zipboy

Go Toledo! In years past I would have thought BG wins because we never get a break. Things are finally starting to roll our way. Playing Can't on Turkey Day for the MAC East tiltle, man what a day that would be. Come on Rockets!!!

I will be there. Originally I had 7 people going. Now it may just be down to me. Can't be worse than the 42-10 drubbing in Toledo back in 97 in a snowstorm. We did a fake field goal with 2 minutes left that did not work, got the ball back and kicked a FG with no time left. Guess Lee was trying to beat the spread that day Can't be worse than Dwight Smith's last game as a Zip. I had to go in the bathroom every 10 minutes at Can't just to get warm. Or how about in 98 when we played Miami The Rubber Bowl Classic we dubbed it at the same time as columbus state and michigan. It was a cold Nov rain as I remember it sitting there with about 2000 other fans. And it certainly can't be worse than Army earlier this year. At least we should score in this one. Sorry guys, guess I am still bitter about last week and soccer getting screwed today. Bad weather and near Zip misses bring out the worst in me. I really am looking forward to the game and a victory. Go Zips!

I don't get the transcript thing. I remember both Jason Taylor and Dwight Smith having issues. Both got cleared halfway through the season but lost a 5 games. Taylor was because he was home schooled and Dwight had moved a few times. Either the kid is eligible or he isn't. How come I never hear about transcript problems at columbus state?

I was at the Buffalo game as I quickly am becoming a soccer fan. Best way to shut them up is win out. I like our attitude, no need to pull a Gonzaga who groaned about a low see and then lost in the 1st round. Zips are good enough to win this. On a side note, I had several people at work today mention they saw the end of the soccer game while randomly flipping around. Someone else mentioned there was a 10 minute speical on ESPN2 or some ESPN affiliate Sat night around 1 AM on the Zips soccer team. They were promoting the tourney and had a big feature on the Zips, the best team that no one has heard of.

If the weather is good, there will be a decent turnout. Earlier in the year I went to the Gridiron 101 class. Someone asked UAM about why not playing this game early in the year. He said the league went through about 13 schedules and without saying more, we basically got screwed by the league. They had us playing this game on Wed. We lobbied to at least move it to Thursday. My understanding is that the league really wanted us to open up with OU for Solich's first game in late Aug/early Sept. JD did not want to play OU first without knowing what Solich would do and we said no way. We ended up getting this instead. I do agree with not doing the throwbacks in this game. But it is Akron vs Can't. I could watch those guys play at 2 AM in a blizzard.

Best thread that we have had in a while. I hope that we pull a stud QB out of the incoming FR for next year. The more I see, the more convinced I am that Getsy is not the answer. And I wish that he were. He seems like a stand up guy. Another question, is there a chance that Kiki gets a year back and will be able to play next year?

Still feel like I was kicked in the stomach. If I am this depressed, wonder what the team feels like. A couple of quick thoughts 1. Why did the team come out flat? This is what I got from the radio but it was clear that Stamms and French were disappointed in the play over the first quarter and a half. 2. Getsy may be the most streaky QB ever at Akron. How can he go from being so bad to so good in the same game over and over. 3. Why did we not QB sneak. Even Joe Dunn who never criticizes said about 5 times we should have QB sneaked it. 4. Why do we have so many penalties this year? 5. I always thought Jason Montgomery has been underappreciated throughout his Akron career. 6. With Jabari's injury, a nice coming out party for Johnny Long 7. Defense played a good game. If we had scored to go up 24-23, I felt confident that the D would have held on. This is the first year that I ever felt that way. 8. Zips are a mediocre team as is the rest of the league this year. ITZ is right, we still have a chance to win the East. If BG wins next week which we needed anyway, BG, Miami, and Akron could all tie with 3 loses. I hope the team does not lose faith. 9. Heard the Jermaine Reid and Luke Getsy interview post game. They sounded sick. I can't rip on these guys. They laid it out yesterday. Our problem is that we don't play smart at times and don't execute a lot of times, but the effort has been there all year. I don't see that letting up with 2 national TV games against 2 big rivals. 10. Thank goodness for Jay Rohr.

