Dave in Green

Generally speaking, conspiracy theorists are predisposed to see only what they want to see when they want to see it. They have an uncanny ability to tune out anything that doesn't fit with their preconceived notions. They tend to stick together in tight little cliques, shutting out the rest of the world as unworthy of consideration.

Brandon Hickey has predicted that Big Dog will be one of six MAC Basketball Breakout Players for the 2014-2015 Season:

Years ago at the very first Zips basketball practice I ever attended, the first person to walk up and introduce himself was Coach Peters. From that day until the last time I recently saw him, he remained one of the most genuinely warm, friendly and thoughtful persons I've ever known. Clearly he cared a lot about other people, and many in turn cared a lot about him. He made a big impression on me and caused me to look within myself and try to be more like him. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and all of those who were close to him.

I agree with the SPCA that venting your frustration on an internet forum is infinitely preferable to kicking your dog.

It's great advice to find something else to do if what you're doing is making you miserable. Sometimes stepping away from something for even a day or two can help reset the panic button. Let me try to help everyone bogged down in the misguided theory that Coach Bowden is looking for any reason not to play KP the rest of the season. I'm confident that the theory I've had all along about the QB situation will prove to be correct. I believe that KP may have received medical clearance just prior to the OU game but was held out due to coaching concerns over the lingering effects of a head injury and lack of practice. I think there were continuing concerns from the coaching staff about KP's performance in practice that kept him out of the BSU game. I believe that KP will return to action as soon as he completes a solid week of practice where the coaching staff believes he's back to 100% of what he showed prior to the head injury.

Keener, you're a great Zips fan like so many others on this forum are. I feel your pain for years of suffering, and I hope for the best as so many long-suffering Zips fans have. Here's the straight deal. Anyone who tells you otherwise is fantasizing. UA is in a pecking order. The pecking order generally determines the level of coach you attract. UA is not a desirable destination for a football coach. With Terry Bowden, Zips fans got more than expected. He's doing the best he can with the resources available to him. He's trying to attract both the best offensive and defensive talent he can. So far he's managed to do better on the defensive side. Don't give up on him. He's not done yet.

ZippyRulz, please go back and look at the date on that story.

Are you kidding? Can you even begin to imagine the level of fantasy we would have had to wade through on this forum if Coach Bowden had subbed in the 3rd string QB with KP standing on the sideline?

Balsy, you are right to keep the focus on KP's head injury, something I didn't do well in my comments about Coach Bowden's quotes in EA's story. It may help explain the quote about it being "unfair" to throw KP into the game when things started falling apart in the 4th quarter. Only the Zips coaching staff knows how KP looked in any practice he may have participated in prior to Saturday's game. Head injuries should never be underestimated or downplayed.

As much as I respect your knowledge of football and agree with some of your opinions, I'm not willing to take the giant leap you have about Coach Bowden's motives when it comes to QB selection. I believe Coach Bowden's only motive is to turn the Zips into a winning program, and that he's using all of his experience and expertise to accomplish this. While I'm puzzled about the QB situation, I'm not ready to assume either the worst or the best. I'll just say that this game reinforces my opinion that the Zips are still on the path to getting better, which means that they are better than they were but not as good as they're going to be. They have better players and better coaching than they did a couple of seasons ago. But they're still not a stacked team, even by MAC standards. Some combination of coaching and player abilities led to today's loss, same as they led to the win at Pitt. The Zips are currently inconsistent, which is miles ahead of being consistently awful as they were just a couple of seasons ago.

Here's EA's first take on the KP-TW issue: My take on the above: It didn't matter that BSU was only getting field goals and not touchdowns in the 3rd quarter. TW was not moving the team at all and didn't appear capable of putting together a scoring drive. BSU was driving freely and only needed a single field goal in the 4th quarter to win the game if the Zips couldn't start moving the ball. At exactly what point was it not fair to Pohl to give him a chance? If he'd come in on the Zips first possession of the 4th quarter he would have had a 2-point lead. On the Zips second possession he would have only had to deal with a 4-point deficit. On the Zips third possession he would have faced an 11-point deficit. So, yeah, the longer the wait to put Pohl in the more unfair it got to put him in because the BSU lead kept growing and time kept running out. Bottom line is that Coach Bowden so far hasn't given me any good reason to believe that he had a good reason not to give Pohl a chance to pull the game out before the game got out of hand.

So the prevailing theory here remains that Pohl is 100% healthy and Coach Bowden wouldn't sub him in to save the game just because he's a stubborn and misguided coach? Maybe we'll get a more accurate assessment of what's really going on when the media grills him on this subject, as they surely will after this massive second-half collapse.

Right, Zips average scoring defense can't be considered dominant as long as there are a whole 11 teams in the country ranked ahead of them. 1. Ole Miss 10.6 2. Stanford 12.3 3. Alabama 13.1 4. Louisville 14.6 5. Duke 15.1 6. Penn St. 15.2 7. Marshall 16.6 8. LSU 17.0 9. Temple 17.2 10. Wisconsin 17.7 11. Houston 17.9 12. Akron 18.1 13. Auburn 18.3 14. Pittsburgh 18.6 ...

