catdaddyp
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Posts posted by catdaddyp
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I made a mistake on defense. J.Frazier should have been yellow.
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4 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:
JoeMo's needed a QB who is a dual threat. DJ Irons doesn't count as he was an Arth recruit, so it's on Year 4 JoeMo he hasn't been able to land one in the TP.
Four years ago I was over the moon with us landing JoeMo... but it did cause me to raise an eyebrow when he wasn't even able to lure a 5th string walk-on Oregon QB to Akron with him.
This sucks.
We're demoralized.
I do believe that JoeMo is done - though he's got another year on his contract.
I'm more upset about losing the posts of Catdaddy than I am about losing the offense of JoeMo.
Thanks for the kind words. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere regardless of Moorhead’s status. Sure, Moorhead coming to Akron and my family’s move to Ohio may have sparked my initial interest, but now I’m in it for the long haul. My kids look forward to going to an Akron game with me every year, and I’d be thrilled if any of them ended up attending Akron someday. It’s also been a pleasure meeting some of the posters here in person.
I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here with my disappointment on how things have gone since Moorhead took over.
Like I’ve said before, there are certain turnarounds in college football I really enjoy following. The two other programs I’ve kept an eye on are South Carolina and Illinois. Forget for a moment that they’re P4 and Akron is G5—the similarities are still there. All three were sitting in the bottom third of their conferences when their current head coaches took over. None of them are near the top of their conferences in NIL money. And the general consensus from the media and most college football fans was that it was impossible to win at those schools. Fast forward a few years, and two of the three are sitting in the top 11 nationally, depending on which poll you look at.
All three schools have also assembled excellent staffs. Just the other day I was talking with a colleague who played at Bowling Green and later coached at Syracuse. We got on the topic of MAC football, and unprompted he mentioned what a great staff Moorhead has put together at Akron with limited funds. I had to agree.
The flip side is recruiting. Because without great players, it really doesn’t matter how good the coaching is—wins will always be hard to come by. I’ve coached for well over a decade and also worked on the recruiting services side of things. From my perspective, Moorhead has brought in a lot of talent, but it just hasn’t translated into wins yet. Recruiting services will disagree, but here’s some context: most analysts have little to no football background—they’re writers. They put too much stock into measurables and camp performances without pads. On top of that, programs with long track records of success almost always get the benefit of the doubt with rankings. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a kid commit to South Carolina as a two- or three-star, only to decommit, flip to Georgia or Alabama, and suddenly get bumped to four stars. Same story with Illinois versus Michigan or Ohio State.
I say all this because Akron football seemingly has what it needs in place to win right now—and just isn’t. I can’t explain why the offense looked like year one with a brand-new staff when this is year four with a returning starting quarterback who has the physical tools to make just about every throw at this level. I don’t have an issue with Moorhead being open about what the program is lacking financially. What I do have an issue with is the lack of wins despite a dramatically upgraded roster compared to when he took over and a really strong staff in place.
All that said, I’m still hoping this week is the spark that finally gets the long-awaited wins rolling—and that I look foolish for even posting this. It’s past time.
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This will probably be my shortest postgame take of the year.
QB:
Finley was under pressure most of the night, outside of just a handful of snaps. He tried to hang in the pocket and deliver some throws. The problem was his receivers, who were credited with eight—yes, eight—drops. The silver lining is that some of the staple throws he hit consistently last year were on target again in this game.
RB:
Patrick and Gant took advantage of their chances whenever they weren’t being met in the backfield right away. I’m genuinely excited about what this duo can bring the rest of the season.
WR:
Just a brutal showing from this group. They did the work to get open but too often failed to finish the play. Not every throw is going to be perfect, but receivers can’t afford to drop the ones that hit them in the hands. There’s simply too much talent in this room to put out the kind of performance we saw last night.
TE:
Cravaack was on the field for every tight end snap but spent most of the night being used as a blocker. It was a tough outing overall, and it’s clear Newell has been missed.
OL:
I don’t know the exact size, weight, or length differences between the two sides of the line, but we looked clearly outmatched in those areas. Our OL not only seemed physically undersized against Nebraska’s front, but we were also slow on pulls and often whiffed on the oncoming defender. On top of that, there were moments where we looked completely confused about assignments or couldn’t hold blocks long enough for the play to develop. The second half against Nebraska’s backups went better for obvious reasons.
