Dave in Green

From EA's PD story:

I was watching for a few specific things tonight. First, assists went back to normal after a couple of outlier games where assists were way below average. Tonight the Zips had 13 assists on 24 field goals -- better than 50%. Second, Noah returned to his more normal number of field goal attempts with only 7, making 6. The other thing was which of the younger players were going to get more minutes. I figured Big Dog would get longer minutes to help work himself back into shape, and he did with 16 minutes. He's still far from back to normal, but clearly better than he was in the 4 road games. Antino also played 16 minutes, with 13 of those in the critical second half. It's interesting that even though Nyles had another good game, he played 13 of his 19 minutes in the first half. I'm guessing that Coach Dambrot figures that Antino is not yet physically ready to play long minutes, and that he has more value later in games. Along with Deji's 20 minutes and Noah's 33, the Zips have a strong 4-guard rotation with each player having different strengths. I was a little surprised that BJ (4 minutes) and Aaron (2 minutes) got so little time. But the game remained pretty close most of the way through, the Zips have proven options at their positions and both of the redshirt freshmen still need a little seasoning to better understand how to do all the right things at all the right times. I'd like to think the Bryant team we saw tonight was more like the one that was leading UConn 8 minutes into the second half than the one that was whipped by Vermont. Certainly their performance against UConn showed what Bryant is capable of doing on a good night.

Bryant can move the ball around well and hit 3s. Zips need to tighten defense in the 2nd half.

One of the problems here is a major difference in QB styles. If the offense is built around one QB's style it won't fit the others. Do you build the offense around a QB who's not a running threat or one who is? Whichever style is chosen will favor one type of QB over the other. The Zips offense has been built around a QB who's not a running threat but also isn't a great passer. If your QB isn't a great passer, you can at least get some offset if he can run. I'd rather see the Zips commit to one style of QB and offense or the other so at least when a backup QB has to be used there'll be an offense around him that suits his style of play.

The disaster ended when the Zips stopped the string of 1-11 seasons that had them consistently in the Bottom 10. The 5-7 seasons are just below average, putting the Zips in the company of dozens of other below average teams across the country. We all expect better of Coach Bowden, and next season expectations will be higher. A 6-6 record this season was about the minimum expectation. Anything less than 7-5 next season will be disappointing.

Can't was averaging 14 points a game before today. They scored more than 20 points exactly twice this season -- against Army and Akron. It can't be argued that the Zips defense was worn out from being on the field too much as time of possession was almost exactly equal. No excuses. The offense and defense lost this game as a team.

The #1 defense in the MAC folds against the team with the worst record in the MAC? Repeat: The Zips offense and defense both need a lot of work for next season.

In OT, Marshall throws for a 25-yard TD and kicks the extra point. WKU throws for a 25-yard TD and gets the 2-point conversion. WKU upsets Marshall, 67-66.

Marshall-WKU going to OT tied 59-59.

Fixed it for myself.

The defense needs a little work for next season. The offense needs a lot of work.

At the half, WKU up 49-42 -- most points scored in a half this season in college football (840 yards total offense).

Marshall (11-0) is in a big shootout with Western Kentucky (6-5). WKU scored 42 points in the game's first 20 minutes and leads 42-28 with 7 minutes left in the first half.

Great points, LZip. Coach Bowden and his staff have earned the trust of Zips fans with their track record of evaluating and selecting transfers who've had problems elsewhere but do well at UA.

Here are the field goals made-attempts for the 1st / 2nd halves by each Zips player: 3-4 / 1-5 Kwan 3-5 / 1-4 Pat 2-4 / 4-11 Noah 2-4 / 0-3 Nyles 3-5 / 0-2 Reggie 3-3 / 1-4 Deji 0-1 / 0-1 Jake 0-1 / 0-1 BJ 1-2 / 0-1 Big Dog 0-0 / 0-1 Antino While Noah was 4-11 in the second half, the rest of the team combined was 3-22.

You are correct about the bus trip from Akron to State College being roughly the same as Philly to State College. However, the Zips weren't in Akron. They were in Charleston, SC, Sunday night after the game and left for State College early Monday morning. It made no sense to try to fly back to Akron late Sunday before busing to State College early Monday.

No one wants to hear about Zips free throw shooting after a loss, but here it is anyway. The Zips were 16-17 (94.1%) from the free throw line tonight. Through 5 games, if you subtract Tree's 2-6 in the only game he played, the Zips are shooting 79% from the free throw line -- way above the NCAA average. One of last season's major problem areas appears to be corrected, and now there are new areas to be addressed. But let's be honest. Everything from now on needs to be addressed within the context of how we would have thought the season would have gone if we'd known before the season started that Tree would be lost to the team.

Back to reality. The Zips were 2-4 against high majors. It was better than they've ever done before, but we want more from this team. Hopefully they learned something tonight that will pay off later in the season.

As I said earlier, PSU has proven to be a good 2nd half team this season, and the Zips are deep in the danger zone.

Newbill's tough.

Gotta gut this one out.

Not you, I meant the Zips coaching staff.

Please find out exactly why he's permanently ineligible and do a detailed risk assessment.

Serious note of caution: PSU trailed at the half of all 3 games in the Charleston tournament. They came back in the second half to win 2 and tied the other one but lost in overtime. They are a good 2nd half team.

I'm worried. The Zips have only 4 assists.