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- Irons looked fantastic. From his pocket movement, to decisions, to ball placement, he was excellent against a strong P5 defense. - Tennessee showed a different defensive front than MSU and our OL really struggled getting any push in the run game. - Once the run game gets going, this offense will be fun to watch as that’s when JoeMo becomes so good at finding all the mismatches/open receivers. That’s predicated on a successful run game though. - Caden Clark saw playing time, but is clearly behind Banks and Brank. He has the ability to become a really good player once he settles in. - Wiley tried, but was often bullied in pass pro. - Still not sure why Norrils is not receiving more PT. He’s done some good things the past two games. - Bubba had a whale of a game. - Thompson and Martin were second and third in tackles respectively but that is misleading. They missed their fair share of tackles and were often late coming down to help or did not squeeze their run fits well, which led to big runs by the offense. - No one in the secondary was spared this game. Tennessee went after Hooks and Hence first half and was unbiased in the second half. - Robinson saw his most minutes at DT and had a few promising plays. He’s not much of a pass rusher, but can be a force in the run game when lined up correctly and fires off quickly. - Harper was doubled almost all game. - As athletic as Fish is he really struggled with Tennessee’s counter and misdirection plays, often getting caught badly out of position or allowing a block to climb to him. - Thomas was used as a DE first half and was ineffective. He tried speed rushing but that caused a loss of contain and he rarely got close to the QB. - I did not see Terry this game and Boateng started. - I don’t think Golden-Nelson played the first quarter. Not sure what was going on there. Hooks and Durant started at CB, Lewis at Nickel, Thompson and Martin at S.

I was at the Liberty vs. Wake game yesterday. Here are my thoughts about Liberty. Offense If I needed to describe their offense yesterday, it would be in two words: opportunistic and talented. Opportunistic - To be fair, their offense made some mistakes in the first half and that probably cost them the game. Now, in the second half they took what was in front of them and moved the ball great. Had they been more opportunistic, and probably adjusted to what Wake was doing faster in the first half, ESPNU would be talking about another G5 school upsetting a P5 school. Their run game moves the ball on first down and makes it easier to move the ball. Their QB is smart about when and when not to run. Talented - They have some burners at WR who also make good catches. After the catch, they are very shifty. Very reliable group. They have a decent offensive line. After halftime they were able to slow down Wake's rush and move the ball better. The QB was still under pressure, but not under siege. Their offensive line is the weakest part of their offense, but still a good group. If the offense Liberty put on the field in the second half shows up in Akron next week, they will hang 50 on the Zips. Defense My word description for this group would be: focused. They came to Winston-Salem with a game plan to stop Wake's running game and not give up a flood of big plays. I think they accomplished both. Liberty held Wake to 26 yards rushing on 21 carries. Wake lives and dies with the Sam Hartman to A.T. Perry combination down field. Everyone knows Hartman by now, but a lot don't know Perry. He is a very tall WR destined for the NFL and destroys teams downfield. Liberty held him to 33 yards on 4 catches. Wake could have done a better job of throwing some intermediate passes, but that isn't the nature of their offense so they were forcing the ball downfield a lot even though Liberty decided those plays would not beat them. In the second half, this group played great. For most of the second half, Wake's offense was confused and out of sync. Liberty also forced two interceptions out of a QB not prone to throwing them. Their defensive line made Wake's look like what I think they really are, average. They got just enough pressure on Hartman to throw off his game. I hope the Zips do something to move the pocket around against this group. Their first down defense was great. Zips need to find a way to move the ball on first down more consistently than Wake did. Special Teams Their biggest success was a blocked punt through the end zone resulting in a safety. On kick offs, they had a lot of success retuning to their left so the Zips need to watch out for that. Liberty's PK has a huge leg and can easily place kickoffs through the back of the end zone. He also made a +50 yard FG with relative ease for a college kicker. Coaching Going into halftime, it was something like 20-8 in favor of Wake. I really thought with Wake getting the ball to start the second half and their ability to move the ball late in the first, the game would quickly get out of hand and a sold out homecoming crowd could head to the bars early. Whatever they did, it worked. Actually, I think "whatever" was just Liberty playing better. Their offense is extremely creative and they are well coached in it. The two things I would be upset about today if I was a Liberty fan were: the decision to go for two with 1:10 remaining in the game and the play call. Liberty had a ton of confidence and momentum. I would have tied the game, gone into overtime and trusted my team. Second, they ran a form of the "Philly Special" for their two point play. I don't like trick plays to begin with and I hate them with the game on the line. I would have passed and given my QB, who was playing great at the time, a couple of options in the end zone and allowed him to make a decision. If the play would have broken down he had great legs and could have run in if the opportunity presented itself. I have seats on the 50 (actually, the 48) and could see from my view the play had no shot from the start. Too slow developing and Wake played disciplined defense on the play and had it well covered. The WR had no shot to do anything with the ball. I just felt like the decision and play were a form of desperation and they were too in control of the game for desperation.