Sorry, I don't have a link. Too cheap to pay. It was on jjhuddle.com for any that have access.

#3 JR in OH 3. Kosta Koufos, 6-10, power forward, Canton GlenOak (SH, 20th; HSO, 51st) – Born in Greece, Koufos averaged 16.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game. Johnson on Koufos: “He will be recruited by all of the powerhouses.” Koufos listed Maryland, OSU, Duke, Illinois, Akron and Xavier among many on his early list. (For more on Koufos, see story on page 48.)

Congrats on winning the MAC title. In a few years, we may see Beata Rudzinski running for Poland in the Olympics.

My thoughts on the game 1. Zips played smart, efficient football. Getsy played efficient. First 3 1/2 games he was better than I expected, next 3 1/2 games he was way worse than I expected. He played the BG game like I hoped for throughout the year. He made a couple great passes. He made a couple really bad passes. But for the most part he stayed within himself, made the plays he should have made and ran the team crisply. 2. Biggs was awesome. It seems like 5-6 guys hit him every play. Balance is the key or this offense. 3 games left, looks like time to just start overworking Biggs. He is our money guy. 3. Take out the holding penalties and the O Line played really well. Getsy had plenty of time to throw all day. Last quarter and a half they were knocking BG off the ball. In the last quarter you knew that Biggs was going to get it. BG had 8-9 guys in the box, and Biggs would still explode for 8, 10, 12 yard gains. Left side of the line was either a 10 yard gain with no holding or a 10 yard gain with holding every play. We ran exclusively on the left side of the line in the first half. In the second we started working the right side more. 4. Jay Rohr great game. On that 4th down play, he closed ground so fast. Being at the game, it seemed impossible that BG was going to drive the length of the field to win. Their offense knew it too. The D played outstanding. One smart thing on the D, when Turner would drop back, we kept 1 LB 2 yards past the line of scrimmage. He would just shadow Turner so he could not break a big run on a scramble. And our D was fast enough unlike years past. 5. Kudos to Yamari Dixon for playing a heck of a game. Losing Pace, Brown, and Elie, he stepped in and played well. 6. The most solid win of the season. All areas played well, defense led, offense did what I hoped, special teams played well. Sullivan had a great day and downfield coverage was great. 7. For a couple of earlier posts, I was with some friends from BG so I sat around midfield on the BG side. Once Zips went up 17-7, AK Rowdies came over and started chanting as they walked up and down the BG side. People started throwing bottles at them. I appreciate the enthusiasim, but it was only 17-7 with a lot of time left. Don't get too carried away until the game is sealed next time guys. 8. I heard part of the BG postgame on the way back. I thought Brandon was fine in the post game. He said Biggs was a heck of a back, and BG can't tackle. He also said that BG needs to get seriously better and they have a lot of up and coming guys. I did not hear the whole conference, but I did not hear anything bad. 9. The last 2 1/2 games there has been a noticeable difference in Jabari. He really looks like a receiver now. Sparks turned out to be a good receiver but he never looked quite comfortable as the rest of the guys as a receiver. Jabari is really starting to look comfortable out there. The 2nd effort on the 1st down was great. 10. To stick up for French, no one in the stadium knew about the fumble either. 11. Overall just a great team win. We could go 4-7 or 7-4 the rest of the way. I realize that Jacobs did not play and the outcome might have been different. But if Akron plays as well as they did yesterday, the last 3 games are all winnable games. Go Zips!

Took in my first soccer game ever, it was a good time. Crowd was announced at about 2100. We had to stand the whole game. Bleachers were full and there were about 300-400 people standing along the sidelines. Zips dominated the first half but could not score. Second half was about even maybe Michigan played a little better. Zips attacked the whole OT. Fireworks after the game, it was a good showing. I think the Sunday matchup is the first showing on our new station, ONN.

I still like the idea of a stadium on campus and not downtown. Seems from MT's comments and those above, it will be downtown. Going with Terry Pluto's logic, Jacobs Field should have been built with about 20K as well.

