Captain Kangaroo

He won't be the last Freshman to not see the floor in the first two games of his college career. It happens...I wouldn't write his career off just yet.

Re-hashing the Zips first 10 games this season, the formula for the Zips success seems pretty simple - play mistake-free ball late in the game, and we win. Pretty much every game we lost, with the possible exception of Wisconsin, we beat ourselves with a late-game blunder.Wisconsin - We're down 24-10, but moving the ball well. Kennedy fumbles at our own 25...Wisconsin goes up 31-10. Game over.Syracuse - 1 INT, no fumbles. A solid 4th quarter...we pull away and win.Ball State - 17-10 late in the 3rd quarter...Jacq drops the ball...it goes the other way for 7 and we're down 24-10. Next, Jacq tosses an INT @ the BSU 37. 31-10 BSU. Game over.Army - 1 fumble, 0 INT's. Clean game and we win.Cincinnati - Down 17-15 @ the 1:30 mark of the 4th qtr, Jacq tosses an INT. Game over. K.e.n.t. - We play a clean 2nd half, and let K.e.n.t. blow it with a fumbled punt return late in the 4th quarter.BG - @ 12:24 in the 4th quarter Jacq lobs a duck that's picked off and returned to the 6 yard line. Breathes life into the Falcons. BG takes the lead 28-27. Rest is history.EMU - With 30 seconds remaining, all we need to do is kick a 24 yard chip shot. It gets blocked. We luck-out, recover it, and get the win. But we put it on the ground in the 4th quarter again.Toledo - Solid 4th quarter and a win.Buffalo - Botched hand-off/fumble in OT costs us a shot at the win.Point your finger at the playcalling...the penalties...injuries...all that stuff if you want. If we play a solid 4th quarter, we always win. If we don't...we pretty much need to bank on the other team helping us out. And good teams rarely do so.

Solid Column from their Local Paper

I'm sorry...I just can't take any predictions Mandel makes seriously. The guy is a goof.

Thanks for checking in. It will be fun to see which team grows up the fastest tonight. I hope it is us...I want to have some hope when I travel to Pittsburgh on Friday!

To beat a Big 10 team, given the history and resources of our women's program, is amazing. In women's hoops, schools like UA routinely lose such games 89-41.

Top 10 Reasons -#1 The team doesn't run through a giant inflatable helmet...how can you get "pumped" without that?#2 The team is too good (NE Ohio sports fans can't identify with them)#3 The home schedule has too many high-profile teams. We need more lower-division teams to boost our winning percentage. 16-1-3? BAH. Ball State is undefeated....now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!#4 Too many local kids on the team#5 Zakuani's mom doesn't post on our board, and I take that personally#6 Just when I learn to pronounce Ubipirapovic, he leaves#7 They beat Ohio State with regularity, and I feel bad for the Akron sports fans wearing their OSU gear#8 The games are too close to campus. An off-campus stadium is needed. #9 If Steve French isn't announcing the game, it doesn't countAnd the #1 reason I can't attend soccer matches...The Jackson Field Port-o-Lets have doors.Thank you very much folks...drive home safely.

Too bad he didn't get Hampton or Liberty on the road. He'd have stomped 'em.

For what I'd guess is the best pre-game atmosphere, hit BW-3's prior to the game. It is only about 4 blocks from the arena and always has a decent pre-game crowd. Post-game, I'd think the two downtown places Sergeant Zip mentioned are best. Luigi's (downtown) is a great place if you want to sit down and eat. Places to stay? I guess it depends on your taste, budget, Hilton Honors points, etc. The Radisson downtown is the closest. Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls is 5 minutes away, and very nice. Plenty of hotels in the surrounding area. Since most of us live here, it's tough to recommend any...we rarely if ever use them. Fairlawn and North Canton are very close, and have plenty to do w/many hotels too.

