutes.

Stats Roundup 11/20/10

As I was sitting here wondering what I could possibly blog about during this Akron sports lull (I didn't forget to recap the football game, I chose not to recap it after Jeremy LaFrance fumbled the winning ball late in the game), it came to my attention that I have rarely blogged about overall statistics. So here we go, the first Stats Roundup:

Football:

Before I cover any individual statistics, I'd like to point this out:

2010 Overall FBS Rankings:

Passing Yards-111th

Rushing Yards-102nd

Points For-117th

Points Againts-111th

And that, folks, is why we are 0-11. I'm not ready to throw in the towel with Rob Ianello (although I still believe that firing J.D. Brookhart was an awful, awful idea). I think that a coach should be able to bring in at least three recruiting classes before he is evaluated for a firing, but holy cow, this could be a long three years of Akron football.

Passing:

Patrick Nicely-153/312 (49.0%), 1560 YDS, 7 TD, 13 INT, 90.1 RAT

Matt Rodgers-7/11 (63.6%), 95 YDS, 2 TD, INT, 178.0 RAT

While Patrick Nicely has been solidifying his spot as the worst starting quarterback in the FBS, Matt Rodgers has mysteriously suffered a number of "injuries", the latest being listed under "concussion" on Thursday. Say what?

It's obvious that Ianello is in love with Nicely, which may explain why he took him out of his comfort zone (shotgun offense) to allow him to utterly fail in the pro-style offense. Well, no. It doesn't. The good news is, Nicely's only a sophomore; so that for the next two years, he can continue to utterly fail in the pro-style offense. A new generation of Akron football, folks!

Rushing:

Alex Allen-154 CAR, 771 YDS, 5.0 AVG, 8 TD

Nate Burney-105 CAR, 443 YDS, 4.2 AVG

The rushing attack has leaned on Alex Allen more and more throughout the season, which is great, as he himself has just 1 less touchdown than our ENTIRE PASSING GAME. Man, do I miss the days of Chris Jacquemain and Dennis Kennedy.

Receiving:

Jeremy LaFrance-37 REC, 469 YDS, 12.7 AVG, 5 TD

Jalil Carter-25 REC, 303 YDS, 12.1 AVG, TD

Antoine Russell-13 REC, 221 YDS, 17.0 AVG, TD

Gary Pride-21 REC, 167 YDS, 8.0 AVG

Richard Hall-16 REC, 149 YDS, 9.3 AVG, TD

Alex Allen-17 REC, 115 YDS, 6.8 AVG

Keith Sconiers-8 REC, 71 YDS, 8.9 AVG

Austin Bailey-7 REC, 51 YDS, 7.3 AVG, TD

Nate Burney-7 REC, 33 YDS, 4.7 AVG

The receiving corps has been injury-plagued this year, but are improving as the weeks go by (especially former defensive back Jalil Carter and Gary Pride). The bad news is, LaFrance and Carter are seniors, and Pride is a junior. This leaves freshmen Antoine Russell, whose 17.0 AVG is a bit misleading thanks to a 56 yard reception, and Keith Sconiers, alongside sophomore Anthony Meriwether, who has been suffering from an achilles injury. Meriwether, you may remember, had his redshirt burned last year as a running back. The good news is, we have a coach that is infamous for successful position-switching...oh, that's right. We fired him.

Kicking:

The Ever Dependable Igor Iveljic-17/19 XP, 9/14 FG

Branko Rogovic-1/1 XP

Thank goodness these guys are both seniors. I don't know how many more botched extra points and shanked short field goals I can take. At least Rogovic has done a decent job with kickoff duty this year. Interesting stat for The Ever Dependable Igor Iveljic...he's 5/7 from 40-49 yards; while he has gone 2/5 from 30-39 yards. Say what?

The next game is against the 2-8 Buffalo Bulls, who play the 1-9 Eastern Michigan Eagles today. We have no reason not to win this game. Buffalo will have a short week of practice before coming to Akron for a Friday game, and we will have had a week and then some to warm up (and rest some injuries) for this one. I'd be ecstatic to see Matt Rodgers get the start, even though that's some serious wishful thinking. I was critical of him to begin the year, but he's proven in the games he's been in this year that he's the better quarterback. Patrick Nicely has 0-12 written all over him.

