Captain Kangaroo

You're right...I think I'm just pissed off at those frigging license plates. Noon rally on campus will be pretty cool for the students. Hopefully some of the ones that made the trip to Can't will show at the bowl Saturday?

Pep Rally at Noon Friday? Guess people that work or have classes will have to miss that one? That's only 99% of the fan base. Must be a suitable time for the elderly Trustees? Maybe, after the rally, they can discuss new ways of using the University Seal on license plates? Maybe a brighter yellow seal color? Maybe they should move game time's to noon Friday as well? Football Pep Rally Set for Friday Zips face Buffalo Saturday at the Rubber Bowl in annual Homecoming game Oct. 5, 2004 AKRON, Ohio - University of Akron football fans are invited to attend a pep rally at noon Friday in the Honors Complex driveway as part of the New Landscape for Learning celebration. Five new buildings, including the field house and recreation and wellness center, are being dedicated in separate ceremonies on Thursday and Friday. The pep rally will take place between the dedication of the newly built Simmons Hall and Honors Complex, which are located on South College Street. The Zips play host to Buffalo at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Rubber Bowl in the annual Homecoming game. The pregame rally will feature the UA marching band, cheerleaders, head football coach J.D. Brookhart and members of the Zips football team. Joe Dunn, a member of the Zips Sports Network and radio sideline reporter for football, will emcee the event. Brookhart will address the crowd and members of the 2004 Homecoming Court will be introduced. All activities are part of the Homecoming/Family Weekend and students are encouraged to attend to cheer on the Zips. Members of the athletics marketing department will also be giving out gifts and t-shirts to students and fans in attendance.

Owens never recruited well on the defensive side of the ball. Period. For every Dwight Smith, there were 8 Jesse Smiths. Name one DL he recruited that you're ever said..."Wow, that guy is awesome/unstoppable." I've never saw one in 9 years (Jason Taylor was from Faust).. If you look at Faust's team in 1991 (?) he had 3 pro-caliber DB's on the field! Robert Lyons hung around the NFL for a couple years, Victor Green had a great NFL career and Shawn Vincent was a final cut with the Steeler's. Owens got one player of that caliber in 9 years. I like our LB's right now, but for the most part Owens really struggled to recruit LB's. You always had a Ricky Jackson or Brad Detweiler as the #3 LB...guys who were undersized for Safety, let alone LB. I like our defensive schemes this year. we're blitzing up the middle more. Our corners are playing tighter. We're trying different fronts and adjusting as the game progresses. We're just small, slow and not all that deep behind the few good players we have. There's no miracle to turn arond our defense. Better recruiting and time are the only cures. I think the coaching is in place.

In JD's press conference note...a very informative feature on GoZips.com...JD stated that NIU's corners jammed our WR's at the line of scrimmage. The WR's had a tough time running their routes. I thought that was pretty insightful. I'm no redshirt expert, but I believe a Fr. can play in the first 3 weeks but still be redshirted. I'm banking on Long being a Fr. next season...and a very good one at that. The film they showed of him at signing day was the most impressive of all the 2003 recruits.

Although younger than Jerrel, I think that Javon is his uncle? That's what I heard...don't quote me on that. He's one of the top RB's in the state. From the Dayton area. He is a very highly touted recruit...it isn't just wishful thinking that he might get a scholarship from OSU.

I won't "shell" you, but I will disagree. Can't would give their left nut (probably from one of those black squirrels) to have the football "success" Akron has enjoyed over the past 9 years. We've beaten them something like 9 of the last 11 times we've played? In the past 10 years, I would guess we have 20...maybe 30 more wins than Can't? Hey, the Zips haven't set the world on fire in the past decade, but we're no where near the overall level of Can't or Buffalo.

Keep in mind, there are "real" pro scouts out there...guys who's sole job is evaluating college football talent...guys who get paid well in excess of $100K per year to do so...and such "experts", armed with films, combine workouts, IQ tests, etc. spend millions of dollars of their company's/team's money on: Ryan Leaf Cade McNown Akili Smith Tim Couch These are just a few names from the recent past. Sufficive to say...no one on this board knows what they're talking about . But the purpose of the board, and what makes it interesting, is seeing what's on people's minds. I've seen Leftwitch and Roethlisberger play. Both have stronger arms than #5. However, they probably have stronger arms than Joe Montana and Ken Stabler too. Certainly does't mean they're a better QB. I remember the first time #5 walked onto the field after Sparks got injured against OU. After about 6 plays my friends and I looked at each other and said, "Damn, this kid's gonna be awesome." You could tell he was special from the get-go. I ain't no pro scout...but if Rodney Peete is starting for someone in 2003...there will be a place on some NFL team's 48 man roster for Charlie Frye in 2005.

