Dr Z

I assume he will be majoring in engineering.

22 months ago. Nov 2012 the Zips were 14 point favorites to UMass at home. We lost 14-22 on a sunny day...or as some call it Shame Day. Yes, it was their first year as Div I, but that is the answer to the question asked. iDummy was only favored once against Div I teams during his tenure, 2010 at home against Buffalo -1, he actually won the game. In 2009 JD's Zips team was favored to beat Eastern by 14, Akron won, but did not cover.

Betting Trends -Marshall is 8-2 against the spread in their last 10 nonconference games. -The Thundering Herd are 2-5 ATS in their last seven road games. -Akron is 4-1 ATS in their last five following an ATS loss. -The Zips are 11-4 ATS in their last 15 following a bye week. -The home team is 6-0 ATS in the last six meetings between these teams.

Would this not apply to other fan bases? I would imagine there are some older Packer, Chiefs, Giants, etc. fans. I would say my travels throughout the US match pretty well with that map. I'm also pretty sure that map has pretty close to .00001 percent to do with the subject...plus or minus .00001 percent.

OMG. SMH. ESPN.

November 2004, one of my best memories of the Rubber Bowl. If I close my eyes, I can still hear the chants..."Leftwich, our B&T#!"

12 grand according to this.

George Thomas: Quirky Schedule & Notes Bowden received the news that Tommy Brown had received his waiver to play this year moments before departing from Penn State. A mystery exists as to where Brown, who played some at PSU, will play. He is listed at the top spot at right tackle, but Bowden didn’t sound definitive about where Brown would line up. “I see him being where we most need him,” Bowden said. “Our needs are at tackle, but I also think he can play the guard position.” That’s as much clarity as he provided. “You’ll know it on the first play, I guess,” he said. Note: Dr Z sees the need at tackle. Junior kicker Robert Stein has reclaimed the job he lost to freshman Tom O’Leary in fall camp, Bowden said.

Let us know when we can do it, I'm in for $50 as well.

I'm starting in the Cultural District and working my way to the north shore (approx 20 minute walk). For anybody concerned about parking downtown away from the stadium, here is a nice parking map. I like the looks of the draft list, I will probably stop there for one also. Wood-fired pizzas for those that like that sort of thing. Thanks zippy5. Can we get Pitt on our schedule permanently? Pitt Secondary Exposed!!!

I had forgotten about Bobby Bowden helping Marshall out. Cool story.

The Julius Thomas story is an interesting one if you don't know it already. Ray Seals went from playing for the minor-league Syracuse Express of the Empire Football League to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1989. He moved to the Steelers in '94 as a free agent and played two seasons as their starting right defensive end. He was injured in '96, his third season with the Steelers, and finished with Carolina in '97. Eric Swann was bound for North Carolina State University, but was ruled academically ineligible. Rather than enrolling at NC State as a Proposition 48 student, Swann instead opted to attend Wake Technical Community College. In 1990, he left Wake Technical to join the semi-pro Bay State Titans in Lynn, Massachusetts with a $5 an hour salary. In 1991, Swann signed a five-year contract with the Phoenix Cardinals. Darren Bennett was born in Australia and kicked for the Chargers without attending your typical college route.

There are three personnel packages that employ a 0 back offense, 00, 01, and 02. 00 would be no RB, no TE, and five WR. 01 would be no RB, one TE, and four WR. 02 would be no RB, two TE, and three WR. A couple of weeks ago on the coach's show he made a comment about the QB leading the team in rushing at Akron, I thought a 0 package might be in the Zips offensive future. The red zone becomes an issue when running 0x as your "base." Obviously you change out of a 0x based package when you enter the red zone, but the lack of reps sometimes becomes an issue. Go back and look at my photography from the Howard game. Look at the first offensive set compared to what personnel package Tommy Woodson was given in the same game after the "dogs" were called off. Watch the substitutions on both offensive teams during the game to see how the packages change. You will start to recognize situational trends and how teams adjust. One analyst on the NFL sirius radio keep track of how many times each personnel packages are used by each team on Sundays. Here is an example of Scott Linehan's offense (Cowboys) first week 11 Personnel (51.62%) 12 Personnel (19.74%) 21 Personnel (13.26%). Here are the 2013 numbers from every NFL team. BTW, PFF is awesome to show what player is grading high and low each week. Don't count out running the ball out of a 0 package. QB sneak and end around are effective in this package. You can also audible into a 1 package, if you have a WR that can either run, or block (blitz pick up)....or have a TE, that can also play fullback/h-back. Lot's of options that are mainly based on the talent you have on your team. Going to this sort of package might be what people like to say, "playing to your strengths." Maybe AJ and staff, have discovered tape of the Herd D struggling with this package. Maybe they just wanted to install this package for future use, and had the time to do it during the bye week. Again I apologize for the Steeler reference, but it's what I know. Back when Ken Whisenhunt (successfully) run the Steelers offense he used a lot of 00 personnel. I loved it. Since then, they have not run it. This year I noticed the 00 personnel set has returned on a few series. Maybe Snoop is the difference. ;-) The Dri injury has probably limited the use of the 00. Dri gives a QB good options out of the 00, to audible into the 10 easily. Right or wrong, this is one of the reasons the Steelers placed value on his skill set. Edit: They get Lance Moore (Toledo) back this week. Let's see if we don't see some 00 against the Panthers on Sunday night. Hopefully it's not when they are down 21. If this subject interests you, I recommend this book. Take Your Eye Off the Ball, is a book that takes you inside a coach's mind as he builds a roster or constructs a game plan, to the line of scrimmage with the quarterback, and the chess match between offense and defense. There is an entire chapter on personnel sets and what you can learn when you watch other things than just the ball. I heard a former NFL player yesterday say "you can only learn about 20 percent of what is going on when you watch a game on tv." When you are at a game, you have the opportunity to "take your eye off the ball" and learn whats really going on...if you know what to look for.

