Captain Kangaroo

Marshall. And we beat them.

1.) I like the strength of WMU's defense matching up against our offensive line. If WMU can't get the pressure they're used to, we can pick apart their secondary. 2.) How nice it is to see someone write that the Zips will pose a tougher test than NIU? Yeah, is shows that NIU has dropped off this season, but it also shows the Zips have ascended. I would like to think that Woodson, Pittman and perhaps George could have played against Miami, but Bowden felt we could win the game without them. And they were dinged-up to the point where an extra week's rest would be a big help. Just my own personal conspiracy theory. I think Bowden knows beating WMU is a whopper as far as "taking the next step" goes, and he will be loaded for bear on Saturday. It should be an epic game! I know it will be better than Rob I-and-II-o's effort the last time the Zips met the Broncos (66-5 WMU, in the third quarter).

It seems like in every picture of JoJo he’s airborne. He’s probably 5 foot 7, but plays 6 foot 2. I love the pic of Kyle Ritz. He looks exactly like I’d expect him to look under the mask…a snarling, bad-ass OL. The pic of Hope just prior to the INT makes the pick all the more impressive. The receiver had position, and he still got it.

A Bronco Message Board

Can a throwback, "Moving A" helmet be far behind?!

I think it only gets better as the kids visiting UA see so many athletes they recognize from their own region. I'd think your a lot more comfortable coming to UA from central Florida when you meet 25 other Florida kids on your recruiting trip. It also is nice for parents, because trips to Akron to see their sons play are typically inexpensive, non-stop 2-hour flights.

I'll be in Lot 9. Stop over and I'll have a beer in the cooler for you. Look for a black F-150 with a Zips flag waving. Expecting a noon arrival in the lot.

Bottom 25 My favorite line (and there are a couple good ones): 24. Texas State, 2-2 (15): Beating Incarnate Word is worth about as much as beating Microsoft Word would be, Texas State.

MAC Power Rankings

I wanted to say thanks to everyone that enjoyed the column and took the time to write a note or click a "like." It was a lot of work to coordinate, but definitely worth it when I see that people liked it.

I was able to get a close-up look at Saturday's epic match up. With no Dr.Z available for photography, I tried my best to get some shots to go along with the story. Here's how it went... Akron-Kent Game Day

Another fun memory if you have 4 spare minutes.

I remember the time the Zips were up 45-7 in the 4th quarter and Jose Davis brought Kent back to within 45-35. Kent then on-side kicked, and came up with the ball. But the refs somehow gave it to Akron and we ran the clock out. Lots of crazy games over the years...

If the younger QB transfers, he was beaten-out by a better QB. Welcome to the real world. D1 football is big-boy ball, and coaches get paid to win.

Here is the 2008 Kent / Akron post game wrap up. Check out Deryn Bowser's outrageous catch. But more impressive is the Akron Student Section, at Kent, causing the Kent kicker to shank the game-tying OT field goal attempt.

While the recruiting commentary was interesting, I don't see that being anywhere in my top 100 coach's questions during Akron/Kent week.

I think he's at a Star Trek convention or something. Wait...you meant Jordan George. Sorry about that...

I think in a 25,000 seat stadium you'll find a few thousand that have work commitments, But that leaves 20,000 sitting at home playing X-Box. Have an X-Box competition at halftime. Have a competition among students leading up to game day, and the top 2 get to play each other on the InfoCision Jumbotron at halftime. Or have representative kids/teams from the various sororities and dorms play. Make it a season-long tournament. Their friends would probably show in decent numbers. Find a game with an association to whatever the band's playing. Try SOMETHING...

The new interim Dean has stopped by our tailgate at each game so far. Seems like a nice guy with a lot of positive energy. We need more key people at UA like him. Student apathy at UA is a massive ship to turn around, but it can be done. If Mike Waddell were still here, there'd be 3,000 students at each Zips home game. I guarantee it. That's where I hold out hope for Newhouse. He knows what's possible. And I don't think he's a mercenary, looking to pad a resume and move on. I'll guess he's here for the long haul.

