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For some perspective, Last time I was at Infocision Stadium (not the spring game), it was a pretty nice November Saturday, on Senior Day for one of the more decorated senior classes in out history. Against a much worse team (than UAB) in Bowling Green that had fired its coach in the middle of the season, I saw the Zips players AND coaches quit while one player fell asleep on the bench as the Zips failed to reach the end zone against statistically one of the worst defenses in FBS, as the coaching staff decided to take a couple of time outs home down only two scores against, again, one of the worst defenses in FBS. Today, I saw a very young and inexperienced team play their asses off and play like idiots a lot. I saw a young coaching staff that isn't used to FBS ball. I saw a kicker leave 4 huge and easy points on the board in the first half. I saw a head coach screaming at the referee to reset the playclock quicker with just seconds to go because he wanted to give his boys a chance. And I didn't see any players or coaches quitting. How refreshing. Everyone knew we wouldn't be worth a damn this year, and shoot the run game stuff is probably going to drive me up a wall this year. As is the young DBs getting toasted. It felt like we ran as many positive plays today as we did the entire second half of last season, but there's still a very long way to go. Trust the process. Hopefully the boys are still doing well in the classroom as well. By the way, rooting for Charlie Frye to fail miserably next week feels weird, but you've gotta do what you've gotta do. GO ZIPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swooning for Bowden may be the natural reaction to losing to a "no-name" college (which has a 27-14 record under this coach), but aren't these, for the most part, Bowden's players? Hey go ahead and jump ship, there'll be shorter lines at the food stands...

Per 247, I'm pretty sure Arth's first class, that he largely signed AFTER the early signing period, was more highly rated than any class Bowden signed. We won't need transfers if that continues to improve.

And Here's the question that matters: do you think that Tom Arth, with his illustrious career of coaching D-III John Carrol for a handful of years and two years of coaching at FCS Chattanooga to a 9-13 record; can out recruit Terry Bowden (who has a 25-year coaching history with connections to Florida...whom's father is a legendary College Football coach). And that's not even mentioning transfers... I'd like to smoke WHATEVER it is everyone else is smoking who believes that Tom Arth will be able to put together a BETTER team talent wise than Terry Bowden. It doesn't make any, remote, logical sense. This isn't to say the Bowden teams were packed with talent...I just find it extremely hard to believe that a coach from John Carroll will be able to out recruit a Bowden.

I want some of what you'll are smokin' if you didn't think this team was going to take some lumps this year. I admit, I had a bit of blind faith/hope that Arth would immediately turnaround the ship, but its really unfair to expect that. Unfortunately, it's looking like this season is going to be a tough one to sit through. We weren't picked to finish 5th in our division or win 3/4 games by Vegas for no reason. Positives: The team didn't quit today and ended up making the score respectable. Burkhart had a great game. Nice to see Riley with the INT after getting picked on. He's a player we will need to come along. Kato looked much better than last week. Bubba and Lako were sound...though I think it might be a better move to put another LB on the field and take off a less experienced DB. On the other hand, special teams was really abysmal. Placekicking, punting, and the return game. We need more consistency in each phase. Our O-line is still a big issue.,,the running game isn't having any more success than last year. We are playing an unproven player at RT with a giant club on his hand because we have to. We've got 6 lineman capable of playing right now (not counting true freshmen as I don't think its fair to expect any of them to contribute), and I feel like it wouldn't take much to upgrade some of those positions, we just don't have it. The defensive line did better in the run game today. We need to find a way to get more pressure on the QB though, especially considering the lack of experience in the secondary. To the secondary, we played at least 3 players at the safety position next to Featherstone today, two of which are true freshman and the other doesn't have much experience. I'd probably roll with Jacobs to be honest. Need some experienced players to help our green CBs over the top. Other observations - RBs Reese, Hayes-Patrick, and White not dressed, but on the sideline. 4th highest rated recruit, Daniel LaVelle, no longer appears on the roster and I didn't see him on the sideline - at least in a jersey. I'd like to see more Hicks and Williams, but its tough to take away playing time from Stewart and Burkhart, one of the few good problems we have. Swapping Boogie for Williams might be the sweet spot. Brandon Lee is a nice player and certainly has a role on our team, but I don't know if he should be leading RBs in snaps - sure seemed like he did. They look to be making our high rated recruit, Corey Thomas, a LB. He was dressed but hasn't played in either game. I would like to see more out of our tight end position, whether it be blocking or receiving. Johns was the only player in the game who I think might be out for a while from injury. Council also left but it didn't look too serious judging from the sideline. Nate Stewart is also quickly becoming one of my favorite Zips....great display of leadership on the sidelines after Boogie's punt muff. Coach has 2 games of tape on his players. We need to start settling in on who we are going to roll with going forward. No more mass rotations at WR and DL. Need our best on the field and give them breaks as needed.

