Captain Kangaroo

Major motivation for NM State Hmmmmm... "Once you score a win, then you can get in" Man, that is a classic.

We've won 5 of the last 6, and 8 of the last 10, so I can't agree with this statement in the least. Can you give the Zips some credit where it's deserved?

I saw Nirvana on Halloween back in 93 at the JAR. I saw Ozzy @ the JAR back in 1990.

JUCO at QB? I don't know... What I do know about QB is you can surround yourself with absolute garbage, and instantly win 4-5 games in the MAC, if you have a great scrambling/playmaker quarterback. Cribbs and Edelmann are two prime examples. Frye, to a lesser extent. Nate Davis leaves Ball State and they go from Top 15 to Bottom 10. We need a GREAT do-it-all QB, if we are to turn things around quickly. Can such a guy be successful in the pro set? Hmmm... JUCO WR? Absolutely. Mandatory. A couple. JUCO RB? Probably. But a great HS RB would be acceptable. JUCO OL? IMO - That never works out. OL's are best when they grow up together. It's rare to see an impact JUCO OL, at least in the MAC. But if there any out there, sure. It's a need. JUCO secondary? Sure, but hopefully we can get some bigger HS guys to play corner too.

Call me crazy, but I think we'll see a couple in the next recruiting class. And "yes" I realize I put one on a tee for Zipmeister.

Cap'n - that was Temple. Rats - I got my International Bowl and Silicon Bowl mixed up. Regardless - they are a team who's Redshirt Freshman thru Seniors, have bowl experience. Heck -- their Soph-thru-Seniors have been to two bowls. They played like a team with bowl experience, and we played like one that isn't confident they can win one game, let-alone 6 or 7.

I was going to skip this week, but due to popular demand I'll take an look at This Week in Zips Football... While GP1 opines on the sorry state of the MAC, and the lack of quality teams, that is a very broad brush to paint the entire conference. There are teams at the middle/bottom of the conference who would be lucky to be 0.500 with an all-1-AA schedule. But at the top are a couple legit D-1 programs. NIU is one of them. They play like a veteran, well-coached team. One that played South Florida in a bowl last season, and also played in a bowl the previous year. NIU picked us apart unmercifully Saturday night. 50 points in three quarters is about as many points as you can score in the time allotted. Our DB's are woefully undersized against real WR's, and NIU had a couple of them. It is amazing how simple it is for an opposing offense to move the ball against the Zips...and how difficult it is for the Zips to even get consecutive 1st downs. I said a while ago that it is a blessing to be a younger fan and have hope that things are going to turn around. Kibitzing in the tailgate lot, and on the board with some of the long-time fans... the old guys are flat-out getting beat down. It's really tough to remain optimistic when you've been through this before with Faust...then Owens...then Brookhart...and now Ianello. <Insert Coach Here> arrives...terrible year #1...better year #2...mediocre year #3...gets a contract extension...then, mediocre-to-bad for the next several seasons until there's 1 year remaining on the contract and we can afford to buy it out. Then it starts again.... Through 5 games this season, everyone here has done their best to exercise patience in allowing the new staff and new systems to be implemented. The problem is -- we aren't even competitive. We've sunk so low that we're losing at home to bad 1-AA teams. We're a 17 point underdog to K.e.n.t. Freaking State. How is it possible to be so bad? How? Looking back into the summer...two other things stand out as contributors to the ire of older fans (I'll consider "older" being graduated, and paying for your tickets). Getting the boot from Lot 9, for the purposes of making way for $5k football donors, set a bad tone. It really showed me that someone has no idea what the hell they are doing. The cancellation of the golf outing ruined the chance for the staff to bond with fans. Fans are apt to be much more forgiving if they feel the have a personal relationship with the staff. No one has such a relationship. Both summer instances make fans feel that they are not valued. Both instances would have been forgotten, if the parking lots were packed, and the team was competitive. But the lots are empty, and the team is 0-5. Now, ticket prices have dropped. Too bad for you suckers that bought season ducats. Look for 2011 tickets to be a VERY hard sell. That all said - Is everything Ianello's fault? No. I see all the clamor to fire the guy...which is absurd since we can't eat 3 years of anyone's contract. And we shouldn't. They guy deserves his obligatory 4 years to see what he can do with his own players. And with his system installed for 3-4 years. Whether or not that contributes to continuation of the above-mentioned "cycle" or not is irrelevant.. it's reality. It is tough to have such a sweet stadium, yet get blown out by 36 @ homecoming. It's tough to get you're kids pumped to attend a game...to get their faces painted and all that stuff... and have them see the Zips rack up loss after loss after loss. Ianello has one big, fat chance to turn the tide on this sea(son) of negativity. And that chance is to show up Saturday and beat a K.e.n.t. State football team that has no clue how to win. He beats 1 - 3 K.e.n.t., and the boo-birds will begin to quiet as he heads into what should be a very competitive stretch of games: Can't - no 1-A wins. Terrible. OU - decent, but not great WMU - terrible (lost to Idaho by 20 @ home, and still doesn't have a 1-A win) Temple - Just a replay of the NIU game. Ball State - horrid Miami - 1 TD better than K.e.n.t. Buffalo - Horrid Turn it around, Zips. Give us some hope. Please. A final note - I've seen the sidelines in past seasons, during blow outs, and a lot of players appeared to care less. I was at field level at game's end last week. There was no one yukking it up. To a man, everyone was sullen. So if the questions is "Has Ianello "'lost the team,"' the answer looks to be "no." Gotta get back to work...lunch is over.

