Football

I recently chatted with a Penn State University blogger about Saturday's game. His name is Mike and prefers to keep his last name private so Notre Dame fans don't hunt him down.

Mike graduated from PSU in 1997 with a degree in chemical engineering and now lives in Philadelphia. He recently started Black Shoe Diaries as a hobby. From the looks of it, he already has a strong readership base.

Rasor: How worried are fans about this game?

Blogger: My impression from the Penn State community is that we're not too worried. But we're taking this game seriously and nobody is looking ahead to Notre Dame. We remember when Toledo came into Happy Valley in 2000 and beat us.

Rasor: What kind of game will we see from first-time starting quarterback Anthony Morelli?

Blogger: Well, you know this is his first game. So I expect to see some rust. You may see mixed up calls and timeouts wasted to make sure he is on the same page with the coaches. But as far as physical ability, I think you're going to see a big change from Michael Robinson. Robinson was the type of player that could strap an offense on his back and carry them down the field through his sheer determination to compete and win. Morelli is a very different style quarterback. He is a pocket passer. He will try to utilize the weapons around him better than Robinson did. I saw Morelli play in a few games last year and the spring game. His release is crisp and he has a strong arm. I think the offense will be fine with Morelli.

Rasor: What are the most favorable matchups for Penn State against Akron?

Blogger: I think the 3-3-5 defense is going to allow Penn State to be physical with the Zips and run the ball well. I think Tony Hunt will have a big day. His backups are banged up a bit so coaches may try to rest them. That means a lot of carries for Hunt. I think our wide receivers match up well against your corners, but the fact that you have five defensive backs may clog things up a bit.

Rasor: What, if any, matchups favor the Zips?

Blogger: Penn State's biggest weakness, in my opinion, is the offensive line. We return All-American Levi Brown at left tackle, but the other guys are all new starters. A.Q. Shipley will be playing center. He's a sophomore but he played in eight games last year. I'm not too worried about him. The other positions have very little experience. Akron may have success in getting pressure on Morelli, and that bothers me a bit.

Rasor: Under what circumstances will Akron win?

Blogger: They have to force turnovers and play with a short field. The Penn State defense is going to be strong despite the fact they have four new starters in the secondary and three new starters on the defensive line. Their best bet is to keep the Penn State offense on the sideline as much as possible. They also have to have success early in the game to take the crowd out of it. Penn State fans get quiet when they go down by 10 points. If Akron can score early, they can take the 12th man factor out of the game.

Volleyball

Do you remember last softball season? Do you remember how a mediocre-at-best team shot to the top of the conference on the heels of a big victory that inspired confidence and a renewed sense of hope?

We may have seen that for another Akron women's team today.

The volleyball squad took second in the West Virginia Classic by winning its final matches Saturday against West Virginia and Oakland.

Akron lost the opening round to Indiana, the tournament champion, but was quite competitive against the Hoosiers.

The best part about this weekend? Like the softball team, Mike Sweitzer's Zips are young. At times, four freshmen were on the court.

Brionna Patterson, Kara Smith, Jenn Fekpe and Megan Rodriguez all played and played well.

Also like the softball players, the volleyball team has some strong veteran leaders. Senior Kim Horn and junior Jennifer Stewart were named to the all-tournament team.

Of course, this is just a nonconference tournament. Akron is still a 10-20 team. They still haven't done anything. My point is, there is reason to think the volleyball team could be the next Zips squad to blossom.

