K92

If I make the trip to K-Zoo, I'm gonna have a helluvalot better sign than Zips Golf.

Let's get down to the real nitty-gritty. What MAC themed signs would you like to see Saturday?

Classic.

Although this was certainly a disappointing loss, the first regular season game in College Basketball means absolutely nothing. I would like to see the same level of concern on this board when the football team loses games that matter to teams they shouldn't lose to.

Have you ever read any of my posts on recruiting?

Because stars don't matter.

Ya think? The fact that a team that plays as badly as the Zips can get the words "bowl chances" in a message board post proves one thing. There are too many bowls.

Hey, Larry Williams: 2 things need to happen for Terry to keep his job. Find a new special teams coach and a new offensive coordinator or find another place to work.

Some more special teams gold.

Willie was great last week. Keith Kennedy blows!

I think Jojo has more want to than the rest of the team combined.

Sounds like the Kool-Aid Kids vs. the Drano Chuggers on that board. They should just get along like us and stop all the in-fighting.

Kent State news. . .

I'm not really sure either. I know from attending Zips practices that when the team is taking the field and doing stretches and warm up calisthenics (are they still called that?), Gildersleeve is front and center barking it out. Struck me as odd at first, but I guess I accepted it as being his domain. Perhaps that role at getting the team mentally prepared for practice is similar to getting the team prepared for the game. Dunno. Maybe I am behind the times. Is Nick Saban the pump up man for Alabama or does he have a surrogate? Good question, Doc.

Should your s&c coach ever be THE guy? I think that is a big red flag. If the HC can't be the inspirational leader of the team, it's got to be his right hand man. These players hear Gildersleeve barking in their ear in the weight room and in practice. That's his job. On gameday, he needs to take a back seat, but if he's all you've got, he's all you've got. I really believe that the negative impact of losing Tank Arrington cannot be overstated. When he spoke, players listened. Nobody cared more about these young men than he did and his presence has not been replaced. Not that there could ever be a replacement because the man was a one of a kind but you get what I am saying. Good post, '87.

No way! Looked like it would be such an awesome event. I've wanted to see Lil Cray forever.

Ziptageous brought up bad coaching decisions in another thread but I wanted to chime in here. I was skeptical of MTBs move to TE when I heard of it. The position had not been utilized beyond blocking during Bowden's reign and I had a real hard time believing they would integrate the TE into the passing game. 10 games in, MTB has 7 catches for 77 yards. All of that great potential we heard about, wasted. There is no way that anyone could ever convince me that this kid's talent couldn't be much better utilized in the slot. I don't know whose idea it was to make the move, but it has proved out to be a poor one. Very frustrating.

Just for shits and giggles, Ianello's teams: 2010 was 98/433 and 2011 was 100/445. Bowden's first year was 105/472.

This year we are sitting at 121, giving up 509 a game. Yikes.

622 yards given up last night. Ouch.

I'm down for the Zips and I'm thinking about bringing the tailgating equipment ONE MORE TIME! Why not?

Voodoo?

What I want to know is why Newman Williams isn't playing DT. It's not like we would miss his productivity on offense.

Add to this: If I was the coach of a team playing the Zips, we would have gotten gouged a lot more because I wouldn't stop running until the Zips could stop it. And they can't stop it. We traded Cody Grice, Rodney Coe, Daryl Monroe, Dylan Evans and Jatavis Brown for what we have out there on the field now. There is no comparison. Whatsoever. Not only were these 5 guys a lot better players than what we have out there now, they provided something that the defense has absolutely none of right now. Leadership. It's a bitter pill to swallow and I have lamented the fact this entire season but the defense is a mess. This defense is as bad as Ianello's defenses were. The only thing that camouflages that a little bit is that the offense isn't totally offensive like it was under Ianello. A lot of people have thrown Coach Amato under the bus this year, but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

That was the original question. I looked down through the list again and decided to make an arbitrary criterion for what constitutes a good win or a bad loss. I decided to use the Sagarin rating. A win versus a team with a Sagarin higher than yours constitutes a good win and a loss to a team with a Sagarin lower than yours makes a bad loss. With this criterion, I came up with the following. . . 4 Good Wins JMU and Toledo in 2013, Pitt in 2014 and Utah State last year. 5 Bad Losses UMass in 2012, Ohio, Buffalo & Kent in 2014 and Buffalo this year. Using an arbitrary yardstick evens things out a little bit for me. I wouldn't have considered JMU a good win and I included (in my mind) several more games where the Sagarins were very close as bad losses. That's called bias from your point of view and we are all different.