Game is at 1:30 pm.

Nov 4th against BG, per the color of the ticket.

The articles just write themselves...'Brian Hoyer Joins Little Brother on Campus.'

Little Ten numbers to ponder. The "Big" Ten has lost 14 games already. It's 13-13 against FBS teams in nonconference play. (It's 1-10 against the other power conference teams - the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Pac-12 and Notre Dame. The only win is Rutgers' victory at Washington State in week one.

I was pretty excited to watch college football Saturday, so I turned on ESPN College Gameday. Holy smokes, is that thing unwatchable with the girl cheerleaders constantly screaming in the background. They are louder than Herbstreit most of the time. It's so annoying I had to turn it off. Message to ESPN, mic down the annoying cheerleaders. I made it long enough to see this piece on Marshall QB Rakeem Cato, it is worth watching in my opinion. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11517268 Early forecast is calling for 78 degrees Saturday. Possible late day shower.

What George thinks about Mac vs "big" Ten.

Bowling Green continues Little Ten's woes by beating Indiana. Good gravy Ken+ is tur-able. Obviously they have not heard of the rule that the RB is eligible to catch forward passes out of the backfield as well as run the ball. If they get that rule down, they can improve to being just BAD. AJ needs to implement this into his game plan if Ken+ continue to ignore this major hole in their defense.

Where should you recruit a starting FBS QB? Pennsylvania only has one. OHIO (6) Akron: Kyle Pohl. Germantown/Valley View. Clemson: Cole Stoudt. Dublin/Coffman. Can't State: Colin Reardon. Poland/Poland Seminary. Miami (Ohio): Andrew Hendrix. Cincinnati/Moeller. Michigan State: Connor Cook. Cuyahoga Falls/Walsh Jesuit. Missouri: Maty Mauk. Kenton/Kenton. FLORIDA (14) Florida: Jeff Driskel. Oviedo/Hagerty. Florida International: Alex McGough. Tampa/Gaither. Houston: John O'Korn. Fort Lauderdale/St. Thomas Aquinas. Iowa: Jake Rudock. Fort Lauderdale/St. Thomas Aquinas. Iowa State: Sam Richardson. Winter Park/Winter Park. Marshall: Rakeem Cato. Miami/Central. Memphis: Paxton Lynch. Deltona/Trinity Christian. North Carolina State: Jacoby Brissett. Palm Beach Gardens/Dwyer. Northwestern: Trevor Siemian. Orlando/Olympia. Toledo: Phillip Ely*. Tampa/Plant. USF: Mike White. Fort Lauderdale/University School. Wake Forest: John Wolford. Jacksonville/Bishop Kenny. Western Kentucky: Brandon Doughty. Coconut Creek/North Broward Prep. West Virginia: Clint Trickett. Tallahassee/North Florida Christian.

I was never an Egner fan, I saw to much "I" in his game.

I have a friend with Steeler season tickets. Every year I listen to him complain about how the Pitt Panthers tear up the field for the first half of the season.. Then the WPIAL high school playoffs are played on the field for a weekend. They end up re-soding the middle of the field after that. Heinz is one of the worst grass fields in the NFL. Still, they continue to win championships. Apples and oranges, but maybe that will make futbol fans feel a little better. PS The field has gotten slightly better over time. I think the pros outweigh the cons having the Browns on campus. But I understand the futbol concerns, the field will not be the same.

PSU beats Akron, and the bowl ban gets lifted. Coincidence? edit: AND all their scholarships back.

Yes to all, except WVU, I still have terrible memories from that trip. I almost put it out of my mind...