Blue & Gold

AJ Kirk had a tremendous game. I've seen a handful of Hoban games this season and that's the best I've seen him play. Great game from him. (Btw, Kirk is Mike Doss' brother.) On the line Darryl Peterson is Hoban's best and he was the best last night as well. He really dominated whomever he played over. Darryl is a Wisconsin commit, and another "Did You Know?," is the son of former Zips basketball great Darryl Peterson. (I am getting old ? ) Hoban uses Luke Bauer as a DE/outside linebacker - sort of how the Zips are using Ryan McClain. Luke generally lines up in the 2-technique on the line at the DE position - usually on the left it seems. He was matched up all night with Massillon RT Terrance Rankl, whom is a Pitt commit. Rankl's the real deal at 6'5" 290. I thought the matchup was a draw. Rankl didn't allow Bauer any sacks last night (though I saw at least 2 plays where holding could have been called and Bauer was in on a couple group sacks). Also, Massillon was never able to simply run behind Rankl like they pretty much have all season and Bauer made a few plays behind the LOS. So we'll see. He's already got a full-grown-man's body at 6'1", 245 and I'm glad he's going to be a Zip. The Zips have also offered Kharion Davis, whom I believe was named Game MVP. Could Kharion be the lockdown corner we so desperately need? He shut down OSU commit Jayden Ballard last night (though the best pass defense is a good pass rush and that's what we saw last night.) Covering Ballard one-on-one, Kharion was step-for-step with Ballard and then aggressively cut through Ballard's body for a big INT at Hoban's 10-ish yard line. He outfought Ballard for the ball... but that's not really saying much; Ballard is extremely athletic but awfully soft. Hopefully the Zips can land Kharion! Coach Arth should become best friends with Hoban's Coach Terrell. Lol. (And, while he's at it, with Massillon's Nate Moore as well; loads of talent on both teams - though a few of Massillon's best players this year were from... wait for it... Buchtel! Lol. What's up with that?!) Go Zips!

If anyone's interested in watching what should be a great game and Zips commit Luke Bauer, here is the link for the game. It costs $9.99 to watch.

Arth postgame presser GT asks some good, pointed questions. Asks how Kent's receivers were so wide open. But Arth is really a master of coach speak, so he sort of skirts the questions. But I'm still grateful to GT for asking questions which held Arth's feet to the fire. GT also interviews Teon Dollard (who unfortunately gave Kent bulletin board material for next year saying he felt they didn't want to tackle him. Lol.)

GoZips dot com has our first game as being -v- Kent on December 19. Our first game is still a month away? That sucks.

Do we have any non-conference games?

The MAC East is absolutely stacked. Jason Preston is elite. Of course I've got to pull for LCJ to repeat as POY, but Jason Preston, man... whew.

I think this is the post were this thread started going sideways. This is a good post and I agree with most of it! I totally agree. Now the cupboard which Bowden inherited was sincerely bare. I'm still grateful to Bowden and always will be. He took Akron from the bottom and made us pretty respectable. However, I think he may have gotten lazy (?), because his recruiting classes were always rather sub-par (especially considering he could/should be leveraging the Bowden name.) and i do think he had taken Akron as far as he could... and there were signs of his losing the team during his last year. But that's a different rabbit trail. Anyway, Arth's cupboard wasn’t that bare, he just felt the necessity of taking the program in an entirely different direction. Totally agree. All these players seem to love each other and the staff, and haven't been tuning the staff out in the slightest. Their effort is still through the roof. I really respect all the players for that and respect the coaches for remaining encouraging and upbeat. It may be the intangible positive personalities that Arth is attracting. It would be all too easy for one or two players to become a cancer on this team, but I haven't detected the least bit of that. Total props from Coach Arth to the water boy. Again. Totally agree. Last night was rough for all of us and all of our nerves are kinda exposed after last night. But I see the team improving and have to remind myself that 1. they're mostly all freshmen and sophomores, and 2. this year is more of an exhibition year anyway with no one losing eligibility. Not losing a year of eligibility will benefit everyone in the MAC, but we're so young it's going to benefit us more than anyone. Go Zips!

Nelson is getting over a shoulder surgery and should be soon cleared to play. Maybe even this week? Burkhart was a fantastic WR but injuries (concussions?) cut his playing days short. The WR Knight you mention above is Boogie Knight, who is still on the team but lined up at running back now. He also returns punts & kicks. I don't know about Sands. Didn't he graduate? I thought he was a senior last year, but I definitely could be wrong. Edit: ^^I see Captain beat me to the punch! Lol

Well fantastic. We just lost our verbal commitment from Dillon Porter, no doubt due, in no small part, to our splendid performance on ESPN last night.

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I believe you're right. And welcome to ZipsNation!

Amen. If you can't stop the run nothing else in the game of football matters. This was a rewind to week #1.

We miss Mathewson returning kickoffs.

Still 0 forced punts.

I breathlessly await the halftime adjustment our D staff will undoubtedly make. ?

Good grief

If they don’t score before half I’ll be pleasantly surprised ??

Completion to the TE!!!!!!!!

Hey, already a far superior showing as compared to last year.

Sadly, my question still stands. Anyone think we’ll force a punt tonight? ?

I think the punter from last week but idk?

Are we playing man-to-man?