catdaddyp

Defense much improved, but struggling with the screens and some of the misdirection. Pass rush is still a concern. Need to at least knock the QB down a few times….

I was thinking the same thing. Doesn’t look like the same QB. Not as much zip on his passes and struggling with accuracy. Can’t leave him in if this continues.

Bazelak seems to be having the same issues that plagued him elsewhere. Big arm and can hit some deep balls, but otherwise struggles with accuracy.

I thought Virginia would be the worst team in the ACC, but it may be Boston College. NIU should win this game.

Suit yourself. This isn’t something I care to debate today. Looking forward to the game.

Just an FYI, the game is on ESPN+. So if you have Spectrum, that could cause a problem as they are in a contract dispute/renegotiation with ESPN parent company Disney. A way around that is either YouTube TV (different app from regular YouTube) or with Disney+ which also gives Hulu. Hulu has ESPN+. Or I guess could just do Hulu itself, although I’m not entirely sure if that’s an option anymore. I’m not sure if these apps are offering free trials or not, but I guess it goes without saying, if you decide to do a free trial and intend on canceling might want to make yourself some kind of note to cancel before getting charged. Wanted to make everyone aware before tuning in a few mins before kickoff just to be disappointed that the game is blacked out on spectrum.

UCF is a good team and Kent’s lack of depth shone through. It’s just one game, but they seem worse off on the OL and DL than we were last year. WMU is going to need to figure out a way to push the ball downfield. Teams are going to stack the box and take their chances in man on the backend if the Broncos don’t develop more of a passing game than what we saw last night. I’m guessing the QB transfer from Old Dominion will get a shot sooner or later.

If you’re looking for info from Temple insiders, check out their Rivals site. Some of the articles are behind a paywall, but the majority are free.

Alright, since we’re not getting an official depth chart here’s my final guess: OFFENSE QB: Irons Bullock RB: Lingard D. Anderson WR: Adams Golden WR: George P. Wilson WR: Gathings C. Anderson TE: Banks Newell LT: Chambers Frank LG: Kilbane Robarge C T. Williams Georges RG: K Davis Blanchard RT: N Williams Kindred DEFENSE DE: R Johnson L. Jackson DT: Lavea Robinson DT: T. Jones K. Thomas DE: Nunnally A. Smith LB: Fish Behm LB: McCoy Cooper Nickel: Lewis T. Thomas CB: Tallandier Durant SS: Thompson Woods FS: Martin C. Thomas CB: Hunter Golden-Nelson SPECIAL TEAMS K: Perez Wiley P: D. Jackson Castle KR: Hester Golden PR: Hester Golden

Brayden Roggow vs Chardon. A handful of impressive throws in this game.

I muted BGB a while back for some reason. I think I got frustrated by all of his rankings without any justification. That being said, I did hear him on a podcast a while back talking about the MAC and I think his final standings is a solid take. Not too shabby of a job with the tiers either. Penn State has a tough road with Illinois, Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan so I’ll be surprised if they make the CFP. FSU has LSU and Clemson to deal with, so as long as they don’t slip up elsewhere, they should have one of their better seasons in a long time. Remains to be seen if they are CFP material, but I’m not buying the national media hype. Some other adjustments I would have made is Akron moved up a tier. Boston College and Mississippi State swapped. UMASS moved up a tier.

Short MAC segment around 1:18:00. One person takes the the over on Akron and the other two won’t touch it. Interesting they like the under on Buffalo. They also like the under on Kent State.

https://x.com/zipsfb/status/1694718304450146704?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w Temple Practice #1 and the man replacing Bubba - Antavious Fish.

https://x.com/zipsfb/status/1694447359558578576?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w

Not sure why the links aren’t showing the video in the post anymore. Anyway, a few good clips in this one. - Lama Lavea doing bag drills. Impressive feet for a 300 pounder. - Myles Walker creating separation from Darrian Lewis. - Freshman WR Paul Davis going over Cam Threatt for a catch. - KJ Martin out battling Daniel George for a ball.

https://x.com/zipsfb/status/1694349856611905787?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w

It’ll be interesting to see how the dollar amounts change in the coming years as NIL collectives siphon some of those contributions away.

Another take on Temple. Might be worth a background listen or if you’ve got nothing else to do.

