Captain Kangaroo

I liked Zaire. I was hoping he'd see the field more this season, but it hasn't panned out that way.

LZip has it right. Any of the three bars he mentioned are what you’re looking for, and immediately across the street from the stadium. Lot 9 is the tailgate lot across the street from the bars, at the south end of the stadium. I’ll be there with a Zips flag and a black F-150. Stop by and say hello. Safe travels to the AK.?

Kato's been fine. There's only one person who thinks otherwise.

Troy Message Board

Blaine Gabbert’s little brother Brett looks like a keeper for Miami. True freshman.

Pencil Power™ - The tag line that writes itself!

After 1...maybe 2 games, I was done with I-and-ll-o. It was a combination of what I saw on the field, and how he treated people as a human being. He was a first class jerkwad. There was no way he succeeded as a HC. Arth has so many positives...he's a great person (Ianello wasn't), he's a tireless, energetic hands-on teacher (Bowden was much more into delegating). I haven't seen anything from Arth that makes be believe he won't be highly successful at Akron in a few short years. It sucks that turning around 30 years of, at-best, mediocre football, takes time. But he seems to have the acumen, tools, and energy to do it. Barring injuries, which always screw up any predictions. I expect the Zips will continue to improve as the 2019 season progresses. They definitely won't tank, and finger-point. Heck, they could be 2-2 at the end of September? Go Zips!

Wonder whatever happened to @Cykron. He was posting regularly through the deadness of the summer...then mysteriously disappeared. Hope he didn't meet with foul play?? I did see his nephew, Stow native Kyle Vantrease of Buffalo, appears to be Buffalo's back up.

It's been a long time since we've had a raucous thread worthy of the Kent State game. We'll see if we can have some fun with this one? Hopefully Kent fans show up at InfoCision in large numbers...but they will probably stay home and cuddle with their instead.

I will be traveling to this one. If anyone would like to tailgate prior to the game, just PM me. Happy to meet any and all Zips fans for pregame chowda' and beers!

Just getting the thread started.

The Most Active CMU Board The Seldom Used CMU Board that Hosts the All-Time Greatest MAC Poster Name - CHIPPEWA ENEMA

The positives out of the day - Beautiful weather! How often does that happen at a Zips home football game? Burkhart was great. To be honest, he had the type of game I'd have predicted from Boogie. It will be interesting to see if he's a 1-hit wonder, or he can back it up. He played well at Illinois, so I'm guessing he's going to have a nice season. While UAB isn't bucking for a New Year's Day bowl this year, they're not bad. Their QB was accurate. Their o-line gave him pocket time that Kato could only dream of having, It's amazing how good your passing game can be if you have all day to throw. UAB's D-line had good size. UAB drew 39,000 fans for their hope opener, and is building a $175 million dollar stadium. While Joe Akron isn't too familiar with them, they're a solid program. Even in what might be considered a down year. Kato never had all day to throw. He barely had 2 seconds from the snap to get rid of the ball. It's unbelievable that he could throw for over 300 yards under those circumstances. The Zips running game again disappointed. But the backs never had a gap to hit. Last season you could chalk up the Zips running issues to an unimaginative scheme. We tried a variety of different looks against UAB and nothing worked. Ineffective pass and run blocking gives you what we saw on Saturday. The Blazer D-line just pushed the Zips back and collapsed the pocket every time. Conversely, our D-line was easily fended off. Hope Council isn't hurt too bad. He returned to the sideline sans any air cast or crutches, so it seems like a minor ding. Keyondre White was on the sideline. Must be injured? Is the solution to Kato buying time to throw rolling him out? Seems like the obvious choice. It's either that, or the o-line needs to make some huge strides over the next couple weeks. Does Andre Williams get a chance to return some kicks? Hopefully the staff is just being cautious in bringing him back from his long layoff. His snap count needs to increase. Alvin Davis' name is not being called enough on the PA system. I realize the numbers game somewhat forces the staff's hand to play him at the corner (we have a little depth at safety, but none at CB), but we can't continue to get burnt deep. I would love to see Davis back at safety where he can make a bigger impact on the game. Tutu sat out 2018 as a gray shirt, so he deserves some patience as he acclimates to the college game. Hope he's a quick learner. I saw Wieland punt in HS and he was awesome. I don't know whether it's jitters...the 2 year layoff from playing...problems adjusting to the punt-on-the-run rugby-style kick...but he's gotta get it together. I never saw Fitchen kick in HS, but he's gotta get it together too. I've never seen such problems as the Zips have kicking the ball...or on special teams in general. There were bright spots Saturday - Lako and Bubba played well. Riley showed some resilience after getting off to a rough start. Jest had a great game. Scippio found the endzone for his first college TD. I thought we tackled well, and fought hard to the end. Kato is a gamer. Arth seems to me to be first and foremost a teacher. A very hands-on teacher. He now has 8 quarters of game film to start addressing our shortcomings. We'll see what he can do. To paraphrase Rick Pitino..."Andy Alleman ain't walking through that door...Brent Biggs ain't walking through that door...Rodney Coe and Jatavis Brown aren't walking through that door...". We are who we are...a team coming off a 4-8 season that lost 90% of it's defense from 2018. The final two 2017 games prior to the 4-8 season, we were down 35-0 to Toledo, and lost 50 - 3 to FAU. So anyone writing off Arth after losing to teams that were flat-out better than these rebuilding Zips...and funded beyond the Zips wildest imagination...should keep "I told you so's" to themselves. It just clutters the board. Go Zips. Beat the Chipps!