In basketball news:

If, like me, you were wondering why Brett McKnight didn't make an appearance in the loss to Dayton, it's because he's been indefinitely suspended for a "violation of university policy". According to the article, he had also been suspended for 30 days in the preseason, which may explain why he didn't play in the exhibition and his lackluster performance against Millikin.

Catching Up 11/15/10

Men's Soccer:

Won their fourth consecutive (eighth overall) MAC Championship via a dominating 3-1 win over Buffalo Friday night, and a 4-0 trouncing of Western Michigan Sunday afternoon. I don't have time to put up details, so here are some highlights, from ZipsAthletics:

Buffalo (MAC Semifinals):

Western Michigan (MAC Championship):

Men's Basketball:

Absolutely shut down Millikin in the season opener, to nobody's surprise. The 89-41 victory (48-9 at the half) makes Akron 1-0, but doesn't necessarily prepare them for a tough away matchup with Dayton on Tuesday, which will be televised on FSN. Again, sorry for the lack of a recap (I love doing basketball recaps), but here are the highlights:

Volleyball:

Lost their final game of the season to Ball State in four sets. Yuck. After starting the season 3-4, the lady Zips won 10 in a row, 5 of those coming in conference play, only to lose the next 6, then win only 2 of the last 5 to end with a lackluster record of 15-13 (7-9 MAC). The good news is, they still have a chance in the MAC tournament, playing 10th seed Buffalo on Tuesday.

Football:

This bye week prevented us from seeing another disastrous football loss, but the whole nation will be able to see that on Wednesday (if anybody outside of Ohio is insane enough to turn to ESPNU at 6pm for the game against Miami). I will be at the game, but I don't expect us to put up more than 10-17 points. The recap should be fun, though.

Catching Up 11/8/10

Men's Soccer:

The 16-1-1 #2 men's soccer team (man, that's disappointing to say) needed Michael Nanchoff's 80th minute penalty kick to defeat Hartwick (the 2-14-1 Hartwick Hawks!) 2-1 on Saturday. I'm not sure what's going on with the soccer team, but this is not the same team that scored a touchdown against Michigan. Hartwick is 2-14-1. And the Zips only outshot them 12-9.

The MAC tournament begins Friday, and Akron (obviously) has the #1 seed. We'll be playing Buffalo at 5pm. If the team becomes complacent like they seem to have been lately, we could see some serious trouble.

Volleyball:

The lady Zips won a 5-set scare over Kent State, but fell in four sets to Ohio the next day, falling to 15-11 (7-7 MAC), one game behind Ohio. MAC East play ends on Thursday, with a home matchup against 16-14 (4-10 MAC) Buffalo.

Football:

What. The. Heck. This year couldn't get worse. In fact, the team name "Zips" fits very well with that number in the win column. If you haven't seen, the Zips lost in double overtime 37-30 to Ball State on Saturday. This was our best chance to avoid a winless season, and pretty much fully explains how this entire season has gone.

But here's the best part: Do you want to know why the game went into overtime? The Ever Dependable Igor Iveljic. That's right. He missed an extra point.

On the bright side, this above-average offensive showing allows me to stop posting Zack Campbell's stats every week. But just for fun:

Zack Campbell-8 punts, 277 YDS

Alex Allen had a heck of a game, carrying the ball 25 times for 165 yards, but all of the touchdowns went to Patrick "Throws-the-ball-not-so" Nicely and the receiving corps.

Jalil Carter-6 REC, 69 YDS, TD

Alex Allen-5 REC, 29 YDS

Jeremy LaFrance-3 REC, 46 YDS, 2 TD

Anthony Meriweather-2 REC, 17 YDS

Richard Hall-2 REC, 17 YDS, TD

Patrick Nicely negated his best game of the year by throwing three interceptions. Wow, that guy has been awful this year.

Also on the bright side, the team gets to close out the season with two televised home games against Miami (OH) (5-4) and Buffalo (2-7).

UPDATE: Added a poll to the side bar. Let's see what you guys think.

