Captain Kangaroo

Since you asked - "Yes." In fact, wasn't it JD Brookhart's 1st season? Box Score I believe the immortal Charlie Frye threw for all of 78 yards (w/ a44% completion percentage), and a gaudy -38 yards on the ground? And with a hell of a lot better receivers than Nicely had on Saturday night, and with a veteran offensive line. The Frye & Nicely UVA/Syracuse games are eerily similar, in both circumstance and results: BCS game...first season under a new coach and system...beatdown It looks like Nicely actually performed better, since he threw the ball away (-4 rushing yards) instead of eating it like Charlie (-38 rushing yards). Oh, and Nicely - True Soph. Frye - 5th year Senior. They say "The only thing new is the history you don't know." You are all welcome for the hyperbole-free perspective, and the history lesson. People see what they want to see. I tend to see what actually happened. The book on Nicely is far from it's completion. This week he should throw for 300+ yards, and everyone will marvel at his arm strength, and his growth from game #1 to game #2. Then we'll lose at K.entucky, and everyone will clamor to see the hobbled, banjo-armed Matt Rodgers save the season. Which ain't gonna happen. Stick with Nicely, and you shall be rewarded. You want to compare 2004 Virginia, one of the BEST DEFENSES IN THE NATION, led by Ahmad Brooks and Chris Canty, to Syracuse???? There were about 8 draft picks on that Virginia defense. The Syracuse team we played yesterday would be lucky to have one!!! Apples to oranges Cap, you know better!! Here's a better comparison. Charlie Frye's sophomore year season opener. On the road. Against a GOOD Iowa team. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores102/1...WA------0nr.htm 21-29 for 230 yards. If Patrick Nicely had done that Saturday, I would like where we're going. Instead he laid an egg against a team that's a lot more akin to upper level MAC than a good BCS team. Seriously...did Zach steal ITZ's IP address? Must have, 'cuz no one else would post such a vapid response to cold hard facts. ITZ boasts that Frye was never held out of the endzone. A fallacy that anyone with 3 seconds of free time can easily debunk. ITZ boasts about some dominant Virginia defense that... well, they gave up 37 in a loss to Fresno State in the prestigious 2002 MPC Computers Bowl in Boise. Now...in his latest bizarre bit of selective memory... ITZ brags about a stellar Frye game (Iowa) where...get this...Frye was down 37-0...AFTER THE FIRST QUARTER!!! ITZ is stoked about Frye's mediocre stats where Iowa had Frye's Zips down 37-0 after 15 minutes!! DO YA THINK IOWA LET UP A LITTLE AND LET THE CUTE FUZZY HAPLESS LITTLE ZIPPERS GET SOME POSITIVE YARDS AFTER 37 - 0?? Gheez... I bet that 21-29 for 230 yards is a sweet memory for old #5. Dude...I can't debate QB Zips QB play with you until you elevate your level of discussion.

I met Willie at the golf outing. Really nice guy. I feel horrible for him.

Since you asked - "Yes." In fact, wasn't it JD Brookhart's 1st season? Box Score I believe the immortal Charlie Frye threw for all of 78 yards (w/ a44% completion percentage), and a gaudy -38 yards on the ground? And with a hell of a lot better receivers than Nicely had on Saturday night, and with a veteran offensive line. The Frye & Nicely UVA/Syracuse games are eerily similar, in both circumstance and results: BCS game...first season under a new coach and system...beatdown It looks like Nicely actually performed better, since he threw the ball away (-4 rushing yards) instead of eating it like Charlie (-38 rushing yards). Oh, and Nicely - True Soph. Frye - 5th year Senior. They say "The only thing new is the history you don't know." You are all welcome for the hyperbole-free perspective, and the history lesson. People see what they want to see. I tend to see what actually happened. The book on Nicely is far from it's completion. This week he should throw for 300+ yards, and everyone will marvel at his arm strength, and his growth from game #1 to game #2. Then we'll lose at K.entucky, and everyone will clamor to see the hobbled, banjo-armed Matt Rodgers save the season. Which ain't gonna happen. Stick with Nicely, and you shall be rewarded.

