Dr Z

My question would be...CAN we be an effective offense playing ball control? Does that play to this teams offensive strengths? If we play ball control and score 17 points, can we hold BG under that? Weather for Saturday calls for 52 and mostly sunny...as of now.

Tommy is now rated number 57 in the nation.

Matt Johnson leads THE NATION in passing. Roger Lewis leads THE NATION in receiving. Coach Amato needs to find a way to limit them. Our defense needs to play physical between the whistles, and win the turnover battle.

My observations through the game. • One of the best halves of quarterbacking I have seen in a Zips uniform. 12 completions for 198 yards, 4TDs with 42 yards rushing. 355 yards of offense, and one of the most telling stats; 7 of 8 on third down conversions. Tommy is thriving in this offense, and taking Jerome and Imani along for the ride. I wished that first half would never end. • To see TW13 high fiving the special teams players (multiple times) as they come off the field showed me a lot about his leadership skills. • Loved the play calling. Of course effeicient quarterback play can make all your plays look good, but I thought AJ did a nice job mixing run in, and taking advantage when EMU packed it in. I thought Cribbs made a good point when he said he liked his offensive coordinator on the field so he can look it to his eyes. He would know. • I read many complaining about Cribbs, I don't know how many games he has done before, I would guess not many. I didn't mind him. He gave you a few insights about the game that were unique. I found it interesting in how he pointed out as a returner, the first thing he was looking at was the gunner. I also liked his point about how important special teams were, and he didn't realize that until he got to the NFL. Too bad you can't turn the sound down on the other guy. How does anybody enjoy that? He repeats everything, and talks just to fill. He must have said "zone read" forty or fifty times. • I hope the next time we get 15 yards on a kickoff following an extra point, we consider onside kicking, or at least pooching it to someone not used to handling the ball. Kicking it out of the end zone in that situation is not taking advantage of the given opportunity. • Congratulations to the offensive line, nice day. Connor continues to run hard and get the most out of every time he touches the ball. I almost take him for granted now. • I couldn't help but notice EMU's DB Anthony Brown. What a great effort he showed with that club on his hand. I think he had five tackles with that thing, and broke on one of TW13's mistakes where he would have had a pick six if it weren't for that "cast." I'm not sure what his issue was, I'm assuming some sort of break. Fair or unfair, it made me think of Joe Hadden not playing last week. • Did that EMU QB not remind you of Johnny from Karate Kid??? • Nice game by Josh McNeil. • The D did not listen to JRship35 by committing two inexcusable penalties to give automatic first downs in critical situations. I'm not going to get on them too much, they have played their butts off all season, and are facing a HUGE challenge next week. I'm really looking forward to see how coach Amato plans on defending Matt Johnson. • Sure was nice to have a victory sealed at half time. Nice job guys, good luck next week.

Congratulations to: zozips19, johnnyzips84, and Z.I.P. They answered all three questions correctly.

Offense, defense, special teams, AND play calling, all excellent. Never so sad to see a half of football end. In one half of football: Thomas Woodson passing 12 of 19 for 198 yards 4TDs 0 INT Thomas Woodson rushing 8 attempts 42 yards 355 yards of offense. 7 of 8 3rd down conversions.

Feel free to discuss all mac conference games other than the Zips game in this thread. Please us the proper game thread for Zips discussion. Today's games.

Sooners vs Horns on ABC at noon today.

Cavalier fans may enjoy. Bonus: Great article by Fred Jackson.

If you put a rb and a te in the slot with two wr, you have 21 with 4 wide. A common formation to try to get mismatches. The Browns run a 21 personnel with 5 wide on the Duke Johnson TD pass on Sunday. Both RB's lined up outside. Great designed play. Two LB's were covering both RBs. Think personnel, not formations. Before Hernandez went to jail, the Patriots used to run 12 with 4 wide (2 WR with Gronk and Hernandez). The could run hurry up, and pack it back in and pound the ball with the same personnel package. If you tried to substitute, they would spread em back out. Personnel chart for reference. I've recommended this book before, but I'll do it again. It really helps you take labels off of an offense and realize what a team is trying to accomplish. While I'm recommending stuff, Bernie Kosar has a show called 'Sports Zone', I love it. I wish he spent more time breaking down plays because he is a football genius, but it's awesome for those who appreciate his personality like I do too.

I would guess it's a matter of semantics. Notice he speaks of the 21 personnel and the H back. Don't forget, you can still go 4 wide with 21. I would love to read an article on the evolution of our offense over the season.

