Dr Z

He prefers to be called Thomas because he has a brother that goes by Tommy.

I love coach's explanation of why Gesicki is challenging to defend.

Discuss why you voted the way you did below.

Not enough good plays come to mind from Saturday, but there were a few. Obviously, Guiser's interception. Reinke's 4th down tackle on Barkley. Warren had some nice runs up the middle, I wish the play calling would have had more of that. PSU defenders were too quick when the Zips tried running anything outside. Kato showed some nice moves on a run up the middle. I've said this before, but if you are at the game watching the Akron defense, take a series or two and watch Alvin Davis, he amazes me at 165 pounds. He had two open field tackles on Barkley and Gesicki that were awesome. I'm not sure they showed this on tv or not because it was away from the play late. Gesicki lined up and the slot, and Alvin come up and played press cover on him. At the snap of the ball Alvin attacked him and got his hands inside his numbers and wrestled him for five yards up the field. Gesicki and Alvin talked at the end of the game at midfield, I wish I could have heard the conversation. Gesicki walked away from the conversation laughing. I was surprised how much time Denzel Butler played, I guess coach wasn't kidding when he said he had a good summer. PSU was as advertised. McSorley, Barkley, Gesicki were awesome, I'll be interested to see how upper teams defend them throughout the year. Time to get up off the mat, and come out swingin this Saturday!

Reference is to the Zips starting left tackle. I believe Kato got tackled into him late in the game. He was walking around on his own after the game shaking hands at midfield.

Only two Zips fans knew how this one would turn out, @zipsoutsider and @ZippyforPresident. Congrats guys. Honorable mention: @kreed5120

I can't speak for EA. Possibly untold. I wrote in mid August what coach Stroud told me about the secondary "One of our corners in particular, Darian Dailey, we feel like he is going to be a special corner for us. Alvin Davis stood out again today, we have great leadership in Zach Guiser. This is probably the best backend we have had since we have been here, and that’s saying a mouthful because we were really good on the backend last year. They are all (secondary) doing great." He also spoke about his rotation of the front seven. Lots of question marks with the receiving corp, but coaches and players have told me that Tra'Von has looked special thus far. Let's hope all this translates to game day success.

That site (Don Best) is flaky, coaches don't have to report anything, I'm not sure how they base their info, or get their wording. This morning there was nothing listed under Akron, now they have Woodson listed as probable with a shoulder. Coach said in his presser that Wolf won't play, yet he isn't listed.

I would guess EA is forming an opinion through observation. Example: "to watch Ball go through a practice session it is clear he is the type of back any coach would drool over. He's big enough to carry the burden between the tackles, yet fast enough and elusive enough to rip off big gains at any moment." I assume #34 will not be the only one carrying the ball (because of depth) Saturday, but with the comments below (found in EA's article), I didn't consider someone else throwing the ball (possibly second half) until reading this. It could be a consideration having TW only throw 17 or so times each in the next two weeks, and work him into more attempts in two weeks vs the Cyclones.

The Philadelphia Eagles had open tryouts once.

"He's full go,'' Bowden said of Woodson following a recent high-octane practice session, spirited with trash-talking throughout, from a team oozing with size, speed and athleticism on both sides of the football. ??

08/30 - Right Tackle - Andrew Nelson - Undisclosed injury is expected to miss Saturday vs. Akron

Season prediction poll closed, we will revisit in December. This will be the first December I won't be in Miami for years, so I'm sure the Zips will be playing a bowl game in that area this year. Edit: I guess it could be entertaining (for the 33 voters) to keep running stats as the season progresses. Zips Wins - 0 Warren Ball rushing yards - 0 Reception Leaders - Nobody Defensive sacks - 0

Even before this tweet and the lawsuit....things looked grim for KSU. ?

