Captain Kangaroo

Goal!

Just don't stop believing this football season can turn around.If you believe that, all I can say is "Welcome to the Grand Illusion."

well putting it that way you make sense. I'm interested to see how this plays out. like I said it's just my opion like it or not.I know you're a big Sweich fan. How'd he spend the off-season? What part of his game did he work to improve?

It was interesting to see the Zips place a DL in the backfield in a "Jumbo Package" inside the Buffalo 5 yard line last week. Alex Allen went into the endzone with ease. That might have been the first "easy" TD we scored against D1 competition all year? Previously, you could expect to get stuffed for no gain in that situation.Bring out the Power-I with Torrence and Tuzze. We will move forward.

its very well made. Im impressed, actually, with the quality of the entire production. I wish we had something like this for Akron athletics though...Maybe the Marketing Dept can pull footage from the Morgan State game and produce one? Oooooh...that'd fire me up!

Adding to Zipsrifle's comments -I learned long ago that simply traveling to a Zips away game to watch football is a bad idea. Thus we got a nice hotel with a pool, took the kid to see the falls, brought a nice propane heater to the tailgate...tried to create as many guaranteed positives to offset the very cold game day and highly probable loss.Had a nice tailgate, with the ZipsWin's, Rifles and Z's all joining the fray. Corey Woods parents were also near by. Quality beer including Brooklyn Brewing Octoberfest and Roo-Topia helped make the weather more tolerable.There really is no cheaper event in the world than a Buffalo football game. The on-campus parking is free, and it took me all of 5 minutes to score 6 free tickets from a Buffalo fan. Free parking and game tickets...that's the best thing about MAC football.Buffalo's stadium is nice enough. But the stands in the endzones are a mile away from the action. That track absolutely sucks from a football fan's perspective. That said, the 6k in attendance easily fit within the confines of the side stands. Since the two disputed pass interference calls happened directly in front of me, and in front of the Buffalo bench, I can say without hesitation that both were BS. To call-off the first flag because "there was no contact" is boarderline criminal. To call offensive pass interference when the defender, with his back to the ball, physically impeded the WR's path to the ball, is criminal. I am guessing two referees made their way to a Niagra Falls sports book to pick up a pile of money after the game.Andre Jones looked great at WR...but his absence in the secondary killed the Zips. The deep-middle was wide open all day. #27 and #23 ain't no #21. But with Bowser out, Jones has to finish the season at WR. Torrence had a great day. Too bad he only had 13 carries. JD needs to live with Torrence's ball security issues and run him 20 times.The "jumbo package" the Zips ran to get Allen into the endzone was heartening. At least it showed me the staff was capable of coming up with some fresh, effective stuff to get us into the endzone. I'd like to see that package on 3rd and 1 too. It beats the hell out of the shotgun.As Zipsrifle said, Nicely was short on several of the long routes. But I think he will get a lot better over time. I agree with the assessment that The Kid is almost as good as a 5th year senior Jacquemain should have been...and light years ahead of where Rodgers was before his injury. Buffalo's QB made some nice tosses, and Roosevelt made some nice grabs. Buffalo had plenty of excuses...loss of an NFL-caliber QB...loss of Starks...loss of a starting OL...but they persevered. In the end, it came down to who would execute, and who would make the mistake." Buffalo drove the length of the field and scored. We drove 3/4 of the length of the field...and made the mistake.Buffalo has now beaten the Zips 3 consecutive times. Here's hoping The Kid learns from the mistakes of this week and has a big game vs. Syracuse.Here's hoping our special team's coach ditches that sh!tty rugby-style kick and lets Stec boot the ball. To paraphrase Dr. Z "Why the hell give a scholarship to a punter if you're going to relegate him to kicking 20 yard line-drives? Anyone on the team can do that."God Bless any of you making the trek to Syracuse. I've seen enough. I'll be at the Vikings / Steelers game Sunday. Go Vikings...my Pigskin Prozac this football season! McDonald HS update: 7-0 on the season. No truth to the rumor they're applying for entry in the MAC next season.

Captain Kangaroo should like this one. Even when we win the greatest game in program history, we create reasons for why we really should not have.We back-doored into the 2008-9 MAC basketball championship too. Humpty got lucky...we should have lost to the 12-seed. Right?

my life sucks...I think I will bash the kids on the football team today because it might make me feel better even though I have no clue what the heck I am talking about...yeah thats what i will do because my life completely sucks and because I am such a winner I will continue to bash and stomp the team because my number of post listings increase my stature as a zips basher and it will show the world I am one step away from actually jumping from the Y bridge, but thank god i have zips nation to express true negativity throughout the world....i only wish more positive people read my post so i can bring them down to my low level of life!!!!RUMPLEMINTZ - You are on ZipsNation, but maybe you need to spend some time on -

"We" as Zips fans, are cursed with more excuses than any other team in the history of collegiate athletics.