Miscellaneous

The Buchtelite's Welcome Back issue is on stands. Here are some sports stories that may interest you:

• Jermaine Reid and Kiki Gonzalez are ferocious defensive linemen who will bolster the Zips hopes. They're also pretty good buddies. Reid's fascination with Akron is why Gonzalez also chose to commit to play here.
• Akron will open the season on national television. Find out what that means for the university.
• Charlie Frye may be a starting NFL quarterback, but he's still the same guy who drove a 1993 Grand Prix in college.
• The Buchtelite breaks down the Zips depth chart.
• Akron men's soccer seeks a national championship. (We wrote this before UCSB blew out the Zips this weekend.)
• Caleb Porter's enthusiasm and background made him an obvious choice for Mack Rhoades to replace men's soccer coach Ken Lolla.
• New coach Joe Klim brings a different perspective to the men's cross country team. Did you know his wife, Nittaya Klim, is coach of the swimming and diving team?
• The women's cross country team hopes to repeat as MAC Champions despite losing several seniors.
• Those outrageous Outsiders debate: What excites you about this fall? New addition to the Outsiders is sports editor Dan Kadar, who recently lost the Buchtelite Beer Pong titles to his fellow Outsider Kiel Fleming and myself.
• And my column is about my top five Zips sports memories and why apathetic students should care about Akron sports.

In case you don't want to click the link, I'll post my column below…

You just hauled your television to the top of Bulger Hall, hung up your college posters with naughty slogans and filled your mini-fridge with, uhh, beverages.

Sure, it's a clichŽ, but college life really is great. This is my fourth go-around at the University of Akron, and I almost want to pull a Van Wilder for another few years of it.

What makes it really special, though, is Zips sports.

That's not something you will hear on a campus visit. University president Luis Proenza gives his spiel in terms of buildings and academics, not first downs and 3-pointers.

It's probably better that way. The main goals of college are to learn something, gain experience and escape with a degree in a reasonable amount of time.

But if that's all you remember about college, I feel you are lacking a bang on those tens of thousands of bucks.

My dad, for example, graduated from Akron in the late '70s. His only memories are of how broke he was and the engineering exams he bombed.

Please don't make the same mistake.

Some of you are freshmen. You have at least four years to enjoy college life to the fullest. But even seniors have time to develop stories to wax about 20 years from now.

Here are my top five memories involving Zips sports from the past three years.

5) 2005 Men's soccer season - Call me a bandwagoner, but I had never watched a soccer game in my life until Akron became the nation's top-ranked team. I believed soccer was a game for communists and stuck-up kids in high school. I admit my error. I also admit to having a great time heckling the opposing players.

4) 2006 Akron vs. Kent State (men's basketball) - I love making fun of Kent State in football. Truth is, though, the Flashes have been Akron's daddy in basketball. Well, up until last season's matchup at Rhodes Arena. Akron sent the Flashes a message with an eight-point win. The AK-Rowdies fan section also made me proud with its ruthlessness.

3) 2005 Motor City Bowl - Akron in a bowl game? It hasn't sunk in with me, either. Because of that feat, the 9,000 Akron fans were still in decent spirits despite Memphis's 38-31 win in Detroit.

2) 2004 Akron vs. Marshall (football) - This was the Zips' first ESPN game since I can remember. They trailed by two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter at the Rubber Bowl but came back to win, thanks to a laser-accurate touchdown pass from Charlie Frye to Jason Montgomery and a 43-yard field goal from Jason Swiger. I was out of town for the game at a journalism convention in Nashville. For me, the best part of the game was talking to people from other states about Akron football the next morning.

1) 2005 MAC Championship (football) - University founder John R. Buchtel must have had a hand in this outcome. Luke Getsy found a banged-up Domenik Hixon in the endzone to tie the game with a few seconds left. An extra point gave Akron its first-ever MAC Championship in football. I will argue to my death that the Getsy-to-Hixon pass was the biggest play in school history in any sport. Experiencing that play from the front row was incredible. Complete strangers hugged, screamed and even cried with each other.

So consider this: When you talk to your son or daughter about college in 20 years, do you want to talk about difficult classes or miracle passes?

Men's soccer

Akron lost its season opener to UC-Santa Barbara 5-0 Friday.

UCSB took an early 2-0 lead and relied on referee incompetence to increase the margin.

The refs allowed a Zips player to lay on the ground in pain for a minute after a tackle, but gladly stopped the game for a penalty on Akron in the box.

