Captain Kangaroo

He is enrolled at UA.

Not being too heavy here -- I think it is best to avoid the May 4th smack. It doesn't reflect well on us.K.e.n.t. gives all of us so very many opportunities to laugh each and every day, we don't need to go "there."Hope that makes sense.

Guys...you just have to accept that if K.e.n.t. Fan wants to sit at his computer and vote against Zippy, there's really nothing you can do to stop it. "Oh Zippy, how you vex me!!"

80% of the recruit's status' are pretty cut-n-dry. Others...like this guy or Vince Hill...change(d) like the wind.

It will be interesting to see what game plan is unveiled for the Bronco's game this Saturday. One train of thought is that JD has played his cards close to the vest offensively thus far. Ok...that's no revelation. But what is unknown is what does the guy have up his sleeve?We've gone on the road against two Big 10 teams and an undefeated Big East team. And we've done so with totally inexperienced QBs, total inexperience @ starting RB (Kennedy is now 3rd string)...total inexperience at WR anywhere beneath Jabari...an OL 2-deep that's about 80% new...with all the new faces it is pretty obvious that it would be suicide to institute some highly complex play calling. Unless...you really dig fumbles, sacks and INT's. Last season we had a lot of seniors and some solid offensive fire power. It was a good year to go for broke and win a BCS game. This season, I have to believe beating decent BCS teams just wasn't in the cards. And the staff knew complex offensive schemes would only have led to some severe beat-downs....which would lead to a demoralized team...which leads to a train-wreck season. Our best chance at a bowl in 2007 was to survive the BCS games, improve every week, and start hitting our stride during the MAC season.If this theory is true, and JD has been spoon-feeding his young offense, this is the week these kids start eating "solid food." The baby formula is in the garbage. How long will CJ11 last at QB vs. the Broncos? He played "ok" at UConn. But as a fans, you wonder if he has the skills to ever be better than just "ok." He is a better running QB than he's shown thus far. But his indecision on game day has led to WAY too many sacks. Will the staff let the guy make more than 1 throw into the endzone per game? Hell...is he allowed to throw forward? It is time to take at least one of the shackles off CJ11 and let him play a bit. I'll take an INT here and there if we're trying to score and keep a defense honest.CJ7 is clearly the better playmaker QB. He's beaten K.e.n.t., which ain't too shabby. And he did so playing a pretty poor game. He throws the best deep ball of our present QB's. But he's acting like Allen Iverson. And it appears JD has drawn a line in the sand regarding missed practices and punctuality. Does CJ 7 want to be the next Nate Robinson? Or the next Butchie Washington? I'm all for letting him rot on the bench until he decides winning football games on Saturday's is important. Seeing how Indiana's QB tore WMU a new a-hole a few weeks ago, a mentally prepared CJ7 probably could have had a monster game in Kalamazoo. Oh well.The TE position seems to have fallen off the radar receiving-wise. But the blocking has been more than adequate. Overall, the OL seems to have improved with each game. Alex Allen and Bryan Williams are improving with each game. Jabari is playing great. I like the direction our offense is heading...I just wish it were heading that direction a lot faster.Western Michigan has shown they've got a very porous defense. You think giving up 44 to UConn is bad, try allowing Missouri to put up 52, or WVU posting a 62-spot on you. Or losing to Indiana 31-7 (garbage time points made the score a seemingly respectable 38-24) IN KALAMAZOO. The Zips offense has no excuse this week. WMU is a MAC opponent with a bad defense. It is time the Zips break out.WMU can score...they put up 42 on Toledo last week. But in this game, our offense should give the D sufficient rest to play a full 4 quarters.Zips 27 WMU 24

Heart set on Penn State, but He's Injured

The Browns? That's flat-out mean! What did Dominick ever do to you to deserve that?

