Captain Kangaroo

At least no one will be grousing about an unfair NCAA tournament seed this year.

People that buy cheapie tickets usually sneak their own hot dogs, beer and popcorn into games underneath their jackets. And they still wear "moving A" logo apparel. They aren't spending much on stadium concessions or Pohl jerseys. Compete for titles. Win games. That will pack the stands. Filling a 30k stadium should be a joke if the team's any good, and the gameday experience is fun. And games aren't on Tuesdays.

Hypothetical numbers: Say there were 30,000 tickets "sold" for the Acme Zip game, at $2.00 each. And 9100 tickets sold for the InfoCision opener at $15.00 each. Which is better?

Grades: QB: B- Pohl missed some easy, wide-open WR's. But overall, did a nice job. Hope he worked out some kinks and is sharp for Game #2. Woodson looked competent in mop-up duty. It was nice to get him some reps. I can't see Hirshmann getting any PT this season. There's no upside to it, and he's still visibly hobbled. OL: C- Struggled to get any surge against an inferior opponent. Mediocre pass blocking. They need to make some big positive strides over the next 8 days. Getting Brown eligible will be a huge help. WR: B Bickley had a lot of drops last season, and it seems to have carried over to this season. He needs to start catching footballs. Simple as that. Pratt was invisible. LT Smith needs more touches...he can have a huge year, if we get him the ball. MTB had a nice game. D'Orazio - underutilized. Sconiers had a nice deep catch. He can be a a nice X-factor for us this season. Kicking/Special Teams: C....D.... Punting was fine. But Mrs. O'Leary's cow had better kicks than Tom O'Leary. Don't pack your bags yet, Robert Stein. 0-1 on FG's and 5-6 on XP's is not gonna fly with TB. It wouldn't shock me if Stein is kicking @ Penn State. Stein drilled a lot of deep kick-offs. Nice job there. Rossi did an excellent job covering kicks too. DL: B+ Overall did a nice job of being disruptive and neutralizing a good opposing QB. But our run defense was "meh" for almost 2 quarters. I guess it was good that they slacked off a bit...it will give Amato something to yell and remind them of during practice next week. 10 TFL's is pretty good for a defense. Pittman and Okafor made impacts, and Grice is always an animal. LB's: A- March, Mizell, Evans and Brown did a great job. Mizell was outstanding. DB's: B- Decent job, but Howard's WR's aren't anything to write home about. While there were no INT's, for the most part they were in position to make plays all evening, and prevented any big plays from happening. Coaching: Incomplete Great aggressive game plan in the beginning, but they need to get the run game going. Too long of a dry spell after TD #3. What was the pass play on 4th and 1 on the Howard 3 yard line? C'mon, Milwee. Overall, a fun night. The DL's and LB's look as good as advertised, and the DB's seem competent. That will keep us in a lot of games this year. Offense needs to improve if we're going to make any hay in '14. Running game first and foremost.

I spoke to someone at UA today. They say they are lobbying for an afternoon game, but it will be up to ESPN. I told the guy I was hoping for a night game, and he acted somewhat shocked. I said: "Those late evening Marshall games 8 to 12 years ago were awesome sporting environments. Beyond that, people can take care of their business during the day...do whatever family/kids/house stuff you need to take care of...and then focus on the Zips in the evening. There's too much competition for the Zips attention on a Saturday afternoon. Unless you have no kids." In Columbus, community kids stuff is scheduled around Ohio State games. And if 30,000 families can't attend the OSU games, there's another 30,000 waiting to take their place. Not so in Akron. In 5 years, when my kid's in college, I won't care. But for now I love Saturday evening Zips games.

Proven otherwise. Elton, you were right. Mizell > Brown.

Who knew Mizell sat out last season after transferring?

