Captain's Blog

1.) Nicely did about as good as any QB could expect to do, with almost zero protection from his offensive line. The OL continued it's regression of 2009.

2.) Nicely's biggest mistake of the night was throwing a ball into the stands on 3rd and 3... when he esily could have ran for 5 yards. It would have been a BIG 1st down.

3.) At WR, the Zips have Jeremy LaFrance, and no one else. Jalil Carter looked lost, and Gary Pride couldn't shake his man to save his life.

4.) When watching a bad QB, there are multiple times during the game when, after the QB runs around for a while eluding the rush, you say "Jesus... there were 2 guys wide open!!! How the hell didn't he see them??!!" I don't think that happened once last night. Our receivers were covered like blankets all night. Nicely's decisions to ditch the ball were usually the right ones.

5.) I don't think I ever saw a receiver break off his route to help Nicely, as he ran for his life, either.

6.) I thought Alex Allen looked ok. Better than in 2009 for certain. But he only got 7 carries. He needs more than 7 carries.

7.) Burney is a tough little kid, but he's small, and a good lick from a DL sends him flying. We need another RB in our rotation.

8.) One of the worst calls of the night was sending Burney up the middle on 3rd and 1. AA easily gets that yard. iCoach must not have witnessed "Metcalf up the Middle."

9.) Another terrible call was going for the FG on 4th and 2. iCoach showed zero confidence in his offense. He didn't play to win the game. You only get a BCS team at home on rare occasion...iCoach didn't coach like he wanted to make a statement. No aggressive play calls all night.

10.) I turned to my son on Igor's 1st kick and said "Watch it hit the center in the butt." I was 1 kick too early on my call.

11.) How many low liners does Igor need to kick before someone realizes that's all he can do? Our chance of AA getting those 2 yards was WAY better than Igor making theFG.

12.) Campbell had some beautiful punts. And no horrific ones. Best punting I've seen in some time. Certainly since the Stec Ohio State game.

13.) Illegal formation penalties were inexcusable. Hard to fathom how we could be so unprepared.

14.) This Syracuse team was a lot better than the bumbling, hapless crew we played 2 seasons ago. They aren't spectacular by any stretch, but they appeared well coached, and I liked their D-line.

15.) Syracuse brought 500 fans max. A nice showing, but no where near the rumored 5k.

16.) The Zips D-line played very well. They got good QB pressure for most of the night. Lemon had an excellent game.

17.) Wagner had an excellent game too. It is too bad our offense was so pathetic. The Zips D eventually wore out.

18.) Nice to see Delone Carter, and the other Syracuse RB's work for their yards. We saw no gamebreaking plays...no 50 yard TD runs...no man-amongst-boys plays that made the Zips D look like a Pop Warner group. Overall, our D played fine.

19.) Province had a rough game. But at least the 2nd time he got beat he was smart enough to interfere and take the 15 yards, rather than risk a 40 yard catch.

20.) When we had a guy run a deep route, we threw into quadruple coverage. When Syracuse threw deep, we never had 2 DB's in the vicinity.

21.) GP1 mentioned that he'd be pissed if he wasted 3 hours of tailgating for that game. Way off base. The tailgating was easily the highlight of the day. I don't see how anyone could have endured the game without it.

22.) Profoundly disappointing crowd. 10k shorter than it should have been. Funny - I received a bunch of info on Zips tickets in the mail yesterday...after I'd already left for the Syracuse game. Little tardy on the mailing, guys.

23.) Lots of complaints on the parking and prices. It will continue as long as 29-3 beat-downs are the norm. Actually, it will eventually stop, because people will stop caring, and spend there money elsewhere.

24.) Bailey did a nice job at FB. I think he'll be a good one.

25.) Met Aaron and Dreal. Always a treat to meet new ZN members. Texan Mark didn't stop by. Hope he had a good time in the AK.

26.) I saw enough good things, especially defensively, to keep me coming back. I think the offensive penalties are easily correctable. I think we played a BCS team who's better than many think, and they kicked our butts because we couldn't move the ball offensively. I am very concerned with the o-line. Especially #75. I am very concerned about our WR's. I hope Frisman Jackson can coach, because we can't have a successful season with the WR group not getting a hell of a lot better, and soon.

Off to enjoy my Sunday. Too nice a day to mope over the Zips.

GoZips.com Goes All-Out to Promote Syracuse Game

Or not.

GZDC has written nothing on the football team since August 25th. A D-1 A football program playing a BCS program at home, and it is 6-days-and-counting with absolutely zero promotion or information from what is obviously the 3rd ... maybe 4th most popular place to read about Zips athletics.

Outdated roster. No 2-deep...

They should be kissing our feet that ZipsNation promotes this freaking team.

Jason Taylor Says "Times Have Changed"

JT picks the Zips

Catching up with Anthony Buford

Found this short bio on AB. IMO - one of the top 2 guards ever to play at UA. He proved his worth, transferring from UA to UC for his senior season and starting alongside Nick VanExel on the Bearcats 1992 Final Four team.

AB has put on a little weight? I'm glad to see it isn't only me putting on a few extra pounds in middle-age.

Buffalo Scheduling

Link

Don't tell Syracuse fans, but per the column they are no longer BCS material -