DL:
The defensive line held its own for parts of the game but wore down as things went on. We weren’t able to generate much pressure in the first half, though once the game was out of reach, we did manage to flush or get to the quarterback a few times. The short-yardage stands we came up with, similar to last week, are a positive sign and bode well for this group moving forward.
LB:
The secondary falls into this category as well—we had some run fits break down and a few busted coverages. The linebackers struggled at times to shed blocks, and against a team like Nebraska, that’s going to lead to big plays. Tackling, once again, was solid early but slipped as the game wore on.
DB:
I thought Reed and DeWalt held their own throughout the game. The rest of the secondary, though, consistently had a tough time against an offense loaded with playmakers and a scheme that kept putting us in difficult situations.
ST:
When it rains, it pours. We had a blocked field goal, a missed field goal that drilled the upright, and an eleven-yard punt. If there are any positive takeaways here, it’s that Hills looks like a returner who has the ability to take one to the house against lesser competition.
Coaching:
No, we don’t have the horses to keep up with Nebraska. That said, going two straight weeks without a point—with an offense in its fourth year and the most overall talent at the skill spots since Moorhead arrived—is flat-out unacceptable. Defensively, Nebraska took advantage of any defender even slightly out of position. Once the depth rotations started, things were bound to get ugly. Just one guy out of place was enough to give up a big play, and it happened too often.
I know everyone wanted to see a better showing—myself included—but at the end of the day, this was a payday game and doesn’t mean much beyond another loss. Even with the lopsided score, we seemingly walked away without injuries and can now shift our focus to a winnable matchup next week. Hopefully, the staff can use the film to teach some lessons on busts, leverage, and the like, but outside of that, this one can be flushed.
QB:
Finley
M. Johnson
RB:
Patrick
Gant
Marq. Williams
WR:
M. Williams
Grear
WR:
Walker
Mason
Louis
WR:
Polk
Monteiro
Hills
TE:
Cravaack
LT:
Motley-Simmons
J. Moore
LG:
McManus
Archer
C
Lyons
Morris
RG:
A. Jones
K. Davis
RT:
King
Mann
DE:
Durham
D. Frazier
DE:
Dall
J. Frazier
Murphy
DT:
Laventure
Mixon
Duncan
DT:
Hull
Murphy
Musika
E. Davis
LB:
Cooper
Spriggs
Boswell
LB:
Summers
Hocker
Benenge
NB:
AL. Branch
Stepney
AA. Branch
CB:
Reed
Kamara
CB:
DeWalt
Jarmon
S:
Anderson
Hunter
S:
DiMarco
AL. Branch
KO:
Wiley
K:
Wiley
P:
Castle
B. Johnson
Top Rated Offense (20 snap minimum):
(QB) Finley
(RT) King
(HB) Patrick
(C) Lyons
(RG) K. Davis
Top Rated Defense (20 snap minimum):
(CB) Reed
(LB) Cooper
(CB) DeWalt
(NB) AA. Branch
(DT) Musika
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Outside of our shellacking, Bryant took down UMass and Long Island knocked off EMU. Rough.
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1 minute ago, exit322 said:
I'd say leaving wide open receivers is bad though
Absolutely.
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We still don’t generate much pressure on the quarterback, but this is easily the most reliable tackling group we’ve had under Tibesar.
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Mason has to make that catch.
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UAB/Navy on a delay, but UAB’s offense looks legit. Their defense… not so much.
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11 minutes ago, ZippyDoo said:
where did u get that depth chart from? i'd like to visit that site. PFF had mcmanus the highest rated player for the team.
PFF had the defensive line at:
Dall 69.4
Hull 57.8
Laventure 65.3
Durham 54.5
mixon 67.1
murphy 62.2
Cheatom 80.2
d frazier 59.4
j frazier 38.6
duncan 49.9
I created the depth chart myself by using PFF and what I saw during the game. Although, I only listed a player in one position. For example, even though M. Johnson played multiple positions on offense, I only listed him once.
PFF isn’t always correct in their ratings or positions played, but it’s the best resource I know of, especially when I’ve made the decision to not go back and rewatch the game.
