Dr Z

Discuss your answers below. Bryan thinks Nebraska could be ripe for an upset. "The more this line grows, the more I feel comfortable leaning toward Akron. The hype surrounding Frost’s return to Nebraska is not unfounded. However, that doesn’t mean the Cornhuskers will hit the ground running. They have a lot of problems to address, and Akron is an above-average MAC team, so I don’t necessarily see Nebraska winning this game going away. With the line greater than three touchdowns, I’ll take my chances with the Zips." "Keep in mind that the Cornhuskers have a world of problems defensively. Nebraska gave up over 50 points in each of their final three games last season. That includes games against Minnesota and Iowa, two teams that aren’t exactly prolific offensively" "If this game were scheduled at the end of the season, I might feel differently. But I don’t think Nebraska is going to be that impressive early in the year. There’s not a lot making me think that the Cornhuskers can win this game by more than a touchdown or two. With a spread that’s way too big, I’ll take Akron and the points in this one."

Both are valid points, but from what I saw in the summer, both players looked better than last year. Kato is throwing the ball with more confidence, and Van is hitting holes hard. He looked like a different back to me, maybe the o-line has something to do with that as well. Let's hope what I think I saw translates to Saturday. If coach Bowden's history with the Zips is any kind of indicator, those two will not be the only two that play at their respected positions on Saturday. Go Zips!!!

I agree. Maybe it was based on him playing with another team? ??‍♂️

Notes from scrimmage I'd mentioned Brandon Mitchell previously. 6' 6" 220 lb wide out that got a lot of PT on Saturday. He originally tried out for the football team 4 years ago. He had difficulty catching the ball, so he opted to join Dennis Mitchell's track team. Per NCAA rules, if you play 4 years of a given sport, starting as a true freshman, you can play a different sport in your 5th year. So Brandon decided to give football another try. The staff told him "If you want to play football, come out every day and catch 70 - 100 balls." Brandon put in the work, and here he is. He showed the results of his efforts in a nice 15 yard catch courtesy of walk-on TJ Deshields. He also had a nice climb-the-ladder catch in the corner of the end zone that was ruled incomplete. I'm convinced replay would have overruled it. But how nice will it be for the Zips to have a 6' 6" wide out, with hops, in the red zone?! He'll be a fun one to watch in scrimmage #2. I was at this scrimmage, I thought he looked good. Maybe left off the depth chart, but a red zone option. Maybe decided it wasn't for him again. Brandon Mitchell ??? I would guess Brady sees as many snaps as Ward. I'm not basing this on anything more than you know about the situation though.

Brandon Mitchell ???

Teleconference https://static.getsomemaction.com/custompages/teleconferences/082718FB/Bowden827.mp3

Friday, August 31 Syracuse at Western Michigan, 6:00 pm ET (CBS Sports Network) Saturday, September 1 Kent State at Illinois, Noon ET (Big Ten Network) Central Michigan at Kentucky, 3:30 pm ET (ESPNU) NIU at Iowa, 3:30 pm ET/2:30 pm CT (Big Ten Network) Akron at Nebraska, 8:00 pm ET (FOX) Bowling Green at Oregon, 8:00 pm ET (Pac-12 Network)

Not as bad as first thought (according to coaches presser today). Sprained MCL, out 3 to 4 weeks.

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No fancy ESPN+ subscription required this week.

Kirk Herbstreit picks his favorites for the 2018 season, from superstars to coaches, hotels and restaurants, plus predictions for conference champions. His best tandems include Tyree Jackson/Anthony Johnson, Buffalo. He picks Ohio over Northern Illinois and calls Buffalo his sleeper in the MAC.

Yesterday was picture day. Here are a couple of photos taken from instagram (@bankroll_jest, @brandonjunk45, and @austinsample)

One of the biggest question marks coming into this season was the receiving corp. Wouldn't it be ironic if this becomes one the teams strengths? I wasn't at the scrimmage, but an anonymous source informed me that the offense was having some success running four verticals from the doubles formation yesterday. Not that every college team doesn't run this concept, but nice to hear that this group is getting comfortable with it.

Summer goals.

"Andrew Bunch being in the mix raised some eyebrows, considering he is a walk-on. After a Sunday scrimmage and two more practices completed this week, the coaches have hinted Bunch at least, has dropped out of competition for the starting job. That means the race is down to the two players we all knew would be in the race the longest. The only way Scott Frost or the rest of the offensive coaching staff would have bumped Adrian or Tristan out is if they had some real problems picking up the offense." Zero college passes attempted from either.

Agreed, nice piece. Most interesting part to me: In the offseason, Bowden brought in former St. Vincent-St. Mary coach Marcus Wattley to coach defensive ends. Wattley, they said, brings with him experience and techniques they’d not used before. “He’s really like a specialist in teaching you to play with your hands and how to get around offensive linemen with speed,” Reinke said. I am interested in what those techniques are.

I'm guessing this was yesterday's practice.

A fan in Colorado set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help the team release Paxton Lynch. He has appeared in five games while going just 1-3 as a starter, producing a 76.7 quarterback rating. He has four career touchdowns to go with four interceptions. Seems as though he will having a tough time making an impact in this league. Goff and Wentz ranked in the top five in scoring drive efficiency last season:

Hard to argue what Frost did at UCF. I hope your are correct though. Is Frost playing the space and pace offense? The last time the Zips faced that type of offense (FAU), it didn't turn out so well. I hope a hand or two on their QB will be the difference with this years defense. And more than 11 first downs.

Scott Frost is a Rock Star

What a nice article. I didn't know this?...it wasn’t easy being from the United States to make a CFL roster. They had a 37-man roster and they had to keep 20 Canadians and three quarterbacks. Everyone else was fighting for one of 14 spots.