Captain Kangaroo

The Russian Roulette offense finds consecutive bullets.

Great halftime speech by someone. Team's fired up in the 2nd half.

Lazy, sloppy, unimaginative offensive performance.

Another turnover in our own territory. Not how you win on the road..or anywhere. Overall, Zips playing lethargic.

Pass would have been complete to Davis, if Allen wasn't there. Not Woodson's fault. Big turnover.

3rd and long from their own endzone, and UMass throws. 1st down. Milwee waves the white flag on every 3rd and long. Run. Punt.

You had a valid point where there were personal attacks against Bowden. But now, every post questioning a coach's decision seems to be seen by you as a "personal attack." You aren't being "bullied into shutting up." I'm asking that you respect others views, respect our site, and stop with the name calling. No one wants to read it, and it drives ZipsNation posters away.

Please give it a rest. WTF good is a message board if the fans can't question a coaches decisions? And what coach is so perfect that his decisions are beyond discussion? None. Should everyone here have sat with their thumbs up their butt watching Rob Ianello burn the program to the ground? Hey, he was a D1 coach...he had to know more than everyone else? Fans want to see more Jerome Lane, and you have a problem with it? Appreciate that someone still actually cares, and is going to the games.

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?