Here is 2014 data on run/pass ratio for 65 power conference teams, combined with Football Outsiders S&P+ rankings, which show each offense's overall quality.

Feel free to discuss the reasoning behind your answers. Members that answer all three correctly will be recognized Sunday morning.

After coach Bowden's comments about Newman Williams in his press conference. I had to look when I noticed him standing out. Hopefully he is back in this week. I'll be watching to see if he continues what he started in the Tigers game. I also enjoyed coach Bowden's explanation of the difference between the NFL and college injury list. I'll have to stand next to Newman to see who has his height correct, coach, or gozips dot com? PS What an interesting thread to go back and read.

Weekly press conference for those interested in the game. Paraphrasing coach: • The national championship will be played with two teams that play power I football. • Our offense is to score one more point than the other team while we figure out who we are offensively. Until then, play good D, and don't turn the ball over.

Andrew McCutchen writes about what the atmosphere is like at a Pittsburgh Wild Card game. Good luck to him as his team is facing a huge obstacle tonight; earned runs allowed by Arrieta’s in his last twelve starts 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0.

LeBron Resurrects Akron's Program (click link for entire article) --By Joe Vardon, Northeast Ohio Media Group "He's coaching me now," Dambrot told the Northeast Ohio Media Group. "I'm smart enough to ask him, because, like, he's a brilliant guy. So I ask him what he thought was some of the best ways to attack that. James spent nearly 30 minutes chatting with Dambrot and his assistants off to the side of Cleveland Clinic Courts. "He's resurrected our program (at Akron), and then obviously what he's done with the Cavaliers," Dambrot said. "He's just got a knack."James did not attend college and has close relationships with multiple collegiate athletic programs. But his presence around Dambrot's program is apparent. "The connection with LeBron allows us to get players we wouldn't normally get," Dambrot said. "Just the presence of him in this community has helped our program become a top-level, major program. For the entire contract, click here.

Sooners still rollin', ranked fourth best team in the country by Sports Illustrated's Colin Becht. What Saturday’s win over West Virginia demonstrated was the Sooners may have the full package. Led by linebacker Eric Striker and cornerback Jordan Thomas, the defense forced five turnovers while holding the Mountaineers to 4.3 yards per play. Last week: Beat West Virginia 44–24Next week: Saturday vs. Texas (in Dallas)

Go Zips dot com gives information on the game. Click to find out who the Zips top receiver is. I would have not guessed this at the beginning of the season. ESPN3 will televise the game with Michael Reghi and Josh Cribbs calling the action. I might actually watch with the volume on for a tad to hear Josh. Fact of the day, every FBS Zips game has been under the point total this year. Over sixty percent of the early money has been placed on EMU pushing the line down to near seven.

Here are some offensive sets that Eastern ran against LSU. Pass. Pass. Run sweep. Run middle.

Seems like the Zips are still going to use this formation once in a while with TW13.1st and 10 at OHIO 30 Imani Davis run to the right for 9 yds to the Ohio 21 out of this formation Saturday. I think it was the first time I would call it a success.

Lots of photography here from Thomas Ondrey, and EA of the PD writes: Consider Ohio's 14-12 victory a program win, as the game was statistically a wash overall with the difference being Akron never could crack the end zone, getting four Robert Stein field goals instead, while the Bobcats took advantage of the two early scoring opportunities as QB Derrius Vick generated a pair of touchdowns. The Zips seemed to have a "take what they give you" game plan, making a lot of passes, instead of taking what they wanted, which is running the football behind a senior-dominated offensive line. In the end, that might have cost them. More photography at GoZips dot com too. Replay of the game on ESPN3 if anybody would want to watch, or rewatch.

Zips favored by more than a touchdown. If anybody want to "scout" Eastern, here is a replay against LSU on ESPN3.

MNF should feature another talent from the MAC tonight. Seahawks rookie Thomas Rawls overcame obstacles on way to NFL (click on link for entire story) The instant he heard Thomas Rawls had signed with the Seahawks, two words came to the mind of Gino Guidugli, his position coach at Central Michigan: perfect match. Rawls revived his career at Central Michigan after three years at Michigan. He also acquired a nickname from teammates based on his resemblance to a certain NFL running back — ‘’Beast Mode.”It sounds almost too convenient of a story now that Rawls is in position to replace the real Beast Mode, Marshawn Lynch, should Lynch’s troublesome hamstring prevent him from playing Monday night against the Detroit Lions at CenturyLink Field

GT of the ABJ Three Keys of the Week. Reduce penalties, control the edge on the run, effectively run the ball to open the passing game.