catdaddyp

Hope Landers makes it back. Dakota Thomas is also at JUCO. Although, I don’t know what his plans are beyond that. T. Williams played the majority of the game. Thinking back, I’m not sure if N. Williams played. I think I got him mixed up with Chambers starting at RG.

This is not me hyping up a Zips win, but UK has been less than impressive so far. Leary has surprisingly struggled throwing the deep ball, completing one pass for over 20 yards and the Wildcat defense has been suspect. Before the season began I thought Indiana would be the best opportunity out of the two P5s. At this point, it looks like UK is it. Of course we have our own issues at QB that need to be figured out before we beat anyone else. Frustrating that the team is better in every area on the field vs 2022 except at QB.

I’m good with however coach chooses to do it as long as it works. The one thing I’m sure about is the RBs need more touches. Can’t go away from running the ball for what seems like 5+ plays if one run doesn’t work. Here’s a crazy stat, Undercuffler went 18 of 22 for 209 yards and a TD if the 3 interceptions were removed from the equation. Get a run game going and convince Undercuffler to play within himself (like he did at the spring game) and the offense will be fine.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. OFFENSE: QB - The problem position that no one saw coming. Undercuffler came in and looked like the QB that played in the spring game. Then the issues crept in. I won’t hammer home the 3 interceptions that were bad decisions and poorly thrown. I also understand what he was trying to do on the last INT by putting it far back corner in the endzone for his receiver to run under. Unfortunately, it was under thrown. I’m not sure where the staff goes from here, but the offense at least moved up and down the field with Undercuffler. The overall decision making has to get better and I feel if there is a heavier focus on the run game then it will make things easier on the QB. RB - I’m still at a loss why Lingard and Anderson are not receiving more touches. I counted only a handful of carries that went for 2 yards or less and two of those were at the beginning of the game when Lingard tripped on the turf. There was one carry where Morgan State had 8 in the box and Lingard still managed a run over 5 yards. The duo combined for 13 rushes for 51 yards, which is a 3.9 average. WR - The receivers did their part catching the ball. Although, I can’t always see what’s happening downfield on their routes when watching on tv. There were a few missed blocks on the perimeter that caused some decent play calls to be blown up. OL - The offensive line could have been better, but they weren’t bad. I believe Blanchard played the entire game at LT. If he didn’t take every snap, he was close to it. In my opinion Lyons and Kilbane have been our best options at LG and RG, respectively, though two games. QB - Irons (Bullock) (Undercuffler) RB - Lingard (Anderson) TE - Banks (Newell) WR - George (Wilson) WR - Adams (Golden) (Walker) WR - Gathings (Anderson) TE - Banks (Newell) LT - Blanchard LG - Frank (Lyons) C - T. Williams (Georges) RG - Chambers (Kilbane) RT - Kindred (Chambers) DEFENSE: DL - It looked like an FBS DL vs an FCS OL. Jones and Nunnally were dominant as the DL collected 4 sacks. That’s following a week where just creating pressure was an issue. LB - McCoy and Fish are dynamite. No other way to put it. The duo had over 20 tackles combined and McCoy iced the game on a fumble return for a touchdown. Cooper was also solid for the second week in a row. DB - Lewis had one of his best games as a Zip. He was active in coverage and especially effective when coming up for run support. He nearly had a few sacks himself off blitzes. - Golden-Nelson may have had his best game as a Zip with solid coverage and an interception return for a touchdown. - Martin had to sit a half, but his presence was felt on his return. He also had an interception. - N. Thompson played a major role coming up in run support. That being said, either he or Woods took a few bad angles on a couple of plays. I couldn’t tell who by the number. - The other DBs didn’t do much noteworthy statistically, but coverage was usually solid. - Hence, Hunter, and Thompson(?) gave up the passing TDs. DE - Nunnally (Jackson) DT - Lavea (Thomas) (Adler) DT - Jones (Robinson) DE -Johnson (Smith) LB - Fish (Behm) LB - McCoy (Cooper) NB - Lewis (Thomas) CB - Durant (Hunter) (Hence) CB - Tallandier (Golden-Nelson) S - Thomas (Woods) S - Thompson (Johnson) (Martin) Special Teams: Mixed bag here. Not where we need to be yet, but can see signs of what this unit can be. No, it was not pretty but the team got it done. Sometimes all it takes is a spark and the fire gets lit. Am I saying this team will come out and beat UK and Indiana? No, although I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a catalyst for much better play. The staff showed last night they are not afraid to make a change at QB, so that tells me they are willing to make the necessary changes to get this offense back on track. This team is 1-1 with plenty left to play for. The defense ramped it up, now the offense needs to join the party.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) missed most of the game. Will have to go back and rewatch it. FYI, Buffalo lost to Fordham and NIU lost to Southern Illinois today.

https://x.com/xklvsive00/status/1700560720948027478?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w Gameday commitment! OL transfer from Miami. Trying to find out if he’s a late addition to 2023 or if he’s 2024.

