Blue & Gold

I was at a wedding and unable to see the game. I was, however, able to listen to the 4th quarter. Steve French made it sound like Nicely was really bad. I don't have much to say about the game, except for the fact that I like how our D played in the 1st 1 & 1/2 quarters. Our new white jerseys look cool. There's a good pic of AA on GoZips.com. Oh, and I'm glad Giorgio Bowers got some time @ RB. From what I've seen of AA ('Cuse & GW), he just doesn't seem to hit the hole hard or fast enough anymore. I can't blame him, RB's a punishing position, let alone after a few bad injuries.

Anyone know if any local establishments are carrying the game? The Tap House, perhaps?

We beat Kentucky 21-20 & ZipsNation rises in one voice and pronounces iCoach a genius. We then immediately commence fretting about losing him at season's end to a BCS school.

I was stomping my feet for the Zips' D last week v. GW, even though I thought it was disgraceful that we were in such a close game with a 1AA. The first two weeks of the season were unmitigated disasters. The next two weeks are likely to be the same. But I'll be there v. Northern Illinois, once again stomping my feet for the D!

I'm generally disappointed in the crowds we get at Zips games, but this photo goes to show that you've got to win to expect big crowds.

I see that iCoach is the first coach lined up for the "Lunch With Coach" series. It's scheduled for this Thursday @ The Barley House. I'm going to assume they were thinking that by scheduling Ianello for this week the football team would have a good showing against 'Cuse plus a beat-down of a D-1AA under our belts, but would get the lunch w/ iCoach out of the way before we get our @sses handed to us @ UK & IU. Did anyone think we'd get thrashed by 'Cuse & beaten by a 1AA? Honestly, I still can't believe it. How low can you go? That's going to be one depressing lunch w/ the coach.

I don't listen to the 1350 show. They can call it what they like, but it's not an Akron sports show. It's the same-old-same-old Cleveland and Columbus routine. If they were bashing ZipsNation, like you said BZ, at least they were talking Zips. But, sadly, I don't find it difficult to believe they were chiding us for wanting to win and reminding everyone that UA is not a football school and, once again, reinforcing the negativity by stating that they never will be. Anyway... back to Columbus State & the Browns...

The score is impossible to predict as it will depend entirely on how merciful UK decides they want to be. I have the feeling it is going to be one of those horrible, and all-too-frequent games against a BCS school where we're just relieved every time our O get a first down or our D keeps the opposition from scoring a TD - you know, when simply holding the other team to a FG seems like a small victory. It sure ain't easy being a fan of the Zippers.

Anyone else notice Giorgio Bowers out on the kickoff return team? Since his red shirt is gone I'd really like to see him @ RB and not just as an up man on the kick return squad.

How about Monster-Hands Tonga? I'm surprised he hasn't even gotten a toe on the field thus far.

Well, at least next week should be fun. I would like to officially retract my above statement.

I'm actually much more excited about watching next year's Zips than I am about watching this year's Zips. Kinda weird. We should be a tear with the athleticism KD's assembled orbiting around a 3rd-year Zeke Marshall.

More on Deji, this time from a blog entitled CITY/SUBURBAN HOOPS REPORT by Joe Henricksen "There are always late bloomers. And there are always players who haven't been talked about or have been hardly noticed that grab people's attention in the spring and summer before their senior year. The City/Suburban Hoops Report hits on a few of those individuals, with more to come over the next several months, as they are all primed to spring forward in both player rankings, name recognition and as college prospects. ... • DEJI IBITAYO, 6-3, Olympia Fields (Rich Central) Maybe the least known among this chosen group, this high-flying wing will be opening eyes throughout the spring and summer. Ibitayo, who had a solid and productive junior year at Rich Central, is as athletic as any player in the state of Illinois. While his jaw-dropping athleticism and crazy hops have been his trademark, Ibitayo is slowly improving his skill level. He's made strides, looking better at the free throw line and looking more comfortable handling the ball on the perimeter, but he will have to continue making those strides and work on the mechanics of his jumper."

Here's a blurb on Deji from a blogger covering a Milwaukee AAU tourney. • The undervalued Deji Ibitayo of Rich Central, who plays with a solid Illinois Defenders team, continues to wow coaches and scouts with his great body and athleticism. The Hoops Report continues to love his upside. He is a high flyer who is still developing his skills on the perimeter. But Ibitayo is a high-major athlete who will surely draw continued interest throughout July. Sounds great! I've been coveting a 6-3 athletic guard! But... we have room for him? Someone has to be transferring out, right?

At least you probably get free pizza when their shift is over. One of them (and the Lord is my witness on this) is a pizza delivery boy!!! Yessssss!!!! He's got a very valuable degree in Journalism. K-ent sucks!