That team that got manhandled by Western Michigan? The MAC actually has some pretty good teams right now. Better than the other G5 conferences. Toledo, WMU and CMU are top notch. The Zips offense is at that level too (the OL has improved greatly since Wisconsin). If it keeps up, I can see lower-tier Big-10 programs losing an increasing amount of HS recruits to MAC schools. The TV exposure and bowl tie ins are essentially the same (for programs like Illinois or Indiana, obviously not for Ohio State). And the chance to see the field is better.

I wonder?

Who did you watch this fall that you feel might make a great Zip? I was at the Hudson-McKinley game, and a kid named De'Shawn White was outstanding. Faster than everyone else, had great hands and vision. But he's small. Could he be the next Jo Jo Natson? Beats me. But if I'm Bowden, I get some tape and at least see if he's good enough to be a preferred walk on. Short bio and videos

To your points - 1.) No doubt it would be a better game day environment if more than 76 students filled the student section. I think the section could be full one day. It was around 2008 when UA filled up several student buses and essentially filled the endzone AT Kent. That student section was responsible for the Kent kicker shanking a field goal attempt in OT giving the Zips the victory. JD Brookhart made the coin flip decision to defend the Zips student section endzone because the students created such and an advantage. The point being - someone got off their butt and really rallied the students. They, in turn, got off their butt and supported the team. Hopefully Matt Newhouse's return to campus gets the student ship righted. But it won't happen overnight. At least Bowden has the team winning some games for the first time in a decade. That's the biggest hurdle. 2.) Are the DE's overrated? I know Marcus has been banged up. Pittman really hasn't done much. But I don't pin all the defense's problems against the run on the D line. LB's really haven't made an impact. There's unfortunately no more Jatavis wreaking havoc in the backfield. We'll see what happens over the next 2 weeks. App State had a great O line. Our D held them to 14 points in the 2nd half. If they can build off that 2nd half performance and spread that effort and energy over a full game, we can beat anyone remaining on our schedule. 3.) Other than the last possession, I can't complain much about Milwee vs. App State. He took what their defense gave us, and the offense put up some big numbers. It's a lot of pressure on the offense to essentially need to play perfect football against a good team. And that what they needed to do for the Zips to win last Saturday. The two Woodson INTs really put us in a hole. That said, the Zips waving the white flag at the end of the first half was a coaching decision that ended up costing us big time. On 2nd and 28 we ran clock and punted. That gave App State plenty of time to carve up our D and get a final TD before the half ended. For some reason Bowden thought it was 2015, and not 2016. And that last possession? Jesus...we had 2 full minutes left on the clock, and played like we had 19 seconds. 4.) I don't know that Amato can do more than he's doing. Any coach will tell you he'll take talent over scheme every day of the week. You can only scheme so much when the talent and/or experience is limited. We lost too much talent from last season. Hopefully we get better, and healthier as the season wears on. And there are no more weddings. 5.) The kick off game was atrocious last week. We gave a potent offense a free 10-15 yards on virtually every kick off. When your D is suspect, that is a deal-breaker. I can't complain about our punting game. It was an easy week for Michael Buddenberg too. 6.) WMU and Toledo are fairly scary propositions. Somehow we need to summon that "Marshall effort" on D. The upside for the 2016 Zips lies in the improvement the defense makes from here-on-out. If the D is maxed out, and it may be, 8 wins is still to be expected prior to our MAC Championship game. I think Bowden is doing a great job. But I reserve the right to change my mind if we finish 6-6. I don't think we will.

Unless he has another brother getting married between now and the remainder of this season, he should be available to play.

Kent info from Hustle Belt Looks like they have one decent player on Defense? And it looks like a VMI-like victory for the Zips.