I lean toward this way of thinking. With a Heisman trophy candidate in your backfield, I hand the ball left, hand the right, hand the ball left, and mix in a play action once in awhile. I would make the Zips defense prove they can stop a simple game plan and tackle Barkley. I'm not opening up my playbook for this game unless the Zips force them into a game well into the second half. With the talent the Nittany Lions have on offense, they can beat a lot of teams with multiple game plans.

Nate posted this yesterday, not sure when it was actually filmed.

IMO, the Zips have to run the ball effectively early in the game. They are going to get, and take, a few sideline shots downfield when they get the one on one they like on the outside. The defense will have to show up big and have five or more sack/int/fumbles to help out the offense. Tough task with the talent PSU has on offense. Good day to run the ball, cloudy and a cool 59 degrees. Go Warren go!

I'm pretty confident that if we upset PSU, we will win the MAC east.

We know PSU's quarterback and running back, here is more depth. WR X Juwan Johnson, Irvin Charles, Dae’lun Darien / H DaeSean Hamilton, Brandon Polk, KJ Hamler / Z DeAndre Thompkins, Saeed Blacknall, Mac Hippenhammer TE Mike Gesicki, Jonathan Holland, Nick Bowers, Tom Pancoast OL LT Ryan Bates, Will Fries, Sterling Jenkins / LG Steven Gonzalez, Mike Miranda, C.J. Thorpe / C Connor McGovern, Zach Simpson, Miranda / RG Brendan Mahon, Michal Menet, Charlie Schuman / RT Chasz Wright OR Andrew Nelson, Alex Gellerstedt DL DE – Shareef Miller, Ryan Buchholz, Shaka Toney / DT Curtis Cothran, Kevin Givens, Ellison Jordan OR Antonio Shelton / DT – Parker Cothren, Robert Windsor, Tyrell Chavis DE – Torrence Brown, Colin Castagna, Shane Simmons LB Sam – Koa Farmer, Jarvis Miller, Cam Brown/ Mike – Jason Cabinda, Brandon Smith, Jake Cooper / Will – Manny Bowen, Cam Brown, Brandon Smith DB Field – Grant Haley, Amani Oruwariye, Zech McPhearson / Boundary – Christian Campbell, Tariq Castro-Fields, Lamont Wade S Free safety – Marcus Allen, Nick Scott / Strong safety –Troy Apke, Ayrone Monroe, Garrett Taylor Notes on James Franklin Press Conference from yesterday are found here On 10 freshmen making the depth chart: Thought that number was high, but factoring in the three-deep, lots of youngsters could see some time this year. Yetur Matos, Lamont Wade, and Tariq Castro-Fields will see the field from game one, the rest of the freshmen are in the yellow light category right now. On preparing for Akron defender Ulysees Gilbert, reigning MAC Defensive Player of the Year: The first week of the season is always a bit of a new situation, since you don’t know what this year’s team will look like. Gilbert is a great player, and Akron is treating this like their Super Bowl. Several B1G teams have lost in the last few years to MAC teams, so the team has to be ready. On opposing teams targeting Saquon Barkley on defense: If he were a coach playing Penn State, he’d key on stopping Barkley, and taking away the offense’s strength. Benefit is that McSorley and the receivers made teams pay last year, avoided becoming one-dimensional.

"I am excited to announce that I am continuing my basketball career in Sweden as I will be playing for the KFUM Nassjo Basket. I want to say thank you to everyone who supported me as it helped me to get here."

Looking at a depth chart and noticing the number one returning receiver from last year is not listed has to be questioned. From coaches reaction, I think it come as a surprise to him that he was not listed. I hope this isn't a big deal, but I sure like to have a player with experience in that environment going for me. Especially since everyone else in that group does not have a lot of past production. To me this signals a heavy amount of running the ball in this game considering the environment. Coach mentioning Denzel Bulter was interesting to me, first time I have heard his name mentioned this summer. Nice job going over some of the new rules that could come into play this year too. Saturday weather calling for 64 degrees with pm showers right now. Good day to run the ball.