Big Zip

he said he was going to play db in the article.

I was watching LSU play last week and watched them end up playing their third string QB for part of the game. This made me think about the Zips and how amazing the last seven years have been with Butchie and then Charlie -- I know Nick was intended to be in there too, but Charlie stepped in and never let go. This has to be the best 7 years of quarterbacking Akron has ever seen. It also adds some pressure to Getsy. Think about what we've been used to seeing for the last 7 years. Is this the kind of play we should be expecting from the QB slot going forward? Did Akron just get extremely lucky with their QB picks. Did Tom Stacy coach both QBs until this year. Does he deserve a lot of the credit. Does LO deserve the credit for finding these two guys? Just thought I'd like to thank Butchie and Charlie for 7 great years of QB and wish Luke the best of luck. I hope in two years we can say Luke and everyone will know him by just his first name the way you do when you say Butchie and Charlie or Frye.

This morning on WNIR Steve French said his guess was Wood was done for the season. Not sure what he's made his opinion on, but we all know he is close to the situation. I find it funny that the ABJ points out Akron took advantage of the young Bobcats on the boards. Has anyone looked at Akron's lineup? OU 2 Freshman 4 Sophomore 3 Junior 4 Senior Akron 5 Freshman 4 Sophomore 3 Junior 3 Senior

Captain if it was a PSL I would buy it -- it isn't though it is a yearly donation to athletic department and I don't own the right to sell the seat. Why not just sell chair back seats on one side and general admission on the other -- without the blue chairs though -- put them in the ends if you have to. I don't think they publicize the student section well either -- I'm sure plenty of the students sitting up high would be happy to fill the seats behind the hoops --

I tell you there are only three teams with losing records in this list? CSU is 1-9 -- Akron is their only win. Bucknell is now 4-6 and IPFW is 2-8 only win against IUPUI. Robert Morris also beat Marshall, Youngstown State beat UT and Buffalo who is 1-9 with a win against Lafayette. Even Gannon is 9-2 and Ashland is 8-4 a guess decent lower level schools. I imagine the Zips won't go winless, but shouldn't this team be better? This is Kennedy's third season at the helm and she returns the entire starting five. Do you remember when Hipsher took over there was nothing and he found a way to make the program better even if it was briefly -- he never had a season like this -- did he? If this was the men's team wouldn't we be calling for the coach's head. Does coaching women's basketball mean you don't get scrutinzed as much? What should we as Alumni/Fans of the program expect from the teams? I certainly expect more from golf, but it doesn't seem to mean much to anyone else. What should be expect of Parker after five years -- should he be expected to compete for a MAC title? Maybe I'm hoping for too much? How about the baseball team -- I think this is the coach's fourth or fifth year -- I would hope they get a shot at the MAC tournament at least.

zipper -- I think that is pretty unfair. I think the first post was merely asking for something he/she feels is worth the money. It didn't sound like he was afraid to put out the money if they put together a worthwhile schedule. A lot of people have been complaining about the OOC schedule in basketball.

I could appreciate your post more if this team hadn't lost to a Div. II team Ashland in the preseason - and Robert Morris, IPFW and Yougstown State. This team isn't even a good Div. II team. The reason Roxanne Allen lost her job was because she couldn't recruit Div. I talent -- I'm starting to wonder if Kennedy can. Funny thing is she was the recruiter for her previous school.

mean Kennedy is shown the door? How low are the expectations for her? Is there a chance for her to lose her job - does anyone care?

Listened to Kenny Roda yesterday with Paul Lemming (I think). He said this was a down year for Ohio on the whole.

Interesting -- I would say this is a Gerry Faust situation Notre Dame to Akron, but I think Solich was never as bad as Faust at Nebraska -- his last team was 9-3. It's actually kind of funny to see Nebraska at 5-6 with no bowl for the first time in 35 years -- after they fire Solich. I wonder if we can expect them to go back to an option team.

Wood competes hard, but when he gets five feet away from the basket he can't hit hardly anything. Peterson was a great freshman and sophomore and tonight against CSU he played real well. I think Middleton is a pretty decent pick up and a Div. 1 talent. Joyce was a bit of a disappointment tonight -- overall this team takes too many bad shots. f they can keep control of the ball and take good shots -- I think we'll see a significant difference as the year goes. One thing I would like to see is more overseas recruiting -- I remember the Wyoming game at the JAR a few years ago. They had two kids from Africa that were tough. We've only had Ali Kart. The kid from CSU who led all scores tonight was tough -- the kid from Senegal didn't get much time, but he played welll against us in the past. A big man is a definite need on this team. As for taking chances we've taken them -- we've jost lost -- Meyers failed experiment, Seibert failed experiment, Weinkein failed experiment -- although I think Weinkein could have been much better with a coach like KD instead of Hip.

