Captain Kangaroo

Cracked ribs suck. It hurts just to breathe, and don't even THINK about sneezing. Hopefully it is something less severe.

"Hard words from a hard man."

Jacquemain couldn't hold Butchie or Charlie's jock strap. He's better than Gromek, Gill, Fahler or any of the other Owens QB's, if that's worth anything? I don't think it is.JD has made his share of recruiting mistakes at the QB position. Luke won us a championship, but having him for only 2 seasons was a risk. We could have gone for a "stud" HS QB and had him for 3+ season to build upon. With Luke in the fold, we couldn't recruit a decent QB for two seasons. No HS kid wanted to sit for multiple seasons with no chance to start.JD miscalculated on Carlton Jackson.JD has a serviceable QB in Jacquemain, but he's been a 4+ year project to achieve "serviceable" status. On his best days "he manages the game." On his worst days, he loses the game. You don't win in the MAC with that type of QB. You win 5 or 6 games.

I think the basketball team has done a nice job of beating the teams they should beat over the past 4 years. They've just struggled to get over the hump and beat the teams they shouldn't (ranked opponents like Pitt, Creighton, Nevada, Dayton, etc). And, to win a championship. Beating Eastern Michigan or Urbana? No problem.

Umm... yes because it would mean that he recruited a capable player that was actually eligible.Some of these defenses of JD are getting ridiculous.I feel the same way about the "pro-Owens" guys that make up mythical graduation rates on Owens' behalf. Like anyone with 30 free seconds can't look up how Lee's classes really ended up.Note: 2001 was one of Lee's later classes (7th). Not his 2nd or 3rd.Thankfully for Lee, the NCAA scholarship penalties for not being on track for graduation weren't instituted until he left.

K.e.n.t. vs. Kansas @ 9pm on ESPNU.K.e.n.t. looks to be having the best OOC performance of the MAC programs thusfar.

While no one can deny the strides he made in 2008 vs. 2007, he's going to be a 5th year senior next year. I don't know how much improvement he's got left in him. I wish he threw like this in his Sophomore season. Then I'd be more apt to believe.It is a big leap of faith for me to believe he can be a clutch performer in 2009. His mechanics are solid, but when the game is on the line, he turns the ball over...and over...and over.

In all four MAC East losses (OU, Temple, Buffalo and BG), we were either tied, or leading in the 4th quarter.When you have a jittery QB and a porous defense you tend to lose close ones. JD needs to address that in the off-season. If we had Nate Davis at QB, the Zips would have been 5-0 in the MAC East. We wouldn't have lost any of those in the 4th quarter. Would that have made JD a better coach?

My grandparents were originally from Wilkinsburg, then moved to Butler once they got married. My grandfather was a pretty good athlete back-in-the-day, and got a basketball scholarship to IUP. Prior to WWII he played in the Pittsburgh Industrial Leagues, which were pretty much the NBA of that era. He was always a huge sports fan, especially when it came to WPIAL football and college sports. He'd have LOVED following Zeke's career.He also pretty much adopted whatever college his kids and grandkids attended. My Aunt went to Maryland, Uncle to the Naval Academy, mom to Youngstown State, me to UA, my cousin to Drexel. Any time we visited, and this was pre-internet era, the guy could talk as intelligently about any of those programs as their biggest "local" fans. He was a great guy and a huge influence on me.Where am I going with this? When I was at UA (84 - 89) he would mail me any related UA athletics clippings that appeared in the Post Gazette. My favorite time of year was the announcement of the "Fabulous 22." UA would always have a few recruits on the team, and he'd send me the list along with his hand-written notes regarding which ones he thought were the better players. Even then, I always had the "inside scoop" on Zips recruiting! I think there was also a "Fantastic 44" list from another paper (maybe the Tribune?). I always like when the Fabulous 22 list comes out. Brings back good memories for me. (me and my grandfather sharing a beer and talking sports).

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.