RowdyZip

I bleed blue and gold and I didn't go last Tuesday because two reasons: I figured we'd be blown out, and it was a Tuesday night when I have to be up at 5am the next day for work. I'm going Tuesday next week because 3 reasons: MAC East title is on the line, we should beat Kent, and work production on Wednesday before Thanksgiving is minimal.

They had a Groupon for regular season games....in 2010.

Random thought after looking over a promo email that I received regarding the game: why couldn't they run a promo BOGO tickets, or BOGO with a Shearer's chips proof of purchase. ANYTHING to get as many people in the stadium as possible for this game?

Yep, just about every game with a guy whose name rhymed with Shmyashmello on the sideline.

Fun to look back: @Penn State: Loss 10-35 (L 0-52, CORRECT, margin off by 27, YIKES!) Arkansas-Pine Bluff: Win 55-6 (W 52-3, CORRECT, margin correct!) Iowa State: Win 28-24 (L 14-41, INCORRECT, not sure anyone thought Iowa State would have the season they have had) @Troy: Loss 17-38 (L, 17-22, CORRECT, margin off by 16.) @Bowling Green: Loss 45-56 (W 34-23, INCORRECT) Ball State: W 35-31 (W, 31-3, CORRECT, margin off by 24. I almost nailed the Zips point total?) @Western Michigan: Loss 20-38 (W 14-13, INCORRECT) @Toledo: Loss 17-45 (L 21-48, CORRECT, margin of by 1. I'm awesome.) Buffalo: Win 17-9 (W 21-20, CORRECT, margin off by 7. Yep, pretty awesome.) @Miami: Loss 21-27 (L 24-14, CORRECT, margin off by 4. I'm super awesome.) Ohio: Loss 6-20 (W 37-34, INCORRECT. I suck) Kent: Win 56-35. (TBD, but this could turn into a lot of offense) So far, 8-3 on my picks. Not bad.

Ahhh. I see it now. Makes more sense. I started following the Zips about 4 years before Dambrot took over and a lot of those Hipsher teams were REAAAALLLLY hard to watch. Especially getting crushed by Kent twice a year.

The first part is correct. Groce has said it, or at least implied it, himself. There's no way we land him if it wasn't for the reputation/prestige that the previous staff created over the last decade-plus. The second part isn't exactly true. Tim O'Shea had some pretty good teams his last few years before leaving to coach at Bryant (still weird), so it really wasn't Groce himself that turned them around. They've had pretty good sustained success the last 15 years through 3 coaching staffs. I hope the 3rd part is correct. I could certainly see it happen. The number one knock I've read around the internet is that Coach Groce isn't a great game coach. Fantastic recruiter, but could struggle time to time putting the pieces together. That can be improved, if it's an issue. I certainly like the recruiting situation thus far. Also, there were some good adjustments in the 2nd half vs. CSU. I wish Coach Dambrot and his staff all the best success they can attain. I, like others, have heard of some rumblings that some behind the scenes events helped make the decision to move on for Coach. I will be following Duquesne on the periphery of my basketball consciousness and rooting for them unless they happen to cross paths with the Zips.

1. Kent sucks. Given. 2. This is a rivalry game, the team needs to get up and not take this jalopy of a football team for an easy W. Examining the Kent/CMU box score illustrates this. Kent outgained CMU on offense 494 to 450. They actually had a shot to get this to a one possession game in the 4th quarter before some boneheaded coaching decisions and/or execution took them from 1st and goal at the CMU 1 to 4th and goal from the 34 (turnover on downs). Kent was also -1 in the turnover battle. Bollas, who seems to have been at Kent for 12 years, appears to be getting better at running the spread. He completed 15 passes to 7 different receivers, for 11.1 ypc. He's no Tom Brady, but he doesn't look lost like every other Kent game I've seen him tossing in. I will gladly eat crow from my OU game thread posts. I was yelling from my couch. I should've been there. On that note, I've got my tickets and I'll be bringing a couple folks with me Tuesday. GO ZIPS!

Welcome back. And add, "The second play from scrimmage for Ohio would be a 68 yard quarterback run for a touchdown."

This reads like an article written from a couch.

The extra element of Kato's legs seemed to loosen things up for our O-line. That's a huge advantage, and part of the reason we sputtered offensively in the second half. We completely abandoned the run. I'd be curious to see the run/pass ratios between halves. The other issue that was killing me was kickoff coverage. How many times did we return the ball past the 25? How many times did OU return a kick beyond the 40? Gotta clean that up.

Amazing work, as usual.

Hard to shake the pessimism. Glad the Zips proved me wrong and became the 60th bowl eligible team last night. There are now 18 remaining spots and 45 teams that could still hit 6 wins. With all the cancellations due to the hurricanes earlier in the season, I'm not sure if all games will be made up. Would a bowl still have to choose a 6-6 team over a P5 that went 5-6 with a cancellation?

No excuses, honest question. Are you allowed to blow up a punter as long as the kick is blocked? Gasser took a forearm to the dome.

Totes McGoats.

