Captain Kangaroo

Penn State whipped us 4-0! In football terms...that equivalent to 48-10. F-ing Nittany Lions...

Penn State loss was absolutely horrible. Penn State is a decent Big 10 team this season, but not great. It was men-against-boys...we were out of it from the start. MTSU is a middle-of-the-pack Sun Belt team. They have some good players...they probably would go .500 in the MAC...but they're not a great team. We lost to them at home in front of 17,000. We had the ball in the hands of our school's all-time leading passer at game's end (3:36 remaining) and the guy tosses an INT. It was only an 8-yard route. Ok, it hit Goodwin's extended hand...but I'm disappointed Charlie didn't put that in the breadbasket. I think Leftwich, Pennington, Rothlisberger, Harris...etc. make that play. Also, give MTSU credit for defending closely. Our DB's have played so loose for the past umpteen years that, if the shoe were on the other foot, we wouldn't have had a DB within 8 yards to catch that tipped ball. To this point in the season Frye is completing 81% of his passes. That simply means were throwing 2 yard dinks. I'd rather he threw 61%, and had some decent yardage and TD's. JD's offensive schemes are WAY too conservative. Virginia. Worst loss since LSU? Maybe Pitt? UVA is loaded this year...look for them to win the ACC and be Top 5 at year's end. However, scoring "0" is unforgivable. I saw Lee Owens take on National Champ Nebraska and score 14 points! Offensive line's play reminded me of the loss at OU 2 seasons ago. Beat Can't, JD Brookhart. Beat Can't, Senior Zips. There is plenty of blame to go around for the horrid start to the season. Don't point fingers...go to Can't Thursday night and make a statement. Take care of business and be 1-0 in the MAC. Miami is bad this season, Can't is Can't, OU stinksagain, Buffalo is their typical self, Ball State is terrible...the best team in the MAC east is Marshall, and they're 0-3 right now. We have them at home on and ESPN game. If you get on a good "run" here, the ESPN game will be a Mad House. You can make a statement for all the nation to see. However, it all starts on Thursday. A lackluster effort against a mediocre Can't team...or poor preparation by the staff...will be tragic. We are at a crossroads, Zips. Which way you gonna turn?

Hey "Rifle's Wife"...did you and your husband have a shotgun wedding? Too easy to pass up.

I cancelled my trip yesterday. I'll be pissed if the weather turns out good. :angry:

I'm not sure when you started attending the Rubber Bowl, but how could you forget the Eastern game for a come back? That was AWESOME :blink: Eastern game in case you forgot Maybe the "spirit" of the comment was "When are we gonna have a comeback in a game that counts?" EMU was horrible that year...the game shouldn't even have been close. Ditto the OU game last year...it was technically a comeback win...but they had 1 win going into that one. Our comeback-to-blown lead ratio is unbelievable. A few blown leads that come to mind are: Pennington in 99(?), Leftwitch(2001?), Rotlisberger (2002), CMU (2002...up 21-0 at the half), Can't 2003, MTSU 2004. INT's vs. UVA (2002) and Miami (2003) and a 99 yd TD vs. Wisconsin (2003) are also "big" games that we could have pulled out in the 4th quarter, but which ended up as double-digit losses. Oh yeah, UConn (2003) too. When we had the ball with 3:36 remaining against MTSU I turned to the guy next to me and said "If we play a clean game, we've got this one. A first down and we can run out the clock." Boom...INT and we're toast. It was soooooo predictable. We simply can't beat a good team in the 4th quarter of a close game. We can beat bad teams...but not the good ones.

I deleted the other UVA game posts...they weren't too substantial and cluttered the board. We'll see how this goes: Last weeks loss to MTSU still disappoints me. Two consecutive years of losing the home opener by blowing a 4th quarter lead. And, in front of the largest crowd of the season (Marshall will be larger, but 50% will be Herd fans). What a massive disappointment... How do we beat UVA? I have no clue. I assume we'll be missing our best defensive player in Blackburn? He looked like the Chase-of-old Saturday, until the injury. Can Howe, Stokes or one of the other Fr's make a big debut Saturday? They'll need too. The hurricane looks to be in full force for the game. That should even the playing field a bit? Maybe it's shades of the '96 Va Tech game, where we battled Drukenmiller, Oxedine and Cornell Brown down to the wire with a team that had no business doing so. The 1st half was played in the tail end of a hurricane. I want a victory like anyone else, however...like others have said...if we play a mistake free ball game, fight for 60 minutes and leave the game as a respected opponent, I have to be happy. That didn't happen vs. Penn State. I'm 50/50 on travelling to the game...even though I have hotel reservations. Hurricane is putting a damper on my plans...