CK -- I would take it one further -- why don't this Zips have a competitive OOC schedule. The CSU date is great for local ties, but Mount Union was terrible -- should have been preseason only. As for Drake, Duquesne, Dayton, Wright State, Oakland, Hampton -- Dayton is the only team that consistently plays well year in and year out. The other teams are hit and miss - I'm not saying the schedule is a cake walk by any means, but I'd like to see a Cincy and a North Carolina (at least two games) on the schedule every year. A win against any of the teams on our list (except maybe Dayton) doesn't make anyone go -- WOW they beat _______. As for having the ability this year -- it depends on which Zips team shows up. All in all I think it is going to be difficult for this team to win games when they have a hard time hitting 1 of 2 free throws. I pick up a basketball couple times a year and I think I can equal some of the Zips perecentages. Travis (.412), Preston (.417), Wather (.444), Wood (.400), Millum (.429) and Meyers (.250) all shooting under .500 from the CHARITY stripe. At some point do you have to sit down a guy because he can't hit a free throw -- it is such a tough question.

Did I read the article corrrect and the lineman from Baldwin High School committed to Akron too -- Keith Huebner? http://purdue.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?...y=28235&sport=1 http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review...b/s_208638.html He looks like he's 12 in his picture, but apparently has some serious dedication to drop from 320 to 270 in the season before his senior year.

I would think the only thing really holding this team back is the free throw shooting -- some nights they are going to hit their shots and some nights they aren't, but they still could have won tonight with free throws.

Two pretty terrible losses in the Bahamas -- a 18 point loss to a Div. II school in preseason. Doesn't seem like this team is getting any better in Kennedy's third year. I hope this start to the season is a mirage.

As my ignorance was pointed out in another post -- why does a website like this and a writer from the Beacon Journal seem to follow my same ignorance in thinking the Zips can play in the Silicon Valley Bowl? Someone help me here -- don't teams accept and decline bowl bids every year? Why is it so far fetched to believe the NIU and BGSU will get offered bowls leaving the MAC to select the team going to the Silicon Valley Bowl? I would think this website knows something we don't know. Akron would have to commit to ticket sales -- so what if going to a bowl turned out to be a financial wash. At least the team got to go to a bowl game isn't that something?

if you read the press release announcing the MAC and the Silicon Valley Bowl it makes no mention as to which team goes to the Silicon Valley Bowl. With that in mind -- the teams that play in the MAC Championship game are guaranteed bowl games -- Motor City and GMAC. The four remaining teams are -- Akron 6-5, BGSU 8-3, NIU 8-3 and Marhsall at 6-5. It's not a matter of taking Marshall over Akron -- it is a matter of taking Marshall over NIU and BGSU. If two bowls come calling to fill their slots this week with BGSU and NIU -- you can count on the MAC sending Akron to the Silicon Valley Bowl over Marshall. That is a scenario I can see playing out this week and how Akron gets to San Jose.

Southern Miss is not yet bowl eligible -- they need to beat Cal.

Boston College looks like they are going to let us down 30-10 with 12 minutes to go in the fourth. Way to go BC -- thanks for nothing.

There are four key games to watch today. Hawaii and Northwestern -- both teams have an opportunity to be bowl eligbile. Northwestern wins and they are bowl eligible and Hawaii is out. If Hawaii wins Northwestern is out, but for Hawaii to be in they still have to beat Michigan State. South Florida has to beat Memphis today and Pitt next week to be eligible. Syracuse has to beat Boston College to be eligible. Tulane and TCU both still have an opportunity to be eligible. They play each other today and if Tulane beats TCU they will still need to beat Louisville to be eligible. If TCU wins Tulane is out and TCU is eligible. If you are a Zips fan your rooting for Hawaii to beat Northwestern to eliminate Northwestern. Hawaii as noted above will still have to beat Michigan State to be eligible. Memphis to beat South Florida and eliminate them from being eligible. Boston Collge to beat Syracuse to eliminate them. Tulane to beat TCU. This would eliminate TCU, but Tulane would still have to beat Louisville which will be difficult. What probably happens today. Northwestern wins and becomes eligible (elimats Hawaii), TCU beats Tulane making TCU eligible -- both South Florida and Syracuse lose and are eliminated from bowl contention. Should this happen you will have 57 bowl eligible teams for 56 slots. If the MAC got involved in the Silicon Valley Bowl for reasons suggested above this could be how Akron ends up playing in San Jose while Marshall sits at home. Regardless one team from the MAC this year doesn't get in -- Marshall or Akron? One would think the conference would want Akron to go bowling. At the end of the day one of the real amazing things about all of this is the MAC will most likely get five teams in bowls this year and have an ouside shot at six.

