Captain Kangaroo

Everyone was down on the punting game last week. It was terrible vs. Army and it was terrible for the better part of last season. Yet against OSU we turned things around dramatically.It is a lot easier to shore up your punting game than to fix your offense...but I remain hopeful that all the offensive problems we have witnessed are just as easily recognized by the Zips staff, and that will be addressed with the zeal that was applied to our punting woes.I'm really curious to see how we respond this week.

I take offense to that remark! I assure you I was pretty obnoxious at the OSU game! Just ask the OSU fan in front of me.

I'll give it some time too. But it concerns me that this issue isn't new. We couldn't move the ball last season when JD called the shots. Our offense was terrible at year's end. Prior to that, our offense was sporadic at best. Toledo, Central Michigan, North Texas and Cincinnati were games where we moved the ball with ease for a short period of time...then the defense caught on...then we were totally shut down.Like Zen mentioned...you gotta move the chains. If you disregard the OSU game, it still has been a while since we've done so.

There's no doubt we missed Harvey. Many time last season he WAS our offense. Lindsay? I know JD loved him. But I never saw all that much in him. Bad routes, suspect hands. Undersized.I hold out some hope for Fuqua, if they'll let him run a route deeper than 5 yards.

As usual, a random assortment...Despite the weather reports prognosticating thunderstorms, there was no electricity in the air. Not from the weather. Not from the 104,000 Buckeye fans who sat on their hands well into the 3rd quarter. And certainly not from the Zips offense, which registered yet another dreadful performance.From a tailgating perspective, it was pretty nice. The stories of neo-nazi police attacks on folks playing corn hole with their beer-filled Solo cups proved to be wholly inaccurate. We were able to put up our tent and do about anything we wanted. The people were pretty friendly. I will say, however, that 2-mile haul from the parking lot to the stadium is the text book definition of a buzz-kill.The Zips defense was OUTSTANDING. Holy hell. They went mano-a-mano against a premier Big Ten team dripping with Ohio HS record holders, Mr. Footballs, nationally heralded recruits, and our rag-tag group of guys that were deemed either "too short," or "a step too slow" on National Letter of Intent Day pretty much shut them down. FIVE forced turnovers!! Thats AWESOME. You look back a few years to the Lee Owens era and you remember when we had cornerbacks who rarely, if ever, would turn around when the ball was in the air. We now have hard-hitting ball hawks at every position in the secondary. Hell, if an Owens-coached defense made a team punt twice in a game, you'd sometimes be compelled to storm the field. Now, you EXPECT the opponent to punt.Speaking of punting -- Who's our new punter? Who's the new special teams coach? I LOVE these guys. I hope we can keep them around. Seriously -- who saw such a dramatic improvement in the punting game coming? It was bad for the better part of last year, and after the Army game it looked to be more of the same-old-same-old in 2007. I've openly wondered why we went all the way to Florida to recruit such a mediocre punter? But if Stec can punt anywhere near how he punted yesterday during the MAC season, it will be a huge, unexpected boost for our team.Offense -- Like Dennis Hopper said in those old Nike commercials (regarding Bruce Smith's shoes) -- "Bad things, man. Bad things...".To go 3-and-out on 13 consecutive possessions is flat-out atrocious. And we were never even a threat to get a first down! We rarely punted in any situation where it was less than 4th and 6! That has GOT to be addressed. Yes, MAC teams will not have a fraction of the team speed we saw yesterday. So yes, by simple fact that we'll be facing defenses more at "our level," things will get better. But I saw our offense dissapear last season. We had something like one offensive TD in our last 2 games? Add that to our first two games this year...we now have a combined two. That's terrible.I understand we have a totally new offensive line. But I saw the same thing last year with our veteran offensive line. The trend is disappointing, to say the least.I understand we lost David Harvey. But does that mean we simply give up on throwing downfield? And I'm not talking 50 yard bombs...can we at least throw 5 yards down the field? A dump to an RB? Do we have TE's?Is there another receiver besides Jabari? I heard a big buzz regarding Alphonso Owen, but I haven't seen hide nor hair from him.We have three great backs in Allen, Williams and Kennedy. How are we rushing for single-digit yards? Why can't we run two consecutive running plays? Or three for that matter? We give up on the run WAY too soon.I started the season thinking C-Jacq whas the best option at QB. I'm now leaning towards C-Jack. It is pretty obvious our team is in dire need of a playmaker. C-Jacq's best attribute is "he doesn't make mistakes." That's not going to get us on the score board. C-Jack throws a nice long pass in addition to being more elusive. If he can hold on to the football...and he has shown a tendency to fumble in his brief career...then I'm all for swapping the QB reps. Start C-Jack, and start putting C-Jacq in in the 2nd quarter. Also - Can we roll out once or twice?I hate that this post finish with a bunch of negative comments. Especially when the Zips played as hard as they did. I was really proud of the team. Every Zips fan that left the stadium yesterday did so with their head held high. I give the Zips team a HUGE thumbs up for that! The Zips left their hearts on the field. I saw more than one defensive player in tears after the game. It had to suck to play the game of your life, yet come out on the losing end. But -- If that effort can be duplicated in the MAC season, this Zips team has a solid chance to contend for the MAC East title. We're no different than the OU team of 2006. Horrible offense...stellar defense. In the MAC East, that means "contender." It heartened me to see K.e.n.t. get drubbed at Ken.tucky. Good to see they're back to reality. Iowa State lost to 1-AA Northern Iowa last night, BTW. Thus K.e.n.t's opening night win is a little less impressive. Or, a LOT less impressive. Indiana is a good team. I watched them last night. Their QB is VERY elusive. And they have a 6' 5" wide receiver (Hardy?) who's OUTSTANDING. We will have our hands full, and then some.In closing I'll say -- Great effort Zips! You made us proud! It was only one game. Keep your heads up and finish the season strong. Defense wins championships...and we have a defense!