I’d have gone with “The Turnover Tire” chain, but that’s just me. ?

Blazers Football Resurrection Story

After one week of watching the Zips get manhandled by a Big10 program, I will offer the following thoughts regarding this week's match up with the Blazers - I don't think the Blazers are good. You don't give up 19 points to Alabama State, and get shut out in the second half of your home game against Alabama State, if you're good. You also don't get 39,000 people to show up at your home opener, and build a 172 million dollar new stadium (opening next year) if you completely suck. I would expect a much better effort out of both the Zips and Blazers this week. Looking forward to watching Bubba this week. He was the one guy that repeatedly played with the speed and aggression to win the Illinois game. Other guys had their moments, but in an absolutely unwatchable game, Bubba almost made it worth watching. We need the three Week 1 "non-travelling" Zips seniors to travel to InfoCision on Saturday. If we don't have those guys we can lose to anybody. Council + Brown on the o-line will make a world of difference in both the running and passing game. If we only have Council again, look for another Milwee-esque day running the ball. Jest is a handful at nose tackle. No one that we put at nose tackle last week was a handful. 20-or-so snaps from Jest on Saturday would be really nice to see. Alvin Davis almost single-handedly beat Northwestern last season. Last week we replaced him with a true freshman. BIG drop off. Get AD back in the secondary and you'll see an entirely different Zips defense Saturday. Unfortunately, none of our WR's stood out. Boogie was a non-factor. Stewart was "ok." Michael Mathison was a pleasant surprise (hope he's healthy this week).I have to assume that Williams missing the entire spring prompted Arth to ease him into game action Saturday? I expect a heavier dose of Dre Williams on Saturday afternoon. If I were in the media, I'd be asking about the punting game. Does Wieland get another game to prove he can kick like HS? Or does our Freshman punter make his home debut? IMO - our chance to win the game rests on the four non-factor players from last week actually playing (I threw Dre Williams in as a non-player too). A 42-3 shellacking will cause a lot of locals to say "Yep...same old Akron," so Arth and Company need to come out this week with a sense of urgency and try to make a statement. However unfair it might be to Arth's unenviable situation of taking over a 4-8 program, a 31-9 home loss to the Blazers would put Joe Akron in yet another fall coma. If the four absentees play this week, Zips win 31-27. If we field the team we fielded @ Illinois - Zips lose 34-16.

You can only sign 25 max, so if a combined 30 guys leave due to graduation + transfer + drop out...you'll be 5 behind when next semester rolls around. It is really difficult to catch up with a capped 25 scholarships every year.

BlazerNation.com

UAB was also shut out in the 2nd half of that game. Paltry numbers for playing a bad 1-AA team. If we don't beat a lame team like this in our home opener, it's going to be a looooong season. -9.5? Take the Zips straight-up in this one.

WTF?!

Zips win if - Kato has improved his accuracy from 2018. I think we could have beaten Iowa State last year if he’d have hit some relatively easy throws. Deltron needs to have a big day, and stay healthy. His talent has never been questioned, but ball security and health issues have always been a problem. No turnovers and 100 yards from Deltron and the Zips win. Arth needs to be aggressive on 4th downs. A conservative approach won’t win the game. Our D will give up points, so the Zips need to take advantage of all offensive opportunities. Do we have a reliable kicker this year? Historically the Zips have a nice opening drive against P5 teams, and then shank a very makable FG. And the balloon deflates. Big momentum boost for the Zips if we can convert FGs. Im a big Jonah Wieland fan since his days as an Explorer. Some booming punts to bail the Zips out of bad field position would be huge. Jonah needs to have a big day. Our performance on the D line will be the biggest key. If our front three hold their own, Ward, Sampson, Lako and company can wreak some havoc. If we get shoved down the field it will be a long day. Look out for Lako. He’ll have at least one pick today. He’s tall, and reads the QB as well as anybody. Zaire Jacobs had a great game at South Carolina last year. I look for him to have improved over the off season and make big impact today. Head: Illini 31-23 Heart: Zips 20-18

UMass looking very dangerous. Putting the wood to Rutgers early-on.