Team Should Continue Locking Up Young Core Published: Nov 28, 2004 The Bucs' hierarchy has never passed on a chance to bemoan the previous one's efforts on draft day. In particular, the new regime has questioned the old regime's selection of offensive players, pointing out that draftees such as Jacquez Green, Reidel Anthony and Marquise Walker were among a regular influx of busts. The criticism almost always stops there. It seldom, if ever, slips into a critique of the decisions the old regime made in choosing defensive players, nor should it. No one can say the Bucs didn't hit the bull's-eye when they drafted current Bucs Derrick Brooks, Anthony McFarland, Ronde Barber and Brian Kelly, and it seems the new hierarchy believes a few other recent defensive draftees have similar promise. Last spring, for example, the Bucs signed defensive tackle Ellis Wyms to a six-year, $20 million deal. Three weeks ago, they signed safety Jermaine Phillips to a four-year, $9 million contract extension. Neither player is earning his new paycheck right now. Both have been lost to what could be season-ending injuries - Wyms to a shoulder injury and Phillips to a broken forearm. But that doesn't mean the Bucs made a poor decision in re-signing them to new deals. One of the smartest things a team can do is recognize its young core players and sign them to long-term, salary-cap- friendly deals. The Bucs did that in signing Wyms and Phillips. Wyms' cap figure won't reach the $3 million plateau until the 2006 season, and Phillips won't count that much toward the cap until 2008. If the Bucs are smart, they'll continue to sign the players that figure to make up the future core of their team, and they'll start with safety Dwight Smith. Smith still is a little raw, but he can play safety or corner, and that will enhance his value should he hit the free-agent market this summer. Not only that, but special- teams coach Richard Bisaccia will tell you Smith is probably the Bucs' best cover man on kicks and punts. He's a player, Bisaccia said, who can play inside or outside and who seldom misses a tackle or assignment. And it's not like re-signing Smith is something the Bucs haven't already considered. They were attempting to negotiate a new deal for Smith last summer, but the talks broke down just before the start of training camp. Smith was surprised and upset when he heard that Phillips had been given a new deal. It's not that Smith doesn't consider Phillips worthy of the extension. He just considers himself equally worthy and as one of the many defensive draftees the Bucs have hit on in recent years, he definitely is. A LOOK AHEAD: The Bucs suffered a major loss when C John Wade went down for the season with a dislocated knee in the game against Kansas City three weeks ago. There is an upside to that situation, though. With Wade out, the Bucs have been forced to give second-year pro Sean Mahan a good, long look. As a result, they should know by season's end whether Mahan is fit to play center in the NFL. But Wade's was not the only injury that has allowed the Bucs an opportunity to look at some players they otherwise might not have. The loss of Wyms and fellow under tackle McFarland is giving the Bucs a chance to learn whether defensive end Dewayne White can make an impact at tackle. Likewise, it's giving fellow tackle Jon Bradley a chance to prove what he can do. And because of the injury to Phillips, John Howell is getting a more extensive look at safety and Torrie Cox is getting some reps with the defense. Leaning on reserves is not what you want to do when you're fighting for a playoff berth, but the experience these players are getting is invaluable. When the season is over the Bucs will have a chance to evaluate how these players performed under meaningful game conditions, not just practices or exhibitions.

Nebraska and Arkansas losses helped the Zips bowl chances today. We could know by tomorrow evening if the Zips will have a bowl bid.

Put yourself in the situation of Coach Pruett at Marshall when he took in Randy Moss -- I know he wasn't convicted of manslaughter, but lets face it Williams didn't kill anyone either -- he was involved in a robbery that went wrong -- I know it's not right, but I do believe in second chances. I'm not going to condemn the kid or JD before I give him a chance. I wish the kid all the luck in th world. People are always telling me I'm way to conservative and don't know what it's like to grow up in the innner city deal with the things those kids deal with and I agree. But -- this could be the one chance this kid has to make change his life. If someone was killed when Bosley broke into cars (ie someone tried to shoot him to defend their car and shot someone else) he would have had the same charge as Williams. I don't know if he's coming and maybe I"m just rambling -- but I'm willing to give him a chance and if he doesn't come to Akron -- I'll wish him luck and turning his life around.

X is the ability for teams to include wins over Div. 1-AA opponents once every four years. There would be far fewer eligible teams if this little loop hole wasn't in effect. Nebraska for example wouldn't have a chance even if they beat Colorado because one of their wins was against a Div. 1-AA opponent.

Hide behind a fake name and slam me. You are correct I made a mistake. The fact is there is more than a good chance the Zips will have an opportunity -- the overall idea behind my post was to show the chance that exists. If you read my first post I spoke of their being currently 56 eligible teams for 56 slots. My mistake was made in the second post when I upped it all by two. With S. Carolina and Clemson declining. It leaves 54 for 56 with a strong possibility of only 57 total for 56 when all is said and done. You can slam me for my opinions all you want, but typically my facts are correct.