Captain Kangaroo

I am told several high profile recruits remain highly interested in playing their collegiate careers at Infocision Stadium beginning in 2009. Beyond that, a few new names can be added to the Zips 2009 verbal list today, which already contains Blake Fraley, WR Dee Frieson, RB Randy Greenwood and WR Nolan Proctor. # 5) Broderick Alexander now 6' 3" and 215 lbs. From Eastside HS in Atlanta.RB/LB, but Recruited as an "Athlete"113 yards on 5 carriesTD runs of 45, 30, 16 and 3 yards…in the 1st half#6) Anthony Merriweather - WR Midpark HS, Berea 6' 2", 190 lbsSome stats (not much info on him yet)#7) Grant Williams - Ballard HS, Kentucky TE 6' 4", 200 lbsRivals Bio#8) Pierre Carr - Peabody HS, Pennsylvania 5' 10", 190 lbsHe won the PIAA Class AAA 100-meter dash championship in June '08 (as a Jr.)Small Rivals BioLike a FerrariMore info will follow as it flows in!

When Graham transferred from the JUCO I thought he had 3 years (he was in the 2007 class) of eligibility. He transferred after playing only 1 season of JUCO ball.

The REAL stuff!!?? Wow! Can't wait!

Only Buchtel Field? For a 30,000 seat stadium they'd limit tailgating to that small area? They couldn't POSSIBLY screw it up this bad. I hope you are misinformed.

If he's like Cobrani Mixon, he's transferring to K.e.n.t. due to multiple arrests.K.e.n.t. football can recruit whomever they'd like...when it comes down to brass tacks...they all are chokers. If they weren't chokers in HS, K.e.n.t.'s football program molds them into chokers in their years 18-23. By the time they graduate in 4-5 years, they have a Doctorate in choking.

Anywhere within a 50ft radius of my truck. I know the subject of tailgating is heating up on campus now that Opening Day is only 10 months away. From what I understand, the goal of those "sane" at the University is to have open tailgating in any University lot. This makes the most sense. Limiting tailgating ("tailgating" being defined as a place where you can cook food and have beer in a Solo cup without fear of being arrested) to a confined area(s) would be lame. The more people that want to come on campus and enjoy a Saturday, the better. Hassling them will be an irreversable buzzkill that will deter folks from returning after the stadium honeymoon is over.I've been to scores of college game days throughout the United States. The ONLY ones that have butchered tailgating are Youngstown State and K.e.n.t. YSU severely limited their "tailgate" (see definition above) lots, and charged an inflated price to utilize them. K.e.n.t. arrested their alumni for a couple years in their tailgate lots. I know of several K.e.n.t. fans that used to attend Can't State's homecoming religiously, and who since have sworn to never return to the campus. Having attended the UA/K.e.n.t. game last month, I can say even K.e.n.t.'s administration was smart enough to call off their tailgate Gestapo and let responsible people enjoy their game day. Good for them. YSU? Beats me. I haven't been to a game in about 6 years (went with my mom, who's a YSU alum).I'm sure there will be an elderly UA trustee or two that will fight having open containers on campus 6 days per year. Hopefully someone overrules such narrow-minded clowns. Pretty much every college in North America lets their fans tailgate. Zips fans can handle themselves just as well as tailgating fans from any other region of the United States. Probably better (if we beat Buffalo, I don't see any of us overturning cars on Exchange).

You missed the point entirely, while also making convenient assumptions on very competitive potential match ups.The point was that we would be competitive with a "Big East" schedule. Pitt's 2008 schedule is hardly daunting. Racking up Rutgers & Navy as sure losses is laughable. Navy is no better than Temple, as proven on the field. And 2008 Rutgers is bad. Beyond that, while we lost to BG and Cincinnati, we gave them those games. We didn't lose by 30. Could we be 3-9 with that 2008 schedule? Sure. We could just as easily be 7-5. Would Infocision be fuller with home games vs. Louisville, WVA, Syracuse, South Fla, etc than EMU, Toledo, Northern Illinois, Miami Oh, etc. Yes. By a mile.Would the Zips get a better student athlete with the backing of a Big East logo on their jerseys? Yes.Would the administration step up to the plate and spend what it needed to spend to be competitive in the Big East? Probably not.

