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Game #9 Bowling Green


Balsy

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What happened to our pass rush? What happened to our run defense?

Our defense came in contact with a good offensive line Tuesday. BG had us blocked across the front with talented offensive linemen who appeared to be bigger than us.

There was nothing fancy about BG. They got on their bus, drove to Akron, put on their plain old all white uniforms, kicked our dressed in fancy uniform asses all over the field, got back on their bus and drove home with a victory. If we played them ten times, they would do that 9 of 10 times.

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If we played them ten times, they would do that 9 of 10 times.

I disagree. You are giving BG way too much credit. UMass scored 42 on them, UB scored 35 on them, hell W. Kentucky put up 31. Any of those terrible team's offensive outputs beats them Tuesday night. The Zips made their defense look decent. Marshall would beat us 9 of 10, I'll give you that. The Herd is the most talented team I have seen play at Info this year. If our run and shoot offense doesn't have to play in bad weather we beat BG. Sadly for that concept, we need to play in Alabama, not NEO since the weather is always a factor come Nov & Dec. I agree with Keener, bad night on the defensive side of the ball. Can't blame the weather there. BG was in a lot of good down and distances on 2nd down, we were not. The Zips did a poor job of stopping the run when facing the ONE HUNDREDTH ranked QB in FBS!?! Hint, stop the run and force a crappy QB into bad situations...we did it against Pitt. I love our pass rush when it's third and long. Unfortunately it takes two successful downs for the Zips to get them in that situation. BG's play calling allowed them to succeed on third down. I would strive for that if I were calling plays for Akron. Especially in bad weather.

PS I was having a discussion with a Zips fan last night, he brought up an interesting point. Not that it will ever happen, but don't you wish Brookhart were coaching our receiving corp?

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It all depends on everyone's expectations. I guess 7-5 is great, when you were 5-7 the year before, and just dug your program out of the doldrums. But I think some people expected a MAC championship contender. The schedule set up perfectly. We got the game we needed to get us there, at got it at home. Unfortunately, we weren't up to the challenge.

Our progress will now be measured by 3 games. Are we a team that's still only capable of winning a handful of games, and still one to stringing together a long list of losses? Or, are we ready to be in the mix? if we go 1-2 in the next 3 weeks, and end up with 5 conference losses, I think doubt will linger throughout the off-season. If we win 2 out of 3, hope will survive. If we win all 3 and go to a bowl game? I think most people would be thrilled with that outcome.

After watching last night, Buffalo may be just what the doctor ordered! They are awful. That said, my expectations after the 4-2 start and looking forward to being favored in just about every game, I was looking at a special 9 win season. Now, it looks like my preseason pick of 6-6 may be attainable.

However, after three weeks of losing, injuries, inept offense and even general infighting amongst the diehards, time to shift directions and start looking forward to Zips hoops.

As I have done for years, looking forward to my usual spot at the JAR where I get to watch the best player and team in the MAC and get to listen to the best broadcast/team in the conference.

Beat Buffalo!

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What happened to our defense? They were on the field too much. They let up 6 points in the first half.. but after 51 rushing attempts, they wore down. Only 4.3 yards per carry allowed, which tells me that the first half was probably closer to 2 yards per carry until the levy broke. If the offense put up some points and kept the ball, BG wouldn't have been able to run 51 times, and we'd be praising the defense.

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You are giving BG way too much credit. UMass scored 42 on them, UB scored 35 on them, hell W. Kentucky put up 31. Any of those terrible team's offensive outputs beats them Tuesday night. Zips made their defense look decent.

If our run and shoot offense doesn't have to play in bad weather we beat BG.

I think you nailed the top part. Our inability to score against a defense that had been butchered by so many others was puzzling.

But in regards to the weather, I really thought this would be our game to win. I felt like the lower offensive output gave us the advantage. We really should have been able to win this game when defense vs. defense was the real decider. But when you can't score at all, it was just a matter of time before our defense got pounded enough to put the game out of reach.

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Our offense is average, but has 0 playmakers. I truly think if we had a stud WR out there and a running game that people would think Pohl is a better QB than they currently do.

Our defense is average.

A lot of people think our defense is great because we are used to sucking so bad. When you are used to sucking, an average defense looks good.

