Captain Kangaroo

+50 Elton's not starting off 2016 with his "A" material.

Do we gt a trophy for finishing 53rd in KenPom? How about 63rd in Sagarin? I hope so. Wouldn't it be fascinating to compare the Zips' KenPom ratings during the Zeke era with those of the Big Dog era?

Unfair? If it's unfair to compare the performance and growth of guys playing the same position, for the same school, in the same conference...what would be fair? I would like to compare MAC championships won during their 4-year careers, and also NCAA tourney games won. Hope Big Dog makes that an interesting comparison.

The game played-out about exactly as you'd expect. Minnesota had beaten OU in a close game, and CMU was about as exact an equivalent to OU as you're gonna find (reference their performances vs. the Zips). So Minnesota beating CMU in a close game was pretty much a given. I'd like to think the Zips would have beaten Minnesota. Where CMU and OU were-what-they-were, the late-season Zips had upside. Woodson was getting better every game, as was the Zips defense.

Just in case anyone thought this might not be a legit post - Hugo42 was a player under Brookhart and a grad assistant under Bowden.

Your glass of hemlock is always half full.

Congrats to the Zips! Awesome job! You made us fans proud!

Can't be giving up 3rd and 17's. At least Milwee can't sit on the 6 point lead...cuz it's gone.

If Woodson's shoulder is hurt, expect him to run a lot less. That will hurt us. Hope he's ok. If not...next man up, Kyle Pohl.

Even Bobby Bowden was commenting "He's gotta throw the ball to get it outta there." Booo to ESPN for not turning up Bobby's mic. I'm glad I taped it so I can try to figure out what he was saying later. What I did hear was pretty interesting.

Two comments - #1) I never thought I'd see a Zips defense have a better performance than The Jason Taylor Game against Virginia Tech at the Rubber bowl, but this is WAY better. They're making a good football team...one that put 50+ on Boise State...look like Eastern Michigan. #2) Milwee is f-ing killing me. Throw the f-ing ball. Run outside the f-ing tackles. Mix it up! SHOW ME SOMETHING!

Iona is favored? You guys in Vegas better bet the house on this one!

Congrats Zip ME87!

What Bowden has done right with the local kids is not accept the local 1-AA talent. He's been picky regarding who gets a scholarship offer. P5 transfers and upper-tier talent.

My Keys to the Game: 1.) Woodson needs to be resilient. The Utah State defense is going to make plays. As long as he stays confident, and doesn't compound his mistakes, we are in good shape. 2.) Jerome Lane needs to make an impact. He needs 7 catches and a TD or two. If he has 2 catches for 38 yards, the Zips lose. 3.) Newman Williams is the wild card. Healthy for maybe only the 2nd time all season, he can be the key to us moving the chains with short yardage dump passes. And, blocking to keep the heat off Woodson. 4.) The OL needs to limit crippling penalties. Especially in the red zone. 5.) The D needs to do-what-they-do. Coe stuffing the run. Brown wreaking havoc. Marcus and Pittman pressuring off the edge. If the front 3/4 are effective, the secondary will get some pick opportunities. 6.) Milwee needs to play-call aggressively. Bowden too. If the Zips try to "manage the game" offensively and try to win it with defense, like they did vs CMU, they'll lose. This is my biggest fear. Bowl games are crazy...you see teams down 28 points mount comebacks and win all the time. Fight the entire game and good things will happen! Go Zips! Beat the Aggies!

You didn't see the BYU-Utah brouhaha.

Just a reminder - This is a thread focused on the Zips in the Idaho Potato Bowl.

To that, I would say - if a player bought into the Zips program over the past few seasons, they didn't do it for the fan adulation. As long as Larry Williams does what he was brought here to do, these 2015 Zips will have laid the groundwork for the future Zips to have a better opinion of the Akron fan base. If Boise State plays in the 2021 Ohio Polytechnic Polymer Bowl, I bet the Akron fans will treat them great.

Complete speculation - Maybe part of getting Noah to come to Akron was a guarantee that the Zips would travel to Vegas and give him a home game? UNC does stuff like this. And if your out west, why not play 2 games instead of one?

It is strange. There's no "host/home" team either. Just 3 random mid-majors playing in basketball in Nevada.

They can't keep up with Manziel on the weekends.

If by "everyone" you mean one person, I'm on-board with you. I agree that associating every random D1 transfer with the Zips in this thread will probably make the thread a waste.

Maybe we are...maybe we aren't. We'll find out soon enough.

Who needs RPI if you possess a pair of eyes and cognitive ability. These two teams are mediocre mid-majors. Simple as that. Are they better than most MAC teams we'll face? Sure. But like most seasons over the past 12 years...the MAC has 3-4 decent teams, and 8-or-so garbage ones.

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