If Dambrot was in Year #3 after taking over for Hipsher, and had a sub.300 win percentage to begin his season, how packed would the JAR be if he opened the season against Howard hoops? The JAR is packed because the Zips win. It was 30% full when they lost. Zips football has done nothing but lose for 25 years. They haven't earned a decent home crowd.They've earned a 30% full stadium. Opportunity #1: Beat Penn State. Beat Marshall. Beat Pitt. A win against any of those 3 turns some heads and get the attendance ball rolling. Opportunity #2: Compete well over the remainder of the OOC schedule, and follow that up by making a legit run at the MAC title game. If we have a chance to win a title in November, InfoCision will exceed 50% "full" for our final home games. We'll bring 8,000 fans to K.e.n.t if we're in the hunt. If we are out of contention, InfoCision will be 15% full. And no one should complain. You reap what you sew, and 25 years of neglecting the garden isn't overcome by simply buying a shiny new rototiller. Bowden will get it done, and long as UA let's him do his thing. But grousing over last night's attendance is silly. It was right where it deserved to be.

Awesome stuff, Dr. Z. Captured some key moments. Professional job. Thanks for sharing!

AND KEN.T STATE STILL SUCKS!!! Need to wait for the kid to get home from school. See you at 4pm!

How broken-down will he be by the time he's eligible for the NFL draft? He'll make Peyton Hillis look like Usain Bolt.

4-year Starter and Preseason MEAC POTY

Bridgwater was my favorite QB in this draft. He will be a star for the Vikings if the provide him with a wideout to complement Cordarrelle Patterson reasonably soon. But he is really young (21), and is best served wearing a ball cap for the bulk of this season. He'll start against the Titans tomorrow night I'm looking forward to seeing him in extended action. Matt Cassel had a good preseason, and deserves to start. Cassel won games for the Vikings last season, when Leslie Frasier finally played him. Somewhere in Mississippi Clayton Moore has a Christian Ponder poster on his bedroom wall. Two peas in a pod.

If Keener isn't already in Lot 9, he's slacking off.

Top 4 Mizell gets a mention over Jatavis Brown? While the "Who's better?" debate is nice to have, Brown is The Man until proven otherwise.

His son.

Hirschman was limping noticeably at the last scrimmage.

I would disagree. Lawrence didn't show any moves. Seemed to go down easily. Jones is a gamer, but has not shown any breakaway speed. I want to see a "special" back. Brandon Payne, Bobby Hendry, Brett Biggs, James Black, Mike Clark...even a Dennis Kennedy. Chisholm and Hundley are fine for this offense...they move the chains an grind out yards. But I would kill to have a legit threat in our backfield. A bonifide 1,000 yard guy that racks up 12+ TD's and piques the NFL's interest.

Hey, Wistercill is starting to grow on me?

Tommy Brown is an absolute wall at RT. Kyle Pohl hit the lottery. Brown engulfed Richard Dorvilus in last week's scrimmage. It was like a dad playing with a 6-year old. No offense to Dorvilus...it just showed Brown is the real deal. It will be interesting to see Osborne at LT. He played there as a true Fr., but last season he rarely saw action. Will our RB depth chart ever change? I expect to see Chisholm/Hundley there through 2029.

Former Zips coach helps the Eagles Defensive Line Golfed with him back in the Brookhart era. Great guy.

Justin March is one well-spoken, classy representative of the football program. It has to be unreal for him to have experienced year's #1 and #2 like he did, and now have a realistic goal to win a MAC Championship. There's a lot of wood to chop between now and the Motor City Bowl, but I like our chances to legitimately compete for a berth.

Thanks for all your scrimmage notes, Johnny. Awesome job!

Say the non-BCS teams break away. How many of them could remain afloat without the 2 BCS cash cow games they get every year. I seriously doubt many programs at Akron's level could survive without the $1,000,000 payday a game like @Michigan or @Penn State provides? Now if we drew 25,000 paying fans/game for 6+ home games, that would offset the BCS windfall. But I am still waiting to see someone whom I believe can consistently fill the Info with 8k, let alone 25k.

I have heard Plan C is under strong consideration. But Dambrot's "It's dead" comment in the recent interview makes be think...it's dead.