Captain Kangaroo

If they can give Gibson or Irons a pocket, we can score points. Arth isn’t afraid to let his QB throw the ball downfield. Or use the tight end. It is a fun offense to watch on the rare occasion that the QB can get to 3 or 4 Mississippi.

Boooo helmet! 😡

It’s pretty much the opposite of the Zips. Could you imagine winning 11 in a row at InfoCision?

I'd expect even DJ Irons would vote for Gibson to start the game. And have a reasonably long leash to work his way through a mistake or two. I'm as big an Irons fan as anyone that doesn't have the last name "Irons," but if what Gibson did in half #2 lands him holding a clipboard this week I'm removing my "Extend Arth" sign from the front yard.

Difficult game to handicap this week. Miami is unexplosive, unsexy, and underachieving. But can they top the 2-4 Zips, who awoke from a 1,000 day nap last week, garnering their first road win of the Tom Arth era. And only the 3rd win of said era. Miami nipped the 0-12, 2019 Zips team 17-20, so we know their staff has the capability of overlooking a seemingly inferior opponent. How good are the Zips? If you go by the last 2 quarters of the OU game, and the first 1.5 quarters (3/8ths?) of the BG game, they're horrible. BG had to set a record for lowest score in D1 history when when compared to their field position. How did these clowns beat Minnesota? The Zips tried to give the game away with a blocked FG, blocked punt inside their own 30, fumble inside their own 30, and INT inside their own 30...and a muffed punt inside their 10 that was fortunately recovered. Still, Zach Gibson, behind a completely re-vamped offensive line, bested DJ Irons efficient Auburn effort with an astounding 14 of 15 for 177 yards and 3 TDs. Akron defenders were the beneficiaries of 5 BG turnovers. I think they had 13 total turnovers in Arth's first season? I think the 19.5 point spread favoring Miami is insane. They scored 12 total points last week. When misunderstanding a GT press conference question this week, Arth blasted at George "WHO WOULD YOU START(at QB)?" I wish George would have ran with it and responded "Are you serious? GIBSON! Did you see what that kid did on Saturday!?" I don't see Kato starting again, unless they give him a token series at Kent, or Senior day, out of respect for his time served. So the prediction...and I consider myself a healthy 4.5 and 1.5 on the season after missing last week's Zips win, and missing OU's margin of victory... Absolutely take the 19.5 points if it is still available. Absolutely take Zach Gibson and his revamped offensive line to pull a major upset over the overconfident Redhawks. Zips 24 Miami 23

He has had a strange journey so far. He got some starts in 2019...actually played very well in a loss to UMass. Then, he starts all 6 games of the "bastard" 2020 season, and really doesn't distinguish himself. Then gets leapfrogged by Kato and Irons. Definitely a credit to him that, when his number was called on Saturday, he wasn't disengaged...yukking it up with some reserve punter at the end of the sideline. Or pouting over his 3rd string status. He was ready when his number was called, grabbed the reins of the offense and led the Zips to an improbable second half offensive explosion. Hats off to him!

Maybe this has already been posted elsewhere, but here is a nice story on Blake.

Hester reminds me of Bobby Henry. North-South runner that hits holes quickly. The new-look Zips OL played fine today. Pleasant surprise. Happy for all the players…first road win in 3 years! They deserve to celebrate tonight.

Zips coaches were a couple games behind @Football grandma Three new OL’s today. And Beckman was moved.

Wow is BG playing terrible. Kudos to the Zips for taking advantage of it. How much Valium did the color commentator take before kickoff. He announces like he’s in a library. 🤫

It isn’t sarcasm. It’s truth. Keep hoping the Zips straw turns to gold. I hope you’re right. But I see nothing that portends anything but a team that is too small, too slow and too unathletic to win more than 1 or 2 games in year FOUR of Arth’s tenure. Winning 1 in year #3 is etched in stone. This gives him a total of 3-4 wins over 4 years. Is that what he sold Larry Williams on when he was hired? Bowden took over worse. Owens took over worse. And both those guys year # 4 blows away where we’ll be at the end of 2022. Arth has grossly underestimated the talent level needed to compete in the MAC. And if we have only 2 wins to show for his efforts after 3 seasons, it is unprecedented that people would say he merits a 4th year. We’re 12th in the MAC, and it is unbelievable how much we’d need to improve just to move to the 11th slot. Paying off an underperforming coach’s last 2 years is a cost of doing business in big boy football. If we finish 2021 with 1 FCS win, it is time to move on. Cuz we ain’t winning more than 1 game in 2022 if he stays. Show me anything other than hope that portends anything different.