The MAC “Elite” #1) Marshall - Last week #1: Beat Miami fairly handily. Their somewhat maligned offense racked up 30+. #2) NIU: Last week #2: Waxed the Zips. Not enough to overtake Marshall, however. #3) BG - Last week #3: Absolutely killed Temple. But…so does everyone. The “Middle of the Pack” #4) Miami - Last week #4: Played a decent game in Huntington. They’re 4th…but a distant 4th to BG. #5) OU - Last week #9. Beat Kentucky soundly! Seem to be playing good defense. Very surprising! #6) Toledo - Last week #7. Gotta be getting back on track? The “Bottom Rung” #7) Ball State - Last week #5 : Beat WMU by 27!! Played a nice game vs. BC a few weeks ago. Are they for real? #8) Zips - Last week #8 – Yes…the Zips are presently the 8th best team in the MAC. Look below to see how absolutely horrible the MAC basement is! #9) CMU - Last week #10: Beat Can't. Can't still can’t kick a football. #10) Buffalo: Last week #14: Pasted George O’Leary’s UCF squad. Keep in mind UCF is paying O’Leary $700,000.00 this SEASON! “Looking to Schedule Cal-Poly or Howard Soon” #11) Can't - Last week #11: Cribbs can do everything…but kick. Can't loses another close one. The text book example of “A Team that doesn’t Know How to Win.” #12.) Western Michigan - Last week #12. I repeat…How the mighty have fallen.... #13) EMU: Lost to a 1-AA school…followed by a loss to mighty Idaho. Hoo boy. #14) UCF - Last week #7: Absolutely annihilated by a woeful Buffalo squad.

I do realize how bad we are. However, Buffalo is abysmal. Ball State is very bad with flushes of mediocrity and UCF got blown out by Buffalo. I'm in 100% agreement with the prevailing sentament on this board that Owens' lackluster recruiting has put us in this situation. No one can tell me when we line up against Penn State, Virginia or NIU that we had many athletes belonging in the same universe as those teams, let alone the same playing field. However, this coaching staff doesn't get a "free pass" to lose to horrible MAC teams. If this existing Zips squad is motivated and well coached, these next three games are wins. None of these teams is better than Can't. They're essentially "Can't," but in different uniforms. I've seen that we can beat Can't, so we should also be able to beat what is best summed up as "Can't Light", "Can't Dry" and "Can't Amber Bock." On a side note: I have no fear that the present team's performance will adversely affect recruiting. In JD's first press conference he alluded to the fact that he bought into a Pitt program that was horrid...hadn't won squat in a decade...and he helped turn them into a perennial bowl team with a few All-Americans to boot. He expected this Zips team to be a major rebuilding (or simply "building") project from the get-go, as did his staff. Unfortunately, football programs aren't built in a day...or a season...or 2 seasons...we're just gonna hafta be patient...and drink alot before games for the next couple years.

I've alluded to similar thoughts of heresy in the past. I dig #5. He's the best QB ever to wear a Zips uniform. He's a great person. He will play in the NFL. He's a warrior that plays with pain and never complains. Is his arm as strong as Leftwitch's? No. Roethlisberger's? No. Pennington's? No. Does he have any "storybook wins" against major competition? No. Does he have any championships? No. Has he tossed some big INT's late in big games? Yes. I see the crap that passes for NFL QB's nowadays. Guys like Vinny Testaverde and Rich Gannon are 40, and starting. Doug Peterson is something like a 12 year veteran? #5 will have a nice NFL career. He won't be selling copiers. I wondered aloud at the beginning of last season what his legacy would be...and metioned it was heading towards that of Archie Manning. A great QB...on some bad-to-mediocre football teams. He's got a handfull of games to shake that one, but I don't think his OL will give him the chance. I thought Jason Taylor was too small and injury prone to have a serviceable NFL career...so what the hell do I know. #5 rules. I hope to see his name & # in the Zips "Ring of Honor" soon.