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Devanzo played in the Big33 Game 2 years ago! From Austintown Fitch. Pic of Devanso in Big 33

Roster Additions... The Zips made three additions to the roster after the opening week of the season, though none of them are eligible to play this year. QB Luke Getsy, OL Andy Alleman and CB Devanzo Tate all enrolled in school this semester and can practice with the team. Getsy and Alleman both played at Pittsburgh most recently, while Tate comes to the Zips from West Virginia. All are scheduled to be eligible to play in 2005. Getsy and Alleman will have two years of eligibilty remaining and Tate three.

I didn't have too much of a problem with our defense against MTSU. Two horrible turnovers gave MTSU great field position, and MTSU got a punt return for a TD. We lost that game because we gave it away. Frye's fumble was bad. Ringer's was worse. Frye's INT at game's-end was a killer. Charlie tossed for 400 yds, but it wasn't one of his better games...those few mistakes were killers. Goodwin's catch effort on the INT didn't help. Does the ball EVER bounce our way? It was nice to see us make some adjustments at the half...but we aren't good enough to overcome such an avalanche of mistakes. Lee Owens wouldn't have won that game. Even if he made the half-time adjustments to mount a comeback...something I rarely saw from him...he wouldn't have gotten the first down needed to ice the game at the end. Somehow, he'd have blown it. History proves it. Hope Chase is ok, but it doesn't look promising.

A friend told me a DB from the Mountaineers has transferred to Akron and will be available next fall. Don't know the name. Guessing it is Marcus Law from Northwest/Canal Fulton. Strictly a guess: 31 Marcus Law DB Fr. 1V 5-10/190 Canal Fulton, OH (Northwest)

We aren't very good. More later.

Now that the show's on Thursday I may never hear it. Anything of interest revealed last night?

DA ZIPMAN can tether his horse to Zippy-on-a-Stick, should he choose to make the jaunt down to Summit County! WHOOOOOOOOAAAA!!!!

Look forward to you stopping over.

My season tix are on the 40 too. I've never sat in them once. I've sat in the endzone since 1984! I wouldn't worry about tix...there will be scads of them available for free in the lot.

Best Akron night life is down town, near the Canal Park stadium. Lots of decent bars, resturaunts, etc. You can find just about anything you want there. It is only 3 blocks from the campus. Best place to tailgate is the lower bowl lot, down past the blimp hanger. Follow the signs once you exit Rt77 onto 224 (see your map). Entrance to the lot is on your left, BEFORE the traffic light. Tailgating begins early! I think they frown on kegs in the lot...other than that anything is fair game.

Look for Zippy-on-a-Stick along the lower bowl/blimp lot fence. I'll be there.

I agree! I couldn't be happier for the guy!

Truth hurts.... Is he talking about the 27,000 at the Can't game, or the average of 13,800? F Shelly Ocker in the skull. Maybe if his newspaper would have given the Zips a fair shake over the past 7 years the attendance would be more to his liking? Obviously the BJ isn't the sole reason attendance is down, but their neglect, ignorance and biased reporting allows bad coaches to be kept too long and the public to be kept in the dark regarding progress.

