Captain Kangaroo

MAC "Power Rankings"

From another thread, but I stand by it:And against Army, you can "manage the game" and win. Against Cincinnati, if Jacq "manages the game," we'll lose. He needs to make plays. Otherwise, it is Ball State Part 2.The big plays are there to be made. Jones and Bowser will be open. Jacq can't miss. If Jacq is a step slow, you'll see a lot of tipped INT's. He is also at his worst when scrambling. The OL needs to continue it's solid play. Once Jacq is flushed from the pocket, INT's and fumbles are inevitable.When we played at Cinci 2 years ago Getsy had two 1st quarter TD strikes to Harvey...then I don't think we gained a combined 25 yards for the next 3 quarters! The staff needs to figure out a way to move the ball for 4 complete quarters.The defense needs to improve from it's bend-but-don't break scheme, to one that starts wreaking a little havoc. We need turnovers. The defensive staff now has 4 game tapes to review and see who can make plays. They need to play the best guys. Not the oldest.

John McKay, here are a few othersGood stuff. Here is another you will appreciate. Chuck Noll was asked during his first year with the Steelers what he thought of his players and he said something like...."The bad news is we are not very good. The good news is half of these guys won't be here next year."Here's one from The Simpsons:Homer changed his name to Max Power (got the idea from a blow dryer).Homer: "There are three ways to do things...the right way...the wrong way...and the Max Power way."Lisa: "Isn't the Max Power way the same as the wrong way?"Homer: "Yes, but faster!"I think of that one every time Rogovic line-drives a kickoff. Same result as Igor, but faster.

It is a fine line to walk between letting the starter know that if he screws up repeatedly, there's someone waiting to take his spot. And...ruining his confidence by having him look over his shoulder every time he makes a mistake (insert the second Dan Hipsher reference of the thread here).I just want to win. And against Army, you can "manage the game" and win. Against Cincinnati, if Jacq "manages the game," we'll lose. He needs to make plays. Otherwise, it is Ball State Part 2.The big plays are there to be made. Jones and Bowser will be open. And Jacq can wreak serious havoc if he consistently hits them in the numbers.

1.) Beautiful day for a game. The endzone seats were in the shade...about 70 degrees and shady the entire game. Perfect.2.) Beautiful campus and tailgate area. After sifting through a bunch of misinformation from a local policeman the evening prior, I called the Army ticket office and got the lowdown on the best tailgate lot. It was a great place down in the valley alongside the Hudson. Absolutely perfect. The only downside to the area...like all West Point parking areas...was the fact you needed bussed to the stadium. There was no parking within a mile of the place. 3.) Met some great people in the tailgate lot. Met a few Zips fans after the game, but only one prior. He was living in New York, but attended UA about 10 years ago. Also ran into SoFlaZip in the 4th quarter. Always a treat!4.) I thought Jack had his second consecutive poor outing. His stats didn't look terrible, but he should have had double whatever he ended up with. 5.) Poindexter and Bruce do not appear to need flu shots this fall since they can't catch anything. I want to see more Al Owen next week!6.) Another good outing by the OL. 7.) We've returned to the * Set up* Pause* Look to the sidelines* Reset* Snap the ball I HATE that. And, it wasn't effective. 8.) I would like to see Matt Rogers get a series or two. I don't know if he's any good, but I do know our receivers and OL are. If he's at all capable, he should be able to move the ball.9.) Second week in a row Jack put the ball on the turf while scrambling. 10.) Four DL's for most of the game??!! Holy hell!! The results were mixed, but I am ecstatic to finally see some flexibility. 11.) Waller and Byrd got time at DB, and Waller made a nice break for his INT. 12.) Aaron Williams made a great TFL slicing through the Army OL during the second half. He looks like a playmaker. I want to see more of him.13.) Igor pouting since he was removed from kickoff duties? He seemed to right the ship, so hopefully it was just a hiccup.14.) Stec was bad yet again. I don't care what his average was...his punts were lousy. BTW - With a limited 65 person travel roster, why do we bring two kickers and two punters? 15.) We did miss Alex Allen in the red zone. He would have dominated Saturday. But Johnson and Kennedy should be good enough. Tuzze reeled off some good chunks of yardage late in the game too.16.) We need to score 42 points to beat Cincinnati. That means we need an almost-flawless offensive performance. We need to be the aggressor offensively. Defensively -- Stay in the 4-man front and hope for the best. If we play solid football, we can beat just about anyone on our schedule. I couldn't say that last season. Let's see if the players and staff can put together a solid game plan and execute it vs. Cinci.