Thanks for cliff notes, now let’s fix our special teams & we got a different game, missed extra point, field goal, 4 yard punt, let a kickoff ball sit on 2 yard line & a muffed punt that all killed us Go Zips ?

I’d have gone with “The Turnover Tire” chain, but that’s just me. ?

This is what Arth said in his post-game press conference: What is the turnover pencil: Our defensive staff came up with that. One of the great strengths coach Rodriguez has is understanding our players and what’s most important. You have this giant No. 2 pencil. For a team whose program is built on fundamental and technique, what is a greater representation than that? It’s about writing our story and realizing that the only people who matter are in our program. Whatever is happening on the out doesn’t matter, it’s about us

1) Arth had I believe the #1 and #2 recruiting classes in his conference in his two years at UT-C. 2) Per 247, last year Arth, in 2 months with early signing day working against him, literally put together the 2nd best recruiting class compared to everybody since 2012 (the year Bowden started). In Bowden's best class, which ranked #113 (compared to Arth's #114), his class averaged 2 points lower per recruit than Arth's did and many of those players didn't even end up making it to campus. Just facts man.

Bowden had only 1 winning season in his entire tenure here. You guys are making it sound like we fired Bobby Bowden. He needed to go. Arth may or may not end up doing worse, time will tell, but I'd rather the program strive to try to be great (even if it fails at achieving it) than just settling for 5-7 seasons.

Amen. Our financially strapped university is eating the contract of the most successful D-1 coach in school's history. Two bowl games. First Bowl game win. First MACC appearance in a decade. First Big-10 win (too bad it was in during a bad season). I said it before, I'll say it again...I hope I'm wrong on Tom Arth. I really, really, really don't want to say I told you so. But we got rid of the best D-1 coach in school history for a guy who coached at FCS Chattanooga to a spectacular 9-13 record. The Dark Times, I fear, are indeed back.

We should have kept the guy that won a bowl game and beat a big ten team.

In a rematch of the 2018 College Cup finale, the Zips return to action with an 6:30 p.m. match at Maryland on Friday, Sept. 13, in College Park, Md. The contest will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Said that earlier. Some of the problems with the football program have been caused by AD's looking for the next job. Williams is a football guy. Lets hope he has a better feel for Arth than some others have.

Factual, yes. Meaningful, I doubt it. Recruiting rankings only exist to generate excitement in the off-season and to suck more money out of college football fans. Across college football, I doubt that recruiting class rankings correspond much at all to W-L in the following years. I believe this is even more true in the non-P5 conferences where there isn't the same money or interest and thus little to no research on lower-level recruits. What were UT-C's records in the season or two after these amazing classes? I say again, iCoach was pegged as a "great recruiter", and he even had a much better pedigree and overall resume than Arth.

So proud of our program. ?? Wil Trapp ?? Richie Laryea ?? Adam Najem ?? Ezana Kahsay ?? Abdi Mohamed

One of the bad things about yesterday and the ensuing ZnO battle of words is, the superb game that Dustin Burkhart had was mostly overlooked. What a great performance the young man had. had a lot of contact with the kid while he was at Coventry and he is a class act, and so wanted to come to UofA. He's sat for three seasons behind some talented WRs and finally got his chance and showed up big. And he didn't quit on the long reception that got batted, and he ran to it and took it down the sideline. Nice job, I think we all can agree.

Jokes are never funny when they need to be explained. So I guess I just don't get it.

Lets win games first before we get all excited about the turnover pencil.

Top-shelf pics once again, good Doctor! ???