I’m excited to see what the OL does this year. Anxious to see what young guys like T. Williams, K. Davis, and C. Lyons give us on the interior. I still think Williams and Davis will be starters. Definitely a typo on Thomas. He has to be in the 300lbs range. I’d guess Jones, Lavea, Thomas, and Robinson will be the four that collect the most snaps at DT. Need those guys to pickup where Holt and Harper left off.

Takeaways from the limited clips of the 2nd scrimmage and other media: - Seems Gathings is in line to start in SJL’s spot. - Looks like DJI is still running with the 1s. Maybe there is also significant rotation with Bullock that we haven’t seen? - Clip of OL Colin Lyons running downfield. He’s a guy I thought would help us last year, but was hampered by injuries. - RB Drake Anderson seems to be in a number of highlight clips during fall camp. - I’m guessing nothing has been settled along the DL, but the main cast that keeps popping up are DEs Ryan Johnson, CJ Nunnally, and Antonio Smith as well as DTs Kyle Thomas and Devon Robinson. - Looks like Fish and McCoy are the likely starters at LB.

https://x.com/zipsfb/status/1693370169685352563?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w

Depending on who you talk to will get you wildly different views on this year’s team. I’m very bullish on Akron and think the team will take a major leap in the win column. Similar to Temple, Akron was playing their best football towards the end of last year. Even with a roster that wasn’t quite up to par with most opponents, Zips lost 5 conference games by a score (7, 6, 6, 3, 1). The major flaws were lack of pass rush (dead last in MAC play with 13 sacks), giving up sacks (last again with 36), run game (averaged less than 100 yards per game on the season) and inconsistent CB play. On the bright side, Zips led the conference in passing yards per game on offense and improved the run defense by 140 yards per game vs the previous season. Zips collected the #1 Comprehensive recruiting class in the MAC (according to Rivals) during the offseason and kept significant losses to a minimum. Outside of graduation, key losses were LB Bubba Arslanian, DT Ravontae Holt, and LT Ka’Marii Landers. The offense should be more explosive in the run game with the additions of former 5 star RB Lorenzo Lingard and Arizona transfer RB Drake Anderson, while the passing game that averaged almost 300 yards per game in conference should be just as effective. The offensive line may not be elite, but should be improved. There will be a noticeable difference in athleticism along the OL. Defensively, Zips will field a strong group of safeties and CB play will be much improved if the spring game was any indication. There is a chance all five starters in the secondary will be former P5 players. The linebacker corps is fairly young and/or inexperienced, albeit talented and physical. The DL is where most questions still remain. There was an overhaul of players this offseason, which was probably needed. Five JUCOs and three transfers were added. Another situation where the athleticism (and also length) has been improved. However, who starts there or even plays the most snaps is anyone’s guess at this point. The biggest difference between this season and last is the amount of talent throughout the roster. I would pit Akron’s depth against any other team in the MAC at this point. That may sound crazy in year 2 of Moorhead’s tenure, but the portal has opened up another avenue of flipping roster talent that wasn’t available just a few years ago. Also, a mark of a strong coaching staff is the development of players and improved performance throughout the season - something we saw from the Zips last year. To close out the season, Akron held the top rushing team in the MAC (NIU) to 89 yards rushing and followed that up by limiting Buffalo to 27 yards rushing. Most casual observers seem to have issues getting past the name on the jersey and think this will be the same ole Akron. Of course, those same observers don’t follow recruiting so that’s not a surprise. Like you mentioned, week 1 can be fluky sometimes. It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out. I suspect both teams will be improved by the end of the season and it’s unlikely a loss by either side will be much of setback. On a side note, Joe Moorhead’s Fordham teams went from 6 wins in his first year to 12 in his second year. That’s FCS ball and may not directly correlate to MAC play, but does go to show Moorhead knows what it takes to drastically change the direction of a program. Looking forward to this game and hope both teams avoid any major injuries and also give the staffs significant insight that will help with the rest of the season.

Here’s the link for the preview of the 2023 schedule that I started a while back. I still need to complete Morgan State, UK, and Indiana, but it has returning players, additions, etc listed.

Just stumbled across this interview from media days. Coach Moorhead was brutal honest. Definitely get the feel of he’s tired of talking about it and ready to hit the field.

Was hoping for more from the scrimmage. One thing that did stand out is #99 Devon Robinson about midway through when #4 Ryan Johnson is tackling #21 Drake Anderson. Robinson runs into the frame and really looks the part physically. In a few clips later it looks like Robinson was in Irons face as the pass was completed to Adams. Would be huge if Robinson lives up to his potential this year.