Captain Kangaroo

Thanks for the updates, Ms. Bozeman! We all really appreciate them! Any truth to the rumor the McKeesport football asked Zeke to temporarily trade in his crown for a football helmet and block a late-game field goal? Keep in touch!

The Next Rick Upchurch?

Nick Davis and John Fink are...Spanky and PorkyJosh Dodge & Al "Tool Time" BorlandTyler Donahue & Dracula

Nice start! Their Link

There is only one real tailgate lot at The Rubber Bowl -- The parking area adjacent to the airport runway. Great atmosphere, and it will be jumpin' BIGTIME Saturday night. Below is a Rubber Bowl Parking map link:Rubber Bowl Parking MapTailgating is in the "General Parking" area. The closer you get to the mapped section marked "Tailgate Area," close to the stadium, the better. But be aware that "tailgate area" is a paved lot reserved for donors and is off-limits to the general public. It is usually empty until 2 minutes before kick off too.Directions? Take I-77 south to the 224 exit. Drive about 1-mile (on Rt 224) until you hit a stop light. Go left at the light.About 300 feet up the road you can take a left. Do it. DO NOT GO STRAIGHT. You'll shortly end up at the top of a hill facing the massive air dock. Go right (Derby Downs Rd?), down the hill and you're "there." Get there early if you want a good tailgate spot!Bars? There's a BW-3's on campus (keep in mind the Rubber Bowl is 7 miles off campus, and there are no real bars nearby). After that, there are several decent bars downtown. Ohio Brewing Co. and The Barley House are decent places and seem to support the Zips. Both are a stone's throw from Canal Park, on Main Street.

You're really reaching when you complain about your QB's late 4th-quarter touchdown pass that essentially won the game. You throw the ball where your WR can catch it and let him do his job. Daunte Culpepper made a career out of tossing balls "in the general vicinity" of Randy Moss. When a guy is covered like Bowser was, one-on-one, you toss it up high and let him make a play. I like Bowsers' chances to out-jump and out-fight ANY MAC cornerback.

Your "beer" quips are really cute. And, they are a great way to avoid substance. Stating it is OK to play OSU, but Penn State is TOTALLY different? That's great too. Especially if you qualify it with a "Duh."There's a reason GP1 has the tag line:"...you want it to be one way. But it's the other way." It's for you.

After you post something...you always thing of a couple things you should have mentioned...he're my three final notes --1.) Like many mentioned, Jalil Carter rules! Fast, aggressive. Man, where's he been? You gotta love Tyler Campbell's tenacity...but Carter plays at a whole different speed.2.) I don't think anyone mentioned Martin's decision to run out the clock in the 1st half with 1 minute to go and all three time outs remaining? K.e.n.t. was moving the ball with relative ease. If he just let Edelmann run it out of the shotgun a couple times they had a great chance of getting into scoring position. VERY conservative call. Playing not-to-lose...and they lost.3.) Of Akron's three wins thus far, all were on the road. I don't care who you're playing...winning 3-out-of-4 road games to begin the season is really impressive.OK, on to BG.

Tip of the Day -- Read posts prior to responding. It will save you valuable typing time. Previously explained -- Next -- Previously explained -- Saving you the math: 1/12 = 8.3%. You gotta explain to me how 8.3% is substantial. If it is indeed substantial, what is, oh say...50%? SUPER DUPER BIGGIE substantial? And also explain what percentage is considered not substantial (please remember you cannot play a fractional game...whole numbers only).BTW - If you want to give the Athletics Department the $500,000+ net it would lose by playing a CUSA team in lieu of a Penn State...I GUARANTEE you they'll take your money and schedule Middle Tennessee.

You're forgetting the real money-maker that was designed into the stadium plans: luxury suites. There of 15 of them, all sold out for at least the next three years, at $20,000 a piece. That's $300,000 a year, plus the hundreds of open-air loges that are available for inflated prices.I was surprised to see that people payed what they did for those seats, but if people are willing to pay then why not take advantage of that?They sold really quick. Hence I think they were sold too cheaply.

