MDZip

Guess there is still some pretty good respect for the Zips out there. Ranked #10 in the first College Insider Mid-major poll. Toledo is 23rd and the only other MAC school ranked. Ohio and Can't got some ORV's. A little surprised to see St. Mary's ranked below the Zips, should be a damn good game. Let's get this started!

Sorry to disappoint you man, they don't have one - and before you ask, no swiming or diving team either.

Here you go ZM. No need to worry about misplacing your NIU schedule again. Glad to help but I won't be able to do anything for you if you misplace your computer. To save you time both the EMU and WMU games are home games and I'll bet no team in the top 25 other than NIU has played 5 of their first seven games on the road. The Zips are the only non FCS team that NIU has played at home (I tied it back to the Zips so that you wouldn't think you had accidentally stumbled onto the NIU board that just happened to be using Zips colors).

There are three teams in the top 25 right now that the Zips played this year (UCF, Michigan and NIU) and they had a legitimate chance to beat two of them. Since the Zips can't win the MAC this year barring a minor miracle I am rooting for NIU to run the table and some BCS leagues to falter to get NIU back to a BCS game (and maybe get to see Kirk Herbstreits head explode in the process). That would put some money in Akron's coffers and raise the MAC profile a bit again (and no, I'm not worried about a possible recruiting advantage, the Zips are still a long way from there). They still have Umass, EMU and WMU (should all be easy wins for them) and Toledo on the road and Ball State at home. They have a good chance to run the table and be favored against any East team in the MACC.

And if you remove Miami, that goes to 37-10 which is a nearly 80% winning percentage. That's a tough start for any program. Definite improvement and it finally has started to show up in the W column.

Really amazing thing is that Kern is a good tackler, I think he is in the top five in the MAC in tackles per game, so Hundley didn't just run over a nobody.

Yep this game is already over.

Well looky there - a big play from the special teams to start the Miami game - leading to an early Zips touchdown.

I actually feel a little bit bad for the Sweaters. Since there isn't much discussion on the game I popped into their discussion on a new head coach. Depressingly similar to ours a couple of years ago a mix of retreads, unknowns and hoping an alumnus comes back and takes the job. Sound familiar? I am still grateful Terry Bowden ended up with the Zips.

OK this starts the turnaround. Zips have been close many times in the last few weeks, this time they finally bring it home. The road, conference and 1 win a year streaks all go in one fell swoop. Zips 31 DeadHawks 17.

As I suspected. The Zips have still avoided the official list and beating Miami might well keep them off the whole season. Miami is #2 and WMU is #4 although I think WMU is worse than Miami - and WMU has become the first team to be eliminated from bowl consideration. We can make Miami the next. The Michigan Wolverines know about gravity all too well. After avoiding disaster against Bottom 10 stalwarts Akron and U-Conn't earlier this season, Michigan's luck finally ran out in a 43-40 loss in four overtimes at Penn State on Saturday. . . . While "Gravity" brought in a whopping $124.3 million at the box office in its first 10 days in theaters, we're guessing ticket sales will be significantly smaller for Saturday's Pillow Fight of the Week between winless Miami (Ohio) and 1-6 Akron. Like Bullock and Clooney in "Gravity," the RedHawks and Zips are tethered to nothing but each other, while spiraling into darkness.

With the Zips currently at 40th in the RPI a loss could mean no NCAA tournament at all without winning the MAC (which is no foregone conclusion this year). This is a highly unaccustomed situation. Zips need to win here and against Michigan State to have any chance to climb back into a seeded position.

Betcha this game gets "pillow fight of the week" on ESPN's Bottom 10 (which the Zips have somehow avoided this year).

His accuracy was really off today seemed to overthrow and underthrow all day. On that 4th down pass where he went deep to L.T. Smith, it appeared there was a high percentage pass to a Zips receiver in the middle of the field past the first down marker. This was not a good game for him but I thought the defense was terrific.

Still a chance .... that missed extra point is huge.

Yes, but if we played him and he was found to be ineligible, we'd have to vacate all of the wins.

No dammit! They will lose this one but they will put up a fight. Last week was an abberation, the previous four games were better. NIU 42 - Zips 23. Beat the spread.

I think Chisholm gets a little bit of a bad rap because he does do a little too much dancing but I think he does have the home run potential. He had a 23 yard run against OU, 55 yards against JMU, 50 last year at Can't, and I can remember several big passes that he has caught and turned into touchdowns or big first downs. He might not be the guy to always pound ahead for three yards but he absolutely has some explosiveness that others don't possess. I think they should use him as a receiver out of the backfield a lot more often, he has good hands.

Looks like it's official. The MAC will have additional bowl opportunities. The five non-BCS leagues have banded together to make three more bowls. The Miami Bowl, created by the American Athletic Conference, is expected to be held at Marlins Park, home of the Miami Marlins. The American Athletic will be the "anchor" conference, and its opponent would come from the other four non-power leagues, a source said. In August, ESPN reported that the Bahamas Bowl will be held at Thomas Robinson Stadium and would be the first postseason bowl played outside the United States since the International Bowl in Toronto (2007-10). A news conference will be held Oct. 14 to officially announce the Bahamas Bowl. All five non-power leagues will rotate in the game. The Boca Raton Bowl will feature teams from Conference USA, MAC and the American Athletic. The game will be held at FAU Stadium on the Florida Atlantic campus.

NIU #23 in both polls. This is going to be tough. I think they'd beat Michigan. Maryland went from a #25 ranking to receiving no votes in either poll after their 63-0 beatdown by FSU. Ball State got a few votes. And in NFL news, the Broncos have tied for the highest point spread in NFL history, 28 points, against the Jaguars.

Absolute ass whipping by OU and losing to freaking Hartwick in soccer? Was this the worst on-field performance day in Zips history when balanced against expectations?

I won't give up and I knew this was going to be a really rough stretch but with the pouring down rain, trailing 30 to 3 and generally looking completely inept I did something I've never done at a Zips game before. I left the stadium at halftime. Not happy I drove several hours for that

I think we haven't seen any final score predictions partly because of that and partly because no one wants to predict another loss. The sun doesn't start shining until another two weeks - Tettleton is a good QB, another close and hard fought loss. OU 28-24 and I will be there for this one hoping I am very, very wrong.

Despite the fact they didn't win the championship that year, I believe that was the best Zips team of all time (and better than the one that did win the title the following year) and one of the greatest in college soccer history. Bet it would be pretty tough to find too many teams that didn't give up a goal during their entire tournament run, whether they won the title or not. That was what was so frustrating about the PK loss to UVA, I really believe the Zips could have beaten them had they been at full strength. (sigh)

Proenza is a lame duck - what does Tressel think?