Try walmart, Kohls, steve & barry's, the University Book Stores. It's not as hard to find now-a-days. So sorry they have no excuse.Call me crazy, but shouldn't a University employee walk across the street the OBC and say "How many shirts do you need, and what size?" Then, about 25 minutes later, walk in and say "Here are "X" shirts, free of charge. All we ask is that you wear them on game day. Thanks for your support."Then walk out the door, into the sunset.

Arrived at about 3:30pm. We're about 10 miles outside of West Point. We tried to check out the stadium, but unless it is gameday, you apparently can't enter campus? Also, it seems like the close, primo lots are all reserved? We located a lot about 1 mile away. I guess the shuttle you to the stadium?Different environment than a traditional campus, that's for sure.Bought some Ommegang Abbey Ale and Blue Point Toasted Lager for the tailgate...but who knows what the tailgate will entail? Flying pretty blind on this roadie, that's for sure.BTW - Guy at the beer store recognized my Akron shirt and reeled off Vic Green, Jason Taylor, Hixson and Blackburn's names. Seems like the Zips are more well known in Eastern NY than I'd have expected?

Thanks!And you're right...3rd and 5 and the receivers are covered downfield, seems like Jacq defaults to risky/bad passes rather than running up the wide-open middle and moving the chains. Hope he continues to learn and improve.

Improvement? Hell, they've "built a program!"Funny when JD wins 4 or 5 games they call for his head. An opponent wins 4, and "they've built a program." Sub-.500 forever...no championships forever...these guys are true program-builders.

They haven't won squat either. What were Temple and Buffalo's records last year? The year before?

I'm guessing we'll have a 15-20 person tailgate. This is your last chance to PM me if you want to join "Zips City" on the bank of the beautiful Hudson River!

I've said this many times...I will say it again...Winning at UA is not easy. If it were, Faust would have won something in his 9 years. Owens would have won something in his 9 years. But they didn't.JD came into the UA job with a different approach. He wanted big, strong, BCS-level athletes. He forgot one thing...they needed to pass classes to see the field. That miscalculation was his fault. But it was also the University's fault. The academic support at UA was terrible 3-4 years ago. At BCS schools, student athletes who struggle with the books get such a helping hand it is ridiculous. At UA, these kids were on their own. Nice combination...at-risk kid + no support. Here is where Mack Rhoades needs to earn his paycheck --JD changed his recruiting strategy. You can see it already. The 2007 class is 95% in-tact. The 2008 class is on the roster, as it was in February (LOI day). That's in stark contrast to 2005 and 2006.Mack needs to sift through the effects of JD's early decisions + the University's athletic & academic support effects, and take a hard look at the direction of the program TODAY. Are the kids that are here NOW, on-track? Are the kids that are here NOW solid D-1 athletes? In my opinion, you get a mulligan or two at UA that you wouldn't get at BCS schools. At Alabama, Notre Dame, Florida...those schools are "machines," where tradition, history, support, income...all that is stacked to the ceiling when you step in the door. If you can't win in 4-5 years, you're gone. It's on the coach. 100%. At UA, you gotta figure out a situation that BCS coaches would NEVER need to deal with. A situation that the last two coaches couldn't figure out in 9 years (each). It ain't easy.I give JD until the end of 2008 to see how things play out. That's a full 5 seasons to gauge the program's direction (not the 2008 record, the program's direction). And unless there's a train wreck of a 2008, with 4-or-less wins and a loss to pathetic K.e.n.t, I'm guessing Mack give JD a short extension. In such a scenario, he should. But it should be made clear -- JD's has used his mulligans. It is time to show clear progress.I think JD's figured things out. Unfortunately, there's no single player or recruiting class that can change a program's fortunes overnight. It takes time @ UA. More than 5 years...but not 9.

Akron 48Army 20This should be the one game our defense can hold a team below 28 points.

We all know you hate JD. Give it a rest.

For the last time...F-O-R-G-E-T about Bain! Maybe by some miracle he finishes the season, but asking about him this week or next week...or the week after is a waste of your time. He's O-U-T. Ryan Bain...the DaVon Moore of 2008.

I voted "better." The difference in offense between now, and last season is unreal. OL is solid. We have three solid WR's for the first time since Sparks, Irvin and Cherry. RB is 3-deep. Jacq has exceeded expectations. Hell...go back two years...our offense was basically Getsy-to-Harvey. We had no running game of note, and if opponents took Harvey away, they shut us down.Defense is below expectations. Is it because of the 3-3-5? Or because four DL's who should be in our 6-man 2-deep have a combined one game played (Bain - 0, Lively - 0, Odefin - 0, Stewart - 1). How would Lee Owens swiss cheese defenses have fared if he lost Gargaz, Shultz, Hayes and Lefall simultaneously? Consider that horror story for a few minutes.If SOMEHOW we can find a way to stop the run and get even a little pressure on the opposing QB, this team will win 7 games. Oh yeah...CJ11 needs to play within himself too. When he tries to do too much, it kills our offense. And we need to score 28/game if we're to overcome our defensive deficiencies.