The Original Hotdog Shop is only a couple blocks from the arena and has awesome food and beer. If you don't want to see my ugly mug there, here are some other local spots to check out.

STUDYNote - Although they look like girls, they are, in fact, hippies.

Thank God the concept was killed. I felt so bad for those Howard kids...they had no business being on a D1-A field. Yeah, their band was great and the majorettes were cute. If I want to see Howard's majorettes or band I'll make my own road trip. That game was as brutal a beatdown as I've ever witnessed. My college intramural team would have put up a more respectable effort...against Auburn!Anyone remember, after Sekai Greer (or was it Ty Washington) fumbled inside the 10 yard line trying to punch in that final, 9th TD? We recovered...Owens then pulled Hendry (starter) off the bench to seal the deal. Owens just LOVED to pound 1-AA schools. One of MY fondest Rubber Bowl memories was Owens pulling the on-side kick against Liberty when we were up 41-14.Pound those Baptists, Lee!!

Note to ZipsNation - If ANYONE starts an "Opponent Look-alike" thread this week, they receive a lifetime ban!

I remember in one of Huggins' 20-win seasons...I believe it was 1985-6 when we went to the NCAA's...we played Hiram. We won something like 53-52. I think there were two kids on Hiram's roster from Windham named Fabry that went off for a bunch of 3's. A game like this is the Super Bowl for an NAIA or D-3 school. You always get their best shot. And if they're a solid program, they can make a good run at you. Certainly a good wake-up call for the Zips.

Nate Robinson was the top rated DL in the NATION his HS senior year. Ryan Bain was a 4 star DL his senior year. It never hurts to build a relationship with an upper-tier HS senior. You never know when their primary choice doesn't work out and they might decide to transfer.Note - I'm not saying Robinson or Bain have been difference-makers at UA. Only that they were 4-star, elite DL recruits that have been, or are on the Zips' roster. Dale Martin is another 4-star (RB) presently on the roster.

Annual Win vs. Arch Rival Secured for the Foreseable FutureI like how the blame for the UA loss is placed on his kicker. It would be heartening to see a quote from the K.e.n.t. kicker, something like:"Look, I'm tired of this douche blaming his losses on the players. Players come and players go. The one thing consistent over the past several seasons is Doug Martin. And, sub-.500 records. Hell, sub .300! Take away wins against Delaware State every year and who do we beat? No one. Who recruits these clowns on my team that fumble punts in the final 2-minutes of a game? It ain't the kicker, I'll tell you that!Who had 1 minute to go in the 1st half of the Akron game, had 3 time outs, and sat on the freaking ball allowing the clock to run out. Take Julian Edelman off this team and we don't win a single game. I don't care who reads this...I'll take it to the coach's office and pin it on his damn door myself. We're the freaking Washington Generals of the MAC."

Let's take a look at Pitt's 2008 schedule and see how competitive the Zips would be:Date / Opponent / Competitve?Aug. 30 Bowling Green - Highly Sept. 6 Buffalo - Highly Sept. 20 Iowa - Low-moderateSept. 27 at Syracuse - HighlyOct. 2 (Thurs.) at USF - Low-moderate Oct. 18 at Navy - HighlyOct. 25 Rutgers - HighlyNov. 1 at Notre Dame - Medium-high Nov. 8 Louisville - HighlyNov. 22 at Cincinnati - HighlyNov. 28 (Fri.) West Virginia - Medium-highDec. 6 at Connecticut - Medium-highJust for kicks: vs. Pitt = Highly CompetitiveI think Zipboy's observation is correct. If we played a typical Big East schedule in 2008, we'd be on course for a .500 season. We'd be competitive in every game. USF is a bad matchup because of their speed. Iowa would likely wear us down with their depth and strength. Other than that we'd be fine.