And to the announcer who keeps encouraging DJ irons to transfer. FU.

Games through Sept 17 (Gaucho Dan RPI) 9 Akron 51 FIU 86 VCU 99 Wright State 97 Michigan St 4 Indiana 25 blOSU 22 Pitt 54 Penn St 37 Duquesne 141 NIU 136 BUGS 201 Chicago St 56 WMU 47 Cleveland State

Spot on thought as usual, IMO. Only other things I’d add are: I thought pass protection was good the first 3 quarters. Think Irons was only sacked once at that point, though he did take a few other hits. Wiley in general hasn’t impressed me much yet. Agree on Norrils getting more PT. Seemed to me we took the Irons designed runs out of the playbook, which makes sense considering it was suprising he played. still like all of our WR threats even though Adams and Brank had inexcusable drops. The offense should be fun to watch during conference play. Defense is the wildcard. The injuries starting to pile up and Robinson and Threatt not working out thus far hurts as well. We had high expectations for them. I hope we can get Amankwaa and Richardson back. Both have been out with injury thus far and both are upgrades to the current starters IMO.

EMU takes down Herm Edwards and the Arizona State Sun Devils 30-21. Eagles led it 24-14 at half.

Cade York. Noah Perez. Northeast Ohio is a kicker hotbed.

Love the attitude from DJ especially, he’s not messing around. Can’t wait to take him into league play with this new offense!

This team can compete in MAC play. This game is bad, but a lot of things have been self inflected. Akron will compete in MAC.

Real professional

I don't know how you came to this conclusion, but I took this the exact opposite. I understood this tweet as Guthrie saying he had no control over the schedule, but if he did, Akron would not have played 2 Top 25 teams.

Yeah, Williams added that one shortly before he announced his resignation or whatever it was. It didn’t become public until September though, once Guthrie was already in place.

after today, blOSU will move up in RPI Today's big result Ohio State 2 Indiana 1 former Indiana player and former Assistant Brian M......seems to have the Buckeyes moving in the right direction

Seemed like he could stay with his man, just couldn't turn around and make a play on the ball without interfering.

Oh, Akron plays at Liberty. I could not bring myself to care about our moronic and self destructive schedule to check.

TN may finally have the right coach in Heupel to get back to their old form. They moved up to #11 in the AP after MSU/BYU/Miami all lost yesterday.

My thought on one of your thoughts( in bold above) and a couple of my own. If Liberty's offense shows up in Akron Next weekend, I think the Zips may win the game. If their defense does too, I'm sure we will win the game. If both units stay home, we are in for another long day. Their schedule reminds me of the Zips schedule back when we were an independent and scheduled opponents with a wide range of talent. Their schedule this year includes three ranked opponents and three of the worst D1 teams. They just lost to one of the ranked opponents because they failed on a last second 2 point conversion.

Thanks for reminding me of Amankwaa and Richardson. Amankwaa led the team in interceptions last season. And we sent Richardson (along with DJ) as one of our two player representatives to Detroit for MAC Media Day, didn't we?

Great post, thank you! Helps me better understand us going into Liberty

Excellent post as usual. I love our open field tackling. It seems like we're missing far less tackles in space, which is setting up more and longer 2nd & 3rd downs for the opponents. DJ is a stud. As annoying as the commentators were, they were right about him being P5 material - if he keeps up this level of play & poise. Our offense is going to be an issue for the MAC. Two straight weeks we've been able to move the ball, at least for solid stretches, against Top 25 P5 opponents. Scoring has come at a premium due to having to be perfect to overcome the talent difference, but I have zero concerns vs the MAC. We should also be able to run the ball better, which will open up the passing game. Lastly, part of my confidence in our success in the MAC this year stems from the level of our coaching. We've gone against two coaching staffs that have a combined payroll that equals or surpasses the MAC's entire media revenue for the year. We will be able to outcoach most of our MAC opponents, and it will come down to execution. Bring on Liberty.

