Dr Z

Marla Ridenour of the BJ writes: When Bob Huggins hired Dan Peters as his assistant at Walsh University in 1981, Huggins found a best friend. “Pete was one of the greatest people ever in the history of our business,” Huggins said in a statement. “Pete was my best friend and confidant from the time we were in our early 20s. I bounced everything off of Pete knowing I would get an honest and intelligent response. I loved the guy like a brother.” Plain Dealer article. "A real tough deal,'' Huggins said following an afternoon practice session with the Mountaineers. "I saw him Sunday, and we had luch about three weeks ago. He was talking about me sending him film (to break down). He was really looking forward to it." Coaches for Cancer, a yearly showcase between YSU, Akron, Can't and Cleveland State was to get off the ground for this season, but schedules for all teams could not be blended. It is expected this showcase will begin next season, in honor of Peters, and rotate annually among the four schools as part of the annual tip-off to the season. CBS Sports article. Cincinnati article. GoZips.com article.

New Sprite commercial features Akron. Lebron at the Raiders @ Browns game yesterday.

Demetrius Treadwell retweeted Bj Gladden ‏@BjGladden_ 35m35 minutes agoZips family lost a great one today REST IN PEACE coach Pete you will truly be missed we dedicating the whole season to u #4PetesSake Demetrius Treadwell retweeted Nyles Evans ‏@NylesEvans3 43m43 minutes agoAkron, OHTake nothing for granted. You are in our hearts forever..we dedicate this season to you Rest easy Coach Pete we love you #zipsnation

But evaluating their play is not. The D was far from perfect Saturday. They allowed 380 yards on a well balanced attack. The BSU offense line won a lot of battles on early downs. Ball State's offensive coordinator kept their young quarterback in winnable down and distance situations most of the afternoon. Jahwan Edwards was the real deal, and the most effective I have seen a running back against our defense. I'm sure coach Amato's game plan was focused on stopping him and putting a young QB in tough situations. We did not stop him enough. The QB could have called off-tackle right at the line, and Edwards was going to get five yards most of the time...except for the hit CJ put on him, that was awesome. Anyone have video of that hit? I can't explain why our defense can't cover a back catching the ball out of the backfield. Way too many first downs given up on that on play Saturday. I think BSU did a good job taking advantage of Cody's aggressive play on run downs. Best I have seen him blocked. He seemed to draw a lot of attention. Good game plan by them. When our defense was able to get them in third an obvious passing downs, we brought the pressure and disrupted their QB. Difference was he didn't make any big mistakes...well one, but we couldn't seem to take advantage of that either. Our D has done a great job this year of creating turnovers, but that didn't take place Saturday either.

I hope so, I miss discussing and reading about Zips football.

I can't understand how a QB can look so good against man coverage, and so bad against the zone? Those first three touchdown drives were things of beauty. The ball was coming out on time and being delivered with precision. Once the Cardinals switched to the zone, the ball seemed to be thrown directly into the middle of the zone. No work on the sidelines. Hard to see on tv, if the play calling was making that an option. If it was not, that was a major mistake. We should have been picking the zone apart underneath. The play calling didn't seem to change when the defense changed. Again, hard to see if that was was what was going on watching on tv. I think if TW wants to do something to benefit his game in the offseason, it might be to drop a few pounds. His game could benefit by being quicker with this feet. He seems to really struggle creating a spot to throw after the pocket breaks down. I wish we could have connected on one of the over the top plays. If KP was available, which it seemed like he was since I saw him dressed and standing next to coach in sideline huddles, he should have been brought in for a series in the third quarter. The field position the Zips were handing them in the second half was ridiculous. Edwards is the real deal, most effective I have seen a running back against our defense. The QB could have called off-tackle right at the line, and Edwards was going to get five yards most of the time...except for the hit CJ put on him, that was awesome. I can't explain why our defense can't cover a back catching the ball out of the backfield. Way too many first downs given up on that on play. I think BSU did a good job taking advantage of Cody's aggressive play on run downs. Best I have seen him blocked. He seemed to draw a lot of attention. When the defense got them in third an obvious passing downs, we brought the pressure and disrupted their QB. Difference was he didn't make any big mistakes...well one, but we couldn't seem to take advantage of that either. Sloppy day, punt fumbles, blocked punts, bad snaps, penalties, turnovers...all adding up to a second half disaster. One of the things I hate about our run and shoot offense is the fact when we take a 21-6 lead, we can't ball control and minimize the other teams offensive chances. We are forced to keep scoring unless our defense plays shut down. Should be some interesting practices coming up before the BG game. Some major time should be given to getting the snap to the quarterback somewhere around his hands. Terrible snaps yesterday threw off the timing of multiple plays in the second half. I didn't turn Frenchy on yesterday since the tv announcers were not annoying. I'm kind of curious what his overall opinions were in the second half. PS It sure would have been an awesome weather day for a home game yesterday.

Lots of unintelligent posting going on right now. I'll come back tomorrow and see if its worth typing my thoughts.

So this is what the offense looks like when the ball is delivered on time. Nice.