1.) Nicely did about as good as any QB could expect to do, with almost zero protection from his offensive line. The OL continued it's regression of 2009. 2.) Nicely's biggest mistake of the night was throwing a ball into the stands on 3rd and 3... when he esily could have ran for 5 yards. It would have been a BIG 1st down. 3.) At WR, the Zips have Jeremy LaFrance, and no one else. Jalil Carter looked lost, and Gary Pride couldn't shake his man to save his life. 4.) When watching a bad QB, there are multiple times during the game when, after the QB runs around for a while eluding the rush, you say "Jesus... there were 2 guys wide open!!! How the hell didn't he see them??!!" I don't think that happened once last night. Our receivers were covered like blankets all night. Nicely's decisions to ditch the ball were usually the right ones. 5.) I don't think I ever saw a receiver break off his route to help Nicely, as he ran for his life, either. 6.) I thought Alex Allen looked ok. Better than in 2009 for certain. But he only got 7 carries. He needs more than 7 carries. 7.) Burney is a tough little kid, but he's small, and a good lick from a DL sends him flying. We need another RB in our rotation. 8.) One of the worst calls of the night was sending Burney up the middle on 3rd and 1. AA easily gets that yard. iCoach must not have witnessed "Metcalf up the Middle." 9.) Another terrible call was going for the FG on 4th and 2. iCoach showed zero confidence in his offense. He didn't play to win the game. You only get a BCS team at home on rare occasion...iCoach didn't coach like he wanted to make a statement. No aggressive play calls all night. 10.) I turned to my son on Igor's 1st kick and said "Watch it hit the center in the butt." I was 1 kick too early on my call. 11.) How many low liners does Igor need to kick before someone realizes that's all he can do? Our chance of AA getting those 2 yards was WAY better than Igor making theFG. 12.) Campbell had some beautiful punts. And no horrific ones. Best punting I've seen in some time. Certainly since the Stec Ohio State game. 13.) Illegal formation penalties were inexcusable. Hard to fathom how we could be so unprepared. 14.) This Syracuse team was a lot better than the bumbling, hapless crew we played 2 seasons ago. They aren't spectacular by any stretch, but they appeared well coached, and I liked their D-line. 15.) Syracuse brought 500 fans max. A nice showing, but no where near the rumored 5k. 16.) The Zips D-line played very well. They got good QB pressure for most of the night. Lemon had an excellent game. 17.) Wagner had an excellent game too. It is too bad our offense was so pathetic. The Zips D eventually wore out. 18.) Nice to see Delone Carter, and the other Syracuse RB's work for their yards. We saw no gamebreaking plays...no 50 yard TD runs...no man-amongst-boys plays that made the Zips D look like a Pop Warner group. Overall, our D played fine. 19.) Province had a rough game. But at least the 2nd time he got beat he was smart enough to interfere and take the 15 yards, rather than risk a 40 yard catch. 20.) When we had a guy run a deep route, we threw into quadruple coverage. When Syracuse threw deep, we never had 2 DB's in the vicinity. 21.) GP1 mentioned that he'd be pissed if he wasted 3 hours of tailgating for that game. Way off base. The tailgating was easily the highlight of the day. I don't see how anyone could have endured the game without it. 22.) Profoundly disappointing crowd. 10k shorter than it should have been. Funny - I received a bunch of info on Zips tickets in the mail yesterday...after I'd already left for the Syracuse game. Little tardy on the mailing, guys. 23.) Lots of complaints on the parking and prices. It will continue as long as 29-3 beat-downs are the norm. Actually, it will eventually stop, because people will stop caring, and spend there money elsewhere. 24.) Bailey did a nice job at FB. I think he'll be a good one. 25.) Met Aaron and Dreal. Always a treat to meet new ZN members. Texan Mark didn't stop by. Hope he had a good time in the AK. 26.) I saw enough good things, especially defensively, to keep me coming back. I think the offensive penalties are easily correctable. I think we played a BCS team who's better than many think, and they kicked our butts because we couldn't move the ball offensively. I am very concerned with the o-line. Especially #75. I am very concerned about our WR's. I hope Frisman Jackson can coach, because we can't have a successful season with the WR group not getting a hell of a lot better, and soon. Off to enjoy my Sunday. Too nice a day to mope over the Zips.

Thanks!

Wonder if ZipDad57 will re-appear on our board?

Hey...I was doing orange chicken! However, my drink is Southern Comfort-based.

Lot #9. As close to the shadow of the scoreboard as possible! I'm in Lot 9 as well, I'll plan on stopping by and saying hello. Any easy way to recognize you? I believe I will be rocking my Nick Sparks #9 throwback jersey (are we wearing home whites?). Hope you can stop by!

Lot #9. As close to the shadow of the scoreboard as possible!

25,136 ZipsNation Winning Prediction Rules -- "Closest Without Going Over"

In a previous attendance-related post you stated "I don't care how many people come to the game. I care about how many fans are paying full price" (I'm paraphrasing...but I think it's accurate). Your most-recent statement is more in line with my thoughts - If you get people to come to the stadium, and put on a decent show, it makes them want to come to another game. There's an old businessman's adage -- You don't make any money off the people who don't enter the gate. That's why it is critical that we fill that stadium. Do we give it away for free? Of course not. But TW needs to find the balance of filling it, and making money. And - 25k is a lot more fun than 16k. And - I still think 25k is the attendance for Saturday.

Shooting for noon... but I'm always late, so I expect 1pm. "Orange" is the food theme for our tailgate party this week, so there should be no risk of scurvy amongst our revelers for quite some time thereafter.