That's all got --1.) The personal foul on Kemme (of all people) was crippling. It made an 85% certain 35-yarder a 20% certain 50-yarder. It hit the crossbar. You KNEW that would come back to bite us.2.) Igor missed a chip shot early on, but overall he has been solid. I'd still take him over about any MAC kicker.3.) The delay of game seemed to be crippling (on the FG) but were we really trying to kick the ball, or just trying to get Buffalo off side because it was at the limit of Igor's range?4.) Jacq has improved SO much since last season. Taking the team 80 yards down the field to tie things up was really clutch. It is tough to find fault in him...but if he wants to be a marquee MAC QB next season, he has to shake his late-game jitters. He's almost "there," but he's still lacking the confidence and late-game poise that we need from his position to win these kind of close games.5.) I shook the hands of several Buffalo fans after the game. They played a great game. They didn't make many mistakes. We did. It's pretty much been the same story all season...if we don't beat ourselves, we win. 6.) Kennedy fumbled twice (maybe the one in OT wasn't his fault) last night. Had he ever fumbled previously in his career? If he had, I can't remember it. Overall, DK has been a horse down the stretch. I wish he'd played like this his entire career instead of book-ending his career this way. 7.) I wonder if this is the was Andrew Johnson figured his senior season would end up? Probably not. 8.) The OL has protected on of Division 1's most immobile QB's flawlessly this season. And run-blocked unbelievably well. We've had better individuals on the line over the past several seasons, but none have played this well as a unit.9.) Buffalo's defense is worse than ours, but their offense is better. Not better athletes, but IMO better execution and better play-calling. 10.) Bryan Williams has been a major disappointment. I really thought he'd be a hard-hitting ballhawk. It hasn't happened.11.) Aaron Williams is the new Jay Rohr. Undersized, but active as hell. 12 - 16) All the stuff above has probably been said before. I'll throw in a personal final Rubber Bowl memory for something a little different.As the 4th quarter wound to completion and the OT's progressed, my 7 year old son and I raced back and forth to follow the action and scream our lungs out. When that last Buffalo FG split the uprights, the kids burst into tears like I've never seen. We stayed through the entire post-game ceremony and, although he bit his lip as hard as he could, the tears couldn't stop flowing. I tried every "dad" thing in my arsenal to cheer him up, but to no avail. After the game he asked if he could walk on the field. I said "sure," took his hand and walked him down the ramp. A security guard stopped us - "Turn around!" I tried to explain that we just wanted to walk on the field..but the rent-a-cop wasn't really feeling too sympathetic. Obviously this didn't go over too well with the already profoundly distraught 7 year old.I told my son I was going to drop him over the rail. Once he hit the ground, I told him "RUN LIKE HELL...and don't stop until you get to the A logo @ the 50! I'll be right behind you." I tossed the kid over the edge and he started running. I then hop over, and the security woman spots us. "SIR...SIR...SIR!" and she raced towards us. "RUN LIKE HELL SON!!" We were off to the races. The kid was laughing like hell. I was too. The security guard kept up for about 25 yards, but she soon faded. We blended in with the football alumni milling about on the field, and the rest is history. I had a lot of great memories of the Rubber Bowl...friends, tailgates , games, individual plays...too many to mention. The final father-son security-avoiding sprint across the field ranks my all time favorite. I'm sure my son will never forget it...he was laughing about it this morning as he ate his cereal (on about 5 1/2 hours sleep).A special "Thank You" to the rent-a-cop that made it all possible.

A family of 4 could have entered the Rubber Bowl for $12.00, instead of $4.00. The extra $2.00 per ticket wouldn't have deterred anyone. UA left $20,000 (or more) on the table just to pay homage? That's insane. Ask anyone @ UA how difficult it is to raise $20,000. How long (timewise), and how many people does it take to get an additional $20,000 for the Z-Fund? Four people making phone calls for a month? Probably. Maybe more.BTW - Acme-Zip tickets may have been $1.00 in the 70's, but they were $5.00 or BOGO in the later years.MUST...STOP....RANT....SO...DIFFICULT.....

Told ya so. BTW - In my FINAL (I promise) rant on $1.00 tickets --Say, for the sake of argument, the Zips had "Three Dollar Thursday." And, let's assume the Zips sold 10,000 $1.00 tickets.Those 10,000 tickets would still have been sold at $3.00, and the Zips would have made $20,000 extra dollars. That's a football scholarship. That's the value of an Infocision loge for 1 year. And UA threw that money away.End of rant.

Zips and Redhawks in the Hunt

I'm guessing Marla is the next ABJ employee to move to the PD. Nice column!

I had: JonEs andBowSer Penetrate the ENdzone U Bastardsbut I instead elected to go with:RubbEr Bowl Send Off ZiPs PouNd BUffalo

I agree -- this should be a GREAT football game. And that is great for the MAC. The Temple/OU game a few weeks ago was a TERRIBLE football game. It reflected poorly on the MAC, especially the MAC East.In the CMU/NIU game last night the announcers ripped the "inferior" MAC East several times. I think tonight's game is a showcase for the best of the East. Buffalo and the Zips are two good MAC teams.I like the Zips tonight due to the home field advantage, and I think our D is slightly better than Buffalo's.Zips 31 Buffalo 23

No problem. It's fun to assemble every year.

An exciting day! Congrats! I hope Zeke can now relax a bit and enjoy his senior year?Thanks also to GameChanger for sharing all the insights along the way. Welcome (officially) to the family!

Little CK gets back from his field trip @ 3pm, so I'll be there @ 3:45pm. Keep the beer cold!

Click for Bull Sh*tAnd beware the Buffalo mascot! Why? Just trust me on this one...

I disagree. I maintained a couple years ago, and still maintain today that Lolla left just as the Zips turned the "respect" corner. If he'd have stuck around, he'd have been able to enjoy the fruits of his hard labor. Unless the Zips lay a massive egg in the MAC tourney...which I don't see happening...the Zips get their Top-8 seed. I'll predict a #6. That's not getting screwed. "Heavy petting," maybe. But not screwed.

I got 3 tickets in section 201 for $17.00 each, shipping and handling included. The tickets have a face value of $27.50. If you're on the fence attendance-wise due to finances, I'd recommend checking it out. & I'll see you at O's!

I think that's K.e.n.t.'s favorite son Drew Carey?

PD Headline

Can't wait for the OSU fans to divert this thread