So no ZN questions were asked? One that I forgot: Coach I watch team after team that run a pro style offense use the TE to move the chains, do we have TE's that catch the ball, do we send them out in routes, does PN7 have enough check downs if coverage is tight down field? I'll hang up and listen to your answer.... The one about Carter was asked. I missed some of the show so maybe I also missed a few other ZN questions. IIRC, the host identified a period of the show as one in which "e-mail" or "internet" (not sure about these terms) questions would be asked (no specific mention on ZN by name, although he may have said message board). Here is a note for Fox 1350 Guy - If you use our message board as supporting material for your show, you give our message board due credit on the show. I can't believe the guy would enter a specific request via a post, asking for help from our members, then not mention "ZipsNation.Org" as a source on the show. It can't be true. No one lacks that sort of ethics.

Is that Milikin's home court?

"House of Horrors" looking all-too-accurate.

What if the opponent is offensively 1-dimensional, with a crappy quarterback? Interesting historical note: Garrett Wolf ran for around 200yards against us twice in 2005, and we beat Northern both times (going off memory, but I believe it is true). Gosh that QB was crappy wasn't he? That would be a good point, if I had stated the NIU had a crappy QB. But I didn't. And it isn't. But congrats on your win anyhow.

The guy came from a losing program at Notre Dame. Easily in excess of a million fans "down" on the program and staff. Every loss was nationally televised. Now he's facing 3 Zips fans on Waterloo Road, and they're more interested in free wings than football. While I appreciate his availability, it is as gutsy as walking a foot-high tightrope over a tupperware container full of minnows. I think he'll survive. Excitement regarding Zips football is at an all-time low. And that's really saying something. My question for the guy - "After witnessing what has been on display the first 3 home games of the season, why should I come back for game 4? What is going to change?" Question #2: "Will you beat K.e.n.t. State?"

I miss Dwight Smith. He shut down his side of the field. If the ball was up in the air, he considered it "his." If his man caught the ball, he ripped it out of his arms. I see no DB with that attitude. No anticipation. Our secondary plays on it's heels.

Answer - A mirage. Also - Maybe I should have been more specific when I requested to see a Zips blowout.

Dr. Z's Doctorate must be in Culinary Arts. He was the unanamous winner.

Ribs have been smokin' for 4 hours. Getting near done. Threw a chicken on too, just for fun.

...will JD Brookhart be on the invite list?

Definitely not the match that would turn Dr Z into a futbol fan. 90 minutes, and FAU never mounted any sort of threat. I like the fact that there are seats in the west end, but those seats ain't the greatest. Only 5 rows high, your vision is constantly blocked by passers-by. They really need a scoreboard facing the west-enders. Nothing fancy...just time and score. Hell...I'd take time-only. The Rowdies make the East side rock. A totally different event on that side of the field. Nice evening and a good crowd. I look forward to more exciting opponents.

I can't imagine soccer parking will be bad with a 5:30pm start. The scrimmage and football game don't start until 2 hours later.

Huskies 41 Zips 24

I thought it was a pretty lame column too. I hate wishy-washy.

Cool beans!

Nuthin' fancy...

Anymore, I'm exited when I see someone older than me described as "young."

Sounds like someone might have this guy on their Fantasy Football team?