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Game 8—@Toledo Rockets


Dr Z

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It looks to me like we're starting to figure out who this team is.  Any team with high end talent will smack Akron around. Against most MAC scools we should be able to hang. 

Any team that can run the ball effectively will give Akron trouble.  That makese mevnervous for the OU game. That being said every game left on the schedule is winnable.  

Need better play from Woody. He has to be more accurate with the ball. His missed td pass to Bickley (?) was the beginning of the end. 

For once I liked the offensive game plan. Still want more Sands despite the fumble. 

 

The one thing that really bums me out is that I really thought we'd have talent like Toledo by now when Bowden was hired. Now, I'm pretty sure he won't be able to get us to that level. A great qb (Kato maybe?) can fix all of this with a D that returns just about everyone next year. 

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Well, the negative Nancy's will be happy for a week, but all of the team's goals are still in front of them.

 

We got beat by a much better program. I am continiously amazed at the lack of recognition of how bad of shape the program was in when Bowden took over. Why are we just getting better recruiting classes? Because no one wanted to play for such a miserable program. We have a decent shot at winning the MAC East and going to another bowl game. Toledo has been doing these things, almost annually for how many years? Which school will a recruit choose? Our recruiting is improving, but it takes time when you are not on top and were the joke of Div 1 for years.

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Toledo Thoughts, mostly not concerning the playing of the game. Others have covered that and I agree with most of the reports.

  • I had a great time at this game, except for the outcome of course. The people were friendly and very helpful in guiding my party around. The tailgating was fun and easy. Their campus is very nice and seemingly more spread out than ours. I loved the old stone architecture.
  • The crowd actually grew during the game. At KO the stands were 40-50% full. By half they were 60-70% full.
  • I saw more gear for the home side than I have seen for any MAC site the Zips have visited. The fans are truly proud of their team and school. 
  • Their band is good. Ours is better.
  • I'd love to have Toledo as a rival. The only problem is you have to beat your rival every now and again to fuel the rivalry. We are so similar it is scary:
    • We both are STEM oriented
    • We both have higher aspirations
    • We both are in urban settings
    • Our cities and universities are about the same size
    • Unfortunately, their tradition, talent level, recognition and success is much higher than ours
  • Milwee called an OK game. He's not my favorite coach but he got no execution for what he called. He did his best.
  • Amato had no answer to Toledo's talent and efficiency. Many times he was in the wrong alignment. He really got schooled by their OC.
  • Toledo is too good a progrum to be committing so many penalties. They rank at the top of the MAC in penalties. The coaches should not tolerate that.
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1 hour ago, zipsoutsider said:

Well, the negative Nancy's will be happy for a week, but all of the team's goals are still in front of them.

 

We got beat by a much better program. I am continiously amazed at the lack of recognition of how bad of shape the program was in when Bowden took over. Why are we just getting better recruiting classes? Because no one wanted to play for such a miserable program. We have a decent shot at winning the MAC East and going to another bowl game. Toledo has been doing these things, almost annually for how many years? Which school will a recruit choose? Our recruiting is improving, but it takes time when you are not on top and were the joke of Div 1 for years.

I agree with recruiting process, we need to finish this year, it will help, most people on here don’t understand because we have no coverage, zero coverage 

 

There are 21 freshman with the team, 7 of them have played, Booker the most PT, Burkhart & Meeks are special teams, Sampson in rush packages, Williams, Brimage & Jacobs have all played a few plays

 

All everyone knows is they only announced 13 because at time of signing day where non qualifiers, some got grades up last semester or raised ACT to be qualifiers & participate, a few others are working behind the scenes & will start in spring

 

i think heading in right direction as biggest downfall was just getting other teams problems in here & being pretty good but if they don’t stay or get hurt we didn’t have any depth, the depth is better & hopefully will be better after this recruiting year & program continues in the right direction 

 

With that said I think if you want to run the spread you need bigger receivers, they must need to be able to block & run the ball.  You use the whole field in a spread, get in open field, create mismatches, we are calling  RPO plays with a QB that isn’t a threat & throw vertical all the time & those are low % passes, I like Woodson & think he should be QB, just using spread differently & not so much RPO as there is little QB threat on ground, get bubbles & stays in the passing game & spreads defense out & helps running game & deep threat if they got to play tight to LOS to stop stays & bubbles

 

i am still bullish that East is in our grasp

 

GO ZIPS

 

 

Edited by 94zipgrad
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14 minutes ago, LZIp said:

Can you provide some insight on which players we should expect in the spring @94zipgrad ? Does this include just freshman or potentially some of our other non-qualifiers (King and Jest)?

Freshman that didn’t qualify, I think a couple will help, we had a few non qualifiers if you look back at list, I don’t know if King & Jest will come back

Edited by 94zipgrad
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3 hours ago, zipsoutsider said:

And I bet we see players like Jacobs and Williams are red shirted. If you only play kids a very limited amount in OOC play, you can generally red shirt them, but getting them in the game early let's them know you are interested in them. 

You sure about that? I thought the redshirt was burned the moment they played one snap.

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42 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I was hoping to hear Corner and Bridges are myself. I see Bridges still has Zips football in his twitter bio.

Yeah, for sure. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Kidd & Jordan because we're really gonna need them as interior D linemen next year after losing Camara, Copeland & Brennan Williams.

