Dave in Green

The good news about the ABJ's inadequate coverage of Zips athletics is that it directly resulted in the Porky's Seven getting together and creating ZipsNation. Thanks, ABJ, for the inspiration you provided for the creation of this forum.

The outstanding game coverage in the Lafayette newspaper verifies what you saw. Coach Bowden looked at UL game film and saw that their secondary stacked up close to the line and dared you to beat them deep. The Zips had to go deep even though they hadn't previously shown much success at that. Chapman was quoted about the difficulty of getting his timing down with the first team after starting the season practicing with the third team. Last night it finally all clicked. Having lived in Louisiana, I can tell you that LSU sucks the air out of sports coverage the same way tOSU does in Ohio. After living with that for awhile, I'm really impressed with the outstanding coverage in The Advertiser in the shadow of Baton Rouge and LSU. I hope everyone here reads all three stories Blue & Gold linked to above.

Just got home from an important date with the wife. Sorry to miss seeing a quality win like this one. It's exactly what the Zips needed going into MAC play. Looking forward to reading post-game analysis from those who got to watch the whole game. But my initial impression is that the Zips now have a realistic shot at a winning season and bowl bid as long as they keep improving and avoid major injuries at key positions.

Right now the Zips appear to be playing better on the road than at home. Winning on the road later in the season is what they'll have to do to make a run in the NCAA tournament.

Nice try, but this interpretation showed more thoughtful insight:

Same way it happened with the Cavs -- simple typo by a careless assistant.

If this advice were followed by all forum members on all topics, the volume of traffic on ZipsNation would fall pretty dramatically. But there's no danger of that happening because this advice has often been selectively given by some who have no problem rambling on about their pet topics. Everyone should feel free to discuss what interests them and ignore what doesn't.

If Captain Kangaroo drops a beer bottle in Lot 9 and no fans are around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Borderline hooliganism. We should all appreciate passionate fan support. But there are lines that shouldn't be crossed in any sport in any civilized society. I guess UCSB fans get credit for throwing soft tortillas rather than this:

If you look closely at the level of competition WMU and BGSU faced early in the season and the fact that they played mostly home games, they were paper tigers. This is not to suggest that they aren't strong MAC teams, because they are. But there is still only one national power in the MAC that can win games against other national powers on the road.

I especially appreciate your thoughts on this because you were actually out there on the field looking up at the seats. No one knows better than the players how important fan support is to their performance.

I know a lot more about basketball than I do about soccer. But I don't think the comparison of so many games in so many days carries across all sports. For example, football teams never, ever play more than one game per week. College basketball games are 40 minutes long with frequent subbing. Soccer games are 90 minutes long plus stoppage time with much less subbing. I'm not sure if a scientific study has ever been done about recovery time in various sports, but I'd be hesitant to equate the relevancy of time off between soccer and basketball games.

Big name teams in big new arenas can also have attendance problems. Missouri basketball has endured dramatic attendance decline

Opportunity lost.

Can't would have been smart to purchase tickets for alumni. But Can't is not smart. They purchased the tickets after the season was over, which is within NCAA rules but probably the least productive way to use university-purchased tickets. Link

It seems to me that the rankings are more volatile so far this season than in previous years. It seems as if there's more parity this season between the previous major powers and the rising programs.

Did you miss the whole discussion earlier in this thread about the U "purchasing" 8k or more tickets to distribute to alumni? Those who received tickets to all the home games are much less likely to show up on a day with rain in the area than those who purchased tickets with their own money.

If the following details were previously discussed, I must have missed them. It sounds like a sensible way to run the program. Whether students start out thinking they do or don't want to make a military commitment, they have two years of exposure before making up their minds which path to follow. I could see this having an appeal to a subset of students. The only question will be whether that subset is large enough to sustain the program:

I'll comment further on what I meant. Last season the Zips did a great job of upsetting a decent (6-6 regular season record) Power 5 team at their place. That no doubt raised expectations among some Zips fans that we could do the same this season at our place. Lower level teams rarely upset higher level teams two years in row, regardless of where the games are played. Not many outside of some Zips fans expected Pitt to be as ill-prepared for the Zips as they appeared to be last season. However, I understand that a couple of the top MAC teams the Zips will face this season could be roughly equivalent in overall strength to Pitt and represent similar challenges for winning vs. losing.

Everyone would prefer a clear number one QB and a solid backup or two for insurance. Coaches, players and fans are all in agreement on that. The problem comes when one QB doesn't establish himself as a clear number one. Woodson took a big step forward yesterday. But he also got away with some mistakes that would cost the team more dearly against a better opponent. Woodson isn't there yet, but he's probably close enough to establish himself as #1 for now. Realistically, the Zips have now lost the two games they were considered most likely to lose before this season started and won the one they were considered most likely to win. The rest of the games this season are all more in doubt at various levels. Now is the time that the Zips really need a clear #1 QB to step forward and take over the team. Louisiana-Lafayette is a MAC-level team that will give a better snapshot of what to expect from the Zips in MAC play. It's likely that Woodson earned the start against the Ragin' Cajuns, and we can only hope he plays well enough to be left in most of the game.

A well-researched story that presents facts and opinions representing various points of view. There's something in here for everyone. It tries to explain the pros and cons of the actions and reasoning behind those actions of both the previous and current UA administrations to deal with the changing economic landscapes they faced. This is good journalism.

Trying to put today's game in perspective, the Zips were playing an FCS team that hasn't won in two years and had just lost their starting QB. It should have been a bigger win. But really, the Zips offense and defense played well enough to win 55-3. The special teams turned an almost certain Zips field goal into a Savannah State TD. Had Woodson played the whole game the Zips may have won 60-something to 3. So it was an OK win, not great and not awful. Louisiana-Lafayette will be a truer test of how the Zips will fare in MAC play.

Great answer to one-third of a sentence.

Woodson was far from perfect, but today he clearly executed better than Chapman. Still, teams at UA's level can't afford to easily give up on four-star QBs. Expect QB uncertainty to continue. Given that all three QBs are far from perfect, why would you want to lock in on one without being absolutely certain the others might not be better if given a chance? It's up to one of the QBs to set himself apart so far that there's no doubt.

Is the curse lifted? The rain fizzled and Woodson sizzled.