Chance for a good MAC finish

Right now we have 5 teams that are already bowl eligible-

Central Michigan (9-2)
Northern Illinois (7-4)
Temple (9-2)
Ohio (8-3)
Bowling Green (6-5)

There are also three teams on the bubble
Can't State (5-6)
Western Michigan (5-6)
Toledo (5-6)

Can't State plays Buffalo, Western Michigan plays Ball U, and Toledo plays Bowling Green. If all three win, MAC gets 8 bowl eligible teams this year. Who do you think makes it and who do you think stays home?

I don't think anybody has a chance, outside of the top four, but one of those other 6win teams might get lucky...

MAC game of the week this week is definitely Temple at OU. Winner gets MAC East Crown and goes to play Central for the Championship.

In Game Thread

So not to hijack another thread.

7-0 Akron after Nicely fumbled and somebody recovered in the endzone. Still haven't released who got it.



Devoe having fumbling problems since camp according to French. Maybe JD actually knows a thing or two.

Football Calendar

If you have a Google account, you can now subscribe to sports schedules. I found Akron Football and Basketball. I couldn't find soccer, but maybe somebody else can...

My Thoughts and Observations

Amid the "sky is falling" and the "fire everybody" threads, I thought I'd take a crack at what I have seen so far.

First, there is no one player, coach, or group to blame for what went wrong in Mt. Pleasant. The suckage we saw was a complete team effort.

All this hate on Rodgers is a little misplaced, IMHO. Did he make mistakes? Absolutely. All things considered though, I still like him as our QB better than Jacq. At least Rodgers can make some plays on his feat, where Jacq would have just taken an ugly sack. I also don't want to see Nicely's redshirt burned. If this season is a bust, wait until next season and come out strong. The last thing we need to do with good talent is what the Browns did to Frye. The passblocking has to get better before I'll call for Nicely to be thrown to the dogs.

The coaches also need to completely ditch whatever playbook they have now and get a new one. Almost anything would be better than what we're running. The few times there were plays that went deep, and Rodgers got time, it ended up being a big play. The same was true against the other three teams we've played. I know we cannot do that all the time, but that tells me that Rodgers has a decent arm, and when he can set up for a throw, he can make the right decision and get the ball there.

Rodgers is also very dangerous on the ground. I lost count of how many sacks he was able to escape because he was good enough to move around.

That said, he is a rookie sophomore and is making young QB mistakes. I think he is going to improve, and with the opponents we have coming up, he will look better and better.

To really make him better though, the coaches really need to make a change in the plays they are calling. There is no trickery or any threat to any draw or screen we run. The defense knows what's coming. I know what is coming. The drunk tOSU fan sitting beside me knows what's coming.

The coaches need to design some draw plays specifically for Rodgers. Let him do some roll-outs with a pass threat. Instead of handing the ball off on that fake boot-leg, let Rodgers carry it occasionally.

We finally saw a few two-back sets, but each time, the RB didn't follow his blocker to paydirt. WTF? Are they not running these plays in practice? In those situations, the RB needs to lower his head and stay behind the blocker until he gets through the line. The only back we have that I have seen that does this is Tuzze. GIVE HIM THE BALL.

While I'm on the subject, why do we keep running an ACE set? The O-line can't block, so why do they keep leaving it up to the O-Line to block for the RB? The only way I see the running game being successful is if we give the RB more blockers. We just don't have the speed at that position to do it any other way.

And what's up with Igor? If that Chip guy wasn't there to block that kick, the center would have had the world's worst prostate exam.

Kudos to the kick return team though. Almost every return was well blocked, and the team came out with fire. After the first return almost went for a TD, I really thought we'd be in for a great game. Man was I wrong. But still, I liked what I saw on most returns. Why can't this carry over to the offense the rest of the way?

I have mixed feelings about the defense. On one hand, the pass D does a great job. I see them getting pressure on the QB. Yet they give a lot of room to WRs fairly often.
I also noticed that there were several times that we rushed only 3 guys, and they were completely eaten up by the O-line. Chasing Lefevour out there all over the field made them look bad, real bad. The tackling needs to get better. I can't stand seeing plays that could be ended for a loss go for a big gain, and it happens a lot. How about a few corner blitzes? I think that might work well every now and then.

On JD, I'd like to see him go at this point. Watching what he marches out there each week is so damn frustrating. The team lacks fundamentals. It's easy to see that there is little discipline out there. That is what JD should be on each day with these guys. Maybe he is ramming it down there throats and they just aren't getting it, but I doubt that is that case. The team needs more time on fundamentals, especially the O-line. I'd love to see JD come out and for every time a defender got to the QB or RB behind the line, the entire O-line does laps, suicides, stairs, or whatever along those lines. It won't take long to bust them into great shape with the way they are playing.

It's hard to say what will happen with JD at this point. I sincerely believe he is not a lame duck yet, at least not this early in the season. The season gets a lot easier the rest of the way (except syracuse). The season can still be turned around, but it's going to be no small effort. Right now it doesn't matter who the team faces, they are beating themselves.

If JD can pull a winning season out of his ass, I'll be very interested in seeing what opinions on here change. We've got a long way to go.



Lastly, with all this fuss over firing JD and Rodgers, and the defense, and the O-line...did anybody notice that Temple drubbed Buffalo 37-13? How about Ball U putting up 30 on Auburn? Hofstra gave WMU a bit of a scare. My point being, this is the MAC and crazy and impossible seasons are the norm. We still have a long way to go, and anything can happen.


EDITED TO ADD: We have 4 home games left. 3 should be gimmes (Can't, Temple, EMU). All are games we should win. Taking one from Buffalo, NIU, or BG will be a long shot, but possible (I like our chances against buffalo). 5-3 conference finish. A 6-6 or 7-5 overall is still not a lost cause.

Zips Review

I wanted to talk some about the team's performance.

My heart really sunk after the first missed field goal and then the big play MSU had on their opening drives. Thank God they missed theirs. After that the defense was pretty lights out.

The offense still continues to blow my mind. I don't know how many times I yelled STOP RUNNING THAT PLAY, but it was a lot.

Why does it seem like they are afraid to use a power running game? The one time I really thought they committed to it (I think it was the third TD, where Rogers was called short of the line) they busted through MSU for a TD. Yet in similar redzone situations, they continued to go to an Ace formation and try to run Allen, et al as a lone back. It just never really seemed to work. I would love to see a power I, and have Allen run right behind Tuzze more. I think that combo could really beat up a lot of the teams in the MAC.

Why isn't Rodgers the starter? He looked great, and his run threat was incredible. When Jacq went back in, the team acted like it really lost something.

There were a lot of mistakes here that will be taken fully advantage of by a team like Indiana. While 41-0 seems like a big score, with the missed field goals it should have been at least 50-3. I thought the offense looked sloppy, but MSU was a lot sloppier.

Tackling got a lot better for Akron as the game went on. I was glad to see the defense really stopping MSU on the FIRST tackle. Hope this continues into the Indiana game.

These are just a few thoughts I had on the top of my mind. What did you think of the team's performance?