I disagree that we experienced a "perfect storm of problems." Then what did we experience in 2008...or 2007...or 2006...etc, etc, etc? Another series of "perfect storms?"I believe we have experienced a "perfect storm of excuses." That's it.Lee Owens didn't have the stadium or the training facilities. Then JD had the training facilities, but not the stadium. Now we have the training facilities and the stadium, BUT <insert next excuse here>.In JD's 6th season, playing what is likely the easiest schedule in D1 (maybe it is tied with some other MAC East program, but I don't count them). He's 1 - 5. Not only is he 1-5, but he's 0-5 vs. D-1 competition. He's 1-2 at home, and winning 25% of his home games over the past 1 1/2 seasons.Was Jacquemain's suspension crippling? Sure. But who's idea was it to tether the ship to this train-wreck of a kid? His history as an unreliable player on-the-field were only exceeded by his known issues off it. Yet JD rolled the dice that Jacquemain could keep his hands out of the cookie jar for 1 semester. Shocking that this 5th year senior QB...who mysteriously escaped the nomination of Team Captain prior to the start of the season...couldn't do it? Rodgers as the #2 QB was again not any "perfect storm" problem. He's a great kid. He's not a Division 1 QB. If he was, JD would have played him over Jacquemain in the first place. Rodgers blowing his ACL is a convenient excuse to play Nicely, but the truth is, Nicely was warming up on the sidelines prior to Rodgers' injury. If not for the quick OU turnover, Nicely would have entered the game on the ensuing series. There's a reason JD told Nicely not to play in the Football World Championships this past summer...he knew there was a damn good chance he'd need to play him this season, and it was more important that he was in Zips camp.The Ferri "recruiting scandal" is a joke. If this is the excuse for 1 - 5, I have to laugh. I think Tom Gaffney and Elton Alexander have given it all of 100 combined words of print. The University's reaction to the "scandal" (BTW - now downgraded to "an investigation of recruiting practices") has been more damaging than the allegations themselves. Go to a BCS school and see what a real "scandal" looks like. Like Dr. Z, I'm tired of losing. I'm tired of excuses. I'm tired of traveling to support the team, only to watch 20yard rugby punts, pop-up kick off and the 3-3-5 defense get shredded late in a close game. I'm tired of watching other MAC programs go bowling while we sit at home with our woe-is-me laundry list of "prefect storm" excuses. I'm tired of explaining to my kid why, as a Zips fan, he always walks out of the stadium a loser.F*ck losing. I'm tired of it.

Ask Joe Dunn.

What...no one saw our 41-0 beatdown of Morgan State?Somewhere Lee Owens is chuckling.

...word on the street is he will be the basketball beat writer for CSU this season. No word on the PD's coverage of the Zips and the MAC in 2009-10.

Zips 34Buffalo 16All points scored off special teams turnovers.Teams combine to set an NCAA record of 13 missed field goals in a single game.

ME_87 - You rule. :rock:One of my favorite quotes:"There are those who look at things as they are and ask "Why?". And there are those who look at things that aren't and ask "Why not?"Until I see a UA Athletic Director that has a "Why not Akron?" attitude, I will never believe collegiate athletic success cannot be had at The University of Akron.Too many sad sacks have graced our campus with the "Woe-is-me...we can't compete for the public's affection because of <insert excuse here>." Rosa Parks stood up one day and said "F-you, I ain't sitting in the back of that bus again." I want an AD that is tired of sitting in the back of the bus. It happened at Gonzaga. It happened at Boise State. It happened at Cincinnati. It isn't easy being Rosa Parks. It's damn difficult...that's why it took until 1955 for someone to step up and defy the system. But that's the attitude we need at Akron if we're ever going to reach our potential.God Bless Gonzaga...Cincinnati...Boise State...South Florida...they have sacked-up. I'm not jealous of ohio state. I'm jealous of them.

I noticed that this week's game is now on Fox Sports Ohio? Which will get better ratings in the 3:30pm time slot -- USC / ND, or Akron / Buffalo?

Isn't that what they are supposed to do? Can you write some thoughts that don't speak for themselves?

Gary Pride seems like a logical option.

I went to a BG / UA game at the Rubber Bowl 15 years ago. Homecoming. 70 degree, sunny October day. There were MAYBE 500 people in attendance.People have no clue how far game day attendance has come since Mike Thomas rolled into town and changed logos, started the AK-Rowdies, got rid of the bush-league vendors and team gear, got the stadium off the ground...etc.People want to plant a tree on Monday, and begin picking fruit on Thursday. It doesn't work that way. The AK-Rowdies of today won't pay dividends for several years. But they will pay off. It is the new AD's job to take the Program to the next level. The groups preceding him did.