Dri lost his job after ranking dead last in the NFL in kick returns. Dri Archer has the worst kick-return average among any return man with nine or more opportunities. At 17.9 yards per return, he's more than three yards behind the second-worst returner.

I'll venture to guess the answer is evaluation and progression. I think the staff envisions more out of the position. I see the same when I watched plays at those games. Too many missed plays. You would see them too if you were able to attend those 11 games. Even you thought that he should improve this year. I'm glad the staff holds players to high expectations. It reminds me a little of Pete Carroll's "compete philosophy." PS I am not comparing the two coaches. As far as I know coach Bowden has never helped fake a players jump to the death. I agree with just about everything g-mann writes above. I hate blaming a game on one play, but I'll say the same thing Bowden said this week, that Pratt fumble was a killer. He holds on to the ball, and we could be having a lot different debates this week.

Thanks for posting. Coach Bowden is a media pro, the other guy is not.

October 30th is the date it returns.

I love the 80's tv car chase scene music. Perfect soundtrack for a throwback player! ...or the soundtrack for Rick Simon to catch someone in his '79 power wagon.

Under the "gentlemen's agreement" is it fair to bring him off the bench for a series to see if he can light a fire under our offense?

If I were the Zips beat writer, here is the question I would ask..."coach Bowden, who is furthest along with the understanding of the offense between your two number one quarterbacks?" I think that answer will tell us why the position is in a state of flux. Something tells me that our QB next year will be the guy with the best knowledge of the offense. Meaning, he knows where all/most his receivers are (or should be) when he drops back to make decisions. I'm not sure who that will be, but I know it will take some hard work studying the playbook. So far, I think Dalton was our best decision maker in this offense. Here is to hoping somebody puts in the extra work necessary to solidify the position. I hope it is still possible to happen this year because we have the potential to have more wins than we have ever had, and other parts of our team are playing at a high level. With hard work, tough situations at the position can be achieved at Akron. After Frye's junior year, Owens was fired and replaced by J.D. Brookhart, a former Pitt assistant. An upset Frye considered coming out early in draft and was told by the NFL he'd probably go in the third or fourth round. Brookhart met with Frye and his family and convinced him to stay. "I couldn't let my teammates down," Frye said. At the first spring practice, Brookhart arrived an hour early and Frye was already there throwing balls. Over the summer, Frye ran players-only practices and helped install Brookhart's west coast offense. "Charlie sat in on our coaches' meetings and came in on Thursday nights to go over the game plan with me," Brookhart said. The system was so foreign to Frye that he admitted to Brookhart after the opener against Penn State, a 48-10 loss, that he didn't know what he was doing. Still, Joe Paterno sang his praises. By late season, he mastered it well enough to produce a 31-28 upset over Marshall, in which he rallied the team from a 21-point deficit. The Zips went 6-5 and finished second in the MAC East, and Frye was on the NFL radar screen.

Unless we have two QBs at the number 1 position, like coach Bowden indicated in his presser this week.

Day of the game.

Low blow. Frye is a physical education teacher and assistant football at Wekiva High School in Florida. Frye is on the staff of former Browns defensive end Kenard Lang. PS I know it's a terrible time to bring this up since they just lost there, but Jacksonville is a great travel game for Browns fans. I went to a Browns Jags game a couple years back. There were a ton of Browns fans at the game. Tickets are easy to get. Tailgating is pretty good there.

Nice video, thanks for posting. Start at 5:30, George asks about the run. Coach answers a lot of questions about the running game for over 2 minutes. "We didn't run the ball effectively enough causing us to throw the ball more." I don't totally agree with all his analysis, but I still appreciate the depth of the answer. Love listening to coach. Another note from the video: Both QB's slashed in at number one???? Tommy gets promoted. What is the saying if you have two QBs at number one? Should be an interesting spring 2015.

George Thomas ‏@GeorgeThomasABJ 1h1 hour ago @ZipsFB QB Kyle Pohl is back at practice. He and Thomas Woodson both took snaps with the first team offense. Not worth it's own thread, EA gives the Zips a grade of C.

Mike Tomlin called a play for another Lance Moore TD passed by another Mac player not named Ben. ESPN researchers provided talking-head-Tirico with lots of Mac notes last night. He mentioned the Mac multiple times and even read off his notes how JJ Watt played at Central Michigan with Antonio Brown. Too bad the Mac didn't get a dollar for every time someone said "JJ Watt" on ESPN for six hours last night. Players to watch at Ball State: CB #5 Eric Patterson, and RB #32 Jahwan Edwards. Just realized former Ball Stater Willie Snead is on the Panthers practice squad. He was cut by the Browns earlier this year. EA, writes a small blurb about Ken+ QB Colin Reardon gaining respect.

It's that time of year, Santa has arrived, ZN rejoices.

I had a Ten FIDY this weekend, best russian imperial stout I have had. The can was labeled NC.

Thank you! Looks like my kind of place. I'll being staying pretty close, so I might give it a try.

You can always go back and read previous years and insert new names if you don't want to wait.