Captain Kangaroo

I changed it to Hixon. I'm just bad with name-spellings.

Stepping in for Plaxico

The video link works for me. You just need to go to the Northwestern soccer page, find the Akron match, and click on "watch it" to the right. I did need to download some Microsoft software to enable the viewer, but it was pretty much automatic.Try clicking here if you're having problems

EKU 69UA 57OVC OVC OVC I agree. A double-digit loss to an OVC school, on a neutral court, sucks. The Zips seem to be slowly solving their shooting issues. But rebounding is another story. 15-0 run to finish the game for EKY? At least Frenchy has had plenty of practice calling games like that this fall.

Tough to figure out which thread to respond within...seems like Lee Adams is rubbing off...others are now starting the same thread multiple times?Zipboy is dead-nuts on. JD f-d up his recruiting classes of 3 and 4 years ago. The guy corrected things. And he did it the right way, with predominately HS kids whom he's redshirted. Where he was burnt by WRs like Vince Hill, Harvey and Lindsay, he had to go JUCO/transfer. And he did so very well. But the lion's share are on the 5-year plan.Since Mack allowed JD to fix things "the right way" and not via some JUCO-fest, he pretty much needs to give him three years from that point. Next season is year #3.Spare me the Lee Owens crying violin. The guy had 9 freaking years to win at UA. In his 9th year he was .500 vs 1-A competition. In his 7th year, with an NFL-caliber QB, he was 4-8? What was the guy in his 8th year...something like 5-6? I forget...thank God for long-term memory loss. Graduation rates? Owens' grad rates were solid for 4 years while he attempted to build the program. Then they fell hard as he tried to get over the hump. His retention rates were below 50% his last few years. That's a fact.So how does JD win in 2009? That's the million dollar question. JD has put his trust in Captain Almost...the QB that keeps you competitive for 3 1/2 quarters, puts up nice overall stats...but walks back into the locker room tunnel the loser against any decent competition. His penchant for crippling late-game gaffes is becoming legendary. But JD has invested 4 years in trying to groom the kid to be the team leader. I can't believe he doesn't start Captain Almost in 2009, with all that time invested. Especially when Jordan Miller and Matt Rodgers have a combined 3 D-1 minutes to their credit. But can JD really trust his fate to Captain Almost? If the QB position is the million dollar question, addressing the defensive problems is the two million dollar question. There is a tremendous amount of young talent returning on the defensive side. DL and the secondary should be solid. LB may need a JUCO. But the talent is there. The scheme? I don't think there's anyone on this board who has faith in the scheme. How much more proof is needed that it is ineffective? That is wreaks no havoc. We have 12 returning DL's next season. JD, and his DC need to figure out how to use them.People like to paint with a broad brush on this board. If you want to give JD another year, you're an Owens basher. That's pretty ignorant. Even after Owens' 8th year, with the talent he had returning, I backed the guy for his 9th season. He had enough talent that 2003 should have been a winning campaign, if the guy was any good. 5-5 against D-1 competition, and 9 years to biuld to that level, that was enough for me. And in hindsight, 9 years was too long. I've said it many times...it ain't simple to figure our how to win championships at UA. It takes time. If it didn't, Lee Owens would have figured it out in 9. Or JD in 5. And unlike hoops, where one or two recruits can turn a program around, football programs are a much larger ship to swing around. The turning radius is a lot wider.JD screwed himself by losing the final three games. By going 1-4 @ the Rubber Bowl. The Zips should have been 7-5, worst case 6-6. The team had the ability to take the heat off themselves...but the fumbled it away vs. Buffalo...got shoved down the field @ OU...tossed late-game INT's @ Temple...instead of finding ways to win, they found all sorts of different ways to lose. Now we're in this situation.Keeping or canning JD is Mack's call. But he needs to make it quickly. Come out with a clear, decisive statement that he's our coach in 2009. Or that he's gone. BG, Toledo, EMU, Miami, Toledo...they're all looking for new coaches as we speak. Ball State and K.e.n.t. may be too. This is prime recruiting time. For recruiting both players and coaches. Every day that Mack waits to make a statement hurts the Zips program.JD deserves Year #6. But the fans deserve better than 2008. I want JD back, but not the same-old-same-old. He needs to make meaningful changes that allow us to be highly competitive in 2009. Because there's no excuse not to be.