Coach Caleb Porter got a red card after screaming about this. That means he can't coach today's game against Davidson.

This loss basically takes Akron out of contention for another No. 1 ranking. Why does that matter? Well, the Zips need to garner national respect again if they are to improve on last year's NCAA Tournament seeding/screw job.

Women's soccer

The women beat The Citadel 4-0 in the opening round of the Caroline Pardee Invitational

Jacque Pitchford, Jessica Fix, Donna Swift and Amee Thompson scored for the Zips. They will play New Mexico in the final 2:30 p.m. today at Lee Jackson Field.

Volleyball

Despite struggling offensively, Akron nearly tied its match against Indiana at one game apiece.

Then the Zips lost the last four points of the second game. Indiana won the match 3-0.

Akron senior Kim Horn had a match-high 18 digs. Zips freshman Abby Varterasian led both teams with 27 assists.

Football

Here's another reminder to join the Buchtelite's College Pick'em league on Yahoo.com.

If you don't have a Yahoo account, it takes a couple minutes to sign up. Then you click this link to join the Pick'em private league. The league ID number is 14831. The password is beatkent.

Many of the Buchtelite's sportswriters have signed up already. So when you call us idiots, you have ammunition.

Football

Phil Steele has company. Those are words I wish I never typed.

The (insert degrading hyperbole here) who picked Kent State to win the MAC now has some justification as ESPN analyst Bill Curry selected the Golden Flashes to win the MAC East.

The good news is, 10 of the 12 analysts picked Akron to win the East. Only one, Jim Donnan, predicted a repeat MAC Championship. Everyone else says its a breeze through the conference for Garrett Wolfe and the Northern Illinois Huskies.

• Who's under center? The Plain Dealer's Elton Alexander brought up a shocking fact: Only four MAC teams have named their starting quarterback for the season opener. Western Michigan has Ryan Cubit. Northern Illinois has Phil Horvath. Miami announced Tuesday that Mike Kokal will start. And of course, Akron has Luke Getsy.
• I, for one, am thankful the Zips aren't in Toledo's position. Just a week from the opener, Clint Cochran and Brandon Summers are dueling for the starting QB job.
• McMillon dashes for 35: Alexander also reports that second-string running back Bryant McMillon had a 35-yard touchdown run in a recent scrimmage. Other backs also show promise with Andre Walker gaining the most yards in the scrimmage but Phillip Morris being pretty fast.
• Why the 3-3 stack? The ABJ's David Lee Morgan explains why coach J.D. Brookhart employs a 3-3-5 formation on defense. First, it's hard to recruit solid defensive linemen at a mid-major school. Second, it confuses quarterbacks.

Miscellaneous

Sorry to Ed and Vincent. Below is an image of the cover. And I'll give you a different version of this PDF. Download B1_8_28_06_bucht.pdf

I will make up for my mistake by letting you in on a secret. Buchtelite.com should be updated with all the first issue's content by the end of the day.

Miscellaneous

Some readers have expressed interest in the Buchtelite's 24-page Welcome Back issue.

The paper hits the racks Monday morning, but I'll give you an early sniff.

Here is the PDF of the sports page.

Download B1_8_28_06_bucht.pdf

Track

I could start this note with a reference to Rocky IV or the Red Scare, but I won't.

As coach of the U.S. Track and Field Team, Akron coach Dennis Mitchell's American team took second place at the Norwich Union International Match. The Russians won.

The men, whom Mitchell coached, actually beat the Russians, 177-146. They won 11 of 16 events. However, once the men's and women's scores were combined, the Americans fell just short, 349-312.5.

"Unfortunately, the day before the competition they decided to combine the score," Mitchell said. "I think this was for television purposes. The loaded and well-rested Russian womenÕs team was too much for our women."

Regardless, the Zips coach said he enjoyed the experience.

"This was one of the most exciting coaching experiences of my life," he said. "It felt like a conference championship trying to rally and coach the team to try to beat Russia."

