jaycevs

The offensive coaches got this correct tonight, and mixed things up a lot more than they did in the last 3-4 games. They mixed it up, opened the running game, and let Nicely make decisions. 2 TD's, no turnovers for him, I couldn't ask for more from any QB. I know #11 would have found the opponents jersey at least once. And our D played the way it has over the last month, and with an offense that moved the ball, they were not worn down in the 4th quarter. Now that the bragging rights are there, I would not mind us helping Can't next week in taking down Temple.

Use the rush to your advantage, get the D line up the field, and throw a screen pass or run play.

if akron tries to throw the ball nicely will be sacked 10 times and the game will be over by haltime...line up in the I run at 'em, play field position and tell the defense(fleming) to stop making excuses and win ONE game...ain't gonna happen but hope springs eternal...If you watched the last few games, protecting Nicely from making mistakes wont cut it tomorrow. If we run for a yard on first down and second down Nicely will be a target, that's where 10 sacks would come from. K.S.U. does well against the run, throwing a pass or two on first down is the only way to keep them off balance and they wont be rushing Nicely. Also, field position, are you kidding us, with our special teams? I'm just trying to get this right, so we should run twice, get in third and long, miss a short pass, then rugby kick it for twenty five yards and let Can't get the ball inside the 50 every possession? No defense is that good, our defense can get us wins if the offense does something, like score over 20 points in a game.

I've thought about a lot of this before, Im so glad we didn't choose Hillbillies, I might not have gone to UA because of that. However, the time is now, the Zips have played well in big chunks of the last 4 games, its time to put a whole game of that effort together and watch K.S.U. slide into obscurity. We will be tailgating by 11:30 tomorrow morning, its time to get out there, get ready, be loud, be obnoxious, and help this team get this win and get through he rest of this season with a few more W's hopefully. I want nothing more than to call my K.S.U. relatives that graduated from that school and talk some trash about their school.

I think a lot of people on here are a little off the mark with the problems this team has. How would you build a football team, how do good teams in the NFL do it? I know I would start with the two lines. If you can run, you can win almost any game with average QB's and average RB's. If you can stop the run with the D line and get pressure with the front three or four, you can stop anyone's passing attack because players are free to roam and make plays. We have skill guys, but we have not run the ball on anyone besides Buffalo. I think if we cant recruit that talent on the two lines, we need to look at what programs like TCU have done year in and year out. They have the best strength and conditioning program in the country, which makes them competitive with anyone they play, even though they dont get that same amount of talent coming in.

In Phil Steeles college reviews, he has talked about the Can't lines for the last few years and tried to pick them as a sleeper the last few years. We have the position talent, I think everyone here knows that, but the offensive line has to protect and open holes. We only had one decent game running the ball (Buffalo), and that is the real problem. I think the defense is fine as long as they are not always on the field, but special teams give Akron no help. If Im the offense or coaches, I put no faith in those guys besides on an extra point. Also, if anyone else saw Spencer Keith's stats from last year in high school, I would love to see the teams they were playing against. 5300 yards passing, 70 TD last year, 63% completions, and no one else wanted him besides the Ivy league? Were they playing middle school teams and JV teams in Arkansas. He threw for 378 ypg, I thought those were career numbers when I saw them.

They have to be thinking they can stuff our run game and beat us up on the lines. They have had 7,4,4, and 5 sacks the last 4 games, and held Western Michigan and BG to about 40 yards rushing, OU to -9, EMU did well running the ball however (not sure how really). On offense, they have run the ball well against everyone in the MAC, and the passing game has gotten better. They are not as weak as some would have us believe, I think they are are a significant challenge and the D has gotten better recently after the debacle against BG. So, I don't think the game plan from last week is going to cut it (as if it did last week). I know they will shut the run until we prove we can throw the ball, and Nicely cant have 3rd and long or that pass rush will be coming. So running twice into the line and passing on 3rd down like last week is asking for trouble, and they are not one dimensional on offense like Northern Illinois. This game is on our line, QB, and WR to win, and to this point we have not been good in any area. If the defense is on the field the whole first half, we may be in the game but it will end badly. Their kickers are 7 of 12, one bright spot (we are 4/13).I will be there early, and be as loud as I can, we just need our defense to keep us in this game, and the offense to make some plays and run some clock. If we can get into the second half with them we have a good chance. They don't put up a lot of points on anyone, which will keep us close hopefully. Last, I would like to see Akron treat Nicely the same way Can't has treated their Freshman. Put the ball in his hands and let him make plays, thats the only chance we have to win some games, the flushes have had no problems letting Keith throw it 30+ times a game...

