Captain Kangaroo

Wonder if Sharpe is only playing on 40% of UMass' offensive downs?

I missed this? The game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports network. Woo hoo! Direct TV Channel 221!

I do know when Jerome is on the field, he gets the attention of a safety and a CB. He's the only Zips WR that draws double coverage.

I know one other coach that wouldn't play Lane. "All he does is catch touchdowns."

I like how BG never takes their foot off the pedal. Up by 40 points with 4 minutes remaining, they're still scoring TDs. I wish the Zips had that killer offensive mentality. Going back to the Toledo / NIU game, NIU going for a long pass on 3rd and 39, and connecting, was awesome. Likewise, Toledo's successful fake punt inside their own 30 was gutsy. The Zips need to make some gutsy offensive calls if they're ever going to turn their 2- and 8-point losses into wins. And, not have 12 men on the field when they do it.

I will ask you to look at my my counterpoints to your points. I think they are sound, and not presented in an argumentative manner whatsoever. It is good, high-level discussion of the Zips game day and program direction. And, with humor interspersed (see tutu wager). That form of discussion sparks other people to join in. To be honest, the past couple weeks had seen some of this board's better content is quite a while. I hope it keeps up, and grows. That will happen with a couple wins strung together. There is an issue with some trying to use this board to get a coach fired, and taking constant sophomoric pot-shots at the guy. That's not good content. That puts the level of play in the gutter. And, it doesn't reflect well on the fan base. There has been too much of that recently, and that is disappointing. It makes work for me, and I don't have time to deal with that crap.

CMU is 4-1 in the MAC, so I don't think they are a "mediocre MAC team." They are 5-4 overall, with losses to OK State, #13 in the nation, (11 points)Syracuse (OT)WMU (2 pts)Michigan State, #6 in the nation, by 20 (7-point game into the 4th quarter).On one hand, "you are what your record says you are." I understand that mindset. But it could also be that CMU is a pretty good football team that the Zips are simply a half a notch below. I hate the mistakes too. I wish we'd play a clean game. Maybe it starts this week? You'd like to think the players and coaches are more tired of losing than we are. November is set up for 4-0.

My bad. It seemed like you were being sarcastic with your support of the odds. I must have misread the post. The Great Tutu Tailgate gets derailed before it even began...what a shame.

The same CMU who beat Northern Illinois? And Western Michigan (in Kalamazoo)? And put up 51 against Buffalo? They're mediocre? You could be right. The Zips could be horrible. Or, the Zips might have played a decent game last Saturday against a very good opponent, and come up 8 points short.

CK's "Wednesday Wager™": If the Zips win Saturday vs. UMass, you wear Zippy's pink tutu in Lot 9 for the Buffalo game. If the Zips lose, I'll wear it. Deal?

Hopefully, beyond the fact that this problem happens everywhere, people realize that it happened in Akron 6 years, and two coaching staffs ago. My son is entering 9th grade. Very nice school system...one of the top 5 public schools in Ohio. He had a meeting for Freshman baseball last Sunday where the guest speaker was a kid from the class of 96. Starting QB. Played college baseball at Walsh. And he spoke about his severe addiction issues over the past 18 years and the havoc it's wreaked on his family and life. I wish the lessons of what happened to Campbell and Jacquemaine weren't tied to UA, but what can you do? Hopefully by their parents tirelessly spreading the word over the past 6 years they've prevented some kids from following the same path.