You pretty well hit the nail on the head right there. I agree, outside of Cleveland State and YSU which bring some regional excitement, the home OOC schedule is a real yawner. Unfortunatly we are just good enough that the truly good teams are extremly reluctant to come to our place. It offers them no benefit in terms of RPI or national perception. If they come here and win, no big deal, they were supposed to beat us anyways. If they come here and lose its a negative headline and provides a hit to their tournament resume. As a fan I'm just happy that it at least looks like KD is softening his stance on the whole, "we won't go play at your place unless you agree to come play us at home" deal. It at least gives us some chances to beat some of those good teams on the road which could in turn generate enough interest to get a few more of the non-die-hards out to the JAR to watch us hammer Bethune Cookman. I think YSU basketball brings about as much excitement to the JAR as Wright State baseball brings to Lee Jackson Field. It is a guaranteed win... an easy-to-schedule annual home-and-home for Dan Peters (former YSU coach)... an easy road trip for the Zips faithful... but there is no amount of lipstick you can slather on the pig that is YSU basketball. People in Youngstown don't care about YSU basketball...and people in Akron care even less about it. Football would obviously be a different story. They still will likely bring more opposing fans than any other team on our home OOC schedule save CSU and MAYBE John Carroll. I suppose it shows the pathetic state of YSU hoops that our exhibition game against John Carroll could potentially bring a bigger away crowd, but still. At least people in this area have heard of them. Start asking them about Bethune Cookman, Oral Roberts or Arkansas Pine-Bluff and get ready for some blank stares. I'd rather see Bethune Cookman. They MIGHT be good. You know YSU sucks. Every year.

Better than a YouTube video?

Do newpaper people write anymore? Seems like they're way too concerned about getting their mug on the internet rather than practicing their craft. IMO - Newpaper guys should be writing. Anyone with a computer and a camera can upload a YouTube video. A well-written column is much more powerful. Not everyone can write.

You pretty well hit the nail on the head right there. I agree, outside of Cleveland State and YSU which bring some regional excitement, the home OOC schedule is a real yawner. Unfortunatly we are just good enough that the truly good teams are extremly reluctant to come to our place. It offers them no benefit in terms of RPI or national perception. If they come here and win, no big deal, they were supposed to beat us anyways. If they come here and lose its a negative headline and provides a hit to their tournament resume. As a fan I'm just happy that it at least looks like KD is softening his stance on the whole, "we won't go play at your place unless you agree to come play us at home" deal. It at least gives us some chances to beat some of those good teams on the road which could in turn generate enough interest to get a few more of the non-die-hards out to the JAR to watch us hammer Bethune Cookman. I think YSU basketball brings about as much excitement to the JAR as Wright State baseball brings to Lee Jackson Field. It is a guaranteed win... an easy-to-schedule annual home-and-home for Dan Peters (former YSU coach)... an easy road trip for the Zips faithful... but there is no amount of lipstick you can slather on the pig that is YSU basketball. People in Youngstown don't care about YSU basketball...and people in Akron care even less about it. Football would obviously be a different story.

I really like Hazime. He's big, and fast. If I were to place a dark hourse ( ) bet on the Biggest Pleasant Surprise of 2010, it would be for Hassan. The 4-3 suits him perfectly.

I tend to agree. However, I would like to come to the defense of Jones Jr High. I'm sure that every once in a while, the administrator at JJH makes a good decision. I'm still waiting for a good decision by TW. I still have not forgotten the Reno disaster that basically ruined the career of a good guy. If Karma does exist, TW will get fired and never come close to having a good job again. A friend told me that Reno is putting his West Point Engineering degree to use, and is working in Louisiana/Alabama area (subcontracted by BP to work with them on the oil spill clean up). He's doing well.

According to the ua employment site, the answer is they are working on it as a position is posted. No esta' bien, Jalapeño Zippy.

Or not. GZDC has written nothing on the football team since August 25th. A D-1 A football program playing a BCS program at home, and it is 6-days-and-counting with absolutely zero promotion or information from what is obviously the 3rd ... maybe 4th most popular place to read about Zips athletics. Outdated roster. No 2-deep... They should be kissing our feet that ZipsNation promotes this freaking team.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm getting mixed signals from you Cap'n. Do you think we'll see 25k+ or are you saying that marketing/TW have failed miserably if we don't get 25k+? I see 25k happening. Barring a crappy, cold, rainy day. You should be able to fall out of bed and get 20k for Syracuse @ home. If we get 15k - 17k, someone really screwed up. We could get that for a crappy team at a Rubber Bowl opener.

Dan Gilbert disagrees.

Hard to believe our ticket sales would be lacking, with the cancellation of the golf outing and booting long time fans from their parking spaces? Man... I thought that was a sure-fire way to get folks fired up about the new team and staff? I guess it just goes to show that Joe Akron will never support the Zips? K.e.n.t. has their "90k" Program to drive attendance. Temple has: This neat promo running. I also think it is pretty insane to not be promoting "Still Great Seats Remain," or something similar. I think a lot of people are assuming the Syracuse game is a sell out. If fans think the game is sold out, the ain't showing up. 25k minimum for the Syracuse game. There is no alternative.

Stams foursome also won the Zips Basketball Golf Outing scramble.