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Congrats to the Lady Zips on taking down the #1 seed, Ball State, in PK's today. They will play #5 seed, Miami(OH), at Western Michigan on Friday, November 6th in the MAC Semifinals. The other semifinal is #2 Western Michigan hosting #3 Buffalo. In fact, of the 4 quarterfinal matchups, only the Western Michigan-Toledo one didn't go to PK's. Akron won 4-3, Miami won 4-3, and Buffalo won 3-1(WMU won in regulation, 3-0).

The Zips defense was stellar on Saturday. Surrendering 14 points each vs. quality competition like OU and CMU is impressive. The 59 points vs BGSU was not completely on the D. If you're going to beat the Falcons, even the best defense is going to surrender 30+. You need to score. I think Woodson has done a great job this season. But he doesn't have much help. Lane is great, but he's on the field for <50% of our offensive snapsImani Davis has emerged as a quality player, but it has taken 3+ years for him to develop. Other than him and Lane, we have nothing relaible. On the rare occassion Woodson had any time to throw Saturday, our WR's were either covered, ran routes that were too short to get a first down, or ran so deep they were out of the play. Woodson needs a TE, or D'Orazio-type player that reads the situation and comes back to get the ball. Woodson is a throwing QB, but the game plan seems centered around him runningOur OL has 5 seniors. But it isn't like these guys have played together for 4 years. It is a patchwork line that gets no push against better competition. And Saturday, they left Woodson's blind side wide-open several times. Our offense is Russian Roulette. At some point in a 10-play drive we always find the bullet. The closer to the red zone, the more likely we are to shoot ourselves. It sucks. Even when we score a TD, we still botch the XP. Our offense also takes very few gambles. We had the ball in CMU territory multiple times Saturday, and elected to punt on every 4th down. No reverses. No fake anything. Very vanilla. We basically waited around hoping our defense could win the game. Somehow we had 19,000 in attendance. Seeing your mascot prancing around in a pink tutu made me sick. Yeah, I know Zippy is a she. Yeah, I know it was a cancer-awareness game. Yeah, I know it was Halloween. But I don't want to see my school's mascot in a pink tutu. Keener's smoked meat was outstanding! Definitely the highlight of an otherwise forgettable day. My 2015 Zips Theory is: The Zips will beat crappy teams, and like-talented teams. But we can't beat the better teams. Even if they are only slightly better, like OU and CMU. We're the only MAC team with the Russian Roulette offense, and that's our degree of separation from the pack. Remaining on our schedule are 3 crappy teams, and 1 like-talented team. Barring any horrific cavalcade-of-injuries, we should finish November 4-0. It is amazing how close to 9-3 this team could be. This time of year, teams in the Zips situation either finish strong, or drop into "who gives a damn" mode and get waxed. The Zips haven't shown any quit yet, so I like our chances to run the table. Time will tell...

Freshman Kyle Ritz makes room for a Tommy Woodson pass. —©Photo by Dr Z Se'Von Pittman helps hold CMU to thirty-nine yards rushing on the day. —©Photo by Dr Z Joe Bacci scores a two yard touchdown on his only catch of the day. —©Photo by Dr Z Rodney Coe and DeAndre Scott take a break after another defensive stop. —©Photo by Dr Z Offensive coordinator AJ Milwee celebrates another Jerome Lane long touchdown reception. —©Photo by Dr Z Quarterback Tommy Woodson expresses emotion after a review confirms his touchdown pass. —©Photo by Dr Z The Zips defense held the Chips to an average of 1.6 yards a carry on the day. —©Photo by Dr Z

A-Zip, I don't understand your arguments at all, probably because you don't actually argue anything beyond, generally, that the media is biased and that there's more to the story about UA than we know. I've asked you at least twice to respond to specifics, or provide specifics, but you fail to answer. The commercial media is mostly corporate-owned these days. Also, the debate you referred to was hosted by CNBC, a business news network ultimately owned by GE, hardly a bastion of liberalism. What exactly is your point about the media and what does that point have to do with ABJ's coverage of UA? Does media bias explain why donations to UA are way down? Does the ABJ run UA? Is Scarborough responsible, at least in part, for the UA narrative in the public sphere? Do you think it was cool to fire bunches of people under the guise of fiscal crisis and then immediately shift into spending mode? Institutions are responsible for the ways they are perceived, not the media nor the readers of the paper. Is Scar unhappy with the narrative so far? It's his job to change it, to get in front of it.

Bowden would arguably be a better fit at a Florida school than Akron. The family name, the culture, recruiting potential would all be more favorable for him in White-Trash-California than in the Midwest. I'm in the minority on the board that's not particularly impressed with his results to date. He put out the bonfire that was the program when he arrived. However, every other school in the MAC has flashed at least once in the last several years, except Akron. I'm not sold on him as the answer although I certainly hope he is. Oh, and YEAH to another NE Ohio winning football weekend. UA loses and Cleveland fans are in full meltdown mode this evening. What would life be without UA coaching and NFL draft discussions in November every year?

quotes from Coach Embick in the Beacon Journal The Bruins maintained possession throughout the match at a much higher percentage than the Mid-American Conference opponents the Zips typically face at this point in the season. “It reminds you that you can’t be reactive, you’ve got to be proactive,” UA coach Jared Embick said of facing a team with UCLA’s style of play. “You’ve got to be focus and have concentration for 90 minutes. “The intensity level and speed of the game was a lot higher than the other games we’ve been playing lately, and when you don’t play those [types of matches] in a couple of weeks, you kind of look like [we did today.]” “I thought we over-celebrated the goal and we lost our momentum,” Embick said of the goal that tied the match 2-2. “I think we zapped ourselves with too much energy and emotion and we never really recovered from that. “To their credit, they have players up top that are difficult to handle. If you can’t have the energy and intensity required, then they’re going to have some moments and in those moments they punished us and we weren’t able to get [the momentum] back.”

Newman Williams was injured early during a five yard reception. —©Photo by Dr Z Connor Hundley fights for yardage. —©Photo by Dr Z Jordan George celebrates his interception with his teammates. —©Photo by Dr Z Van Edwards turns the corner on one of his two carries. —©Photo by Dr Z Se'Von Pittman slows the runner as Rodney Coe eyes his target. —©Photo by Dr Z The Zips defense harasses quarterback Cooper Rush. —©Photo by Dr Z The Zips offense came up short on a Hail Mary pass to end the day. —©Photo by Dr Z