Its all about recruiting. We need to give Arth a chance to bring his recruits in. It usually takes 3-5 years to build a successful program. Why is OSU good every year? because they get the best recruits every year. Arth is known to be a good recruiter, born and raised in NE Ohio. Hopefully he can get some good talent from our area. We are going to have to be patient.

class of 2021 Marquael Parks of Orrville had 4 TDs (3 rushing and 1 receiving) in the first half versus Akron North on 09-06-2019 in Orrville, Ohio There was no need to play Parks or any of Orrville's other first team players in the second half as Orrville rolled to a 54-7 win Parks carried the ball only 5 times for 141 yards (an average of 28.2 yards/carry) You can view all of his highlights versus Akron North here His first rushing TD of 48 yards was on Orrville's first offensive play of the game from scrimmage (straight up the middle untouched) His second rushing TD of 37 yards was on Orrville's second offensive play of the game from scrimmage (includes a quick spin move) His third rushing TD covered 51 yards (features a series of 3 consecutive lateral juke moves) His TD reception was a 38 yard catch and run (somehow breaks free from what looked like it was going to be a sure double tackle at the 34 yard line, then sprints away to the end zone)

Maybe we should have brought back J.D. Brookhart. He was the only coach who won a MAC champeenship!? What say yee? I was at the game. After the first Akron drive I saw a CUSA team that had far better athletes pretty much across the board. UAB gets the kids that don't go to Alabama,Florida,Auburn etc. MAC schools for the most part don't get anywhere near that level of athlete across the board. Also,please remember that the vast majority of players on this team were recruited by the Bowden regime. So those guys couldn't compete with the UAB guys. Those guys were a 4-8 team last year. That said I saw some poor play and questionable decisions from the coaches today. It mystifies me how Akron could be playing a "Tampa Two' D and have UAB receivers running behind the safeties for 4 TD's. It mystified me when on 4th and 1 in UAB territory the play call was a run sweep with the smallest player on the field when the play hadn't worked before. What doesn't mystify me is that Akron still has no run game because they haven't had one to speak of for several years. It doesn't mystify me that Kato Nelson is still inconsistent to the point of frustration at times. By the way UAB played a lot of back ups in the second half. Bowden had how many yrears to produce one bowl win and one division win and a sub .500 record? Arth and his crew get some time to see if they can build on what was already here. I think some fans have the mistaken idea that this program is going to be much more at the D1 level than it has been historically. I would just ask them to look back at what this program has been since it went full D1. An'd start thinking about the alternatives.

I'm with you brother. There was no reason to sack Bowden. He brought us back from last in the NCAA.

This "team" may not win one game. Before Bowden we were the absolute laughing stock of the NCAA. Looks like we are about to get that title back. Other teams change coaches and find success. WE need to find coaches.

Also, UAB, Troy, and Illinois aren't Morgan State, Towson, Tennessee Tech, etc. Bowden padded his record with a few of those. What was Bowdens first year record? Cherry Bowl? Big win at NW because of some interceptions then almost blew it because he couldn't run out the clock properly. Who beat Michigan? App State did. Did we beat App State at home? No. How did the Iowa State series turn out?

I was thinking the same thing at halftime!

I turned the game off after the 85 yard touchdown pass in the 3rd quarter. I have heard of 2 deep safeties and one deep safety but having nobody deep. Our safety was 15 yards from the line of scrimmage looking at the quarter back while the receivers were completing passes behind him in the deep middle of the field. ( one touchdown pass was dropped) Did anybody else notice the separation between the receivers and the defensive back on the touchdown passes. No pass rush and a wide open deep middle of the field may not be a recipe for success. I thought the run defense was the highlight of the game. The linebackers made some nice plays. Our rushing game looked the same as last year. Pathetic. I thought when they put Kato under center on 4th and a foot they would have a quartback sneak. Kato is a good runner and could gain a half a yard. I was wrong. The extra point and missed field goal were not even close. I have never seen a five yard punt before. I was hoping for a better prepared team but this does look like a long season.

Yall been saying that smooth transition BS for years We have been in transition forever BS excuse

Must we go through this evverrrrrrry time with a new coach? Anyone who thought this was going to be a smooth transition was wildly overly optimistic. I do agree that the discipline related errors are concerning but it's way too early to assess the staff. Rome wasn't built in a day. Hell, I was there last week and they're still not done.

Nick Hinds signed to a short term contract with the Seattle Sounders ??????.

Me too Blue. The TV age took that one away, "needing" to be able to name an MVP before the end of the telecast, they rushed it and missed the second INT. He was ROBBED! He's still the MVP as far as I am/was concerned.

Army would put up 50 on us