Captain Kangaroo

We’ll find out in roughly 28 hours if the Zips have truly “arrived”, or if Lucy yanks the ball away yet again. I think the win over Buffalo on Saturday will be looked back on as the day Zips football turned the corner. Now that we have our sea legs under us, and the cadre of portal mercenaries is settling in, I expect us to go on a nice run. I thought the same thing where went to Huntington and smoked Marshall. And when we beat Northwestern. And when we beat Pitt. Famous last words…but it feels different this time. I think we’re constructed more for the long haul, and not just a flash-in-the-pan. See you in lot 9 at 10am! 🥓🍳 🍺 🥃 🦘 🏈

Does the student athlete lose their scholarship once they hit the portal, or have to re-pay 75% of it's value? Or do they get a free semester even though they quit before the end of September?

Please, no! Keep it on the DL 😀

A final thought on Kentucky - I dunno how many fans they had at the game...maybe 55,000? Their stadium seats 61,000 and routinely sells out. Our parking space sold for $200 on Stub Hub. I can't imagine what a space goes for when Tennessee or Alabama rolls into town. The lots were full of RV's, trailers, HD TV's...all their fans wore either white, or blue. There were literally thousands of incredibly attractive women in form-fitting dresses, tank tops, white cowboy boots...it was something to behold (ditto for Tennessee last year, NC State in the past...southern schools game days can be quite the fashion show). So in a nut shell, game days in Lexington are a big time party. Millions upon millions of dollars generated by the school. In Akron we get a few thousand fans on a given Saturday. Our average ticket price is at least $100 less than a UK ducat. Our game day parking, directly behind the goal post, is included with our $100 season tickets. Yet we were down only 14-3 midway through the 4th quarter? If resources controlled the outcome, we should have lost by 60. Kudos to what Joe and Co. are building at UA with a ham and cheese budget. Speaking to a UA official in the lot, apparently Kentucky is trying to get out of the return game in Akron next year. Akron is receptive to the buy-out, because "We don't want them filling our stadium with blue and beating us by 30." That comment saddened me, as it is small-time thinking. Joe will have the program competitive next year. We'd have a good chance of hanging with them. The Infocision lots would be full of RV's, music, fans...it would be an awesome game day in Akron for maybe the 3rd time since it opened. But it probably won't happen. I told the official as much..."So what are you going to do...replace Kentucky with Bethune Cookman? That sucks." He said "Oh no, we'll get someone good." No chance. If we play Kentucky in Lexington in the future, make the 5 hour trip down 71. Lexington is a really fun city. The Kentucky fans are very nice. Distilleries abound. It's a great weekend.

Without getting into any debates over the logo, I will say, in my opinion, it is way too basic, simple and unsexy. I'll never buy a piece of Zips gear with that logo. Why anyone would create something so basic, focusing on an "A" which is common to about 100 universities (Alabama, Auburn, Albany, Arkansas, etc), is beyond me. When athletic directors build their resume they usually want to tout stats saying they "created a new branding that increased gear sales by XXX%". It won't happen with this "A". It's is a whiff. If you like the new logo, great. I have no desire to debate it's merits. I just think it is lame... unimaginative... and boring. I'll wait for the next AD in a few years and see what he/she has to offer. In the interim I'll just wash my "Z" and "Roo-A" logo stuff on the gentle cycle.

An acceptable answer would also have been - vs. Cincinnati at the Rubber Bowl. The Zips had a chance to take the lead very late in the game and ran an end-around with Jeremy Bruce at the 2 yard line. UC blew it up...Bruce fumbled...and we lost shortly thereafter. Jacquemain was the QB. I'm still pissed they called Jacq for an intentional grounding as we were moving the ball downfield in the final seconds. It essentially hit Biggs in the feet, yet the refs insisted no receiver was in the area. 😡 Lots of "close-but-no-cigars" over the years, for sure.

I think your details have lost some accuracy over time, but I’ll go with “Who is Charlie Frye against Wisconsin?” for $500, Alex. Lee Evans pulled in the 99 yard TD pass after Dan Basch was stopped on 4th and goal at the 1. I thought about that play when Alex Adams dropped the sure-fire 99 yard TD Saturday night.

Unless you're thinking of Kermit Dafrog, I disagree.

There is no God.

No RPO!!

No penalties!!

Northwestern was way less beatable than this Indiana team. We’ll never have a better chance to beat a big 10 team than tonight .

Is Steele on the travel squad?

Undercuffler with a pick six. Who knew?

Going strictly off memory, I think we’ve made one fg over 40 yards since the day Arth began his tenure, through today?

FIFY?

It’s never a good thing when your football team’s offensive output matches that of the soccer team.

Every single time we’ve had the opportunity to make a big play we’ve completely botched it with penalties, blown assignments and mistakes. We just don’t want to win.

Stopped at two distilleries today. At both places someone recognized my Z-logo shirt and struck up a conversation about the game tomorrow. Fun to visit areas where they follow their local team.

In my best Brent Musberger voice - “You are looking live at the fourth floor of the Staybridge Suites in beautiful Lexington Kentucky…”

Interesting read

Undercuffler had a magical 2019 season where he threw 41 tds vs. 10 int’s. If you drop that statistical anomaly, beginning in 2018 through today, his combined stats are 331 completions on 601 attempts (55%). 24 tds and 23 int’s. That isn’t gonna cut it, and his game last Saturday seems to show he hasn’t shaken his penchant for throwing the ball to the other team with alarming regularity. Dijon Jennings isn’t the answer, and Wassel isn’t ready. I hope the benching of Irons last week was a wake up call, because he’s our best chance to win games when he’s healthy. If he’s not, I’d take our chances with student body left, and student body right. Too bad, because I really like our WR’s. I’ll be in Lexington on Saturday and support whoever Joe puts under center. Go Zips!

If you click on the information @Akron1 provided you can reserve a free slot or two at the UA-Kentucky tailgate. Seems like a no-brainer to stop by if your at the game? They also have $55 game tickets, which is pretty good. I paid $39 x 2 + $36 in fees for my 2 tix (I bought them before I knew of the UA offer).

CJ Nunnally definitely deserved the MAC PoTY award this week, but Bryan McCoy put forth an absolutely heroic effort. He puked at least twice...maybe three times...voluminous releases too...not just a little phlegm...and hardly missed any PT. Game winning scoop-n-score TD. Fantastic game by the kid. @MDZip said it best...this was payback for CMU last season. Or, Buffalo...take your pick. Nice to see God is fair, and offset one of our improbable, impossible 2022 losses.

I wish DJ were as good at moving the chains as he is a posting cryptic tweets. If he isn't mentally tough enough to accept getting benched after some really sub par work, then he's not a D1 QB. This is big boy football. If you go 4 full quarters without moving the chains whatsoever, against mediocre competition, it's next-man-up. I would start DJ against Kentucky. He's shown well against P5 teams in the past. If we go 3-and-out repeatedly, or he makes a crippling turnover or two, then we move to Plan B.