Let me put this in perspective for some of you who don't care about college track: Akron matters, and the Zips coach is a big name in the track world. Mitchell's honor should be a huge boost to recruiting, which already is outstanding.

Football

The Battle/Massacre for the Wagon Wheel will be on television.

It is one of Fox Sports Net's MAC Games of the Week. The network has not yet decided the other games.

• Time to move home: The Zips broke preseason camp today. They will begin a normal weekly practice schedule starting Saturday.
• Is the football world overlooking Akron? Joe Paterno isn't. Here is a Patriot-News story that shouts: "Akron can make this a game." The most interesting nugget from this story is that coach J.D. Brookhart says Luke Getsy is a more polished quarterback than Charlie Frye was in his senior year. This is mainly due to Getsy's familiarity with Brookhart's offense, but still…
• Morelli vs. Getsy: Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli will make his first career start on Sept. 4 against the Zips. He and Getsy are from the same area of Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discusses Getsy's career.

Football

Akron needs a new receiver. So what?

Penn State will start two cornerbacks who have no starting experience at the job.

That worries Joe Paterno, a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story says. In fact, many stories out of Nittany Lions camp show anxiety. JoePa is unsure if he's pleased with the team's progress.

Penn State also brings in a new quarterback and almost an entire offensive line, aside from tackle Levi Brown. PSU is confident in who's running behind that line, however. There are three solid backs, including 1,000-yard rusher from last year, Tony Hunt.

Despite a strong group of linebackers including Paul Posluszny, the 2005 Butkus Award winner, Paterno says he will not switch to a 3-4 defense against Akron.

I still haven't made a prediction on this game, and I don't know if I will. Penn State is so stacked with athletes. That alone might make an Akron victory impossible. But after what I've seen from J.D. Brookhart's teams the past two years, "impossible" is a word to use VERY sparingly.

Not to sound like a loser, but I would be pleased if Akron still has a chance in the fourth quarter.

• The Buchtelite is starting a College Football Pick'em League for Zips fans. I encourage all the blog readers to join (so we can talk smack each week). Here is the link to sign up. The league ID # is 14831. The password is beatkent. Only 50 people can join, so I recommend signing up soon.
• Domenik Hixon looks close to returning from his foot injury. Hixon, a.k.a. the nicest human being on the planet, has a journal on DenverBroncos.com.

Football

Here is a great story about how J.D. Brookhart, a head coach with an offensive background, assembled the MAC's best defense.

It ran in today's USA Today.

• Zips will go 9-3: Or so Sports Illustrated says. Akron will still lose the MAC Championship to Northern Illinois. That will put the Zips in a Jan. 7 matchup against Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl, SI predicts.
• The Zips are SI's 56th best team. NIU is the MAC's highest ranking at 41st. The Zips and Huskies are followed by Toledo (61st), Miami (70th) and Bowling Green (74th).
• If you go strictly on SI's rankings, Akron will go 11-1 this season. The only opponent ranked higher is Penn State at 19.
• The Zips' second opponent, N.C. State, is 67th and expected to finish 3-9. SI lists the Wolfpack's coach, Chuck Amato, as one of the three coaches on the hot seat.
• SI also released a Big Man on Campus for each school. Not surprisingly, Luke Getsy is "it" on Buchtel Common. Out of morbid curiousity, I checked Kent State's BMOC (hoping it would be the trainer or waterboy). It's defensive end Danny Muir.
• Speaking of Kent State, it is the Flashes' fault that SI ranks the MAC 10th of 11 conferences: "The teams at the top can play with some of the big boys, but the league gets dragged down by its weak sisters."
• SI profiled Penn State wide receiver/running back/kick returner Derrick Williams, who runs a — you might want to sit down for this — 4.25 in the 40-yard dash. The lightning-fast sophomore sat out much of his freshman season with a broken arm, but he's healthy now. A lot of people focus on linebacker Paul Posluszny and tackle Levi Brown, but Williams could easily burn the Zips for a deep play.
• Not every publication loves Akron: No Zips are in CollegeFootballNews.com's top 200 players in the country. Northern Illinois has a few.