I have not seen any updates on gozips.com yet. Other questions that I have 1. is Middleton, Dials or someone else looking viable as the backup PG to give Dru some rest? 2. Did everyone except Wood come into camp in shape? 3. How are the FR looking? Is Connyers a go or no go this year? 4. Did Preston and Milum add any weight? 5. How is Peterson's knee? It seemed like he still had bad days last year? Can he stand the rigors of a full season? 6. When will Dials legitimately be ready to play? 7. With more depth, do we play more up tempo this year and press more as KD likes?

A few thoughts . . . 1. 2 good comments from the press conference - 1. Ferguson gets more reps this week. Getsy is the guy but if he falters we may see Ferguson. I only saw the spring game, but Getsy and Ferguson were comparable. Ferguson has the better arm, Getsy moves better. The future is with 1 of the FR who should not play this year. I trust JD to play who is going to win football games. Second comment, mathematically we have a chance, realistically, we are not a good football team. 2. If Jacobs can't go, this is a winnable game. 6-5 or 7-4 is still a lot better come the off season. I hope these guys get it together. 3. Regardless of who is at QB, I hope we see something different this week. How about Biggs and Kennedy or Biggs and Allen in the backfield? How about no shovel passes and no throw the ball 20 yards sideways for a 2 yard gain. I hope we pull out the stops and play aggressive. 4. Shame about Pace, tough player. 5. I may be wrong but when we were down 13-0, we had a 2nd and 3 on the Army 25-30 yard line late 3rd quarter. We threw for the end zone, incomplete. Incomplete passes on 3rd and 4th down. I think our next 9 plays were passes. The running game is bad, but the passing game is just about as bad. Can we play smash mouth football this week? BG is as soft a D as we are going to see this year. 6. Still looking forward to the trip. Last time I was in BG, Richie Reliford made 3 goal line stands in the final minutes. Time to right the ship. Go Zips!

No predictions from me this week, after missing by 40 points last week. I just want a win.

If I see you, you get a beer from me too. And beat Can't!

Not much more to add than to reiterate 1. I wish MT well. He came at the right time and worked wonders. 2. LP is still the key. I still can't believe we were lucky enough to get him. I was unfortuante enough to be a student during the Peggy Gordon Elliot (now banished to president of South Dakota State) era. I trust LP will get the right person. 3. Let's hope UAM stays. UC has a strong program now so there may not be an opportunity for a move in the next year or 2 anyway. 4. If Huggins had stayed at Akron, would we be in UC's position now? 5. Given the support of the administration and the momentum going on now, this has to be seen as a good job. I expect a strong candidate pool. Maybe we can David Diles back in Div 1? Attendance would at least skyrocket 6. This thread is going to give me nightmares, pictures of Dennis Helsel and Gerry Faust in the same thread.

If we can't beat Army at home, then we are in bad shape.

Good posts. Stamms made a great comment during the Buffalo game. He said, "I am watching the defense. They have a quick step back to the huddle and breaking the huddle. They are ready to play." Translation to me was these guys know they are kicking a$$ this game. I saw that for the first 3 series against Miami. Once the adreniline wore off and Miami countered it got ugly. GP1 I still like this D. I may be wrong but I thought that we did pretty well against the run all year long until Miami. If we want to play a 3-4, we need to recruit more LBs. I can't see the personnel from this year in a 3-4.

A couple other thoughts . . . I think Getsy will be much better next year than this year. I remember how bad Butchie was his FR year compared to his SR year. You need reps and experience. I am not as close to things as ITZ so I will defer to him if Ferguson is better. But I do agree with sticking with 1 guy. Getsy also needs support around him. He needs a running game, he needs a defense. JD said last year that he had never been around a team where the seniors stepped up and provided that much leadership. ZP made a comment that after the Virginia game the seniors took over the locker room. And that is how it has to be. I like our staff and I think they develop good game plans. But you need players to get the locker room right. Coaches can only do so much. 2 personal fouls on the O Line last week costing us a TD. This week we are down 30-23 and have the ball. Our first play gets negated with a holding call about 20 yards off the ball, senseless. How do you develop mental toughness?