Getsy transfers to Akron Former Pitt quarterback Luke Getsy Chaz Palla/Tribune-Review By Kevin Gorman TRIBUNE-REVIEW Tuesday, September 7, 2004 After checking the depth charts of five dozen college football programs, former Pitt quarterback Luke Getsy will transfer to Akron. Getsy said Pitt coach Walt Harris refused his request to be released from his scholarship to either Akron or Can't State, so Getsy will have to pay his own tuition. "I'm going to try to appeal," said Getsy, a redshirt sophomore. "I'm going regardless so if they won't release me, it's a grudge." Getsy said he applied for admission to Akron on Friday via the Internet and will enroll in fall classes today. After sitting out this season under NCAA transfer provisions, the Steel Valley High School graduate will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. After Harris named Tyler Palko the starter following a close competition and said there would be no quarterback rotation, Getsy met with the Pitt coach to inform Harris of his intentions to leave the program. "I didn't expect him to accept it with open arms, but he didn't give me anything," Getsy said. "He called me selfish." Akron is coached by former Pitt offensive coordinator/receivers coach J.D. Brookhart and its starting quarterback, Charlie Frye, is a fifth-year senior. As Pitt's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Harris oversaw a derby that was close throughout spring drills and training camp. Harris was complimentary of Getsy's approach and work ethic, and called the decision the hardest of his career. Yet Getsy felt Palko received favorable treatment. "I always had a feeling it was going to be that way, but I put all my eggs in a basket with him," Getsy said of Harris. "I thought I could overcome the circumstances. Now, I feel I have a right to a second chance. Akron is my second chance."

Captian, That's not exactly what you said last week... Yeah, but what fun is it to predict a horrid butt-kicking of your own team? BTW: PSU has some nice "ambassadors" @ The Rathskellar. Several fans bought us beers...all were super-nice people. Hope to see you all again in a few years, with a more competitive squad on our part.

I agree Penn State is not the same 3-9 team from last season. Rhey'll do well in the Big 10 this year...and the Big 10 looks to be pretty good this season. Regarding Hixson...if Ellington is gone, it makes the decision to move him back to Safety all the more unlikely. How about playing him both ways? Not on D every down, but maybe in nickle situations? A few more of those 70+ yd TD's and there'll be no other choice. BTW: I hope that hurricane stays clear of Akron next Saturday! Looks like we'll be cutting it close...

Sullivan is the holder. The holder is someone who holds the ball for the kicker on field goals. He made a hell of a play to get that ball in a position to be kicked. It bounced at least three times before it got to him.

A few thoughts to toss out: The D was everything people have written..."slow"..."outclassed"..."small"..."took bad angles"...etc. I can add the following: No one on defense ever "stayed home." We overpursued on every play. The simplest cutback was good for at least a 20 yard, untouched scamper. Shedding an Akron tackler was as simple as spinning around once. I can't say our tackling was all that bad because rarely can close enough to a PSU ball carrier to tackle him? When we were close enough, the Zips defender typically ran next to the guy for 10 or 15 yeards before deciding if he wanted to make a hit or not? What was up with the option plays where we had a clear shot to deck Mills, but instead let him make a play. Our defenders would give him a polite "shove" after he released the ball? No one wanted to make a hit? What's up with that? Offensively: What was up with the 2nd-and-1's and 2nd-and-3's (goal line) where we threw 2 bad passes then punted? With our D as bad as it was, why didn't we simply get the 1st down on the ground and sustain a drive? We got decent yards against PSU's D on the ground all day? I say shift Hixon back to defense if things don't improve next week. He would have caught those guys on the long runs...he did it all last season. No one else back there seems ready to fill his shoes. Sitting in the stands watching that debacle, while the PSU fans danced around having the time of their lives totally sucked. We were outclassed from the 3rd minute of the game on. Thank God for tailgating. It will be interesting to see what changes are made for next week. Quick Report Card: QB:B- (Never threw routes longer than 10yds until 4th quarter?) 2 INTs 0 TDs RB:B (underutilized) Decent yards when given the chance. Biggs is tough. WR: B (Caught most everything thrown their way, but shed no tackles thereafter and sprung no holes) OL: B- Played decent. Frye's taken much worse beatings. Decent run blocking. Punt: A. Sullivan Rules. K: C-. Bad snap...great recovery by Sullivan. One fungoe. DL: F. Totally manhandled. Never shed a single block. LB: D+. Earl saves them from an "F" with a few big hits. DB: F. No where near any WR's on any pass play. Horrid tackling. Gotta play with the kid...haven't seen him all weekend...out.