Patrick ended up being the highest rated player on offense with Summers the highest rated on defense. PFF will go back in and revise their ratings later in the week.
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11 hours ago, Lee Adams said:
Respectfully your position advantages don't seem realistic given what we have seen.You may call it a must win. But that seems meaningless until they actually win a so called must win. We have had plenty of those.
Keep in mind, all of this was done in the preseason. I’m also not sure how much we actually learned in a loss to a G5 team compared to what UAB did against an FCS. If we’re looking at Week 1 in a vacuum and treating Alabama State and Wyoming as equals, then give UAB the edge in all the offensive spots and Akron the edge in the defensive ones. Special teams would go Akron’s way too.
Teams rarely look the same in Week 2, but unfortunately for us, we’ll probably still be staring at an ugly score against a team with superior resources and talent. Week 3 against UAB will be a better barometer for this team.
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Wyoming (2-0)
Week 1: Win 10-0 at Akron (0-2)
Week 2: Win 31-7 vs Northern Iowa (1-1)
Week 3: vs Utah (2-0)
Nebraska (2-0)
Week 1: Win 20-17 vs Cincinnati (1-1)
Week 2: Win 68-0 vs Akron (0-2)
Week 3: vs Houston Christian (1-1)
UAB (1-1)
Week 1: Win 52-42 vs Alabama State (1-1)
Week 2: Loss 38-24 at Navy (2-0)
Week 3: vs Akron (0-2)
Duquesne (1-1)
Week 1: Loss 61-9 at Pittsburgh (2-0)
Week 2: Win 55-14 vs Lincoln (0-2)
Week 3: vs Lehigh (2-0)
Toledo (1-1)
Week 1: Loss 24-16 at Kentucky (1-1)
Week 2: Win 45-21 vs Western Kentucky (2-1)
Week 3: vs Morgan State (0-2)
Central Michigan (1-1)
Week 1: Win 16-14 at San Jose State (1-1)
Week 2: Loss 45-17 at Pittsburgh (2-0)
Week 3: at Michigan (1-1)
Miami (0-2)
Week 1: Loss 17-0 at Wisconsin (2-0)
Week 2: Loss 45-17 at Rutgers (2-0)
Week 3: vs UNLV (3-0)
Ball State (0-2)
Week 1: Loss 31-0 at Purdue (2-0)
Week 2: Loss 42-3 at Auburn (2-0)
Week 3: vs New Hampshire (2-0)
Buffalo (1-1)
Week 1: Loss 23-10 at Minnesota (2-0)
Week 2: Win 45-6 vs St. Francis (0-2)
Week 3: at Kent State (1-1)
UMASS (0-2)
Week 1: Loss 42-10 vs Temple (2-0)
Week 2: Loss 27-26 vs Bryant (1-1)
Week 3: at Iowa (1-1)
Kent State (1-1)
Week 1: Win 21-17 vs Merrimack (1-1)
Week 2: Loss 62-14 at Texas Tech (2-0)
Week 3: vs Buffalo (1-1)
Bowling Green (1-1)
Week 1: Win 26-7 vs Lafayette (1-1)
Week 2: Loss 34-20 at Cincinnati (1-1)
Week 3: vs Liberty (1-1)
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5 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:
Still numb from Thursday night.
As LZIp mentioned above, I loved what I saw out of Patrick and White before they went out with injury.
Hopefully our D is truly stout & it wasn't simply an inept Wyoming offense we were witnessing.
Without saying both, would you guys pin Finley's troubles primarily on Finley, or was our OL to blame? I was fully expecting Finley to light it up this season 😞
Off the top of my head, I remember our center completely whiffing on a defensive lineman twice—pretty sure both were by Lyons. I also don’t blame Finley for the 3rd and longs when Wyoming brought more than we could block. In those situations, the best-case scenario is usually a short completion where the receiver picks up some YAC. Outside of that, it just wasn’t a good day for our QB1. I kept waiting for him to get hot—he can be a streaky player at times—but it never happened.
According to PFF, Wyoming blitzed 14 times, and Finley went 6 of 14 on those plays. Out of his 38 total attempts, he was supposedly kept clean on 24 of them. The brutal part is he only completed 11 passes for 93 yards in those clean pockets and even threw an interception. That won’t cut it against anyone on our schedule. For what it’s worth, PFF graded the OL fairly well overall, with the exception of both centers.