Roo News 11/3/10

1) Notes from head football coach Rob Ianello's weekly press conference:

- Feels like we learned a lot from the Temple game last week. Thinks that we were better on defense, offense, and special teams...Ianello says the darndest things sometimes...

- Has been impressed by the team's effort during practice this week.

- We had a field goal blocked, an early touchdown overturned, and a lot of close failed conversions. If those had been turned around, we may have seen a game.

- Jalil Carter sat out last week for a personal reason, but it wasn't disciplinary and he'll be back this week.

- Broderick Alexander is improving and should be ready for Spring practice. He will stay at running back.

- Ball State is better than their standing would indicate, and in some ways, face a similar story as us this year.

- There was a humorous moment when a reporter asked Ianello if he has talked to Director of Athletics Tom Wistrcill lately and what those talks were about (to paraphrase, will you be fired any time soon?). Ianello responded with "pardon me?" and then something along the lines of "we talk every day...about the future of the program" (to paraphrase, are you freakin' kidding me?).

2) The men's basketball team faces John Carroll tomorrow for an exhibition game. I wish I had the time to write up a nice big basketball preview, but you can read a nice preview from GoZips.com here.

3) The #1 men's soccer team defeated Michigan State 1-0 earlier today in convincing fashion, leading 14-3 in shots, and 5-1 in shots on goal. The lone goal of the game came from Darren Mattocks, his 12th of the year. The Zips move to 15-1-1 and end their regular season at Hartwick on Saturday.

Catching Up 10/31/10

This weekend was the most disappointing weekend of the year. Quick note of warning: Anger and severe sarcasm may be detected below.

Men's Soccer:

It happened. The #1 University of Akron men's soccer team was upset 2-1 by 8-9-0 Cleveland State on Saturday, despite leading in shots (12-6) and shots on goal (6-2). At 14-1-1, all this really means is that the Zips may lose the #1 seed in the tournament. The home unbeaten streak continues, and as long as we see the Zips team that outscored the #2, 3, and 4 teams in the country 9-0 show up in the NCAA tournament, the championship is definitely still attainable.

Volleyball:

The volleyball team dropped in four sets to Miami, but fought to a five-set win over Bowling Green the next day. After a magnificent start to the season, the team has sunk to 14-10 this season, just 6-6 in MAC play. They return to James A. Rhodes Arena this weekend for matchups against 10-17 (3-9 MAC) Kent State and 15-10 (7-5 MAC) Ohio.

Women's Soccer:

After extending their unbeaten streak to 5 games by defeating Ohio 1-0 to close out the regular season, the lady Zips dropped to Miami 2-0 in the first round of the MAC tournament. This ended their season with a 7-11-1 record. The women's soccer team is still a work-in-progress, and can improve on this semi-successful season by working more on controlling possession. I'd like to see Caleb Porter's "Death by 1000 passes" motto start to rub off on the women's soccer team.

Football:

This is getting annoying to blog about, but Akron's 30-0 defeat at the hands of the Temple Owls is a little better than last week's 56-10 drubbing from Western Michigan.

For once, the Zips defense looked like a defense. The score at the end of the half was 6-0. Unfortunately, Temple has a heck of a defense, and Patrick Nicely was pretty awful once again (15-26, 134 YDS, INT). Alex Allen (10 CAR, 30 YDS) and Nate Burney (7 CAR, 14 YDS) couldn't get much going, either. Zack Campbell was once again my MVP with 10 punts for 383 yards.

Quote from head coach Rob Ianello, from GoZips.com.

"We are establishing a foundation for how we are going to do things, and we are establishing a foundation for a program and we are going to get this thing pointed in the right direction, we just need to keep working towards improvement."

Ianello has literally stated nine different variations of that quote this year, one after each loss. Tune in next weekend for the tenth variation, unless the Zips can pull off their best chance for a not-winless season against Ball State.

Roo News 10/28/10

1) The men's soccer team squeaked out a 1-0 victory over #9 Creighton yesterday. The Zips home unbeaten streak is now 34 games, and this was Creighton's first regular season road loss since 2006. The atmosphere at the game was tense, as the Blue Jays outplayed Akron for the majority of the first half. The second half swung the way of the home team, and a 63rd minute goal from Darlington Nagbe, his 6th of the year, sealed the deal. Darren Mattocks had an off game, but still looked incredible.

