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When Bowden talks of Woodson, he gets all excited and uses words like exciting and aggressive. Why? Because Bowden just isn't a coach, he's a brand...Bowden Ball. He wants everything about the program to be about Bowden Ball. The problem he has is Pohl is the better QB if you are looking for someone who does things like keep turnovers down, but he is going to do little exciting or aggressive; however, he wins. Bowden doesn't want that type of player at QB but at the same time he wants excitement and aggression without all of the mistakes that can lose a game. He wants a brand guy. A successful brand guy is very hard to get and the Zips don't have a single one on the team. The guy who comes closest to fitting the brand is Woodson. Woodson is everything Bowden says he is, exciting and aggressive. He is also something that Bowden can't say he is and that is turnover prone. Bowden passes his insertion into the game as a spark for the team. If the last two weeks are any indication, that spark will burn down the house eventually, but he keep Pohl on a short leash. Turnovers will destroy a team faster than anything. He continues to shovel Woodson on to the field in the hopes that some magic will happen and the turnovers will stop. It's not going to this year so we have to do the best with the cards we were dealt. Early in the year someone made a comment on the board about Bowden doing what is right for Akron with the existing players. Maybe Bowden made it. In the end, I think he believes Bowden Ball is right for Akron and I believe he is right for believing that. Our problem is we don't have anyone to fit the QB bill in Bowden Ball right now in a way that will allow us to WIN. So, we need the bridge player that may not be desirable for Bowden Ball, but wins. Pohl is the bridge until a better brand guy is developed or recruited. Bowden is at a crossroad. Does he want to risk losing with Woodson to build the brand, or does he want to continue to win with a guy who isn't anything he wants in a QB but wins? The other major problem is Pohl is only a junior. If he ended up being successful this year starting every game (we were on that way with a 4-2 start to the season), it presents Bowden with a huge problem for next year. If you want Bowden Ball, how do you bench a QB who maybe won the MAC East for you, beat a BCS team and maybe took the program to a bow game, but doesn't fit the Bowden Ball mold? Somehow you have to move that player along. Pohl isn't exciting, but the team wins around him. Woodson is exciting, but the team loses around him. It really isn't a tough choice for me because I value winning and QBs who have teams win around them over everything. I'm not promoting a personal brand though so the decision is made much easier.

“We were outplayed and I think they deserved the result,” Embick said. Coach, we were outplayed because our players didn't show up. It's time to start calling them out. You don't play for Akron and not give a crap. How can you stand on the sideline and not get in their faces? These guys need to learn that if you don't show up ready to play at your best, there are consequences. Standing on the field for however long it takes after the game to go through every poopy pass, mistake, lazy play, etc. each player made and how they won't play like that again, running sprints after the game, being called out in front of teammates for laziness/poor attitude/stupidity, etc. One missing starter should not result in a loss, at home, to crappy WMU. This is unacceptable.

As much as I respect your knowledge of football and agree with some of your opinions, I'm not willing to take the giant leap you have about Coach Bowden's motives when it comes to QB selection. I believe Coach Bowden's only motive is to turn the Zips into a winning program, and that he's using all of his experience and expertise to accomplish this. While I'm puzzled about the QB situation, I'm not ready to assume either the worst or the best. I'll just say that this game reinforces my opinion that the Zips are still on the path to getting better, which means that they are better than they were but not as good as they're going to be. They have better players and better coaching than they did a couple of seasons ago. But they're still not a stacked team, even by MAC standards. Some combination of coaching and player abilities led to today's loss, same as they led to the win at Pitt. The Zips are currently inconsistent, which is miles ahead of being consistently awful as they were just a couple of seasons ago.

Every one of our players should be embarrassed about tonight's game. I saw no heart / desire to win. It's one thing to lose to a better team, but WMU sucks. To let them win on our field, ugh If my team can't bother to show up, I don't know why I bother. I don't miss home games, happily getting there an hour before kickoff to show how much I care about and support them. I have plans to go to Northern Illinois, but if tonight"s performance reflects how much our players care, then why should I make that long trip? What's with all the backward passing and screwing around in front of our own goal. A bunch of wusses who are afraid to pass the ball forward? I don't get it. How many times do they have to be punished before they realize how stupid that is to be so timid. There's a time to pass backwards, but they're doing it way too often. I accepted this team is young, but that only goes so far. The talent is there; they've been playing together for sometime now and have shown how good they can be. Their testicles have dropped. It's time to stop being afraid and assert themselves. This is Akron. It's totally unacceptable to step on Cub Cadet Field and not give a crap. Jared needs to start holding everyone of them accountable. They should not have been allowed to leave that field so quickly after that lack of performance.

There are some tough questions that need to be answered but I don't really see that happening because they would need to be asked.

The bowl in Alabama would take us. Either of them. The real question is whether or not we can get to six wins.