3 areas I’d like to see some clarification on today: 1) Quarterback. While DJI may not have the same natural arm strength he had a year ago, he still has enough. Decision making was decent last week (outside of the glaring INT.), but can still use some improvement. If I’m going to lean to the bright side, maybe the injury turns out to be a blessing in disguise if his throwing motion continues to improve and he eventually becomes more accurate than he was before. That’s a big if. Otherwise, it’ll be time for someone else to be given a chance. 2) Pass Rush. If we can’t create it this week, I’ll be worried. I doubt that will be the case though. Terray Jones, Ryan Johnson, and CJ Nunnally provided small glimpses into what they could become against Temple. Those 3 are currently the most complete players along the DL. 3) Run the football. This is more of a request. The offensive line is much improved. The running backs are much improved. Give them the ball.

Anyone watch the Ball State/UK game? Freshman Kadin Semonza (quarterback) showed out. Wasn’t the case of UK playing their backups either as they left their starters in for the full game. Looks like multiple schools (including myself) missed the boat on this kid. Ball State has UGA up next and they’ll probably start Hatcher again, but Semonza is a name to follow from here on out.

Just wanted to say you were right @zipsrule . The Spectrum/ESPN issue still hasn’t been resolved, but I was locked out of everything on the ESPN app for some reason. My mistake.

Some interesting DJI passing stats: Total: 17 of 29 for 205 yards Middle of the field (between the numbers): 12 of 16 for 180 yards Beyond 10 yards: 3 of 12 for 137 yards

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.

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.

He did not. Possible he wasn’t on the travel roster.

Hopefully there will be a “Zips Weekly” episode that reviews the game and gives a little more insight.

Went back and rewatched the game. A few more thoughts: OFFENSE - Irons was off target too often, but when he actually stepped up to throw, he threw a few passes where his throwing motion actually looked better than last year. Despite seemingly lacking some of the velocity he used to have, the two deep balls he threw to George (1 caught and the other into double coverage) and the one on the deep crossing route to Adams stood out. Last year, he would have strong armed it straight across the field to Adams. The last interception of the game was too reminiscent of last season to where he forced a play he didn’t need to make in a critical situation. - Adams, George, and Gathings collected the majority of snaps at receiver. Golden played in place of the TE when we went to 4 wide sets. Myles Walker received a handful of snaps as well. - The running backs need more touches. The run game only stalled on one drive. Outside of that, the backs picked up decent yardage every chance they were given. - The OL probably played its best game in the Moorhead era. I counted only 3 busted assignments in pass protection. Unfortunately, 2 came in the 4th quarter and on 3rd downs. The OL consistently got push in the run game. Substitution patterns went like this: Subs in parentheses LT - Blanchard (Chambers) LG - Kilbane (Lyons) C - T. Williams (Georges) RG- N. Williams (Kilbane) RT- Chambers (N. Williams) (Kindred) DEFENSE - Terray Jones is by far and away the best DT on the roster. He was the only DT that was able to create pressure on the quarterback (although not enough) and he was excellent against the run. Lavea is the next best, but isn’t much of a pass rusher. He’s a load for the OL to attempt to displace though. - Ryan Johnson and CJ Nunnally are easily the best DE’s we have. That includes rushing the passer and against the run. Would prefer not to see Johnson dropped into coverage anymore. He was caught up on a pick play by Tallandier’s WR, which led to a Temple passing TD. Just send him after the QB. We need more production from the backups too. - Antavious Fish was a monster. Not only did he land some highlight hits, but numerous times he came downhill and put an OL on their butt. His one slip up was on the short TD pass to the RB. Fish was caught a little too far inside and then was picked just a bit by the WR, which gave the RB the angle. McCoy was also really good and give us an impressive linebacker duo. Shammond Cooper was solid and a sure tackler, although nothing flashy. Behm is a weak link. - Outside of the penalty, Tallandier was really good. Hunter had his moments outside of the final penalty. Golden-Nelson had more good than bad. - Corey Thomas and KJ Martin made a solid safety duo. Not sure why Nate Thompson didn’t see any action until close to the end of the 3rd quarter, but he wasn’t really missed with the way Thomas and Martin were playing. It hurt losing Martin on the ejection. Jaden Woods struggled in the second half. Darrian Lewis did a nice job at Nickel, but struggled at times when asked to play deeper as a safety. DE - R. Johnson (A. smith) (Richardson) DT - T. Jones (Robinson) DT - Lavea (K. Thomas) (Adler) DE - Nunnally (A. Smith) (L.Jackson) LB - Fish (Behm) LB - McCoy (Cooper) CB - Tallandier (Hence) CB - Hunter (Golden-Nelson) (Durant) NB - D. Lewis (C. Thomas) S - C. Thomas (Woods) S - KJ Martin (D. Johnson) (N. Thompson) SPECIAL TEAMS - As a whole, this unit seemed improved and was really solid outside of Jackson’s one short punt and Golden’s punt return muff.