Nice Campbell Column

The Zips defense was stellar on Saturday. Surrendering 14 points each vs. quality competition like OU and CMU is impressive. The 59 points vs BGSU was not completely on the D. If you're going to beat the Falcons, even the best defense is going to surrender 30+. You need to score. I think Woodson has done a great job this season. But he doesn't have much help. Lane is great, but he's on the field for <50% of our offensive snapsImani Davis has emerged as a quality player, but it has taken 3+ years for him to develop. Other than him and Lane, we have nothing relaible. On the rare occassion Woodson had any time to throw Saturday, our WR's were either covered, ran routes that were too short to get a first down, or ran so deep they were out of the play. Woodson needs a TE, or D'Orazio-type player that reads the situation and comes back to get the ball. Woodson is a throwing QB, but the game plan seems centered around him runningOur OL has 5 seniors. But it isn't like these guys have played together for 4 years. It is a patchwork line that gets no push against better competition. And Saturday, they left Woodson's blind side wide-open several times. Our offense is Russian Roulette. At some point in a 10-play drive we always find the bullet. The closer to the red zone, the more likely we are to shoot ourselves. It sucks. Even when we score a TD, we still botch the XP. Our offense also takes very few gambles. We had the ball in CMU territory multiple times Saturday, and elected to punt on every 4th down. No reverses. No fake anything. Very vanilla. We basically waited around hoping our defense could win the game. Somehow we had 19,000 in attendance. Seeing your mascot prancing around in a pink tutu made me sick. Yeah, I know Zippy is a she. Yeah, I know it was a cancer-awareness game. Yeah, I know it was Halloween. But I don't want to see my school's mascot in a pink tutu. Keener's smoked meat was outstanding! Definitely the highlight of an otherwise forgettable day. My 2015 Zips Theory is: The Zips will beat crappy teams, and like-talented teams. But we can't beat the better teams. Even if they are only slightly better, like OU and CMU. We're the only MAC team with the Russian Roulette offense, and that's our degree of separation from the pack. Remaining on our schedule are 3 crappy teams, and 1 like-talented team. Barring any horrific cavalcade-of-injuries, we should finish November 4-0. It is amazing how close to 9-3 this team could be. This time of year, teams in the Zips situation either finish strong, or drop into "who gives a damn" mode and get waxed. The Zips haven't shown any quit yet, so I like our chances to run the table. Time will tell...

MAC offensive and defensive numbers Rushing #1 Defense – Akron #13 Offense – CMU You would think the Zips can completely shut down CMU’s running game? It’s interesting that CMU leads the MAC in Time of Possession, despite being last in the league in rushing? Defensive Sacks #2 Akron #13 CMU Will Woodson have all day to throw, especially considering we return 2 starting OL’s and Williams this week? Passing Offense Akron #12 Passing Defense CMU #1 If passing against BG was tough...passing against these guys might be even tougher. 4th Down Conversions CMU #1 Akron #12 BG’s 4th down conversions 2 weeks ago were backbreakers. It would be nice to move up for the #12 spot after this week. We’ll need to convert a couple to beat CMU. Red Zone Offense #1 – CMU #11 – Akron I don’t like that one bit. CMU’s Cooper Rush is the #2 rated QB in the MAC behind Matt Johnson. But he’s a distant 2nd. Hopefully facing the #1 QB so recently makes facing the #2 this week a little easier. We can only hope...at least CMU doesn't have a "Lewis" at WR.

How many years/decades will need to pass before an Ianello joke, or costume, would be considered funny? I'm guessing an Ianello costume in Lot 9 would generate a response similar to Santa at an Eagles game.

Clipboard in your pants.

Any decent themes for a Halloween tailgate?

It's a valid statement. Obviously it was not directed to "national" blogs like Hustlebelt, but to team-specific, "local" sites like ours. Probably not "like" ours...probably specifically ours.

Thanks to you and MD. I'm glad you liked it. I will try to do more in the future! I was talking to someone at UA and they said they were not allowed to deal with blog and message board sites under the previous administration. But now under Larry Williams, "we want to take advantage of any and all possible avenues to help fill our stands." Thanks to you, and scores of others, I think ZN.o has built up a good reputation as the "go-to" site for Zips-related information, news and discussion. That gives us credibility if we ask for media access. If we do a good job, I'm sure it will continue.

I may start a Free Throw Thread once the season begins. It will be NBFT, 24/7 (Nuthin' But Free Throws). We can discuss individual FT techniques, tendencies, righties vs. lefties, calculating the ideal number of bounces before a shot... even the controversial topic of Lane Violations is fair game. If free throws are going to increase, we need to embrace it.

Chipps Picks

Dr. Z and I traveled to BG to cover the game. We were both given credentials from the BG Athletic Department. You've already seen Doc's excellent photos. Below is my story on the game day. It was my first attempt at game day coverage beyond the scope of a standard ZN.o post. In hindsight, I can already think of 1,000 things I'd do differently. The implementation of some simple pictures would be first and foremost, perhaps in a traditional "blog" format. Writing from the press box instead of field-level would help too. Does any Zips fan want to relive a 59-10 beat down? Probably not. But if I spent an entire frigid Saturday in Bowling Green watching it...dammit I'm gonna post about it. With apologies for missing my post-game editorial deadline by over 1 week, here you go: Falcons Take It To My Beloved Zips...Again. (click to read) SAT OCT 17, 2015 by Captian Kangaroo — ZipsNation.org