I will be there. PM me if you'd like to exchange cell numbers. I know of a few other Zips fans attending, so we could have a decent tailgate party Saturday morning?Hopefully some other fans and player parents join us. If you'll be there and want to join the Zips party, please PM me and I'll organize it. I know a lot of parents check out the board, but elect not to post. Take 30 seconds to sign up on ZipsNation. PM me if you want to hook-up. You never need to post, and there's no "catch." No spam emails. No nuthin'. Just a quality tailgate party this coming Saturday.

I expect "instant." Unless the University does something so profoundly stupid that it defies logic...like outlawing tailgating w/alcohol and arresting those customers who aren't eating University supplied cookies and milk...the new stadium will be a monster hit in year #1. The University has one chance to make a 1st impression with the Akron public and students in 2009. DON'T BLOW IT!!"Lasting?" That will take effort. At least to consistently be at 20k+. A real, butts-in-the-seats 20k too, not the fabricated numbers we see in the paper all the time.If we have sub-.500 teams, attendance will struggle after about 2 seasons. That's not unique to Akron, that's a universal constant. It is imperative we are competitive if we want to pay off those stadium bonds.

Click for Black Knight Banter

One thing I forgot to mention -- I saw that K.e.n.t. had to resort to fake FG's to beat lower 1-AA Delaware State. That's terrible. Lee Owens used to pull the same stunts, but only after we were up 41-14. He didn't need to do it to win the game.

Column The column lists our attendance @ 16,000 for the past two seasons. If we have a brand-spanking new $60 million dollar stadium...have our home opener vs. Indiana, + home vs. K.e.n.t, both of which will be GUARANTEED 30,000 SRO...there's no way on God's green earth we should average 20,000!! Only 4k more than at the Rubber Bowl!!?? That's lower than the most low-aiming expectation I could have expected to see in my worst nightmare.I expect 25k. Anything less is unacceptable.

From above:

Always great to read a Zipboy overview!My overview...and I have 10 minutes to type so forgive the errors...The low attendance was to be expected. What a freaking miserable morning/early afternoon. At least it was warm. If you expected more fans...based upon the torrential downpours and the mass of orange and red on the radar, well... you just aren't realistic (how's that for being politically correct?).This Davis is good, he'll play in the NFL, and he and Love are a great combo...but I'd take his brother Jose' w/Eugene Baker any day. Jacq's performance brought back memories of his bad decision-making of 2007. But, only sporadically. He had to play a near-perfect game to outscore Davis & Co. and he didn't do it. But the drops and tipped INT's were as much the WR's fault as they were his. The passes were typically errant...a little high, a little behind...but the WR's still had their hands on the ball. Bruce, Miller, Poindexter...the all dropped very important balls that could have put points on the board and sustained drives.Ball State was a lot like us...good offense and poor defense. The difference was -- They took advantage of mistakes and had playmakers. The Zips never had someone step up and make a big, game changing play on either side of the ball. At lease positive, game-changing plays.Ball State circa 2007 is where we are now. They have a swagger, experience and confidence that comes from having a bowl team in 2007. If we can somehow get a manageable semblance of a defense this year, a bowl remains a distinct possibility. Can Fleming do that? Because I'm a fan, I'll remain hopeful. BTW - I overheard that Bain is done for 2008. Unofficial, but from a pretty reliable source.If Alex Allen plays this week @ Army, I give him my "Paul Pierce Award."Please tell me this is the last I've seen of Branko Rogovic.Stec was terrible. In a game where we really needed to pin BSU deep...and had ample opportunities...he was shanking balls and kickin 'em into the endzone. We really wasted some great kickoff returns.Bowser continues to shine. Man, he has some hands.If I'm Army...and the Zips are at my 20 yard line, I'm watching Andre Jones in the right corner of the endzone. And sending a safety to help my CB. That's 2 games in a row Jacq has put that one on the money. Pretty play.The OL did a really nice job again.Teams rarely stay the same during a season. They either get better or regress. I think this Zips team has a ton of upside. And I agree with Zipboy that the body language on the sidelines is worlds better than the past few years. It is very positive. This sounds like a stupid point, but in the past few years you really wondered if half the team cared whether it won or lost.Can we try a few of our reserve OL's at DL?I hope Gary Pride gets some snaps this week. If Alex is out, he should.I predict Bruce gets a 50+ yard TD reception this week.I'll be at West Point. Not the market, the city.

Another Orange Squeezing

That's an absolute classic. What was Owens record in his 8th year at UA? I forget. Can someone help me here?