2) Some notes from Rob Ianello's weekly press conference:

- This week's game against Temple is going to be a "heck of a challenge for us". Pretty obvious.

- He has a lot of respect for Al Golden and what he's done with Temple. Sounds like Al Golden is who Rob Ianello wants to be when he grows up.

- We haven't played our best game yet.

- He hasn't really looked at the attendance figures (last week's was just above 10,000, not even a third of capacity) because it's not his responsibility, he's responsible for the product on the field. We call this blame-passing where I'm from.

- Our program has had significant improvements made, but those are all behind closed doors and haven't made it to the scoreboard yet.

- Rodgers, LaFrance, and Ladrach are out, Holmes is questionable.

- Freshman quarterback Dylan Potts had his redshirt burned last week because Rodgers is out, and he wants to get Potts some game experience. This is good. Nicely has been ghastly this year (dead last in the nation in passer rating) and Rodgers will be a senior next year.

3) At 0-8, the football team is officially (statistically and according to ESPN's Bottom 10) the worst team in the nation, and currently shares the winless title with only the New Mexico Lobos.

4) The women's basketball team has been projected to finish fourth in the MAC East this year, after an all time best record of 18-14 (11-5 MAC) last year.

Catching Up 10/26/10

Thanks to Family Weekend here at the University of Akron, we were all treated to a magnificent slew of athletic events resulting in a horribly delayed, why-the-heck-did-this-guy-take-this-long-to-update-this-blog, Catching Up post. Here we go.

Men's Soccer:

The men clinched the MAC title with a 2-1 victory over Western Michigan Saturday night. The game wasn't nearly as close as the score would suggest, as the Broncos crammed 10 players in their half of the field in order to attempt a draw or a lucky 1-goal win. The Zips outshot Western Michigan 13-3; but after the dominating 7-1 win over Michigan earlier in the week, the performance of the team can only be described as disappointing. Highlights are below.

Volleyball:

Two disappointing losses this weekend.

Four sets to Central Michigan:

and five sets to Eastern Michigan. The losses drop the team to 13-9 (5-5 in MAC), but they still sit at the top of the weak MAC East.

Women's Soccer:

The weekend featured a tough but exciting double OT 2-1 win over Kent State (KSUcks!) and a 3-0 beatdown of Buffalo. After the UA football-esque start to the season, the lady Zips are now 6-10-1 (4-5-1 in MAC) and have clinched a spot in the MAC tournament with these two latest victories. Overall, the team is playing better defensively, but still looks sloppy on offense.

Football:

It is my obligation as a blogger to write about the football team, so I will; but this is getting tiring. Not only do I look dumb for predicting 6 wins this season, but the embarrassment is gradually getting worse week by week. At 0-4, after a close game with Indiana, there was hope that things would change once MAC play began. Last week, at 0-7, we became the first team in the FBS to become bowl ineligible; and last but not least, this Saturday against 2-4 Western Michigan...

You see? I can hardly even bring myself to say it. Suffice it to say we lost pretty handily. As in, 56-10 handily. As in, our only touchdown came on a 57 yard fumble recovery from Brian Wagner handily. As in, Patrick Nicely decided to toss the ball to a waiting defender in the endzone for 6 points rather than take a safety for 2 points handily.

Yuck.

The effort from the secondary on Saturday was nonexistent. Western Michigan's freshman QB Alex Carter was 17-24 for 372 yards and 5 touchdowns. What about Patrick Nicely? Well, he was an impressive 12-24 for 120 yards and an interception. I should also probably mention that one of those passes went for 56 yards. Without that pass, Nicely was 11-23 for 64 yards and an interception.

In case you haven't been following along, here is the Nicely/Rodgers comparison at this point in the season:

Patrick Nicely-103/244, 1048 YDS, 3 TD, 9 INT, 86.4 RAT

Matt Rodgers-7/11, 95 YDS, 2 TD, INT, 178.0 RAT

What in the world, Rob Ianello?