I'm neither a family man, nor an alumnus of UA (Walsh U. alum), and most of my friends, sadly, are actually Can't alumni. It's not an uncommon occurance I can't find anyone to go to the game with. But I'm a diehard fan & don't like to miss games, so I still go. I often just end up asking a girl or two - they don't really care about the game, but think the event is fun & like going out to eat before/after. But I'd say that, on average, I usually end up attending 2 games each season by myself (usually toward the end of the season, when it's cold/rainy & the Zips suck - which is like, every year.) I actually had 3 girls ask me (together) just last week, "When are we going to another Zips game?!" I was pretty excited until I heard why they really wanted to go: "We're hungry for Crave after the game!"

As sad as it is to say, I was surprised (pleasantly) when Igor made his first kick. Needless to say, that's just unacceptable for D-1 football.

I've been a big Zips fan since the last year of the Gerry Faust era. But last year's Temple game @ The Info was perhaps the low-point (of many, many low-points) for me as a Zips fan. I couldn't get anyone to go to the game with me (not that I don't understand why), sat by myself in a virtually empty Info, and watched us get utterly destroyed... by Temple. I have the feeling that come mid-season, I'll probably be going to the games by myself again.

I only know this from listening to Caleb Porter on the Akron Press Club last night (I'm not, like many on this board, trying to sound like a know-it-all). But Caleb said he's alright with being in the MAC. According to Caleb, the negative of MAC membership: The MAC doesn't have an "AQ," as he calls it - Automatic Qualifier, and he believes it is important for the conference to have that. According to Caleb, the positive of MAC membership: The MAC only schedules a single game against each conference team, so it enables us to be extremely flexible with the rest of our scheduling - it allows us to play as many of the toughest teams in the country as we want or that will play us. As it is now, we have the flexibility to schedule the toughest Big 10, ACC & Big East schools we want/can. Caleb actually seemed very happy with having that sort of freedom.

What do you know, Caleb Porter is on the Akron Press Club (channel 23 Time Warner Stark Co.). He's talking about the sort of character traits he looks for in players and tries to instill in his players. Cool stuff. Just thought you would want to know.

I feel you pain; I hate those comments. Over the last few years I've shied away from bringing (dragging) as many friends to the games as I used to. Under JD it got to be downright embarrassing.

I'm really hoping we clean up the penalties this week. I think this week will give our team a chance to take a deep breath, relax & execute. I absolutely LOVED seeing 4 down linemen. I thought the front 7 looked great (though I guess the stats really don't bear that out. Idk.) Weather's supposed to be great. I'm already looking forward to another day of college football @ the Info! We on ZipsNation are like Chicago Cubs fans - we're diehard fans, win or lose, we'll still be there hoping & cheering. Go Zips!

I have never coached and I knew that was a crap decision...I am sorry but no mulligans and shame on his staff for not calling him out if they had the chance to. We need a staff that will work together and step up when something is ready to go array. i get it, you can get caught up in the moment but that is where your right-hand man chimes in and says....woah Coach, lets go for it, 17-6 is still two scores and 4 and 2 is makeable. Had he admitted it then maybe a mulligan but don't sweep it under the rug. Just admit you screwed up...don't glance over the subject by saying... "When you give up a blocked field goal for a touchdown, when you have a chance to cut it to 17-6, but instead its 23-3, that's a huge turnaround in a game" What does 17-6 do? That was only maybe our 2nd or 3rd trip into their territory the whole game, what made him think we would get back there two more times! Plus 17-6 would require us to make the 40 yd field goal, score a touchdown and then make another field goal to get it to 17 all. Bad decision and that's it....maybe mulligan 3 to 4 illegal formations + bad decision = bad preparation...no mulligan Hell with it...move on and lets win this week. Forget about the mathematical logic for a second. Good and bad decisions can often be measured by how it affects the opposition. And in this case, I'm guessing that the Syracuse staff was relieved when we did not go for it. We squandered our last opportunity to gain a psychological edge in that game. We would have been on the attack, and they would have been forced to scramble to keep their more-than-a-touchdown margin. And by simply stepping up to the line of scrimmage, we may have even forced them to burn a timeout, which would have given us more time to decide the right move. Unfortunately, I'd have to say that this looked like the kind of thing you'd possibly see from someone inexperienced with in-game decision making. Even if iCoach didn't have confidence that we could gain 2 yards( ), we could have at least lined up and tried to make 'Cuse jump off-sides.

Just now chiming in on Saturday's disappointment. Just three thoughts. 1) Burn Georgio Bowers' redshirt this week. Get him on the field. Alex Allen doesn't hit the hole hard enough anymore and Nate Burney, while a good, hard runner, just isn't big enough. 2) Move Jalil Carter back to safety. 3) Burn Keith Sconiers' redshirt & get him on the field @ WR. Oh, and one more... 4) Throw to the TE - since we've moved a couple of our best athletes to the position, might as well utilize 'em.