Captain Kangaroo

I have a great guess who it was.

Yeah...the MAC is soooooo very fan-conscious. They would NEVER play a game on a day where they might only get a few hundred fans in attendance. Fan attendance is the driving force behind all the MAC front-office game day decisions.

The Zips "best ball" with Tree would be much better than its best ball without Tree. We don't have anyone to replace his projected 17ppg / 8 rpg. And his physical presence in the post. I'll support this Zips team as much as I ever have, but there's no sugar-coating what Tree's loss would me to our chances of winning the MAC.

Three key 2015 recruits who had their official visit on a frigid Tuesday night included: Chris Bivins Link 1 Link 2 Link 3 Rodrick Archer Link 1 Link 2 Jaquavis Dixon - already committed Hope the effect of a Zips win offset the non-Floridian weather?

One thing I've leaned from observing college football in 2015 - It is no longer about filling a stadium. It is about getting on Television. Most of the non-major bowls will be played in front of minimal crowds. But the sponsors will get their 3.5 hour commercial. And their numerous mentions on ESPN prior to the game. And everyone's bowl office pool will give the casual fan a reason to watch Akron play Troy on a Wednesday night, and the people in Vegas will have some football to bet on. Hey...if the Zips basketball team can put up a banner for a CIT loss, then what can't the football team get excited for a berth in the "Mexico Organ Harvester Bowl™"?

The best baseball players only hit .300, so I have to be content with .500. Happy for the Zips' seniors. Those inglorious bastards deserved to win on Senior Day. If they can close the deal @ K.e.n.t., they can look back at their careers and be pretty satisfied with 'em. Booker T Washington once said..."Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached, as by the obstacles which he has overcome." By that definition, these Zips seniors have been highly successful. Hope to see you all in Lot 9 next year.

Tree's susepension blows. He is the one Big we have that's been through the wars. He's played in the Big Dance. He matches up physically with high-major centers and power forwards. He will be sorely missed in Charleston. There is absolutely no way to sugar-coat the loss of a Senior who was the odds-on favorite to win the MAC POTY. It b-l-o-w-s. Maybe it's only for a week or two..but it sounds bad right now...like it could be longer... Somehow, between Forsythe, Cheatum and Johnson, we're going to need to use our 15 available fouls per game next week. Are there some positives to come from the loss? Not really. If Cheatum can hit for a decent percentage from 3 (35+%), then maybe he can draw the opposing center out to the perimeter. MAYBE that opens things up for our guards and wings. We finally seem to have a few slashers who can finish. Johnson is a serviceable big. But if he gets 6.9ppg & 5 rpg in '14 - '15, I'll be ecstatic. Pat is pat. The early Dambrot years saw a heavy dose of local talent. Four-year kids who were often small, but scrappy and talented. I don't mind the attempt to take the program to "the next step" and bring in some high-risk/high reward kids. But it didn't pan-out. Now we'll see how "Dials/Roberts/Joyce - Part 2" grows. Missing your center in the MAC is slightly better than missing your point guard, so there's some hope.

I defy the apologists to top this one.

Then you need to agree wholeheartedly! Just frustrating to see this team take such a nosedive into the crapper. Hope somehow they perform some corrective action for these final two games. 50 soft floaters per game has proven to get us nowhere fast.

Those teams DO suck. Who else in NCAA D1 could these teams have beaten besides themselves or Akron? Our Tuesday game just got pulled from ESPNU? How tragic a commentary is that?

Capi was CSU, but Brown is a 100% Freshman Zips recruit. To your OSU point, Pittman was the OSU transfer, and he has had too many moments where he's lost his cool. I know Bowden sifts through transfers as well as he can. There was a transfer kid from Penn State that was penciled-in to start for the Zips as of mid-summer, then UA backed away from offering after a more-detailed background investigation. Thanks to Brookhart (off the books after this season) and Ianello, we need transfers. There's no other way to get back the "lost" Junior and Senior classes. I get that it's frustrating to watch your offense go 3-and-out all day long. But these guys can't freaking quit. They are playing the bottom-rung of the MAC programs. If you keep fighting, you'll have a chance at game's end. The only way you lose to these dregs is if you quit, or lose your attention to detail. The Zips of the past few weeks are simply going-through-the-motions. Chisholm's and William's energy we saw at Buffalo shouldn't have stood-out so much. You should see that kind of effort as commonplace. But it stood out because, inexplicably, during a bowl run, we lost our heart. This team needs to regain its early-season swagger. Ending on a 2-game win streak would be huge. And UMass and Can't suck. But at this time I really question if we could beat Howard again, let alone sucky MAC teams.

He was the one guy that looked like he wanted to win the game. I wish Capi or Brown had his heart, instead of quitting in the second half (when the game was still well in reach). It reminded me of a quote from Lee Owens years ago regarding his lethargic defense - "I might put Charlie Frye out there (on D)...at least he'd try to make a play!" I am tired of Pohl's touch-passes too. Everything out of his hand is a floater. Even his short passes look like someone trying to throw a dart at a dart board rocking back and forth trying to float one into the bulls-eye. The only decent half of offensive football I've seen in a month was from Woodson at Ball State. When he came in at game's end @ Buffalo, he played with a purpose and a tempo that at least made the Buffalo defense think (instead of easily reading everything and teeing-off). Play Woodson against UMass. Post-concussion Pohl is like the old gray mare...he ain't what he yousta' be.

I think it's interesting that we went from small guards like Dials/Joyce/Middleton/Roberts, to predominately big guards, and now we're returning to small guards.

You need a hair shirt. You come off as either being on the Bowden family payroll, or having a last name that rhymes with Fisterspill.

Keep in mind that Dave finds wallpaper paste a bit on the spicy side, Lee.

I think there will be more Zips fans in Charleston on the 20th than there will be at InfoCision on the 18th. It will be interesting to see if the Zips basketball team can hold USC to fewer points than the football team can hold UMass.

Getting him to sign was apparently not a slam-dunk

Hint - when he left, he shuffled.

I think that was my biggest disappointment of the night. Between Gladden, Cheatum, Jackson and the two Fr. guards, I was hoping to see some glimpse of "wow-factor." Instead, everyone had a pedestrian effort. It's early...we'll see how Friday goes.

It looked like a bunch of true and redshirt freshman playing without a coach. And that's what it was. Hopefully the youngsters catch on quickly, or Tree will blow a fuse in mid-December..

You could...but it would be a really poor argument. Frye will collect an NFL pension. Pohl will not sniff an NFL camp.

Then it certainly wouldn't have been fair for Bowden to put him in.

To these Elton Alexander points I can say the following: 1.) They are the same point. Looks like he's just trying to fill space. 2.) The only person who thought this Zips receiving corp was "one of the top receiving corps in the nation" was Elton Alexander. And I'll assume rocks of crack and a butane torch were somehow involved in the thought process. 3.) The only person who advertised the Zips WR's as "good" was EA. D'Orazio is good. LT Smith is ok. The rest are average-to-below average...and that's by MAC standards. Bowden needs to find some outside WR's, and pray that Alexander is something special at RB next year. We need offensive playmakers in the worst way.

It's played out. People need to take it to WebMD.com...this site is for discussing Zips athletics. At least there is now a dedicated thread to the subject, and the other threads won't get hijacked by it. Maybe this is the solution. Thanks JZ84.

Nope. Baseball and basketball. I played endless football as a kid. Last tackle football game was at age 26 in the local Thanksgiving "Turkey Bowl." Absolutely loved the game. Still do. But I was never hit by someone like James Harrison in his prime. That might have changed my love for the game. That all said - I am tired of the concussion conversation.