Also of note, looks like they went through and updated some stats. True freshman Kenneth McManus was our highest rated lineman and 2nd highest rated player on offense.
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Talk about letting a prime opportunity go to waste.
QB:
I think we all knew this offense would go as Finley went, and unfortunately he picked a bad night to have one of his worst games. I honestly expected a lot more from both teams and came away disappointed. Granted, it’s Week 1 and there’s plenty of time to improve, but the offense won’t get much better if Finley doesn’t take a big step forward. He consistently missed throws that we saw him make with ease last year. The most concerning part is Wyoming isn’t a good team and probably won’t win many more games this season.
RB:
Patrick was as dynamic as expected. I don’t have the stats to back it up, but I’m almost certain our yards after contact dropped significantly after he went down. He’s a true playmaker, and we need him on the field.
Gant looked dinged up to me. His vision and elusiveness were there, but he didn’t show much burst or explosiveness.
M. Williams did fine with the opportunities he got, though he’s not on the same level as the first two backs.
WR:
The one good deep ball Finley threw was dropped by Adams, and that pretty much set the tone for the passing game. I don’t recall Adams getting many, if any, targets after that drop. I was also left wondering why Mason didn’t see many targets earlier—he made a few catches late, and it’s clear he brings something the other receivers don’t. There’s definitely talent in this group, and they’ll need to come down with some tough catches, but there weren’t many quality balls to work with.
TE:
Outside of some decent blocks in the run game, we got very little from this position. Newell did not suit up and our other tight ends did not make much of an impact.
OL:
Coming into the season I felt good about the IOL and had more concerns with the OTs. As it turned out, the tackles held up fine while the interior had issues in pass protection. There were also several times when the pocket was there for Finley to step into, but he bailed and scrambled into trouble—very reminiscent of early 2024. Overall, the OL was serviceable in the run game and created some holes. I’m not calling this a top-half MAC unit by any stretch, but they did enough to give the offense a chance. I think our two OTs (Johnson and King) played the entire game.
DL:
JUCO transfer DT Julien Laventure was a terror against Wyoming’s All-MWC linemen. Defensive ends Dall and Durham had their moments too. The rest of the DL may not have stood out individually, but they did a solid job holding their ground and making life tough on the OL. Credit to our new defensive line coach for landing Laventure. Now the focus has to be on developing some depth for when he comes off the field.
LB:
I’ll be honest, I didn’t see any drop-off in our linebacker play from last year. Multiple guys rotated in, and from what I could tell, they were rarely out of position or missing tackles. Summers and Cooper took the majority of snaps.
True freshman Markus Boswell managed to come up with an interception in limited play.
CB:
I thought our cornerbacks were excellent in both coverage and run support. Granted, Wyoming really only had one true playmaker at receiver, but as a group the corners held up well. DeWalt, White (before injury), and Reed especially stood out.
NB:
I could be wrong here, but I’m fairly confident saying I counted several missed tackles that turned into big plays in the run game, plus a key reception in the 4th quarter by a receiver who wasn’t anything special. We definitely missed Darrian Lewis. Hopefully play at this spot improves quickly.
S:
Anderson picked up right where he left off last year, and his running mate was mostly DiMarco Johnson. Both stepped up at different times and looked well prepared.
ST:
Outside of a long missed 49(?) yard field goal, special teams were excellent. The lone kickoff was deep, punting and coverage were fantastic—no major mistakes in any area.
Coaching:
Offensively, I thought the game plan was fine, but the execution left a lot to be desired. I liked how often we ran the ball in the first half and tried to get it our best playmaker, Patrick. Normally, that’s a formula for success. But throwing the ball in the end zone after punishing Wyoming’s defense with the run on that drive was inexcusable. The sad part? I even said out loud, “we better not throw the ball here,” and sure enough… In no universe should this team be getting shut out by a not-so-good (to be polite) Wyoming team.
Defensively, we gave up too many yards, but the unit made big stops repeatedly. Can’t fault the defense for this loss.