BG 41 Akron 17

T-shirt worthy truism.

He’s one of my top 3 people I’ve met within the football program in my 30-something years in the area. Love the guy. But there’s no way he could run a D1 football program with his heath condition. If he could, I’d take him in a heartbeat. Great football guy, and greater human being.

Temple hung with Cincinnati for a half tonight. Their fans must be stoked!

You know you’ve arrived as a program when you can hang with the likes of Temple and OU for an entire half.

Being young is one thing. Being young, and bereft of talent is another. We went 0-12...1-5...and are staring 1-11 in the face this season. I can't see adding a year of experience to what we have have on the field today making any difference in 2022. If we are only young, and somehow these larvae are going to turn into butterflies next year, I don't see it. Our lines, and LB's are completely overmatched by the worst of the MAC this season. Why in the era of transfers would anyone even try the "build with Freshman" approach? I think we are young, plus woefully bare in talent. We need more Irons-like talent...like 10 more of him...before we're competitive in the MAC, let alone OOC.

My search committee would consist of Hunter Yurachek. Former UA associate AD. He gets credit for outside the box thinking that has taken Costal Carolina to a Top 20 ranking. Not North Carolina…not South Carolina…not NC State…Costal Carolina. We need someone with a creative approach. Rehashing Paul Winters for the 28th time won’t work. Hiring a high school school coach won’t work. The right answer is out there, and Hunter probably has the experience and acumen to figure it out. Massive whiff by UA letting him get away when he wanted to be our AD.

We need a coach that can recruit. Period. Irons is a player. He can almost singlehandedly win football games. Dollard was a player. He could almost singlehandedly will football games. Mathison, while not at their level, is a player. After that...all our present players are essentially interchangeable. There's no other Arth-recruited talent on our roster that ANY other MAC program would want, let alone a P5 program. Yeah, you can see flashes of potential here and there from a DB or WR...but we are flat-out woefully short on talent. The proof: 0-4 MAC teams that lost to Duquesne curb-stomp us on our home field. You want linemen that are big, strong and agile. Our lines are small, slow and unathletic. Ditto the linebackers. It isn't will, or scheme, or conditioning that gets us pushed around the field. We're just smaller and less talented than all our opponents. Arth made the decision to build the program predominately with youth. It has hurt. Bowden had the same choice when he arrived, and liberally supplemented his classes with transfers. He once said (paraphrased) - "If we only recruit freshmen, we'll get killed and I'll just be recruiting the next coach's kids. AD's don't wait 5 years for you to win now-a-days." Can't argue with that. Transfers like Williams, Marcus, Davis, Coe and Natson were the types of impact P5 transfers we needed to start winning games at Akron. However, he also recruited NFL talent like Gilbert, Kyron Brown and Jatavis Brown out of high school. Maybe Council lands in the NFL too? I predicted 1 win when this season began. Irons' play made me hopeful we could possibly see two...but it's not going to happen. Lee Owens was a marginal coach (see him sitting at 2-2 at Ashland right now). But with a decaying off campus stadium and zero facilities he recruited the likes of Frye, Hixon, Blackburn, Payne, Hendry, Dwight Smith, Matt Cherry and many other solid, fun-to-watch players. Several landed in the NFL. Bowden once said - "We need to find a way to win at Akron." He also said - "Sometimes the local HS programs know you too well. Kids from Florida don't know Akron from Kent or BG, so that's where we need to recruit until we get better." It's true. I see zero value in making local recruiting a major emphasis right now. Of all the players I listed above as NFL caliber...how many were from Akron? Hendry was from North Canton. That's it. There is a way to win at Akron. It starts with identifying and recruiting talent. Period. Then lather, rinse, and repeat. There's no other option.

Paul Winters career HC record. 63 years old.

Bubba out for 4 weeks.

If Irons is out, we're in bad shape...I see no chance to win. I see this one as similar to the epic UA/UMass game of two years ago. OU has turned the ball over 5 times in 3 games. Their kicker is 3-7 on the season. They rack up 60 yards in penalties per game. So they have the ability to keep the Zips in the game. I hope the Zips win. I'll have a nice 12-person tailgate in Lot 9, and it would be nice if the Zips put on a good show for them. But... OU 31 Akron 27 Our OL and DL are just sooo porous... If there are 3+ turnover pencil sightings, the Zips could pull it off. That's what it would take.

Next time you see him, give him a ham sandwich!

While not to be confused with Shaq or Lebron, Freeman looks to have added a little upper body bulk?

In one post someone said Irons was out. Was there any truth to that?