A lot of you have already some nice post-game summaries. I'll list my thoughts here, from the perspective of having personally sat through the game:Pre-gameI flew in to Hartford on Friday. The stadium is a solid 30-40 minutes from the Storrs campus. From what I understand the State wanted the stadium near Hartford to allow the big insurance companies (and others) to entertain clients. The long drive to the stadium didn't deter many students from attending. The place was full to about 94% of capacity.I stayed about 6 miles from the center of campus. It was a good choice. The college environment beats a city environment any time. When we arrived we were pretty hungry so we went to an off-campus hole-in-the-wall pizza shop cammed "Mama's Pizza." As soon as I walked in the door in my Zips-logo gear, the owner spotted me and started talking about the game. He knew our defense was highly rated...that we played OSU tough...I thought that was pretty impressive. The guy also owned a local sports bar and gave me a couple passes (they had a band playing that night). Very nice hospitality overall around campus. Met some good people.Game DayVERY impressed with the tailgating environment. Tons of people with tents, grills etc. I can describe it like our own Rubber Bowl "fence row," but multiplied by 100. The weather was great...you couldn't beat it. The "local" micro brew beer I selected was a "sample" 12-pack from Magic Hat Brewing Company. Man, one beer sucked worse than the next! Thank God I had a few other local beers that came in 22 oz bottles. The name of the brewery escapes me, but they were EXCELLENT. I also had a beer from Otter Creek Brewing called Otter Roo? It was ok, no need to fear that roo. I could locate no other Zips in the tailgate lot.GameNot too many Zips fans in attendance. I'd guess no more than 75 combined? I ran some good smack with a group of students in a near by section...until the 3rd quarter. Then I endured a Rodney King-esque beating.The weather was pretty hot. On the field, I'd guess it was over 80 degrees. I think that, coupled with our offensive problems, coupled with playing K.e.n.t plus two Big 10 schools prior...took it's toll on our D in the second half.If you want to look at positives from the game, there were a few.I thought the offensive line had a solid day. It helped to get Schepp back behind center. Decent holes to run through, and good pass protection a good portion of the day.But...they say games are won and lost in the trenches. That's true if you have a decent quarterback. CJ11 (I like Zipsrifle's identifier) had a nice game statistically, but he was a drive-killer Saturday. I know the guy is young, but there a certain "something" you see in a good quarterback. The "it" factor. Something that you can't teach. I don't see it in CJ11. He runs good play fakes, has a good arm, but as many have witnessed...they guy just flat out refuses to get rid of the ball. He takes WAY too many sacks. The sideline play at the end of the first half...I don't see any scenario where that should happen. What happened to the play-making CJ11 I saw in summer camp? He's been very different under game conditions.Is it CJ11's fault? No. It is Carlton Jackson's. CJ11 shouldn't have been in that game. If our starting QB is sitting on the sidelines due to "undisclosed" personal whatever, that sucks. I gave CJ7 the benefit of the doubt regarding the "personal issues" that were rumored last year, but it doesn't appear they were rumors. If CJ7 doesn't want to lead this team, it is time to warm up Matt Rogers. BTW - This COULD have been Shawn Hakes' team too. CJ11's limitations plus CJ7's issues have left the QB door wide open. IF Hakes were any good, he could have gone nuts with Jabari this year. Alex Allen seems to get better every week, and as some have noted, Brian Williams is slowly slipping into the "game-breaker" shoes.Jabari has been "The Man" thus far. I wish we'd throw to him 15 times per game.Fuqua - Is the guy allowed to catch a pass beyond the line of scrimmage? The sideline screens are killing me.The D had a rough second half. Thanks to Nate Robinson for skipping at least one practice this week and getting pulled from the travel squad. He wouldn't have helped defend the run. In the second half our secondary was gassed. I haven't seen our CB's give that much cushion since Jesse Smith graduated. Gotta get back to work. I'll finish by stating:UConn is a solid team. They have good size, and excellent team speed. They are well coached and don't make many mistakes (unlike K.e.n.t for example, who was poorly coached and made many mistakes). Yeah, they haven't played anyone "major" yet, but that doesn't mean anything. After two "down" seasons, they appear to have righted their ship. Give them credit. The Zips need to get a mentally tough CJ7 behind center for four quarters if we want to win anything this year. 8-4 is still very realistic considering the MAC East schedule. 4-8 is too, if we continue moving sideways offensively, instead of forward.I'm not worried about our defense. It is fine.

I'd be happy to get you one. Please PM me with your contact info. I can give it to you at the Temple game.

My last one:Bobby Fry aka Mindy's Dad

Just bringing the message board links back to the top in case anyone missed them.

If I'd have seen it, I would have joined in. I typically avoid the smack forum. If you ever want to start another look-alike thread, feel free to do it is the main football forum. It is technically "smack," but it is all in good fun. And the main football board gives it a lot more visibility.

Unfortunately it is only the radio re-broadcast on 1350.

ALLEGEDLY!!?? At least the writer isn't biased!!

The Akron/K.e.n.t. game will be re-broadcast this Thursday night at 8pm...following the K.e.n.t. Coaches Show!How's THAT for a and a Coach Martin?!

I saw a picture of him in Sunday's Beacon Journal. He was identified as Luke Getsy.

Andre Dixson

Click Me for UCONN RosterDesi Cullen

Paul Simkovich's is pretty good. Several others are good too.Click MeAnyone for payback?

Congrats to Brion! He's been a great player since day 1. We'll miss him next season.

I doubt it. It makes total sense. Williams is a hell of a back, and seems to be making things happen. Kennedy isn't. Allen is also solid in short yardage situations, so he's going to some of DK's red zone carries. We have a lot of depth at RB now, so unless DK is putting up monster numbers, his carries are going to go down. Maybe in the long term it helps him? He should be fresher, and perhaps more motivated when he enters the games.

There's your answer right there.They switched over to 3 minutes of commercials.Guess what, those were sponsors who very likely paid a higher rate specifically for the OSU game airtime. Not to cut away would probably have cost the station.... who knows... tens of thousands?When you run a station, it is not about viewers. It's about advertisers.You need the audience to attract the advertisers, obviously, but the advertisers are the endgame. The audience is just the lure to get them. If that's true, then why, in a million other instances, do TV stations find a way to juggle games that run over? Somehow, some way, you always see a "We will join the Team 1/Team2 game immediately following the conclusion of the [insert existing teams] game." If the game is a blow-out, OK. Cut away. But it wasn't.We moved that game to noon strictly for TV purposes. If there was a chance that it would have run over, they should have started it at 11:30am. Who could have expected they'd switch to a commercial in the last 1:30 of a tight game?There were 50 different ways they could have appeased advertisers and not stiffed the local fans. Does channel 5 really think the OSU football fans watching the end of the Akron/K.e.n.t. game aren't going stick around and watch that game's commercials when K.e.n.t calls a time out? Were the OSU fans going to turn off their TV, and only turn it on at the exact moment the OSU/Northwestern game came on? The end of that game would have had ratings just as high, and probably higher, than that of the OSU pregame. The commercials could have been worked in. The NE Ohio station that carried the Akron/K.e.n.t. game made the decision to screw us and I won't forget it.And someone please tell me Gib Shanley didn't do a commentary where he told Akron/K.e.n.t. fans angry at Channel 5 to "get a life." That was just a rumor, right?

I disagree -- He's pretty much played EXACTLY like the same running back we saw last year. A short yardage specialist who doesn't have "home-run" moves or speed. I've always liked DK inside the 10 yard line. But other than that...he's never been too impressive.