I don't see that happening. Dambrot is pretty proud of the fact that 11 of the 12 players he's signed thusfar will graduate. A few graduations will be delayed because they're playing pro ball overseas, but all 11 will get a degree.

Zips Beat BuckeyesFrom Wire Reports (AP) - The University of Akron football team....

I bought one at the Rubber Bowl last year.

I personally witnessed the "pathetic" lack of support at Cleveland Browns Stadium last weekend. ONLY about 13,000 Zips fans decided to spend a Sunday of their Labor Day weekend in town so they could watch the Zips play one of the worst teams in the nation.I thought the Akron area folks were a bunch of rabid OSU fans? Why didn't these local OSU fans buy the extra tickets? They must not have thought it was worth the drive?It heartens me to see that Akron-area residents aren't such Buckeye lemmings.

So did Paul Simkovich, so you never know...

Some could learn a lesson from Kirk?I kid because I care.

I think you've confused Central Florida with Florida State or Florida. It is a HUGE deal for their sorry, won-nothing CUSA school to beat an ACC program.

I'll lock it. Oh, those OSU fans...

Muuuuuusssttt....exercisse.....resssstrrraint.....

Did Tim Crouch Transfer with Him?

Another Western Pa Big Man on the Way?

Seriously -- Do you really think there's any similarity between a school from Akron beating Ohio State -- local media darling, national marketing machine, year-in-year-out National Championship contender, BCS Championship finalist...and beating lowly NC State? There's only a handful of wins that would fall under within an OSU category - USC, Texas, Michigan (as witnessed last weekend), Florida...that's about it. Beating NC State is like beating Vanderbilt. Maybe lower.NC State, by the way, lost to Central Florida last Saturday. Did you hear everyone talking about the big Central Florida win over NC State? I didn't.A 2-9, or 5-6, or even an 8-4 MAC team doesn't beat Ohio State. An Akron team that finishes 9-3, at worst, is the only caliber of team capable of winning that game. If an Akron team travels to Columbus and wins, that team doesn't lose to Temple and Buffalo. Even crappy Akron teams don't lose to Temple or Buffalo.Beating OSU would dwarf anything ever accomplished by the University of Akron football program. It would make a bigger media splash than winning 10 consecutive Motor City Bowls.

I believe the question was "Would you rather beat OSU and not win the MACC, or lose to OSU and win the MACC?" No one said anything about beating OSU and going "1994 Faust" on the remainder of the season.If we somehow beat OSU, the chances are pretty good that we'd finish the season bowl-eligible. If we tripped up in the conference, yet still had a respectable season, we'd go bowling. I would take a win over OSU and the MAC's 2nd or 3rd bowl over the MAC championship and the MCB any day.Someone told me once that "You can't place a value on playing in front of 105,000 people in Columbus." Logically then, the value of a win in front of those 105,000 should dwarf anything the Universtiy of Akron could ever fathom.

I think we'll be OK against the run this year, but aren't you forgetting the obvious Captain? In the MAC championship, Wolfe went crazy for well over 200 What I MEANT to say is "other than those 270 yards he posted against us in the MAC Championship game, Garett Wolfe never did squat against us." How'd I forget THAT?

You keep saying that the 3-3-5 can't stop the run. How did Penn State run against us? Penn State didn't have a back like Wells or Saine for that matter. Wells had 16 rushes for 48 yards against YSU. Obviously he's a better back than that. But if YSU can contain him, I think we'll be ok. Other than Deangelo Williams (1st round NFL draft pick), JD's defense has historically done a great job against the run. As an example -- Garrett Wolfe never did squat against us.

No way we lose to Temple @ home. They're atrocious.When we lost to Army, you could kind of see it coming. Army had't won in a while, but they were playing well. And, the weather was terrible. We were pretty ripe for the picking.Buffalo always gives us a tough game in Buffalo. But...I saw Turner Gill coach at the Rubber Bowl last year. The guy has no clue. He looks to be @ Buffalo what Thompson was to Ball State basketball...a guy with good name recognition...and little substance. Remember the end of the first half of the Buffalo game last fall...it set D-1 football back 5 years! :blink:

The tie is my favorite part!

Who gets to dot the "I" when the OSU band takes the field?