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True Story: August, 2009. I was watching pre-season practice directly after mowing my lawn. Like so many in this state, I did so wearing an old, beat-up, dirty Buckeyes cap that was barely even intact. You know, the kind of hat with the ring of salt deposits from all the sweat. Nice. Anyway. As the Zips were leaving the practice field, I shouted encouragement, something generic like “Championship this year, boys!”. CP looked directly at me through the twilight. Stopped. He walked deliberately over to me. He recognized me even if he could not identify me by name. Within five feet of me, he pointed his finger in my face, those crazy intense eyes staring unflinchingly into mine. CP: From where did you graduate? Me: Here, coach. From Akron. You know that. CP: Ever attend Ohio State? Me: Never. CP: That’s right. Why do you have that on your head? Me: Just mowing the lawn in it. CP: Are you all in with what we are doing here? Are you one of us? Me: Uh, of course I am. CP: Younger fans, students, watch you older folks. I do not want you to wear anything Buckeyes again. They are our rivals. Me: OK, coach. (Stunned, I removed my filthy cap.) CP: Give me that. I sheepishly gave him the hat. Without a word, he took it, pivoted, and stalked off to join the team. He never smiled. He did not turn around to see what I was doing. He just left. I looked around for witnesses; there were none. I have not worn anything Ohio State since that day. I have been systematically trading in all that Buckeye gear for Zips stuff every time we host them.

I called Alexa Doutt this morning to see if we could park in the lot where the Zips bus is going to park. The lot is full. She told me there is another lot a couple of blocks away operated by the same outfit. Gravel lot, 30 bucks. If anyone is interested, can provide a contact. I am going to Pitt this evening and making a rendezvous with fellow Zips fans and we are going to make our Saturday morning game plan over some drinks & dinner. As soon as I figure out what we are doing, I will post it on here. I know there are a lot of people who want to tailgate close to the stadium with other Zips fans. Pitt's parking setup leaves a lot to be desired. If anyone has a plan in place already and would like some company, please post it here. If not, I will make some beer time decisions and report back to the group late tonight or early tomorrow morning. Go Zips!

Being new to the Zips and watching some games from last year and the 3 games this year. Just the three games this year Howard - 28 - 64 (64%) for 400 yds 0 INT 113 yds rushing Penn State - 24 - 46 (52%) for 208 yds 2 INT 69 yds rushing Marshall- 25 - 52 (48%) for 251 yds 1 INT 92 yds rushing Not a huge difference in running yards per game ............ My opinion in viewing Pohl is that he does seem uncomfortable and not confident in the spread and I think has made some pretty glaring misreads. Not to say that his confidence won't improve throughout the year. To his defense and it has been pointed out, there have been alot of balls dropped by the receiving core. Without a running game, we are in for a struggle this season, My question is do we really have any deep threat speed to stretch the field. Pretty evident that we had better match ups at WR against Howard (only 4 more completions and twice the yardage than PSU). That, to me, shows that the opposing defenses are able to squeeze the line of scrimmage more and stone the running game because the outside WR coverage is handled by the corners with no need for a nickle package .......... Call me stupid and old school, but if you cannot stretch the field to open up space in the flats and create running lanes, the read option is worthless. Back to the ole power I with multiple formations and play action !!!

I would agree with you if I'd ever seen anything from Pohl in the first place. He's had some good games against God awful defenses here and there, but has never been consistent and has never been able to drop back, go through his reads at a speed that a good QB should, and deal the ball with confidence. Honestly, before he was hurt I thought Hirschman looked better running TB's offense. And even as physically limited as Dalton Williams was, you put him on this team and we would've beaten Penn State. Pohl has a decent arm and some athletic ability, but doesn't have it upstairs. Being a great quarterback, especially at the collegiate level, is 80 percent acumen and 20 percent arm strength. Woodson, at least in what I've seen of him (which granted has been limited and in very low pressure situations), makes his reads and gets the ball out much quicker than Pohl. I don't see any harm in working the kid in and seeing what he can do if Pohl continues to flounder.

Do we? Because I recall 4 drops that killed drives against Penn State and at least 3 that killed drives against Marshall. Pohl has thrown two int's in three games. One bounced off the receiver, and the other was a desperation throw into the endzone to try and get a touchdown trailing by 28 points. Receivers other than D'orazio (sp) need to step it up.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/24under24/news/article/2014/09/25/discovering-deandre-how-seattle-sounders-found-developed-deandre-yedlin A few excerpts... By then he’d also caught the eye of Akron head coach Caleb Porter, who had served as an assistant with the US Under-18 team when Yedlin was called in as a junior in high school. The Zips won a national title in 2010 using an aggressive and effective right back in Kofi Sarkodie, but there was a hole in the lineup after Sarkodie departed for MLS, drafted by the Houston Dynamo in 2011. The Sounders played it safe, and Yedlin went to Akron. Sounders assistant Kurt Schmid watched him play a number of times his freshman year and Yedlin returned to Seattle the summer after his freshman year a more confident player. The faults that hurt him during his younger years – a sometimes clumsy first touch and errant crossing – had improved, and he was beginning to truly grasp when to best use his speed in attack so that his team wouldn’t get caught on the counterattack. Yedlin returned to Akron his sophomore year and excelled again for the Zips, leaving no doubt about his professional future. The Sounders made him the franchise’s first-ever Homegrown player in January 2013 and unveiled him at the MLS SuperDraft in Indianapolis four days later.

BUH-bye ... .