The problem with the Zips coaching staff is that they not only watch every play of every game, they also watch every play of every practice. The theory that watching too many plays can interfere with one's football judgment is obviously at work here.

Just making the point that I don't automatically reject good information even if it comes from a dick, not that I put you in that category. I don't doubt that those who believe KP was fully cleared to play in Saturday's game may have heard something from a usually reliable source. But my experience has been that single sources generally only tell part of the story. I think there's more to this story than has been brought out. I think Coach Bowden is way too smart to risk his reputation on the issue of exactly when KP was cleared to play if others have factual data to refute what he's publicly stated. Maybe he meant that KP was not cleared to play by him. Maybe Coach Bowden has a high personal standard not to put one of his players recovering from a head injury into a game until that player has not only received medical clearance but also has a full week of practice. That's at least as good a theory as rerunning the old Smothers Brothers comedy routine that "Mom (Coach) always liked you best." Of course part of the story could also be that Coach Bowden believes that TW has a bigger upside than KP for creating the big scoring plays that some have been asking to see from the Zips. It's those kind of tough coaching decisions that made us so enthusiastic about Coach Bowden in the first place because we expected him to get most of them right. As long as the starting QB selection is being made for all the right reasons and in the best interests of the team, I'm good with whoever is selected. I have no personal connection to either player or their families and wish them both the best. Most of all I wish the best for the Zips as a team.

I'd consider Coach Bowden to be someone more in the know than most, and it's been reported here that Coach Bowden publicly stated tonight that Pohl was only cleared for live action (able to take a hit) yesterday. If that's true, then someone Saturday morning may not have been as much in the know as they thought they were. I remain open-minded to verifiable data, whether from Dick Tracy or any dick.

Just to be clear, when Coach Bowden said that Pohl was only cleared for live action (able to take a hit) yesterday, did he mean Wednesday, Oct. 22 -- several days after the OU game? If so, that's a huge difference from the claim that he was cleared before the OU game. Could it be that he was only cleared for non-contact practice prior to the OU game? The devil is in the details. It's impossible to form an educated opinion without all the facts. You are so, so right when you say that only those in the room with the doctor and coaches know all the facts and we're just trying to do the best we can by interpreting bits and pieces we've heard.

Pohl's exact quote was: "I have felt good since the middle of last week. Just wanted to go through all the precautions." I've seen a lot of assumptions and speculation about some things here, but I've yet to see an exact timetable of what all the precautions were and just how close to game time they officially ended. When it comes to head injuries, for too many years too many erred on the side of too little caution. I'm all for erring on the side of too much caution.

Am I understanding this correctly? Say any college football player suffers a head injury and is kept out of practice all week because medical people say it could be dangerous to his longterm health. A couple of days before the next game he's still showing signs of head injury and the coach announces he won't be playing. On the morning of the game the player is examined again and finally shows the last obvious signs of the head injury have just cleared up. Are some fans claiming here that it's a responsible thing for a coach to put that player on the field with zero game preparation within a day or two of having shown signs of a head injury? It's a good thing there's a responsible adult running the Zips football program.

Just because Pohl was medically cleared for not showing concussion symptoms right before the OU game doesn't mean he should have automatically been rushed out onto the field. It's not like he had a sore arm or leg where he could play through some pain. The injury that Pohl suffered is related to the type of head injuries that have caused severe brain damage in NFL players. I appreciate that Coach Bowden showed an abundance of caution in holding Pohl out.

Add another possible bowl option: Mid-American Conference named a backup in new Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit

While NDSU won the Summit League championship last season, this season a poll of coaches, SIDs and media has projected the Bison to finish 5th in their conference. They graduated star players Taylor Braun and Marshall Bjorklund, their 2 leading scorers, as well as the team's 3rd leading scorer and 3 subs who played in every game. So they obviously lost a lot of talent and are in major rebuilding mode. MTSU last season tied Louisiana Tech for best record in Conference USA. But they graduated their top 4 leading scorers (Shawn Jones, Neiko Hunter, Kerry Hammonds and Trantell Knight), and the leading returning scorer averaged only 6.5 points per game. So they're also obviously in serious rebuilding mode. Both MTSU and NDSU are strong programs, but both have more question marks than the Zips this season due to so many key players graduating. The Zips should be favored in both games.

If you actually watched them practice, you must be an expert. I agree with your opinion. They will be better in the long run. The main thing that concerns me is the learning curve. They will be thrown into the fire early and will make their share of true freshman mistakes. With a role player, that affects a part of the game. With a PG, it affects a lot of the game. As good as they look in practice, their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th D1 college games will be on the road against tough competition.

Hilltopper, that's the same video linked to in the first post of this thread.

Good analysis, Skip. Gambling defenses like that can be especially effective against a rookie QB with no experience in taking advantage of what's available. All that pressure and all those opportunities to make plays put a premium on having an experienced QB who's faced those situations before and knows how to adjust. OU would likely have had to use a different defense against Pohl, and the results would likely have been more favorable for the Zips.