If Jonah Morris is our leading receiver then I'm picking Illinois by 17+. ?

Four years ago I had the opportunity to speak to Jeff Bowden and Todd Stroud at a Zips golf outing. I asked them who they felt was the biggest impact player from the 2016 class. Stroud immediately said “Trevor Brown.” Bowden said “Kato Nelson.” After a short, friendly debate they agreed both were worthy of being #1. Since Trevor arrived at Akron I’ve always enjoyed watching him play. So it was cool that I got 10 minutes to interview him after a recent practice. Hope you like it. Thanks as always to Dr. Z for the great photos and professional layout!

Post-practice with Tom Arth – August 17, 2019 What were you expecting to get out of today’s practice...what were the practice-specific goals, and did you see it on the field? “I guess in some instances we did. Every day our goals are very similar. We want to come out and give the very best effort we can. We want to compete at a high level throughout the duration of the practice. For the most part I think we did that. I challenged the team today. I kind of questioned whether or not every single player we have in our program gave everything they had throughout the duration of the practice. There were some inconsistencies, and that’s an area we’re really trying to focus on. We need to become a more consistent group. Over the past couple weeks, we’ve had some really good days...we have some days when the offense has a great day and the defense struggles...and then the defense has a great day and the offense struggles. So we really just need to find that consistency. That’s what we need throughout the remainder of camp, working up to the start of the season.” At what point does the switch flip from getting better...defining your 2-deep roster...learning plays...to focusing on preparation for Illinois? “I don’t think you ever stop trying to get better. At some point here, probably next week, we won’t necessarily start to focus on Illinois, but we’ll start learning how to go through a game plan. Learning how to go through an in-season practice week. Developing our scout teams, making sure the scout team players understand the type of effort we’re looking for...the type of looks they have to give...and viceversa. The first and second units have to go hard in order to give the scout team the freedom to go hard. If the one’s and two’s aren’t giving everything they have, the scouts are going to be a little bit slower. So next week we’re going to start building in some of those periods. We’ll start training and developing the scout teams and really getting ready for everything necessary for the start of the season. Where do you feel the team is today, as opposed to where you’d hoped you’d be at the start of the camp? “I’m happy with where we’re at. I think we’ve made a lot of improvement. Who we were in the spring is very different that who we are today, and that’s a real credit to our players...their hard work and commitment to our program. We’re playing at a much higher level right now than at any point in the spring. That’s what you look for is that constant improvement. At the same time, you’re never satisfied. You’re always pushing them and challenging them to get better and to improve. I think the biggest positive out of camp has been our attitude, and the effort we’ve given. We’ve come out just about every single day put forth great effort in our practices. Now we need to continue putting forth that same effort, but also execute consistently.” Obviously Nate Stewart was a rock star today. Can you give me the names of a few players that have caught your eye...guys that maybe you only have seen on tape, or in limited reps in the spring, who are shining in camp? “Nate had a great day today, has had a great camp thus far too. Andre Williams has been really exciting to see. We didn’t get a chance to see him at all during the spring time. This being the first week and a half of camp, this is his first time practicing in a long time. And the first time playing in our offense. It’s taken him a little while to hit his stride, and in these last few practices we’ve really seen what he can bring to our offense. And that’s been really positive. Landon Forman is an offensive lineman that was out all spring. But what he’s shown us over the past couple weeks has been really exciting.” Considering there are so many new faces on defense, how do you feel things are coming along on that side of the ball? “We certainly feel a lot better (than in the spring). We have a lot of depth on our defensive line. That was a position where we might have had five guys in the spring time, and ideally, we’d like to have a nine-man rotation. I think we have nine guys right now that we feel confident can go out there and make plays for us.” I feel really confident in our defensive backfield. The freshman that have come in have added a lot of really good depth. It’s exciting that we have some young guys that are pushing for starting positions in the secondary.” MU 8-17-19 Here is link to the coach Arth interview.