As always, I am including the performance of this year's MVP of the team:

Zack Campbell-6 punts, 233 YDS

At 0-8 (0-4 in MAC), the Zips are easily in the bottom 5 of the nation and easily the worst in the MAC.

Next week is an away game at 6-2 Temple.

Yep.

Roo News 10/21/10

1) Sorry for taking so long with this update. Am I the only one that's still having midterms 2/3 of the way through the semester? Please tell me I'm not alone....

2) Michigan has a new Ohio opponent. Kofi Sarkodie's hat trick led the Zips men's soccer team to a 7-1 victory over Michigan on Tuesday. I'll pause for a second to let that sink in...

That's right. 7-1. The first Akron goals came in the 10th and 18th minutes, both from Sarkodie. Michigan made it close with a 32nd minute goal off of a free kick. That lasted two minutes. The Zips scored in the 35th, 55th, 77th, 80th, and 89th minutes.

A frustrated Michigan team just got downright dirty in the second half, registering two yellows and two horribly flagrant slide tackles that resulted in red cards. They also had one yellow in the first half.

3) Some notes from Zips football coach Rob Ianello during his weekly press conference this week:

- The coaching staff does not plan on burning any redshirts for the remainder of the season.

- After being reminded of the team's awful pass defense, and that this Saturday's opponent Western Michigan is a pass-heavy team, Ianello said he believes that the Broncos will come out and run.

- Gary Pride is having issues with his ankle, further limiting Nicely's receiving options.

- The biggest issue for our young wide receivers is adjusting to no longer being one of the best on the team.

- Wants us to start doing the things that good football teams do (d'oh!). Said that if we execute well this week, we'll (cough) start taking steps in a positive direction. A single win would be nice...

- Is confident that things will be much better the second time around due to familiarity. Personally, I'm still not sure that firing Brookhart was a good idea, but at least it was done quickly so that the players could get used to Ianello's offseason system.

4) SportsTime Ohio comes through again, saving all the fans of the MAC schools from only seeing their teams on television once a year. A total of 34 basketball games (men's and women's) will be shown on STO during the 2010-2011 season. Another 13 will be nationally televised on ESPN.

For the Zips, three women's games will be shown, all home games:

01/08/11: Ohio @ Akron, 12pm

01/22/11: Eastern Michigan @ Akron, 5pm

02/12/11: Ball State @ Akron, 5pm

Seven men's games will be shown on STO, and one on ESPNU (denoted below):

11/24/10: Cleveland State @ Akron, 7pm

01/08/11: Kent State @ Akron, 7pm

01/16/11: Akron @ Buffalo, 2pm

01/22/11: Bowling Green @ Akron, 7:30pm

01/26/11: Akron @ Northern Illinois, 7:30pm

01/30/11: Central Michigan @ Akron, 6pm, ESPNU

02/09/11: Western Michigan @ Akron, 7:30pm

02/12/11: Ball State @ Akron, 7:30pm

The MAC quarterfinals and semifinals will also be shown on STO, while the championship will once again air on ESPN2. You can see the full listing here.

Roo News 10/17/10

1) I'll just get this over with. The football team lost 38-10 yesterday to Ohio. This makes them 0-7, 0-3 in the MAC. The game was never close (24-0 at one point); and once again, Akron's statline is horrible. Let's start with rushing.

Rushing:

Nate Burney-12 CAR, 32 YDS

Alex Allen-7 CAR, 29 YDS

Patrick Nicely-3 CAR, 43 YDS

Matt Rodgers-1 CAR, 5 YDS

The big question here is, why is Alex Allen only carrying the ball 7 times? I'm not saying Burney's a bad running back. He should definitely be getting some carries; but Alex Allen has proven himself to be the better (or at least more useful) back at this point.

Receiving:

Richard Hall-4 REC, 48 YDS

Alex Allen-4 REC, 25 YDS

Antoine Russell-3 REC, 54 YDS

Gary Pride-3 REC, 14 YDS

Jalil Carter-2 REC, 25 YDS

Nate Burney-2 REC, 18 YDS

Austin Bailey-2 REC, 13 YDS

Anthony Meriwether-1 REC, 9 YDS

I like this. With Jeremy LaFrance beat up, it's good to see that we have some people stepping up.