I was on vacation. Didn't hear it...didn't see it. Going into the game my thoughs were: "NIU is as good as, or slightly better than Penn State. If we've improved, we'll have a better showing than we did against Penn State. If we haven't improved, we'll be worse." I think we must have improved a bit. We were only down 28-12 at one point. We returned an INT for a TD. We played just about as competitive as I could reasonable expect. Not as well as I wished...but "expect" and "wish" are two different things. I expect to beat Buffalo and Ball State. Hell...I expect to beat UCF too. Those are 3 really bad teams. What's up with the punt return unit? That's embarassing. OL: Holy hell... Hope Saturday's weather is nice!

I agree.

Tough to get up for this one after seeing how horrible we've fared against quality competition on the road this year. One thought: Should we win, it would be the greatest road victory in the history of Akron 1-A football. Navy was a good one, but Navy's lost to just about everyone. Winning this one would be the equivalent to beating Marshall in Huntington. I think NIU is THAT good. Funny...when Lee took over the Zips in 1995 I remember beating a Novak-coached NIU soundly...something like 34-17 in DeKalb. We went 2-9 that year. Where NIU is today is where we all hoped Lee would have taken us. Novak's first several years were ugly, but he's built a hell of a program. I want to win, but I would be heartend to see improvement. I'd like to see the D continue to be aggressive. I want to see the O convert some decent drives into 7 points. GO ZIPS!

I hope that translates to some wins. Dragging my wife down route 8 every week in 20 degree weather to watch the Zips get beat like a drum over the past several years really got old. My memories of the few fun games during the Bosley/Ball era are fading...it's hard to remember what its like to be a "favorite." Restore the Roar, Dambrot!

Hanson eligible Freshman Allan Hanson has been given his full release from his letter of intent to play at Akron. Hanson, who was a second-team all-state player from Wauwatosa East, is now eligible to play this season for the Panthers (Wisconsin Milwaukee).

I never thought much about it, but having Rothlisberger as the Steelers QB won't hurt JD in selling the MAC to WPa recruits. BTW: Did anyone notice 1-AA Furman took Pitt to OT Saturday! Click me

#1) Marshall - Last week #1: First Sautrday this year that they haven't been in the loss column! Not playing helps in that regard. #2) NIU: Last week #3: Waxed BG on national TV. Didn't have their starting QB. They look like a focused team. Zips will have their hands full next week...and then some. #3) BG - Last week #2: Lost to a damn good team. Can't drop them too far just yet. #4) Miami - Last week #4: Will rise or fall after Wednesday's Marshall game. #5) Ball State - Last week (unranked) : Beat WMU by 27!! Played a nice game vs. BC a few weeks ago. Are they for real? #6) UCF - Last week #5: No game. #7) Toledo - Last week #12. Crushed Temple by about 30? Is Toledo back? #8) Zips - Last week #11 - Big win on the road @ Can't. Offense still very suspect, but the D is coming around. #9) OU - Last week #8. Waxed Buffalo 34-0. Big deal. Who dosen't? Held Pitt to 24 points, but Pitt should have lost to 1-AA Furman! #10) CMU - Last week #10: No Comments. #11) Can't - Last week #6: Cribbs can't do everything. Home loss to Akron doesn't foreshadow greatness in the future. #12.) Western Michigan - Last week # 7. Blown out by Ball State. How the mighty have fallen.... #13) EMU: Lost to a 1-AA school. #14) Buffalo: Last week #13: They were 13th las week only because I forgot Ball State. Buffalo LOVES the basement.

I just think a lot of the conservatism stems from the lack of an offensive line. Frye can't go deep too often because he's getting no protection. Remember our pass-blocking last season was pretty bad...and we lost Cummins and Hendry...replacing them with Ringer/Crouch...so I think we got a little worse. Maybe a lot worse...

There were a lot of great posts regarding the Can't game. Great job by all. NIU looks damn good...are they as good as...say...Penn State? They're up next for the Zips. Scary game.