I'm just happy I didn't think "Klass Zollner."

Funny that this thread began after nbs95 swore off the Zips. He is to Sweich's PT what the "Opponent Look-alike Thread" is to the Zips football team.

That would be HIGHLY impressive!

Think this guy is still in the sports snowplowing business?

I know there used to be a rule where a player could participate in a few hoops games, then the coach could decide to redshirt him/her. Maybe it was changed? I tried to read the most-recent NCAA eligibility rules and it appears you are correct -- If a player gets injured within the first 20% of the games played in a given season, he can redshirt via medical/hardship. That seems to be the only "out." Was Humpty limping in the 2nd half yesterday? The only other possible exception could be the fact that the games played thus far were "tournament" games. Sometimes preseason tourneys count differently than regular season games as far as eligibility is concerned.

KD, on possibly pulling a redshirt: "We're going to try to get Brett McClanahan ready to play and decide in a week." If 's McClanahan redshirt is pulled, is it too late to redshirt Humpty and let McNees and Steward run the point? With Roberts to help as well? Would you even want to entertain the thought? Humpty is struggling on D a bit. He's a freshman, and it is in the first couple games of his 120 game career, so I'm not getting down on the kid. But mathematically, if McClanahan plays, someone on scholarship has to sit. Or am I mistaken?McClanahan would give us some size at the SG position, which we need.

Ball St 45 WMU 22. Ball St. 41 Akron 24MAC Championships since Cubit took overWMU 0 Akron 1now see i think that is enough saidWe played WMU last season. Beat them. They are hardly anything special.Ease up, Lee. Just because you have the ability to post the same thing day after day doesn't me you need to do so.

Urbana is the worst team ever. I'd have rather watched the Zips scrimmage themselves, or one of the better UA imtramural teams. Thank God the gauntlet of lower division schools is complete.I never thought I'd be so excited to see Fairleigh Dickenson or Eastern Ke.ntucky.

With 12 available DL's in 2009, I have to believe the 4-3 is best. Or we move Sewell and maybe someone like Shead to LB.

Is it snowing as bad in Akron as it is in Twinsburg? Can they hold a match in a blizzard?