Fair, but I’m not sure if Temple is actually bottom 20. Yes, they started there because of what they accomplished, or lack thereof, last year. We’ll have to see how it all plays out. I’m hopeful the staff will take a hard look at what went wrong yesterday and make the necessary adjustments.

Bullock played 6 snaps (according to one source. I haven’t rewatched the game to confirm) and did not attempt a pass. If I recall correctly, one of the plays was setup as a passing option, but it got blown up. Lingard played 40+ snaps and only touched the ball 8 times, with one of those being the touchdown reception. No way that ratio stays the same going forward. No matter who is at QB, a player with his kind of ability has to touch the ball more.

Guess we’ll have to disagree on Carolina. I wouldn’t call a team in the SEC that won 8 games last year, had two hall of fame coaches since 2000 (Holtz and Spurrier) has been ranked in to the top 10 during that time beating Ohio State twice and a #1 Alabama (not to mention numerous NFL draft picks, including the #1 draft pick in Clowney) the wilderness of college football. That being said. Let’s try to keep this thread about Akron. I’m just as guilty getting off topic here.

Just an FYI, Rattler ripped apart both Tennessee and Clemson last season. He also went 30 for 39 with 353 yards in a loss last night. He’s playing for South Carolina and helped guide them to 8 wins last year. Uiagalelei will suit up for the first time tonight for an Oregon State team who won 10 games last year. Not exactly apple to apple comparisons, but I get your point. Agree that a change is needed at the QB position after what we witnessed yesterday.

Some quick thoughts regarding a disappointing loss to begin the season. A lot to be excited about, but also new concerns we didn’t expect. OFFENSE: Irons is not the same QB as last year. He’s missing velocity on the far side/deep out routes he routinely exhibited last season. Outside of a handful of passes, he also struggled with his accuracy. Hard to envision he stays QB1 by the time MAC play starts, much less the entire season. No doubt the running backs are more explosive than last year. Question is, why didn’t they see more touches? Fair to say it was a bad day for the receivers. They’ve got to help their QB by reeling in some of the catchable passes that weren’t perfectly thrown. OL was excellent in pass protection until the last few drives. Run blocking was okay, not great, but there also weren’t a ton of opportunities. I believe about 20 runs were actually designed as such. DEFENSE: Run defense looked much improved. There weren’t many missed tackles and the linebackers in-particular landed a few big hits. Terray Jones, Ryan Johnson, and CJ Nunnally stood out along the DL. Antavious Fish, Bryan McCoy, and Shammond Cooper stood out at linebacker. Pass rush was disappointing. Temple threw the ball 49 times and Zips collected 0 sacks. I’m pretty sure I can count the number of times we touched the quarterback on one hand. Considering all of that, the secondary was impressive and played physically. There were some penalties that hurt, but at the same time they continued to be put in situations where the QB was allowed to have clean throwing opportunities. That’s a tough ask for a full game. FINAL THOUGHTS: Zips fans have every right (and probably should be) pissed. That’s a game we had a legitimate chance of winning. A game where everyone and their brother (outside of some in the Akron fan base) picked Temple to win. Most picked Temple to win big. There was not a talent discrepancy and Temple will likely win their fair share of games this year. If the defense can figure out a way to generate a pass rush, look out, because the physicality is there. Now the offense needs to figure out the quarterback situation. This game will not make or break the season. If anything, it shed some light on adjustments that need to be made. And FYI, I’m still not changing my season prediction. Wouldn’t be surprised to see this one get recouped somewhere along the way.

Can’t give a good QB the amount of time to throw the ball that we have today. Gotta figure out a way to be better there. Time for the offense to step up.

Anyone else see R. Johnson destroy the LT on that last possession?