My thoughts on the game Good showing by Zips fans, I put the crowd at maybe 500 including the band? First series D gets a 3 and out, walking with a swagger, mentally they look into it, they are playing fast. Zips go through Miami like swiss cheese. O Line sustains blocks and Biggs runs hard. Next series, Miami has a beautiful drive. Zips D still plays fast and make Miami work. They just kept making plays. We come back and move right through them. Next series Miami goes 3 and out. 17-7 early second qtr and all is right with the world. Miami goes down and scores a little easier, we get picked in the endzone, and then we fall apart. What happened? 1. The interception in the endzone was a huge momentum changer. Maybe we aren't strong enough mentally yet to recover from that. 2. Getsy is streaky. When he is on, he just seems to keep making plays. When he throws a couple bad ones, it takes him 2 or 3 series to recover. He also needs to protect the ball better. I also worry that he zeroes in on the primary receiver way too much. Can't fault the effort. He and everyone else laid it on the line. 3. At halftime it seemed that Miami changed their D to stop Biggs and started shooting LBs in the gap better. In the first half, he would sidestep a guy or 2 and no one would be near him for another 10 yards. In the 2nd half, there was always someone in the hole 2 yards past the line of scrimmage. One big difference was Miami's running game picked up in the 2nd half which helped Betts alot. 4. Downfield blocking was outstanding in the 1st half. 5. After the first 3-4 series, the D seemed to lose their aggressiveness and playing fast. We were on our heels most the rest of the game. You know that feeling in the past when you are praying for gains less than 7 yards or a turnover or just 1 punt. That's what I felt like for the last 2 and a half quarters. Not sure what happened but the D was like night and day. 6. Kudos to Betts. I never liked him much. He took 5-6 hard hits and nailed passess every time. 7. Disappointed in the personal fouls on both sides near the end. We lost our composure and started to unravel pretty quick. 8. Effort was there all game and the whole sideline was into the game as much as the fans. These guys really wanted this one. Don't be deceived by the score. Miami was clearly the better team same as last year, about 2 TDs better. I had hoped that we had closed the gap on the MAC elite from last year, but that does not appear to be the case. NIU game looks to be more the abberation. Unless we play perfect, I don't see us beating BG. I do see us winning the rest of the games by playing solid, smart football. 7-4 would still be a solid season and continuing to lay the foundation. 9. Hard to find good stuff in a 51-23 game, but Biggs was awesome in the first half and never stopped working in the 2nd half. The O Line gave Getsy good protection. Arthur finally looked somewhat comfortable at receiver. Mackey continues to really impress me. 10. We miss Dion Elie 11. So where do we go from here? Things are never quite as bad or quite as good the day after the game. I gave Lee Owens a 4 year honeymoon before I started wondering what was going on. Not ready to throw in the towel a year and a half into the JD regime by any means. But this is the first time in the last year and a half that I don't feel as good about the program as I did the week before. A win over Army and a strong showing at BG changes that. If we win out, there is still a realistic chance to win the East. BG still plays us, Miami, and Toledo. Miami still plays BG. I could easily see Miami with 3 losses and BG with 2-3 losses. At the same time, I don't see us beating BG. Last year we got better as the year went on. This year, I worry that we played our best football in the first 3 games of the year. Still looking forward to next week and planning to go up to BG. I am still convinced good times are ahead, albeit a year or 2 down the road rather than this year. As always, Go Zips and keep the faith One final note, UAM I thought they did a good job utilizing their version of Zipsvision before and throughout the game. flushbacks from other victories, pimping the basketball and hockey tickets all game long, showing highlights of reunion weekend. I hope for basketball Zipsvision continues to me used more than just showing the game. Thanks for all you do.

Dave goes with the Zips 27-24! I knew that I liked that guy.

I will be there. Zipsrifle, you ready to storm the field with me and take the goal posts bck to Summit County?

Speaking of phantom guys, Bryan Howe was on the depth chart and I heard his name on the radio. Glad to see that he did not transfer after all.