Really impressed with Irons (and again, screw the announcers for encouraging him to go to transfer portal so much. I don't care if it was joking, it irritated me so much). He has made strides in just a year, and I really like him being the leader of our offense. I agree about Wiley, not too impressed so far. And Norrils should play more. Is he in the dog house or something? With that, I agree with all the others points being made. To trim down my post, I'll just say even though MSU and TN were rough games, I think when MAC play starts the Zips will be able to win games. If anything, they will make games tight. The past 2 games (and maybe Liberty?) have been rough due to being completely outmatched, but I think we can and will compete in the MAC this season. In Joe we trust. Go Zips!

I was also very encouraged by DJ. He got real fired up and played with a lot of emotion, but used it to his advantage instead of letting it get under his skin to make mistakes. That was awesome, haven’t seen a Zips QB do something like that in a while. As for the drops, unacceptable and those will lose us MAC games. Adam’s would’ve been inside the 10, and Brank cost the offense a valuable touchdown. George with a costly fumble too. Nice game from Tony Grimes, I’m glad this staff is putting him to use. My concerns with the defense as a whole stay the same. I liked some of the run defense, when Tennessee ran between the tackles, the front wasn’t always getting bullied. But as a whole? This whole group lacks speed, and some bad penalties too. No bueno. Special teams—stellar move by Gettman to avoid the block! He punted pretty well. I also like Perez at PK. I’ve never been a big Smigel fan, and Perez is 100% on kicks Smigel has been missing.

Akron hosting a SEC team (Kentucky) in 2024 will be monumental

https://fbschedules.com/ncaa/akron/ FUTURE AKRON NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS 2022 09/01 - Saint Francis U. 09/10 - at Michigan State 09/17 - at Tennessee 09/24 - at Liberty 2023 09/02 - at Temple 09/09 - Morgan State 09/16 - at Kentucky 09/23 - at Indiana 2024 08/31 - Kentucky 09/21 - at South Carolina 2025 08/30 - Wyoming 09/06 - at Nebraska 09/13 - at UAB 2026 09/05 - at Kentucky 09/19 - at Minnesota 2027 09/11 - at San Jose State 2028 09/09 - at Wyoming 2032 09/18 - San Jose State

Dudes are acting like Milton is doing things NEVER seen before by a QB. These are some of the worst announcers I've ever heard. Goodness.

Easy to 'flick of the wrist' and 'throwing dimes' when receivers are WIDE open. I thought BTN announcers were rough. This SEC stuff is nauseating.

Announcers RIGHT on the edge of Gettman to portal.

This. This is DJ's team. This team is going to be fun to watch against non-Top 25 competition. Announcers are awful and unprofessional, as many have said, with the Irons Transfer Portal crap. The SEC arrogance in their comments is nauseating. The kinks are being worked out each week, and we keep getting better.

We should rest Irons & get Undercuffler in there. DJ’s proven himself.

I’m not at all shocked with how the game is going. Just more annoyed than mad or anything. So many blown scoring chances these last two weeks. I know they have been meaningless in the outcomes, but they would at least be nice to see as fleshed out scoring plays while the game is still in question.

You called it. Cheeky play right there!

Tennessee has gone after Hence and Hooks all night. Our safeties still struggle to tackle when helping in the run game. LBs have to set the edge when DE crashes inside. Too often that hasn’t happened tonight. Fish has been terrible at that. Offensively we can’t run the ball. Irons looks fantastic moving around in the pocket and putting his passes on point. Progress is being made. We’ll need to run the ball against MAC competition though.

BG knocks off Marshall in OT 34-31

Morel bungling. Should be 28-10, worst case. But it isn’t.

Can’t bungle against Tennessee. Dropped 1st down pass and the missed fg are inexcusable.

Kind of surprised he decided to send his son to Hawken.