That being said, I think the defense has kept us in games and gave us chances for wins. You can't really blame a TD caused by a fumbled snap in the EZ against the defense. Momentum is huge in sports. When you are in a tight game and make a boneheaded mistake that results directly in a score, that can screw you up badly.

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I was really disappointed in the game, but I am also a tiny bit happy as I see 21 pages of discussion on a game 9 games into the season where the Zips were actually relevant, had a chance to do something, and fans expectations were such that they actually cared. Yep, they laid a big egg, dammit, but this is the first time in a long time that a game actually mattered this late in the season. I expect a 6-6 finish but I think that even if we get to 7-5 might not be enough for a bowl game (or pack your bags for Boise in December).

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43rd rated defense in the country is above average but given the offenses we have faced, I agree with your point ................... I'm sorry to keep saying it, but depth is a big factor.

Ones and two's on the DL are solid, but you have to have a very solid three line rotation .............. Need some longer, more physical corners that can play the hard press

I am honestly not worried about the defense, it's far ahead of the offense and getting stronger .......................

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43rd rated defense in the country is above average but given the offenses we have faced, I agree with your point ................... I'm sorry to keep saying it, but depth is a big factor.

Ones and two's on the DL are solid, but you have to have a very solid three line rotation .............. Need some longer, more physical corners that can play the hard press

I am honestly not worried about the defense, it's far ahead of the offense and getting stronger .......................

Speaking of DL. . .

Can anyone tell me if I am right or wrong? I seem to remember that Brock Boxen entered the game late against Howard. The participation list on GoZips.com confirms my recollection: http://gozips.com/sports/fball/2014-15/boxscores/20140828_g081.xml?view=participation

Anyone else remember? If his redshirt was burned, why haven't we seen any more of Brock? I hope my memory is shot and GoZips.com is wrong.

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Speaking of DL. . .

Can anyone tell me if I am right or wrong? I seem to remember that Brock Boxen entered the game late against Howard. The participation list on GoZips.com confirms my recollection: http://gozips.com/sports/fball/2014-15/boxscores/20140828_g081.xml?view=participation

Anyone else remember? If his redshirt was burned, why haven't we seen any more of Brock? I hope my memory is shot and GoZips.com is wrong.

Funny I was looking at the 2014 class and cannot seem to find this kid either ................. Would red shirts be on the roster ? Probably not

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Funny I was looking at the 2014 class and cannot seem to find this kid either ................. Would red shirts be on the roster ? Probably not

He is on the participation list for Eastern and Miami games as well. And yes, redshirts are on the roster but he is not.

Anyone?

Bueller?

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Brock Boxen (#50) shows up in the participants lists for the Howard, EMU and Miami games and in the did not participate lists for the PSU, Pitt, Marshall, OU, BSU and BGSU games.

However, Boxen is currently not listed on the Zips roster. Joe McNamara is the only player on the current roster listed as #50. But in all of the box scores to date McNamara is listed as #5B.

The only other clue I can find on Boxen's status is that on Oct. 8 (after the EMU game) someone on an XBox Dynasty Rosters forum removed Boxen's name from the Akron Zips DL depth chart.

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I disagree. You are giving BG way too much credit. UMass scored 42 on them, UB scored 35 on them, hell W. Kentucky put up 31. Any of those terrible team's offensive outputs beats them Tuesday night. The Zips made their defense look decent. Marshall would beat us 9 of 10, I'll give you that. The Herd is the most talented team I have seen play at Info this year. If our run and shoot offense doesn't have to play in bad weather we beat BG. Sadly for that concept, we need to play in Alabama, not NEO since the weather is always a factor come Nov & Dec. I agree with Keener, bad night on the defensive side of the ball. Can't blame the weather there. BG was in a lot of good down and distances on 2nd down, we were not. The Zips did a poor job of stopping the run when facing the ONE HUNDREDTH ranked QB in FBS!?! Hint, stop the run and force a crappy QB into bad situations...we did it against Pitt. I love our pass rush when it's third and long. Unfortunately it takes two successful downs for the Zips to get them in that situation. BG's play calling allowed them to succeed on third down. I would strive for that if I were calling plays for Akron. Especially in bad weather.