Non-game stuff: Beautiful night for a game. Perfect weather. Can't parking was no problem, despite their web site warnings. PLENTY of parking everywhere. And, it was all free!! If I'm a Can't student I'm pissed about that. 8,000 cars x $3.00 ea is $24,000 that could have gone towards the University, and not be taken out of their pockets. However, I'm not a Can't student...so I'll take it! Can't tailgating was fine. If you kept your beer in a cup...no hassles. LOTS of Zips fans at the game (7-8K?). Tons of loud Akron students having a blast! That was really heartening to see. GREAT hospitality tent put on by the Zips Marketing group! First class!! Beer sales IN the stadium! $2.00 per cup, and it could be brought into the stands! No one seemed to abuse it. Kudos to Can't for doing someting like that in this era. Took some balls. Can't has to be one of the last schools with the old painted-steel-wool astro-turf. Get with the times! Can't stadium lighting was awesome...it was light daylight in there the entire game. Nice to sit on aluminum bleachers instead of that painted fiberglass crap we've sat on in the Rubber Bowl for decades. Nice fireworks at game's end. By the time they were over the traffic was gone and it was a smooth ride back home. Game stuff: Great to see Bobby Gardner whooping it up with the team as they came on to the field. The team was P-U-M-P-E-D! Gritty game by Frye. I can't bowl a bowling ball if I cut my finger nails to close to the skin...but he can toss a 40 yard TD pass with a dislocated pinky on his throwing hand? He is something else... Great job by the defense!!! Tight coverage by Corner and Pace all game. Defensive line put pressure on Cribbs all game! Great up-the-middle blitz packages! Rohr played great...good to see he's getting more reps. Cam Yeow had a great game at LB too. If you look at MTSU and Can't...comparable teams to the Zips...our defense has been great over 6 quarters. The first 2 quarters against MTSU weren't too good. The OL looks real bad...both pass and run blocking. They did play a little better in the 2nd half, but I'm not a good enough observer to know why. Biggs could be a good one...if he ever gets some holes to run through. Hixson is starting to remind me of Matt Cherry a bit. Where was Jabari? Other than that big pass up the sidelines, I didn't see him much. Great to see the band and the team belt-out the fight song at game's end! That's what it's all about! Cribbs is an awesome athlete. Comparisons to him and Michael Vick are justified. Its tough to appreciate him because you want to beat the guy so bad...but he's probably the most elusive guy I've ever seen. Great to see Tim Wilkes with the big 4th and 16 sack in the 4th quarter. We need a DL to start doing that stuff! Nice job by Swiger! I hope the pre-UCONN Swiger is back! Billy Sullivan led a charmed life. Not his best punting night, but he got all the good bounces on his bad punts. Our punt coverage continues to struggle. Something's gotta get fixed. Duane LeFall...where are you? Earl is a punishing hitter. Yeah he needs to wrap up...but he's the hardest hitter on the D, by far. Good to see JD get the Gatorade Shower after the game! Three flushbacks: 1.) 2004 4th Quarter: The Can't game about 5 years ago...we were up something like 41-7 in the 4th quarter when Jose Davis went off. We won 41-35(?) recovering an onside kick with 20-something seconds left...even though a Can't player emerged with the ball. 2.) Maybe 7 years ago: Can't goes for a 4th and 1 on the Can't 29. They didn't need to do that. Zips stuff them and Butchie leads us to victory from there. I thought about that play when Martin went for the 4th and goal from the 2. He didn't need to do that...pretty stupid move. 3.) UCONN 2003: Now I know how UCONN fans felt watching Swiger shank away. Thanks to Travis Mayle! Note: We didn't win that game beause of the missed kicks. It sure helped...but we led the entire game. And it took an amazing Hail Mary to get Can't within 4 points at games end. Great night! Thanks to all the Zips fans that showed up...hell...great turnout by the much-maligned Can't fans!! Made for a great atmosphere! Great job by the Zips' Marketing crew, students and band!! And most of all, great job by the guys on the field! Based upon which of the knowledgeable local scribes you listen too...we were between 7 and 21 point underdogs. The games was the most pivotal in some time...and you guys led from start to finish! Awesome!

I hope you get that "funny feeling" more often!

If that's the best post you got after that game...it really makes me wonder. You missed alot. Great game by the Akron D!! Way to shut the critics up (me included)! Cribbs is awesome...but just one man. More later. Time to sleep. BTW: Any help on fixing our OL is appreciated.

...yet they will arrest you for tailgating in their parking lot. If you are looking to tailgate in Can't tonight, expect to be disappointed. Can't fans tell me there is a zero tolerance policy for personal alcohol in their lots...even if it is in a plastic cup. Nice job, Can't State. You'll piss off both your season ticket holders if you keep that stuff up.

We couldn't hold ANYONE to 21 points. 38-34 Zips Over/Under on turnovers: 12 (combined)

Someone from the Virginia board sent me a message regarding that column. He stated the Virginia fans on The Sabre were pretty embarassed and angry about it. They should be...is was pretty bush-league. It appears like that's their college paper, so it is somewhat expected...21 year olds write some stupid stuff. The author was Sean McLernon. I think Sean will have a tough time choosing from the PD or The Beacon upon his graduation.