Now that the season is essentially over, it is time to begin making your case for how to turn the Zips into a winner in 2009. Despite the common sentiment to fire JD, that seems to me to be the absolute wrong direction.Looking back to 2007, everyone was on Moorhead's case. Justifiably so. Our offense was pathetic.Fast-forward to 2008, and you can see the offensive issues were decisively addressed. Despite the Zips penchant for crippling late game offensive gaffes, the offense as-a-whole has been one of the best in what has become a very offense-oriented MAC.Offensive improvements -> 2007 to 2008Pass offense - From 11th to 6thPass efficiency - From 13th to 7thRush offense - From 11th to 4thFirst downs - From 12th to 4th4th down conversions - From 13th to 4thScoring offense - From 10th to 2ndTotal offense - From 12th to 4thThe Zips have improved from the bottom 1/3rd to the top 1/3rd in virtually every key offensive category. The O-line has been solid, the WR's drop-riddled yet explosive (a dramatic upgrade from Jabari and <insert journeyman here>), RB has been phenomenal despite losing Alex Allen and B Will from 2007. With 90% of the 2008 offense returning, Torrence, Martin and Allen in the backfield...2009 looks VERY promising. Defense? I'll save myself the agony of sifting through the past 10 years and focus on 2007 & 2008 -ZipsScoring Defense - From 7th to 10thPass Defense - From 7th to 8thRush Defense - From 7th to 11thTotal Defense - From 7th to 12thPass Defense Efficiency - From 6th to 12thOpponents 1st Downs - From 4th to 13thSacks by - From 10th to 12thOpponent 4th Down Conversions - From 1st to 13thThe Zips have regressed from the mediocre to pretty much rock-bottom in virtually every key defensive category. No individual Zip has more than 2 interceptions in 2008. By comparison, a one-legged John Mackey had 3 last season and Reggie Corner had 7.While I've been critical of Jacq's performance, specifically in crucial late-game situations…at least the guy comes through once in a blue moon. He, and the offense, have played well enough to win 7-8 games if our defense was 2007's edition.The defense has shown up…maybe once, if you count Army. You could even call the Cincinnati game "good." But overall, the D has been curb-stomped in 2008. And Zips fans are flat out tired of bad defense…Did we lose Ryan Bain in '08? Sure. And that hurt. But that doesn't let the D off the hook. Our talent of the defensive side of the ball should place us somewhere in the middle of the MAC. Yet year-in-year-out we can't get to the QB. Sacks seem to occur once-per-month? Bryan Williams is probably our best athlete on defense…a DB, he's got one INT? Against OU he had 0 solo tackles and 3 assisted tackles. That's it? That pretty much has been his stat line each game in '08. He's been invisible.Our defense makes ZERO key stops. Wreaks ZERO havoc on the opposing QB. And we can't get an interception to save our lives (due in large part to the lack of a pass rush).I look at 2009 and I see a lot of promise. On both sides of the ball. Offensively? That's already been discussed. Defensively? On the D line we return Sewell (Jr.), Lemon (Jr), Rash (So.), Marcoux (So.), Odofin (Jr), Stewart (So), Harvey (So), Hazime (So.), Pendleton (Sr), Shead (So.) and Marquinn Davis (So). I don't think it is too crazy to expect Bain (Sr) to be in the mix too. That's TWELVE D-linemen!! Switch to the 4-3!!! Hell, we could go with a 5-2! There's NO EXCUSE not to pressure the QB in '09!Losing Grant and Williams @ LB won't be a total killer. Thomas has been decent, and lots of young talent is ready to go in '09. Williams, Fobbs, Wagner, Schuler etc. Adding a stud JUCO LB wouldn't hurt either.The secondary? Jalil Carter rules. Guys like Kabir, Laube, Campbell, etc play well. Graham is returning. Waller looks promising and Jared Province, DaVon Moore (yes, the slow-healing DaVon Moore), and Byrd are ready to go in '09.In summary…because I'm running out of time…our team in 2009 is going to be very strong. IF we can assemble a decent defense. And if we can properly utilize those guys. THAT's where it seems the problems rested with this year's defense. Is it possible to expect Fleming to perform a defensive makeover similar to what happened with the offense 2007 -> 2008? Can our young, numerically deep DL improve on it's own, simply hitting the weights in the off-season and becoming a year older? I guess. But that's a big leap of faith for me. I would be shocked if both the 3-3-5 and Fleming return for 2008. Might a change cost us Will Fleming? Sure. But I could live with it. I can't live with the ball shoved down our throat week after week…of every opposing lame QB looking like an "All American" (credit to Frank Stamms)…of the Zips scoring 40 points, yet losing. JD ain't going anywhere. He shouldn't. His early recruiting debacles are behind him. He's got a ton of talent and a team that, on paper, should be a favorite to win the MAC East next season. But something needs to be done for this team to reach it's potential in 2009. They say "It's good for the foot soldiers to see a dead General every so often." Dumping the 3-3-5 is a great start. But a General may need to go too…tough off-season decisions for JD. Mack too. After the Temple game, I will be VERY interested to see how JD plans to address the defensive problems in 2009. Someone's going to ask that question, and demand an answer, right?

Watching the BG/OSU game last night...BG will be a tough match up for us too. Their big man Polk is a carbon copy of Pitt's Blair.