How does one loss cripple a football program? It doesn't. If any MAC program is worthy of a bowl game, it wins 6 or 7 of it's remaining 11 games. If you can't win 6 with a MAC East + average OOC schedule, you should be visiting family on Christmas, not preparing for a bowl.What value is placed on media exposure. How much national air-time did OU get as they crept closer and closer to an upset at Ohio State a few weeks ago? A TON. After our two competitive visits to Wisconsin, quite a few people gained respect and recognition for Akron Football who otherwise would be oblivious.If OU doesn't make a bowl game this year, it won't be because they lost to Ohio State, it will be because they lost to K.e.n.t. State. Or Akron. Or Buffalo. And when an OU grad interviews for a job in Pennsylvania this winter, and the interviewer sees "Ohio University" on his re'sume', he stands a good chance of a conversation-starter like "Hey, you guys gave Ohio State a good run this fall, didn't you?" arising.Play one game a year against an upper-tier BCS school. It's a no-brainer.

Just out of curiosity...how did Northern Illinois do against Tennessee this past weekend? How did the Zips do vs Ohio State last season, or against Wisconsin this season? How did OU do vs. Ohio State this season? How did Miami fare against Michigan? Etc, etc, etc.Truth is the MAC teams can compete very well against these teams. Even "down" MAC teams fare well (the Zips, OU, NIU and Miami in 2007-8 are hardly MAC juggernauts). And, no one gets injured any more than in any other game. And, we now get $800,000 per game which is a HELL of a lot of money for a MAC program. Money that the entire UA athletic department desperately needs.If we stand a 9-out-of-10 chance of losing a game to an upper-tier BCS school, who cares. The benefits FAR outweigh the negatives. Do we play more than one? No. But that's a moot point since Mack is already on record saying or future scheduling model will only consist of one upper-tier, BCS "money game."

Back in my day *insert old man voice here* I'd see all the players at The Townhouse after the game. The all got drunk. So did I. It was fun.If he's 21 he should have every right to get drunk on a Saturday night. And wake up at 1pm on Sunday and eat a box of Mac-n-Cheese. That's college.That said...don't announce it on the radio, you big dummy!

I'm as guilty and any fan in sometimes getting caught up in the little things and overlooking the big picture. I want to thank the Zips players and staff for beating K.e.n.t. State this past Saturday. I know this is a game you focused on for the past 370-or-so days and to come out on top is awesome! Congratulations to the AK-Rowdies, who had a MAJOR impact on the game, making noise and wreaking havoc from start to finish (no one left early)!Congrats to the UA fans who accounted for about 9,000 of whatever stadium attendance was announced!The Zips not only beat K.e.n.t., they demoralized them. On their home field. In front of a regional TV viewing audience. In front of about 9,000 Zips fans, and probably a good number of local recruits. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! :bow:Now go out and beat BG and get to 4-3, 1st place in the MAC East going into our "bye-month!"

When the McKeesport fans saw this parked outside the stadium prior to the game, they knew it was a pretty safe bet Zeke was going to be crowned Homecoming King!

I'm guessing the number is closer to $800,000. It is a bus trip (low expenses)...we need the money (we have a $61million stadium to pay off)...and we can be competitive with Penn State (35-16 to Penn State is no worse than 42-21 to Ball State). It is a no-brainer to play that game. I am just tired of how they rape you if you want to stay near campus.

Found this video of the ref exiting the stadium. It explains a lot...

Yeah, we're "Thug U."

I'm tired of Penn State's $800.00 hotels with the mandatory 2-night stay. 3 times is enough. I may skip the road trip to Penn State next year.