PS I was having a discussion with a Zips fan last night, he brought up an interesting point. Not that it will ever happen, but don't you wish Brookhart were coaching our receiving corp?

OK, 8 of 10 times.
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PS I was having a discussion with a Zips fan last night, he brought up an interesting point. Not that it will ever happen, but don't you wish Brookhart were coaching our receiving corp?

I don't think our WRs are very good and there wouldn't be much to work with. There also doesn't seem to be much heart. Talent and effort makes a player. This group is badly in need of new personnel next season. We need players that are good all of the time. They are not good enough of the time.
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I don't think our WRs are very good and there wouldn't be much to work with. There also doesn't seem to be much heart. Talent and effort makes a player. This group is badly in need of new personnel next season. We need players that are good all of the time. They are not good enough of the time.

Someone wrote the same thing about the Zips receivers before JD showed up, then he changed a DB into an NFL receiver, and a backup QB into an all american wide receiver. He also coached not one, but two Biletnikoff award winners. The dude had a knack for finding receivers on a roster, and I'm sure he could make our receiver corp better, whomever he would come up with at the position from our roster.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Andre Jones also. He switched him from free safety to receiver.

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Someone wrote the same thing about the Zips receivers before JD showed up, then he changed a DB into an NFL receiver, and a backup QB into an all american wide receiver. He also coached not one, but two Biletnikoff award winners. The dude had a knack for finding receivers on a roster, and I'm sure he could make our receiver corp better, whomever he would come up with at the position from our roster.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Andre Jones also. He switched him from free safety to receiver.

Do you think he could make magic happen with Blake Dennis?

(Sorry couldn't resist.)

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Do you think he could make magic happen with Blake Dennis?

He would fit right into JD's stack defense concept. :cry:

If we have the offense, we don't have the defense, if we have the defense, we don't have the offense. I hope I get to see both at the same time in my life.

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Someone wrote the same thing about the Zips receivers before JD showed up, then he changed a DB into an NFL receiver, and a backup QB into an all american wide receiver. He also coached not one, but two Biletnikoff award winners. The dude had a knack for finding receivers on a roster, and I'm sure he could make our receiver corp better, whomever he would come up with at the position from our roster.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Andre Jones also. He switched him from free safety to receiver.

JD was a good WR coach, but he also had a lot of raw talent to work with. It all starts with talent because as we all know, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken poop. Not sure we have the raw material necessary right now to make anything out of our WRs.

My concern about our WR corps is they appear to be going through the motions and quite frankly a little soft. Could use more fight in them. I was very upset when we had a jump ball the other night and the BG defender completely out fought our WR for the INT. We should expect better effort out of a team when they are fighting for their lives in a game for first place in the MAC East. On another play, Pratt doesn't fight hard enough to prevent an INT. In the spirit of this being a family, football oriented board, I'll just say that Pratt is a word that rhymes with "punt". He has the body language of a guy who is about to break down and cry at any second.

Like I said already, it was a game of contenders against pretenders.

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Wasn't Sconiers a pretty darn good receiver a couple of years ago? Why does it seem they only rarely look his way now? Also, should Imani Davis be targeted more if the usual suspects aren't stepping up?

I also agree with increased offensive pace and a little more running game to set up a play action passing attack.

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JD was a good WR coach, but he also had a lot of raw talent to work with. It all starts with talent because as we all know, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken poop. Not sure we have the raw material necessary right now to make anything out of our WRs.

My concern about our WR corps is they appear to be going through the motions and quite frankly a little soft. Could use more fight in them. I was very upset when we had a jump ball the other night and the BG defender completely out fought our WR for the INT. We should expect better effort out of a team when they are fighting for their lives in a game for first place in the MAC East. On another play, Pratt doesn't fight hard enough to prevent an INT. In the spirit of this being a family, football oriented board, I'll just say that Pratt is a word that rhymes with "punt". He has the body language of a guy who is about to break down and cry at any second.

Like I said already, it was a game of contenders against pretenders.

My favorite was JC7 not picking up the block on the end rusher on the high snap that Pohl didn't handle in the end zone. That same guy then recovered the ball while he stood there watching, made no effort to dive on it himself, or at least get down on the ground and fight for it. And that was a game-changing play. Watch the ESPN highlight, and see if you see the same thing.

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