Hixson has an Engineering degree, earned within 4 years, while competing in D1 football. He's won a MAC championship and a Super Bowl. Cribbs lost a bunch of college games and spent his idle campus time bagging and distributing dope. "Josh's Cribbs" does seem like a really compelling TV show, however. Hixson in a landslide.

This guy is...but I'll skip it. Shalom, my Zippahs.

Is this a little reverse psychology Cap'n? Preparing yourself for the worst? Oh, I'm not saying this couldn't happen, but it's uncharacteristic of your predictions, that's all. Go Zips!Saw it comin' like a freight train.

Just returned from Pitt an hour ago. Thoughts on the game --* The Peterson Center is a beautiful facility. It is to the JAR what Macy's is to Big Lots. I really enjoyed it. But, since the court is 84' x 50' at both facilities, and the hoops are all 10ft high, it probably doesn't matter for the players. * The O for a sandwich, beer and fries prior to the game was great. Hit a place called "Fuel and Fuddle" afterwards and had a pretty good pizza. Nice beer selection too. Many places to eat within 4-5 blocks of the arena. * Pitt is a tough team. Great size inside, and long and athletic outside. A tough match-up for this year's Zips. It would have been fun to see what Wood and Travis could have done against them. I think Ced, Dials and Dru would have struggled.* Pitt's version of The AK-Rowdys was excellent. Great showing. Vocal and active the entire game. They showed up in big numbers for an OOC game. They also got a nice chunk of primo real estate at the game, netting about 65% of the lower arena seats.* Good to see Steward finally make a shot. Hopefully that gets him off the schnide. Ditto McNees, who made his first 3 in seemingly forever. Humpty played a good game considering the level of competition. * Brett McKnight was outstanding. Pitt had no answer for him. If he can bring it offensively like that during the MAC season, he'll be a LOAD. That'll open things up for everyone else.* Bardo pretty much got abused. He needs to be more aggressive, IMO. His goal should be 10 rebounds per game. Don't even think about scoring...just crash the boards 20 minutes/game.* Nikola was AWESOME. Period. Fought for, and got rebounds. Hit free throws. Nice touch inside. He's got to get 20+ minutes/game. * Chris McKnight needs to get into the offensive flow more too. KD said he needs to get both McKnights on the floot together more often. I agree. That's a great offensive 1-2. * Linhart was Linhart. Too bad we only have one of him. * Coaching? I thought we were as prepared as we could be. We stayed poised throughout the entire game and never became unraveled. We were just overmatched...which is to be expected from a team with 10 of it's top 13 players being Fr's and Soph's...who's competing against the #6 team in the nation.Will this team get better as the year progresses? I think so. I've seen bad Zips teams over the past two decades, and this edition is far from bad. I think 20 wins is possible. 25? No. But I think 20 is certainly achievable. Nice effort, Zips! More Cventinovic...more McKnight/McKnight combo...improved shooting from our guards...SOMEONE to pound the glass. That's what I want to see as we roll into December.

OU 38 UA 28Boo Williams pulls a Julian Edelman - runs for 228 yards and 3 TDs

Dude - We play in the MAC East. We play the dregs of D1 in Ken.t, OU, Temple, EMU, etc. every year. And BG and Buffalo aren't exactly "Florida" and "Texas." How many more cupcakes do you want? What decent D1 recruit wants to play his entire career against total garbage?At some point, if you are a Division 1 school, you need to compete against decent D1 teams. BTW - $750k for a days work in Happy Vally is a sweet deal. Especially considering the Big 10 is becoming more and more beatable every season (the days of losing 70-24 in such games is long gone).

Kelly didn't impress me vs. Akron. His swagger in thinking he could push UA all over the field nearly bit him in the a$$. He lucked out when is 40% FG kicker finally made one, and our "Anti-Captain Comeback" tossed the late game INT.I think Cinci was smart enough to put a multi-million dollar buyout clause, to be paid by Kelly's suitor should he leave, so Cinci will easily have the cash to find a quality coach.