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Great team win, today. The first half felt like everyone was adjusting to different personnel but they seemed to gel towards the end of the first half. We are a different team with Tommy Woodson. It's not just his arm, it's his fire. He knows when to hold it, and when to throw it. He picked up a couple of nice first downs with his feet today at key times. I love that we can have the confidence to put the ball in his hands to throw a big pass at the end of the 4th to seal the deal. JoJo Natson continues to be a workhorse for us and a warrior. I love that other teams cannot focus solely on Jerome or Natson without paying for it with Coney or Wolf. It was also nice to see Newman Williams catch a couple, but he seemed to hobble out a bit after his second catch. I hope it was no big deal. Nice to see Jerome Lane looking more like Jerome Lane, again. I like that we are keeping TC5 engaged. You never know when he might be needed, again, but also, he does gives a good look inside of the 10 yard line and in 4th and sort situations. The OL and run game were impressive. So much for having the second least experienced OL at the beginning of the season. These kids are playing their butts off, and we lose none of them this year. Quigley did a very nice job playing for Gathney, today. When you look at the stats, the thing that sticks out to me is that all of our tackles are coming from LBs and secondary. None from a DL, today. I think what it means is that Chuck Amato pulled off some defensive scheme magic today to shut down a productive run game with a patched together unit. I have heard people belittle the team's record, saying we have only beat losing teams. Ball State is a .500 team and they probably won't end up with a winning record, looking ahead at the rest of their schedule, but they are no slouch, either and have played well this season. This team has overcome a lot of adversity this year and they continue to find ways to win. Part of it is a higher level of talent, and part of it is a different culture. I am not sure if it is me or if it is noticeable, but TB seems much more personally connected to the players this year. He is celebrating with them when they come off the field after a great play and there seems to be more personal interaction. There could be a host of reasons for this (more reasons to celebrate, no longer deeply grieving losses of nephew or Tank, he was more involved with recruiting these kids, etc..) The Good: 100% conversions (all TDs) in the Red Zone 0 interceptions thrown Nearly even time of possession 8/12 on 3rd down, 2-2 on 4th down conversions Offense gave up 0 sacks to the second leading sack defense in the country Team rushed for 177 yards, Van Edwards over 100 yards, set up the HB pass from Morgan. Both RBs stepped up played a big game for us. Van Edwards is explosive and starting to move to another tier of RB. Trick plays worked - Woodson lined up, as a WR, TC5 rushed for 1st down, pass from Morgan to Wolf Lane was more productive. Alvin Davis and Ulysees Gilbert are beginning to emerge as defensive threats. Kyron Brown, Jordan George, and Larry Hope are also playing well for us. Featherstone is also making an impact. 2nd half play calling made Milwee look like a genius. The Not So Good: 8 penalties for 51 yards, 3 from Letuli for illegal formation - not sure if it was a ref with a bug up their butt or if Letuli was doing something wrong. Seems odd to start getting them at this point of the season. Maybe he was so distracted by how badly the TV announcers butchered his name. Ekkins was getting an earful from TB about this. We had another illegal substitution on defense. We have to fix this It has been an issue for 2 straight games. The revolving door defense is surely contributing to this, but after 2 games, we need to find a way to address it. The revolving door is the new reality, for now and we have to make it work. We can't afford to give up those types of penalties. 1st half run defense was like a sieve. Kickoff tackling wasn't tremendous. Bizarre play calling for final drive of the first half. Let's hope a reporter actually asks about that drive this week. Had to depend on a couple of reviews being upheld on fumbles. Thankfully, they both fell our way, but let's do a better job hanging on so we don't have to depend on good officiating. Side notes: Neither team gave up a sack today. Bowden said something to the effect, "Losing teams talk about injuries, winning teams talk about the next man up." on the post game interview. We wore that same uniform combo at Marshall. Ball was listed as out, but was dressed. Hopefully, that means he will be back, soon. He might have had a 200+ yard day, today. Camara went down in the 4th. He is the back-up DL. We really can't afford to lose any more guys there. I hope he is OK. Let's go to Buffalo next week and become bowl eligible for the second consecutive year!

Yeah there's no chance we're at home with 7 wins.

Go me... I did not predict though that a school named BALL St would have fans that got mad about our team properly saluting then.

Austin Wolf's block on the Van Edwards TD run!

Zips win, score 35, and hold the Cardinals to 256 yards rushing. Congratulations to kreed5120, gmann17, zipsoutsider, Zip-Zap, LZip, Zipmlady, gozips19 and Ham, who answered all three correctly. Because of the game Thursday, Three for Thursday™ will start on Tuesday this week.

Quarterback Thomas Woodson Returns to Lead Zips Over Cardinals http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/akron-35-ball-state-25-quarterback-thomas-woodson-returns-to-lead-zips-over-cardinals-1.721399 Zips D only allowed 70 yards rushing in the 2nd half.

To be bowl eligible, all that matters is that you get to 6 wins. With so many bowls, it is very unlikely that a 6 win team will not go bowling this year. It is actually pretty likely that there will not be enough teams to fill the bowls again. If that happens, they fill the bowls with 5 win teams based on academic performance.

The team has no on-field leader. It's disjointed. Lots of individual talent that just doesn't work right.

Van Edwards Zips' POtG. 16 carries, 112 yards, 1 TD

That second half might have saved the season.