A lot of Football players on higher levels were QBS, because in high school or lower that's the only way to get the ball to your best player every play. Skill guys without good QB's cant help your team, like Lee Evans and TO in Buffalo for example, so its surprising they didnt already have a few on the team.

I dont think there is anyone giving up on this team, they may not make the best decisions, and may be frustrated, but they played two decent football teams the last few weeks and played them both pretty well and both could have turned out the other way pretty easily. We also had a kid play half a game with multiple fractures in his arm, that's not giving up, I'm sorry.Even in the awful Indiana game our guys fought back after a terrible start, the d forced a field goal that kept the game close (10-0) and did their part to give us a lead late in the first half before our bad pass protection and Rodgers shaky decisions led to implosion.

Probably depends on when he would be fired, who is brought in and how long the process takes to get someone in there, and what kind of player they want. Hopefully the new guy could see the value of guys on this roster currently and not change it to a system that makes us start everything over again.

Mistakes in the red zone were bad, the fumble, int, and not getting it into the end zone with 2nd and 2 down deep, not to mention the kickers. The special teams are still killing us, I still dont know how a D1 team cant punt a ball. However, I think we found a new RB, QB, and the WR's played well without #1.

While watching the Cincinnati game tonight, when talking about their backup quarterback having to play after Pike got hurt in the 2nd quarter, ESPN gave Akron some credit by saying that their backup has had to play in pressure situations before, like last year in Akron in a close game. Unfortunately, that may be the best thing UA football related I have seen in the press recently.

The East Campus parking deck to the College of Business Administration was a 7 minute walk, I did it daily because Polsky was always full that time of day, so from there to downtown would be maybe 10-11 minutes at most from the furthest spot on campus, its not quite the same trek as campus to Rubber Bowl. I also do not see the benefit of using the limited space on campus and ruining the greenspace that has been created just to have "On Campus basketball". This Arena would benefit the city, a fraction of which would be through UA basketball. If money is going to come in to this project from other sources to go with Canal Park and make downtown Akron a better place, then that in turn will benefit the University.

As far as ticket prices, I have not had a problem with the prices here, and I just graduated from the University, and still don't have a full time job yet. For the value, to be able to come over here on campus, see a football game, tailgate, and park for 5 bucks, it really is not a huge burden. I know a lot of us hear the Can't State ads, 2 or 10, or football basically free if you buy basketball tickets. They have their own problems and I dont think discounted football makes anyone really want to see Can't football, but I also looked at going to Buffalo last night, and the only tickets they were showing on their site were 28.00. I think our future tickets will driven by the traditions we start now, by the current fans that have supported this team, and the current students that take more interest in UA football from now on. You can tell right away when the announcers have to prod people to make noise that we need to start those traditions ourselves, even at that first game those casual fans that filled the place up were sitting there silently from the kickoff on, I agree with the one post we need to make this a home field, on third downs, and be better football fans and help this team along. It does not have to happen overnight. I watched a show about Ohio Stadium on PBS last night, and it was the same thing there, they averaged maybe 30-40K in Ohio Stadium for over 20 years before it started to become the place it is today. In closing, I think our 17-18000 real fans can be louder than the 30000 observers on opening day.

Why cant we kick a fn ball? That all these guys do? At least in regular punt formations teams cant return them because the ball does not go far enough, and there's always a chance of it hitting their blockers. Really, our special teams reminds me of high school football.

The defense was the best I have have seen last night, even when they were put in bad situations. Our special teams are just a joke, and the two missed field goals and the punt block lost the game. If we make either of those early field goals, we dont have to go 4th and 13 in the 4th quarter, instead we could have kicked and made it 19-13. I saw them line up for the punt in that gimmick formation, and knew it was going to end up bad. Why cant our coaches see that? Overall, a decent night on offense and a great night on defense were wasted.

I don't see how anyone could consider Rodgers play last night better? Did he ever set his feet while making a throw, or not stare down his WR's? He gave them no chance, and from the start of the play you knew half of the field was wasted, he never even would look to the other side, anyone could tell where the ball was going. Tuzze played well, but gives us no real running game threat, he was in for blocking and the help our QB's, which is maybe why the line appeared better tonight. I think Nicely will need him back there the rest of the year, or go with two backs for once, and get Allen, DeVoe, or Shuford in there(did any of those guys besides Shuford see the field last night?).

Its an honor to have Tressel as an Alum and still thinking about this University and about Youngstown State, especially in his world in Columbus where no one cares about anything other than their own football.

I hope for the best, MAC teams better be ready for explosive offense and the Zips need some reminder that they can defend anything. The assistants have been brought in, the stadium project is complete, the facilities are some of the best in D1, so its time to compete, and get the large Alumni and Akron fan base behind them.