Screw that. This is KD's 5th season and we're 3 points better than an NAIA team? We need to get rid of our coaching staff and find some retread coach who failed as a BCS school. We also need to strongly consider dropping back to the NAIA level where we can be competitive. Is it too late to do this for the 2008-9 season? We also need to get the "money games" (ie. Pitt) off our schedule. They are unwinnable, and kill our chances for any at-large tourney berths. Anyone who thinks this is overreacting is a fool. We need to make changes NOW! The Germans started with France. The Russians started with Czechoslovakia. I'm telling you we need to react NOW!Until we win a game or two. Then we need to extend the coach's contract, and begin membership negotiations with a "major" conference.Sincerely,The Football Board

I couldn't agree more. Can't we ever just blow out a team? First Can't, then BG, now Toledo. This whole team needs to learn how to finish a game without giving their fans a heart attack.I guess the only positive for the defense was that they came up big when we needed them to.I'm not sure what you people want. Last night the game was a blow out. I can't believe any of you expected Toledo to come here, lay down and get beat by 50. Toledo is a not good right now, but they have traditionally played good and they showed some pride in themselves last night. They could have easily layed down but they didn't.Toledo only outplayed UofA for about a quarter between the middle of the second and the middle of the third. Other than that, UofA had the game in hand.I realize winning is strange to a lot of you as you are also Browns fans, but last night the Zips played great. They are not perfect. Jacq looked very good, DK ran great, the offensive line is blocking their asses off, the coaches made good adjustments to turn the tide late in the third quarter, they had a special teams score (twice), they had some really good kick returns, they were well prepared for the game, there were no high snaps, they had an interception and the defense produced some three and outs early that resulted in a quick lead.I was hoping to log onto this board this morning and see some celebrating. Instead, I see the same old sad sacking and general nothingness because most of you were just dying for this team to lay an egg this season so we could go through five more years of building. We should be celebrating. Snap out of it you guys. This is a good team with a chance to take what in reality would be a two game lead in the MAC East next week. Try to enjoy.I'll close by saying this to the team and coaches. Great job!TESTIFY, Brother GP1!Great job Zips!47 - 30...over Toledo!

If I were to put my finger on one aspect of Lee Owens tenure that I thought "man, he did that better than anyone else"...it would have to be that counter-trap play. We ran that thing all the time...and it gained big yards every time. Rooney...McCray...Culler...it didn't matter. Nebraska...Eastern Michigan...it worked against everyone.It wasn't interesting enough to make me go watch Ashland football...but it was fun to watch in it's time.

Buffalo-ians Feeling Good About Themselves

Jamie Reader Gets $10k for Monessen

Buffalo looked very good. Willy is a solid QB. His arm isn't the strongest, but he is accurate. He's also pretty elusive, and QB's with good feet always give us fits. Defensively - Buffalo is going to give up some points...but they hit hard. This game was a HUGE step up from last week's Temple/OU pillow fight. It was like watching a real D1 football game. Miami is a s-l-o-w team. Offensively and defensively. Simply put - they need to recruit better players. Their schemes were fine...but players make plays.

I'll be there, probably pulling into the lot around around 4:30pm. I believe the lovely Mercedes takes the stage at 5pm, so I should be in good shape.Zips 42 Toledo 39Igor does his Alcorn impersonation, hitting a 56 yarder at the final gun. To set up the play, the Zips take the ball to the 29 yard line. We have 12 men in the huddle, so it moves back to the 34. A subsequent false start moves it back to the 39...then Igor works his Voodoo Magic!Johnnyzip84 relives his youth...rushes the field...trips over some stadium rubble, and breaks his hip. Alex Allen lends him a crutch.

If Anything, a Fair Assessment

You can do both.

Just curious if anyone here has any "voodoo" to help the Zips get off the snide and win a home football game? Was it enough to simply quit doing to "Separated at Birth/Look-alike" threads? Or is more required for a home win? Lucky underwear? Rabbit's foot? The picture below is reportedly (unconfirmed) from the early 90's, in the Townhouse Bar basement, where GP1 took one for the team and ended one of Coach Faust's legendary slumps. Would you take one for the team?