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40 minutes ago, LZIp said:

I was hoping to hear Corner and Bridges are myself. I see Bridges still has Zips football in his twitter bio.

I wish I knew for sure & we had a true beat reporter who kept up on the team. I have heard Corner & Jordan is around working out & look good but honestly I don’t know that to be true, it’s happy hour talk

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5 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

You sure about that? I thought the redshirt was burned the moment they played one snap.

Yeah, we have a number of kids who have made appearances in OOC games and then were redshirted. I think you have to apply for an exception but Tom O'Leary is a good example. Everyone remembers his less than impressive appearance as a true freshman at PSU. He was redshirted that year. He is listed a R-Jr. If he had not redshirted, he would be a senior.

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20 hours ago, zipsoutsider said:

Well, the negative Nancy's will be happy for a week, but all of the team's goals are still in front of them.

I don't think, or at least hope, anyone is happy with Saturday's result. Just because people have lost faith in Bowden doesn't mean they want to see Akron not succeed.

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1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

I don't think, or at least hope, anyone is happy with Saturday's result. Just because people have lost faith in Bowden doesn't mean they want to see Akron not succeed.

 

It kinda does take that tone though.  Whenever the Zips win, excuses are made to point out why they sucked or coulda done better.  Whenever they lose, all the bad things are continually harped on and used as an excuse for why the Zips need to go in a different direction.  It's like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

The nay-sayers were quick to point out how much lack of talent there was on the defense.  But since we've entered league play, you can see our Defense is a lot better than most originally thought, and there does seem to be a level of young depth that should be interesting to follow on both sides of the ball.  But the Nay-sayers don't mention that, and still focus on how awful the team is.

 

The WMU game was a huge win.  Could we have scored more points?  Yes.  Were there some bad calls?  Yes.  But did they lose the game?  No.  Zips teams of the past would have found a way to lose that game.  Instead they found a way to hold on and win.  Yet the Nay-Sayers still can't say anything positive about this team.

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A couple final thoughts on the Toledo game -

 

Chapman had a really nice game. He made a great catch in traffic over the middle for a first down... on 3rd and 19 he made a nice move coming back towards Woodson...unfortunately the catch netted 18 yards, and we ended up punting...and his diving TD catch showed great hands and timing. A small ray of light in an otherwise forgettable day.

 

We had zero penalties. I don't know how that was possible in a road MAC game, but it happened. Having no Amanda Sauers in the officiating crew probably helped.  

 

 

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1 hour ago, Balsy said:

 

It kinda does take that tone though.  Whenever the Zips win, excuses are made to point out why they sucked or coulda done better.  Whenever they lose, all the bad things are continually harped on and used as an excuse for why the Zips need to go in a different direction.  It's like you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

The nay-sayers were quick to point out how much lack of talent there was on the defense.  But since we've entered league play, you can see our Defense is a lot better than most originally thought, and there does seem to be a level of young depth that should be interesting to follow on both sides of the ball.  But the Nay-sayers don't mention that, and still focus on how awful the team is.

 

The WMU game was a huge win.  Could we have scored more points?  Yes.  Were there some bad calls?  Yes.  But did they lose the game?  No.  Zips teams of the past would have found a way to lose that game.  Instead they found a way to hold on and win.  Yet the Nay-Sayers still can't say anything positive about this team.

There are two sides to every story. I've seen posters making excuses for why we lose. We gave up 48 points and 626 yards and there was a poster who stated the game would have been closer had a few bounces gone our way. Seriously?!

 

These nay-sayers, as you like to call them, are people who want to see Akron succeed. They want to see Akron be perennial MAC contenders the same way NIU and Toledo are. What frustrates me is the apathy among Zips fans. It seems to me many posters are content just being a 6 or 7 win team who when the Zips lose by 3+ touchdowns says oh well that was against a good team. I want to be the top dog.

 

I've been critical of Bowden as I've lost faith in him being able to be that guy who elevates Akron to those heights. I will be a happy guy if I'm proved wrong and I assume those other nay-sayers will feel the same. I don't feel I was critical of last weeks win but I did state that we weren't going to win too many games where we are out gained 2:1 in yards. More times than not the outcome will be closer to the Toledo game than what it was for the WMU game. There is an easy way to silence the nay-sayers, win and win often.

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1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

There are two sides to every story. I've seen posters making excuses for why we lose. We gave up 48 points and 626 yards and there was a poster who stated the game would have been closer had a few bounces gone our way. Seriously?!

 

These nay-sayers, as you like to call them, are people who want to see Akron succeed. They want to see Akron be perennial MAC contenders the same way NIU and Toledo are. What frustrates me is the apathy among Zips fans. It seems to me many posters are content just being a 6 or 7 win team who when the Zips lose by 3+ touchdowns says oh well that was against a good team. I want to be the top dog.

 

I've been critical of Bowden as I've lost faith in him being able to be that guy who elevates Akron to those heights. I will be a happy guy if I'm proved wrong and I assume those other nay-sayers will feel the same. I don't feel I was critical of last weeks win but I did state that we weren't going to win too many games where we are out gained 2:1 in yards. More times than not the outcome will be closer to the Toledo game than what it was for the WMU game. There is an easy way to silence the nay-sayers, win and win often.

We're 4-4, with a decent probability of going 7-5. or 8-4. That's acceptable for me in October 2017. We'll see how the final 4 games play-out.

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