Passing:

Patrick Nicely-16/29, 159 YDS, 2 INT

Matt Rodgers-5/5, 47 YDS, TD

I would never have guessed that Nicely would have the kind of season that he's having. I think it's time for a quarterback change. At 0-7, Ianello doesn't have to worry about position consistency now. I was one of the first to jump on the Nicely bandwagon, but this is the second time that Rodgers has come in (we had 3 points on both occasions) and led a nice drive for a touchdown. He's earned his chance.

And now for the running "punter is better than the rest of the team" joke:

Punting:

Zack Campbell-5 punts, 187 YDS

Here's an awful interview from Ianello:

We didn't play well on offense. I don't think we played well on defense, and we didn't play very well on special teams. I didn't see anything we did well out here today. It's my job to motivate the team. It's my job to get the team ready to play, and it didn't appear to me today that we were ready to play, for whatever reason. I don't know whether it was a hangover from last week (rivalry game at Kent State) or not. I would hate to think that.

Coach, your team hasn't been ready to play for six straight games and you're ticked when they don't show up for a seventh? It's time to stop trying to win this season and start thinking about not starting 0-7 next season.

2) Buffalo didn't stand a chance. Darren Mattocks' hat trick yesterday allowed the Zips men's soccer team to cruise to a 4-0 victory. The Zips outshot the Bulls 22-2. Neither of Buffalo's two shots were close. Oh yeah, also, Buffalo didn't have a single corner kick. After this specimen of domination, the Zips are 4-0 at home, outscoring opponents 15-0. The other Zips goal (and the first goal, coming in the 21st minute) came from Michael Nanchoff, who now has four on the season. Mattocks has 10. Here are the highlights:

Akron is now 11-0-1.

3) The volleyball team fell to 13-7 (5-3) after dropping in three sets to Western Michigan. Next up are two home matches against Central Michigan (7-11, 1-5 in MAC) and Eastern Michigan (17-6, 4-2 in MAC).

Catching Up 10/10/10

Another busy week for me, another attempt to catch readers up on everything that happened this last week.

Men's Soccer:

After defeating Northern Illinois 1-0 earlier this week, the #1 men's soccer team now stands at 9-0-1 (3-0-0 in MAC). Goalkeeper David Meves and Hermann candidate midfielder Anthony Ampaipatakwong are a bit beaten up at the moment, but the reserves are filling in superbly. Backup keeper Anthony Ponikvar stepped into the game against NIU to record 5 saves in 40 minutes, keeping the Huskies without a goal. Next up is a game at Penn State.

Volleyball:

The volleyball team crushed Buffalo in three sets, but fell in five to Toledo yesterday. They are still 13-5 (5-1 in MAC). A tough road trip to 17-2 (3-1) Northern Illinois and 12-5 (3-1) Western Michigan is next.

Women's Soccer:

At least with their 3-10-0 (1-5-0) record, they have one more win than Kent State and Buffalo combined. The lady Zips are continuing with their poor offensive play, much of which is caused by poor control of the ball. They looked great in the 1-0 loss to Northern Illinois on Friday, but gave up two goals early against Western Michigan earlier today before falling 3-1. Next up are away matches against Bowling Green and Miami.

Football:

Ha. Yeah...

The defense was spectacular against Kent State yesterday. Two of Kent State's touchdowns came from Akron turnovers. The worst part about the game was that Akron had a lot of chances to win it in the fourth quarter; and as has been the case this year, the offense was fired up enough to punch out the following drives in the final quarter:

3 plays, 7 yards, fumble

5 plays, 7 yards, punt

3 plays, 4 yards, fumble

2 plays, 15 yards, interception

1 play, 0 yards, interception

The bad: See above, and Patrick Nicely (16-33, 133 YDS, 3 INT)

The decent: Alex Allen (14 CAR, 51 YDS, TD) and Jeremy LaFrance (6 REC, 75 YDS)

The great: Zack Campbell (7 punts, 321 YDS)

On the bright side, they still have a chance to become bowl eligible.