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Football is a funny game. Had the Zips scored one more TD on Saturday, I would probably be flying high and expecting a 4TD minimum blowout this week. Literally, DJ just has to put it on the money on an easy toss to Bobby Golden and everything would change. Now, I'm having some doubts. I would be shocked if Akron loses to Morgan State, but not shocked if it's within a couple scores. That doesn't make me feel very good. It's almost like the team overachieved in playing so close last year that all of a sudden I'm instantly expecting them to win and win big every week. That NIU game last year messed with my head. I had high expectations coming into this year, and this team really did deliver in just about every aspect outside of QB play. Playcalling was fine, but could have been much better. So when you put all of that together, alarms aren't quite being set off yet. Now if you're 1-3 and trailing Buffalo by a couple scores in the second half, as I said the other day, we may be in some trouble. ESPN's Bill Connelly came up with a rating system known as SP+. Every week, the teams are ranked by their rating and he determines a score of the game based on that rating. Last week, it predicted Temple (107) win 31-20. This week, it has Akron (123) winning 28-17. I guess any win is a win, but I'd like to see the guys play loose and comfortable with the lead. And I'd like to see them get guys like Bullock, Anderson, and Lingard more involved. If the OL is this much improved, use them!

I will say it. This squad could use a Victor Souto. Ben Zemanski was the nuts/bolts player in 2009 (one of my favs).

Uh, oh. Just watched Zips Weekly and, to me, it doesn't sound like we've got a QB. DJ's obviously not 100%... we'll just leave it at that... yet the staff doesn't seem confident in allowing Tahj to throw the ball. When asked to comment on Tahj, JoeMo just said that (my paraphrase) yes, he's got a rocket for an arm, but they're still working on his accuracy & to only expect to see him in certain short-yardage situations. No other QB's were even mentioned by Joe Dunn, let alone saw any PT last week when the offense clearly needed a 2nd-half kick start. We might be in a bit of trouble 🫠

I'll add Banks and Adams.

Not much here that we haven’t already discussed, but worth a listen. Coach does talk about Bullock. Probably not what the fanbase was hoping for as far as the plan for his timeline. However, even the best laid plans can change. Hoping DJI can get on track this game.

Jared has done well since becoming head coach...3 College Cup appearances...including one title game appearance, but something has been off since the 2018 season. There seem to be more top notch players that choose not to go the college route these days, but every D1 school has to deal with that...shouldn't be an excuse. I like our players and believe we have plenty of depth. I sometimes question if we're lacking a hard nose player like a Perry Kitchen, Darren Mattocks, Richie Laryea, or Ezana Khasay, but I'm not sure we had one in 2009.

One way to help the quarterback is to run the football and it seems we have the horses to be able to do that this year. Lingard and Anderson averaged 4.5 yards per carry between the two of them. Someone will eventually emerge at quarterback. Let’s hope it’s sooner than later.

zips #42 in RPI (as of Wednesday morning) https://rpiupdatemenssoccer.blogspot.com/search/label/RPI Rank

Stanford and Marshall deserve to be number 1 and 2 in the news coaches poll Akron was #9 in last week's poll.... they are #5 in this week's coaches poll 🤔 https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-men/