Dr. Z - I see the chance of precipitation is down to 20% and the "Spectator Index" has risen from 4 to 5!

Against OU we missed two field goals, lost a fumbled kick off and had a punt blocked in the endzone for an OU TD. And our special teams had 2 full weeks to prepare for the game. Quite a season we are having, before our game last year Buffalo and Akron fans were arguing about who had the better team (this year its the worse team)..I did note that your kicker is worse but that may be because Gill usually does not give AJ a shot at anything more than 40HA! We have TWO kickers worse than AJ, and we alternate between them after every shank just to keep their confidence low.BTW -- Duff's or Anchor Bar? I haven't been to Duff's, but it seems to get the best reviews?

Beating someone of significance is almost worthless. It is a nice notch in the belt, but winning championships is what counts.JD is steaming towards his 4th consecutive losing season. That is why there are no butts in the stands. It is as simple as that.Watch the basketball team this season. Now that they've actually won a championship, they will begin filling the JAR with regularity. Humpty made the "million dollar shot." If he missed, the Zips are back to the same old 3k attendance. Now there's NCAA expectations, Zeke, 20-wins, a cake-walk schedule to ensure a fast start...it all comes together this season.Look at the soccer team. Selling out matches?! Why? Because they are winning, and winning consistently over an extended time period. People want to be a part of it.Look at the Cleveland Indians - They sell out when things are rolling...and dodge the tumbleweeds blowing through Progressive Desert when they stink.Look at the Browns -- Sure they technically "sell out." But when you see them on TV at season's end, half the "attendees" are disguised as empty seats? And the other half are rooting for the opposing team.Sounds like you may be backing off that recent 7-5 prediction just a tad.NEVER!

Against OU we missed two field goals, lost a fumbled kick off and had a punt blocked in the endzone for an OU TD. And our special teams had 2 full weeks to prepare for the game.

Here in lies the problem -- It is not that MAC football is not good. It CAN be good. It HAS been been good. BAD MAC football is not good. Good MAC football is good, exciting, capable of garnering national attention and Top 25 rankings, capable of selling-out stadiums, etc.Few people want to watch BAD MAC football. People WILL watch good MAC football.When BG is rolling, they sell out. When Toledo is rolling, they sell out. When CMU is rolling, they sell out. When a MAC program merits it, they get a Top 25 ranking. The Zips cannot control Eastern Michigan...K.e.n.t. State, etc. But they can control themselves. The Zips need to stop being a BAD MAC football team. They need to be a GOOD MAC football program.No one wants to watch Matt Rodgers lob passes into opponents arms. No one wants to watch Alex Allen over the left guard for 1 yard. No one wants to watch repeated 3-and-outs. No one wants to watch the home team get waxed 75% of the time, where JD's recent home win percentage hovers.Just because the Zips lose as they have, doesn't mean they are relegated to losing forever. Zips fans now have every possible reason to expect GOOD...even GREAT football. They are now paying top-dollar, the facilities are hands-down the best in the MAC and the University has made the $$ commitment to win.Now we need a coach that can win.Cincinnati was a sorry-ass program as recent as recently as 10 years ago. Now they're ranked above Ohio State!? If, back in 1999, someone would have suggested that Cincinnati would be ranked ahead of a 1-loss Ohio State team at mid-season they'd have been laughed out of the country! I repeat - Just because the Zips lose as they have, doesn't mean they are relegated to losing forever. What it does mean is -- someone's not doing their job. There are no longer any excuses.At halftime of the OU game, the Zips showed their "First Half Highlights" on the big screen. The first one was a Rodgers swing pass to Tuzze for no gain. That speaks volumes for where the Zips presently reside..."no gain" is a highlight. I refuse to believe that a good/great Zips football team will not sell out InfoCision with regularity. I already know that a bad Zips football program will not.It is up to Tom Winsrtcill to prove me correct.

Beating someone of significance is almost worthless. It is a nice notch in the belt, but winning championships is what counts.JD is steaming towards his 4th consecutive losing season. That is why there are no butts in the stands. It is as simple as that.Watch the basketball team this season. Now that they've actually won a championship, they will begin filling the JAR with regularity. Humpty made the "million dollar shot." If he missed, the Zips are back to the same old 3k attendance. Now there's NCAA expectations, Zeke, 20-wins, a cake-walk schedule to ensure a fast start...it all comes together this season.Look at the soccer team. Selling out matches?! Why? Because they are winning, and winning consistently over an extended time period. People want to be a part of it.Look at the Cleveland Indians - They sell out when things are rolling...and dodge the tumbleweeds blowing through Progressive Desert when they stink.Look at the Browns -- Sure they technically "sell out." But when you see them on TV at season's end, half the "attendees" are disguised as empty seats? And the other half are rooting for the opposing team.