Miscellaneous

As the football and men's soccer teams assemble their rosters, one position now falls into question: beat writer.

The Akron Beacon Journal will lay off 40 of its 160 newsroom employees in the coming weeks. Cuts might include Zips football reporter David Lee Morgan and men's soccer writer Tom Reed.

The hope for many reporters, photographers and copy editors falls solely on other employees voluntarily resigning.

The cuts, made according to seniority, also took my job. As many of you know, however, I do not blog through the ABJ. This is an advertising partnership between the newspaper and the university. The university pays me, so I will continue for the foreseeable future.

• In other media news, UA hired Bill Morgan to replace Tommy Gelehrter as the host of pregame shows and play-by-play commentator for women's basketball. He comes from WJER/101.7 Dover-New Philadelphia where he is the morning drive host.

Men's basketball

Now introducing your hip hop superstars: Jimmy Conyers, Jeremy Sallee, Nate Linhart and John Rybak.

With the magic of YouTube.com, I uncovered this masterpiece rap video with the four of them. Rumors of coach Keith Dambrot filming the clip cannot be confirmed.

I apologize in advance to you guys if you wanted to keep the video away from the media.

Miscellaneous

While we're on the topic of Web oddities, the ZipsNation.org Facebook group has blown up.

231 students claim membership to "ZipsNation.org is my source for daily news" thanks to its founder Bobby Ake.

For alumni not familiar with Facebook, it is a giant network of college students across the nation where they may request friendship, join clubs or look up long-lost strangers.

Football

A three-star defensive back from Maryland announced four favorites.

Cornelius Ward really likes Akron, Miami (Ohio), Virginia Tech and Marshall. Each have offered a scholarship except VT.

From that list, Scout.com only mentions Akron and Marshall as possibilities.

Akron likely is a leader because Ward's high school teammate Vincent Hill already committed to the Zips. Hill is a three-star receiver.

Ward projects as a full academic qualifier due to his 3.3 GPA, Rivals.com says.

Ward has lesser interest in Boston College, Buffalo, North Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Of those schools, only Buffalo has offered him a scholarship.

• Copley safety David Arnold, a three-star athlete, seems likely to choose between Illinois, Syracuse and Indiana, Rivals.com says. Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan and Akron — all of whom have offered Arnold a scholarship — are longshots.
• Three-star safety Kahlil Permenter is leaning toward Boston College. The Maryland native also has offers from Akron and Temple.
• Keep in mind: Temple has shown to be no pushover in recruiting this year.
• In-depth rankings put Zips 69th:  CollegeFootballNews.com put together a formula that takes into account Academic Progress Rates, conference wins, quality wins, elite wins, bad losses, players drafted and attendance. Akron would be higher if not for "a half-empty Rubber Bowl for most games." Sixth-ninth seems pretty low, but take a look at some of the quality programs below the Zips.
• This is a three-year analysis of data. Four MAC teams are ranked higher: Miami (20), Toledo (36), Northern Illinois (45) and Bowling Green (53).
• Somehow, CFN ranks Akron's strong defensive line as the nation's 81st best. The Zips defense is 82nd. The defensive backs are 58th. The linebackers are 93rd. The special teams unit is 112th.
• The Zips offense comes in 91st. Running backs are 103rd. Quarterbacks are 43rd. Receivers are 98th. Offensive line is 67th.
• I would say CFN underrated each position (except special teams) by about 30 spots. The site seems reluctant to give Akron credit after only one good season. In a way, I respect that.

Men's soccer

Hoping to do his coach one better, Sinisa Ubiparipovic has earned a spot on the Hermann Trophy watch list.

The trophy goes to the nation's best college soccer player, which almost was coach Caleb Porter in 1997. Porter, instead, was second in the voting.

• An ESPN.com writer ranked the Zips No. 7.