59 eligible 25 eliminated 46 possible eligible for 19 remaining spots. 19 teams are sitting with the zips at 5 wins. It seems possible that 6-6 could get left out this year.

UT Martin is picked 8th in the OVC preseason poll. Both teams are in a similar situation, but the advantage will go to UT Martin having 3 games under their belts by the time they get to the JAR. An effort similar to the 2nd half vs. CSU should win this game. Key to this one will be stopping their guard play, especially Rhode Island transfer and preseason all-OVC combo guard Matthew Butler. He's a volume shooter from the outside (20 attempts in their first two games, shooting 40%). Perimeter defense will be important. They start a couple 6'8" guys, so not a ton of size. This should be a fairly evenly matched game.

Way too early assessment from watching a choppy ESPN3 broadcast via my Roku: Parrish: I like the Quincy Diggs comparisons. He seems to be more under control and level-headed than Q (of course, ONE GAME). Q's biggest downfall was emotion and temper pushing him over the top from time to time. Could potentially be a conference star. Sayles: Similar to Kwan but not afraid to bang down low. Uses his 6'9" frame well, built to be a star. I had thought he was a perimeter player based on recruiting sites. Kostelac: As mentioned, it was 2 minutes. My impression was that he is a Mike Bardo type with a higher upside. He may get pushed around a little this year, but has the potential to be a pretty decent back to the basket guy. Again, hard to tell with my sample size. Cotton: Jury is out for me. He played nearly half the game and I didn't notice anything much. Has good handles, but game one seemed to move pretty fast for him. Looking at the box, the biggest thing that stands out is 5 TOs. That'll improve. Patton: Ditto. Though I did like seeing 6 rebounds out of him and 5 out of Cotton. Duvivier: Kid looks like he's chiseled out of stone. That dunk made my wife and I stand up from our couch and yell. Seemed to come out of nowhere. Must be those increases in vertical leap that everyone was talking about. 3/12 shooting leaves much to be desired, but he had 5 of the team's 7 (yuck) assists, and just 2 TOs in 35 minutes. Sucks he's only around 1 year. Other observations: Poke disappointed me. We'll need some production from him to have success in conference this year. Every day that goes by, he reminds me more of Quade Milum. I would bet as the season goes by, we some quality connections between him and Duvivier for some "Wow" alley-oops. Utomi could potentially average a double-double this year with this team's rebounding technique/focus. Potential All-MAC guy and probably the key to this year along with Jimond. Ivey...seemed to be pressing a little and into "hero ball" for a few possessions. Guy probably is one of the most skilled on the team overall. We probably won't see another game where he shoots 3/14, and most certainly not one where we win. I'm thankful he stayed at UA. Fiery guy that loves the game. He'll develop that trust in his teammates. I have to remind myself that this team returns 3 guys that contributed at all last year. They're talented, and I hope the staff can bring them all together. I liked what I saw in the 2nd half. The conference is down this year, so 20 wins isn't out of the question.

And K-ent is -5.5 for vs YSU in the nightcap.

I got this in my email this morning and barfed a little bit into my mouth.

ESPN3 only for this and UT Martin and UT Chattanooga. Tournament game vs USC is on ESPNU. Hopefully we outperform or we may be upset over how spoiled we were with TV coverage for the last few years.

I'll always support the Zips. Always. I don't doubt this is the biggest game we've had in a few years, as it pertains to contention for an East championship. This year hasn't been fun for me. It's great that we won a few that were surprises instead of the other way around. It gets tiring watching games expecting to lose, even if they come out to be a win. I have no doubt these guys play hard, and I love that. These guys love each other and there's no give up, and as an alum, that's fantastic to see. It makes me proud. We've all seen some Zips teams that were not that way (I've been watching close to two decades now). But since Toledo smoked us by 27 and then OU smoked them by 28, the transitive properties indicate I should stay home and watch on the couch. I'll see everyone the following week for K-ent.

I went to bed last night a little bit after I saw OU kick a field goal right before halftime to take a 10-7 lead at home. I was worried then. I woke up and saw the final score and right then made the decision to stay home next Tuesday and watch on TV. I hope I'm wrong, but this game has all the makings of a P5 money game pounding, except at home against a conference rival. If it was a Saturday game, I'd still probably be there. Having to wake up at 5:30 for work on Wednesday makes this a watch-at-home. OU 52, Zips 13.

I, for one, am jealous of Miami's offense. They could pick up between 6 and 15 yards on our defense at will. It was nothing fancy either, some slants, a little motion in the back field, some misdirection. Meanwhile, our backs try the good ol' fashioned vanilla between-the-tackles for 1/2 yard. An incomplete pass later, we were constantly staring at 3rd and 7-8-9. I just miss the Frye/Getsy days where it seemed our offense had a few drops of creativity.

At 5-5 we've outperformed our expectations after the beginning of the season. I think this team gets destroyed by OU, and despite Kent's absolute shittiness, a rivalry game is still a crapshoot. I could see 5-7. Is 6-6 enough for Bowden to keep his job?