1.) Jack has 7 INT's in 2 MAC games. Seems like the teams that know us best are on to him? 2.) Despite 3 INT's...when the game was on the line, he made the TD pass to Bowser. And, when we needed 20-something yards to get into FG range after the botched Miller handoff in OT...he found Bowser down the middle for 20.3.) Having a crappy FG kicker will bite you in tight games. It bit us last week...it bit K.e.n.t. this week. From the lockerroom after the came came the yell (from JD) - "THE BOSNIAN IS BACK!!" He then tossed Igor a game ball.4.) I can live with Bowser's occasional drops. When you need a "money" catch, you throw it his way. 5.) As sure as the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west...as sure as Bryan Hipsher air-balls a 3...you can bank on K.e.n.t. choking. They had us beaten last season...they had us beat this season...and like Michael Huchence, they went into the locker room at halftime...grabbed 85 belts...collectively stood on the benches...slung the belts over the ceiling pipes...and began what has become known as "The Annual Portage County Gag." 6.) Great to hear Channel 5 didn't cut away from the game in the 2nd OT to show Jim Tressel's underwear being washed prior to the Wisconsin game.7.) Poor sad Record Courrier Douche Bag who got paid to sit through that game and write about it. Someone send him a card and flowers.8.) Our running game S-T-U-N-K. Kennedy remains the worst RB in UA history for as many career carries as he's received. Johnson better come back next week, or Torrence's redshirt better come off, because we can't finish off the season with Kennedy getting 20 carries for 32 yards the remainder of the season.9.) We had three successive 3-and-outs in the 4th quarter. Gained a total of 3 combined yards on 9 plays. HORRIBLE play calling. HORRIBLE. We regressed back to last season's sideways passes. 10.) I'm officially concerned about Bruce's hands. I figured I'd give him 5 games to acclimate from the year off, and the position change. He still drops too many easy catches. I want more Al Owen! BTW - Why was Bruce returning kicks instead of Jones?11.) The ever-erratic John Stec had a decent game. He's a much better kicker when he can just let it fly, than when he needs to finesse the ball. 12.) If Jack had Edelmann's feet, he'd be unstoppable. But he has Bernie Kosar's feet. Two of the left ones. If Matt Rodgers is remotely athletic, he needs to start getting a few snaps. 13.) The refurbished K.e.n.t. stadium is very nice. Great scoreboard. 2-dollar beers ain't so bad either. It's come a long way from 8 years ago with the rickety away bleachers. The concession lines - HORRIBLE. Very poorly prepared for a 18,000 person crowd.14.) Rowdies were awesome. Great to see the team give them some post-game love!15.) The game felt like the last minute of the Miami basketball game from 2 years ago...but that feeling lasted for an hour. Compelling as all hell.16.) BG can rack up points. But their defense sucks. And, they are a passing team rather than a running team. That bodes well for the Zips. Looking forward to a crazy Saturday night next week!

Tom Gaffney mentioned it in a column back in August. We made fun of a preseason rag here.

Funny story -- My buddy is a K.e.n.t grad. He bet 50 bucks on the Fl.ashes vs. Ball State last week. They were getting 21 points, and Love was out for BSU. K.e.n.t scores a late TD to make the score 41-20. They miss the extra point. Push. So remember, if the game comes down to a kick...their kicker stinks too.In 2006 the Zips were big-headed. And one-dimensional. If Getsy-to-Harvey worked, we scored. If not, we didn't. That's the way it was all season long. We can score in a lot more different ways in 2008 than 2006. And, I think our defense is comparatively better too.Missing Jarvis will hurt K.e.n.t. a lot more than our RB injuries hurt the Zips.The big questions this week:1.) Will Jacq believe in his OL enough to wait the extra second and hit Bowser and Jones deep, or will he rush his deep tosses like he has for the better part of the season? If he's patient, he can throw for 400+ and 4 TD's tomorrow.2.) Will JD quit going for the home run on 3rd/4th and short and just move the chains?If we win this game, I think we play for a MAC Championship vs. Ball State. If we lose it, I say we win 2 more games the remainder of the year, and swirl down the toilet. I don't say that because of the mental impact of a loss...I say it because losing to Ke.n.t. would mean we're a really bad football team. We aren't. We're actually pretty good, and will win easily.Zips 42K.e.n.t. 20

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