Rotation:
QB:
Finley
Johnson
RB:
Patrick
Gant
M. Williams
WR:
Adams
Polk
Louis
Mason
Grear
Walker
Monterio
TE:
Cravaack
Whisner
LT
D. Johnson
LG
McManus
A. Jones
C
Lyons
Morris
RG
Davis
Archer
RT
King
DE:
Durham
D. Frazier
Dall
Cheatom
Duncan
DT:
Laventure
Mixon
Hull
Murphy
LB:
Cooper
Boswell
Summers
Spriggs
CB:
White
DeWalt
Reed
Kamara
NB:
Al. Branch
Thomas
Aa. Branch
S:
Johnson
Al. Branch
Anderson
Al. Branch
ST:
KO - Wiley
K - Wiley
P - Castle
Johnson
I checked PFF against what I thought I saw and they have some players listed that I don’t remember seeing:
Hunter
Madden
Vega
Benenge
J. Frazier
Top Rated on Offense (At least 20 snaps):
(RB) Patrick
(RT) King
(LG) A. Jones
(LT) D. Johnson
(RB) Gant
Top Rated on Defense (At least 20 snaps):
(LB) Summers
(LB) Cooper
(DT) Laventure
(CB) DeWalt
(S) J. Anderson
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5 hours ago, MarkWiley said:
Does anyone have any insight into what day this was filmed?
Best guess is it was Monday at the latest. In the Monday episode there was a comment about this episode as if it had already been filmed.
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Game #3 Zips @ UAB - 8:30 pm September 13th: Catdaddyp July Preview → Official Game Thread
in Akron Zips Football
Posted · Edited by catdaddyp
Here are some Game Day notes. I’ve also added them to the bottom of the original post.
Kitna has already thrown for 551 yards while completing 72% of his passes. However, he’s shown to be mistake-prone under pressure, tossing two interceptions so far.
The Blazers will rotate at running back with UTEP transfer Jackson and top backup Beebe handling most of the workload. Jackson is a dangerous runner who can break one at any time, while Beebe is just as likely to catch a pass as he is to carry the ball.
Milliner is UAB’s most explosive wideout, and Hooks has been Kitna’s second-favorite target.
UAB has stuck with the same five starters through both games, not rotating a single lineman. It’s a rebuilt OL and they’ve surprisingly been a strong unit so far—giving up only one sack and 6 pressures. Going left to right:
Sneh - 6’5”315 (Kansas State)
Perez - 6’5” 315 (Duke)
Lepkowski - 6’3” 300
Morgan - 6’4”320 (South Carolina)
Moore - 6’8” 290
The Blazers’ defense has struggled to stop anyone this season, but a few players have stood out with consistent play. Interestingly, both starting defensive tackles—Smalls and Sam Houston transfer Warren—have been really good. At linebacker, Rhode Island transfer Hightower has been effective, while in the secondary Boston College transfer safety Cheek and Pittsburgh transfer cornerback Crumpley have been the top performers.
UAB has only punted once this season—a 39-yarder downed inside the twenty. All extra points have been converted, and field goals are 2-for-3, with the lone miss coming from the 30–39 yard range. The two makes, however, have both been from beyond 40 yards.
During Dilfer’s press conference, a reporter referred to this as a “get right game” for UAB. Dilfer laughed and said the Blazers are usually the get right game for their opponents, adding that he hopes Akron’s offense doesn’t get going this weekend.
Some notes about the Zips:
JUCO transfer right tackle Maasai King has graded out really well through the first two games, especially in pass protection according to PFF. Next is right guard Keylen Davis, who has been solid but noticeably stronger in run blocking.
Keep an eye on JUCO transfer defensive tackle Nehemiah Musika in goal line situations. He was also mentioned on the Zips Weekly show. Musika was a commitment I really liked, though I wasn’t quite sure how we managed to land him. He supposedly isn’t as tall as listed and is still working into shape after being a late arrival due to coursework. Once Musika is able to play more regularly, he should give us a strong rotation with Laventure and Hull at DT—barring injury.
Former Illinois transfer Shammond Cooper has been playing at a high level and also leads the team in tackles with 19 total.
I’ve mentioned this a few times already, but DeWalt and Reed have really stepped up at cornerback. Reed in particular has been impressive—allowing just 19 yards on four receptions while being targeted 10 times. They’ll need another strong outing today if we’re going to have a chance at slowing down UAB’s offense.