Dave in Green

Maybe not, but he's doing a pretty fair job of hitting receivers in the hands. As the TV announcers just noted, the Zips have a big problem with receivers unable to hang on to the ball. Loved the call to throw for the TD on 4th and 1. The receiver was open, Nicely laid it right into his hands, and he dropped it.

Still lots of mistakes. But at least glimmerings of respectability on offense, especially the running game. If the Zips can run like this against a Big 10 team, they should be able to do the same in the MAC. With the running game established, PN7 doesn't look so bad. Defense appears to be the bigger problem right now.

He really sounds like a good kid, and I wish him luck. Sounds like the Rice program has a similar "family atmosphere" to UA's. Apparently he also liked the idea of playing in Conference USA versus the MAC, even if it meant going with a lower-rated team than the Zips. It will be interesting to see how he performs there.

If anything, you'd think the early departure of three Zips PGs would have made UA even more attractive to Ennis, as that would have likely opened up more early playing time for him.

There's wisdom in the old saying: Never say never and never say always. I'm old enough now to have seen a lot of things happen that I heard people say when I was younger would never happen. Maybe not in our lifetimes, but I could certainly see the possibility some day in the future where soccer could become the number one sport in America as it already is in most of the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, I think this is the closest we'll ever get to seeing actual "emotion" from Ianello. He'll never call out an individual player to the press, he'll never have an angry rant of a press conference, he'll never make a joke. This is the limit of his urgency. Personally, I prefer focused urgency to scattershot venting. I'd be more than happy if iCoach developed into a cold-fish winner in the Belichick mold. On the bright side, he already has the first half of the equation down pretty good.

We guess about a lot of things we don't really know about. We don't really know if KD went lukewarm on Ennis or the other way around, or maybe it was mutual. For example, if Ennis wasn't getting strong vibes from UA, it would only be natural to cancel the verbal and explore other possibilities. His hometown sportswriters can talk all they want about his stock rising. But the reality is that if his stock had really risen, it's unlikely that all three programs on his short list would be losing programs. Consider these final 2009-10 RPI rankings: 98. Akron 187. TCU 232. Santa Clara 311. Rice In any case, I don't plan to worry about the Zips apparent shortage of PGs after this season unless I see KD say that he's concerned. I suspect that we'll eventually learn something previously unknown that will clarify the Zips future PG plans.

The roster was moved from the previous link, but apparently still not updated: Roster

Coaches publicly dumping on players can be counterproductive. If the players aren't tackling or making plays, a lot of good coaches tend to deflect criticism away from the players by saying publicly that the coaching staff needs to do a better job of preparing the players. What's most important is how the coaching staff is dealing with the players in private.

Interesting story on "realistic recruiting" of HS basketball players: CBS Sports Link

Especially those fans who didn't approve of the coach selection in the first place. OK, I get it!

Skip, this is the part I don't get. You say you're not a Rodgers fan, you're concerned with his tendency to throw interceptions, and you question how his recovering knee would affect his running. So, given Rodgers' weaknesses, exactly what "things" does Rodgers have that would give the Zips "a better chance to have some level of success offensively right now" than Nicely? Neither Nicely nor Rodgers have shown potential greatness. Neither has really shown anything to suggest that they could lead the current Zips team to anything better than a .500 record in the MAC at best. It seems to me that we're pretty much down to the point of picking which one of them is most likely to develop into a more effective MAC QB within the confines of the Zips current offensive scheme. Since some QBs develop their full potential more slowly than others, once the choice is made, I think you pretty much have to ride that choice until it becomes painfully obvious to everyone that it either is or isn't going to work out. The coaching staff obviously believes Nicely is the best choice under the above parameters, even if only by a small margin. What specifically do some of the fans here see that the coaches are missing?

QB controversies are part of the great experience of being a football fan. To paraphrase the old saying, every football fan has an opinion on which QB should be playing just like everyone has a defecation orifice. The coaching staff is privy to information that fans are not, so they're better equipped to make the call about who will produce the best results. Since the coaching staff's livelihood depends on winning football games, I'm pretty sure they're playing the QB who they sincerely believe gives them the best chance of winning.

One person's sarcasm is another's serious belief. To help avoid confusion, emoticons are your friend.

I don't even want to think about the final score of this game. The only thing I'll be looking for is the slightest sign of improvement in any area of the Zips game, with the understanding that even a slightly improved Zips team is still likely to be slaughtered.

The main discussion here about the Zips need for PGs is not so much for the upcoming season, but for the 2011-12 season and beyond, at which time both Roberts and McNees will both be long gone from the team.

Yes, it's a sign of success when other programs go after your assistant coaches. KD runs a good program with good assistants, and they are going to be in demand by other programs. It happens all the time in college sports. The time to worry is when no one thinks your assistants are worth going after. That's not a logical conclusion to make. Even the best recruiters don't hit home runs every time at bat. The quality of the most recent Zips recruits will play out on the court. I'm willing to give them all a chance to prove themselves. It was entirely predictable that Zeke's signing would create unrealistic expectations with some people that all of a sudden all the HS basketball studs across the country would start giving UA equal consideration with the ACC and Big East. I wish I could help you out on this, Z.I.P., but I don't have a magic antidote to counteract unrealistic expectations.

Another sign of intoxication is failure to be able to accurately distinguish what others are saying no matter how clearly their words are stated. Try comparing what you just said with what I actually said, paying close attention to the bolded words: Maybe the smoke around your head is contributing to the blurred vision.

CK's posts are clear as a bell to me, so I guess I have half a brain after all. There is no conflict at all in his comments about Nicely and Frye. Nicely appears to have the tools to be a solid QB. But he's not great enough to carry the rest of the team on his back, and the rest of this team needs a lot of carrying right now. Frye had many great performances at UA, but the one against Iowa is not a good example because Iowa took a 37-0 lead in the first quarter and backed off on their defense and let Frye run up numbers. CK has never stated or implied that Nicely is better than Frye. He only pointed out to someone else that they made a questionable call in selecting Frye's performance in the Iowa game as an example of how much better Frye was than Nicely has shown to date.

Hilltopper was right. If you think Akron can regularly out-recruit Big East and ACC teams for top talent, you are deep into some righteous smoke. Doesn't mean the Zips shouldn't try, and occasionally pull off a recruiting upset. But if you're going to go all limp and teary every time the Zips settle for a non-Big East, non-ACC recruit, you are probably going to fail the most basic sobriety test.

Low kick + great defensive penetration = blocked kick. Low kicks can be necessary for long kicks or kicking into a stiff wind. There's no reason to kick PATs low. If I'm a kicker and I don't trust my offensive line to keep the defenders at bay, I'm going to do my best to get way under the ball. It should be teachable if the kicker has any ability at all to learn and improve his technique. The coaching staff needs to take some responsibility on this. Get the guy out there kicking high PATs all day long. This is really basic stuff.

Can those who actually saw the blocked PAT comment on whether it was the center, the holder, the offensive line, the kicker, or some combination who was at fault for allowing the block?

That pretty much kills Boise State's national championship aspirations, as their signature win over Virginia Tech turns out to be not so special.

After this game, I'm with you 100%. I don't think that "the future is now" is much of an option with this team. I was seriously joking Nothing on ZN.O seems funny after the joking on the field. I suppose the only good news now is that expectations can't get much lower than rock bottom.

After this game, I'm with you 100%. I don't think that "the future is now" is much of an option with this team.