johnnyzip84

I think the Zips pass rush will be dominant as well. There is one thing I hope Coach Amato and company are working hard on this week (especially Okafor): hold your water, guys!! We can't keep letting offsides penalties ruin otherwise fantastic defensive play. Because Miami slings it so much I expect us to give up a few big plays, but it won't be enough for the Sweaters. UA 45 MU 21

I won't defend Whipple's decision, of course, but since he has previously lead UMass to a 1-AA championship, I'm sure he'll get a little slack on this. This is especially true since he obviously has made a difference in this program in such a short time. They probably blowout K.E.N.T. this Saturday.

Florida CB Ronnie Hoggins is a soft commit.

I watched some of this game and Branden looked really good to me. He reminded me of Darren Sproles (didn't he also wear #43 in his time at SD?), but with more power. The loss of Oliver and Mack are big reasons why I'm not fearing U@B so much this year.

Shiner Oktoberfest Southern Tier Harvest Ale

Before I think too much about the Miami game I wanted to summarize a few thoughts from the EMU game first: Pohl knows he needs to get out the blocks quicker, but I give him, and the rest of the offense, a lot of credit for getting it together in the 2nd half. It’s a true luxury to be able to have much of the team playing uninspired ball for large portions of the 1st half and STILL wind up with a convincing victory. EMU was is a perfect spot on the schedule in that regard. Now there can be no more “hangovers” – every remaining opponent CAN beat the Zips if UA doesn’t start and finish strong. I almost hate to mention it, but Stein has been a solid kicker (zero misses?) since taking over in the Penn St game. IW56 was hurt a little in the Pitt game and didn’t take his LT spot until the 2nd half. Perhaps this helped with the improved run blocking after HT? The low trajectory, near rugby style punting was giving Imani Davis all kinds of trouble. If the Zips face this strategy again, I hope they consider using an up-back to protect against it. The continued large number of penalties is increasingly concerning. Jatavis is making a serious run at MAC defensive POTY. Capi has been playing extremely well of late. His disruptiveness will be key down the road, beginning this week with MU. Whoever placed any money on that game must have been going crazy during the 4th quarter.

The 'Meister must have set the spread for this game

I also thought Nate played pretty well in the exhibition. He did some familiar things out there, like strip Haywood of the ball as Brendan was going up for and apparent dunk after a feed from LeBron. The biggest thing that struck me about Nate’s current appearance is his frame. He always looked like a giant 5th grader to me in his UA days with his relatively slight build, gangly arms and longish hair. He has obviously taken to a serious strength program, as he looks much thicker and stronger – to the point where DZ84 thought I was kidding when I identified him. It was great to see him play against LeBron (again - must have occurred informally a few times in the past at the JAR) and the rest of the Cavs!

Since this is the last home Saturday game of the year, I was wondering if it made sense to have the chili cook-off this Saturday. Thoughts?

Both UMass and Miami are playing 2014 like the Zips played in 2012 - throwing it plenty with a 5th year transfer, because they don't have the horses to do otherwise. Discipline in the secondary and a consistent pass rush will be a key. Before getting involved in the match-up discussion, I thought it might be interesting to highlight how significant this game is for the UA program. A few of us were wondering when the Zips were most recently 3-2 in football. The answer is 2005, the year of the MAC Championship and Motor City Bowl of course. The Zips were also 3-2 in 2003, Lee Owen's last season as HC. You might wonder when the last time the Zips were 4-2. The answer is 2000 under LO. That will always go down as the one that got away - a few key plays prevented the Zips from seeing unprecedented success that year. Anyway, if the Zips can beat the Sweaters on Saturday, I won't be thinking about 2000 Go Zips!

....and a drealscout sighting

Where did you get an idea like that? wink wink nudge nudge

Good info, Dr Z! I wasn't all that enamored with the Hofbrau Oktoberfest - I much preferred the one from Hacker-Pschorr (just enough sweet, caramel aftertaste for me).

I've learned never to take anything for granted as a Zips fan (any sport), but I just don't see much of a let down this week: Zips 38 Hureagles 10 Cody Grice mentioned something interesting when he was interviewed by Joe Dunn and Tom Linder this week on Big Time Sports (1350 am). He said when he goes into play fullback, the O-Line becomes extremely stoked. I think we'll see another 1 or 2 more rushing TDs coming from this package and, perhaps further down the line, some play action off of it to find a tight end in the end zone.

NIce job, K92 Please add Hofbrau Oktoberfest, Great Lakes Oktoberfest, Warsteiner Lager and Warsteiner Oktoberfest.

Nice find, CK. She was entertaining to say the least!

I'm not sure what you're implying here. I think the Zip secondary has played reasonably well this year. What gives?

Excellent work on your photos, Dr Z!!! You captured exciting moments with great clarity. Of course, the Beacon’s caption for this one refers to Justin March as Joe MacNamara

I thought Iowa already did this, but apparently the Zips eliminated Pitt from National Championship contention.

At least twice in the past 12 months (K.E.N.T. and UMass last year) - but I agree this is a silly thing to be bringing up now I have a question for you. How closely DO you follow the Zips? Does winning the last 4 out of 5 in 2013 ring any bells? Do you honestly think they would have been an underdog versus MAC competition in all five of those games given the fact that they won 4 of them?

I will never forget him chasing down Bonzi Wells and sending his attempted jumper into the seats

Regarding Zach Paul’s tremendous punting so far this year, I think it’s also important to point out the excellent job Mike Buddenberg (the son of former Zip and NFL lineman John Buddenberg) is doing at long snapper. I’ve spoken a few times to Zach’s father and he stressed how much Mike’s consistent, high-velocity snapping has allowed Zach to hone his timing – a crucial element for any punter. While Adam Steiner was a solid 4-year starter at LS, UA was forced into a stop-gap solution in 2013 and I know that affected Zach’s numbers. Now that Mike is here for a while, I look for Zach to continue to be a fantastic weapon in the battle for field position (something that gains more significance when you have a solid defense like the Zips – sounds great to say that!).

I finally have a chance to throw some comments in regarding the game. This is rehashing for some of you, but I grew up in greater Pittsburgh and, in fact, it was through listening to (and attending a few) Pitt games during their mid-‘70s ascendance that I began my life-long affinity for college football. So a Zip victory over Pitt has always been a dream for me. Consequently, I couldn’t have been happier leaving Heinz Field on Saturday with DZ84 and several other Lot 9’ers in attendance. Thank you to the coaches and players for a game I’ll never forget. Now for some random thoughts: It sure made up for that 35-0 shellacking in the rain over there in the LO regime during Pitt Stadium’s last season. I’ve defended JC7 numerous times (and I still give him credit for playing when the staff preferred he let the ankle get stronger), but it’s hard to see CH34 not getting as much PT as he can handle from here on out. The fumble recovery (was it Isaiah Williams or Tyrell Goodman?) was HUGE. That could have easily turned the game around. I agree with Dr Z on Pitt wasting Boyd’s talent. I disagree on Conner, though. I think the Zip defense simply swarmed him, for the most part, because they didn’t fear Vojtek. From my end zone angle, I don’t recall too many big holes for him. That could have all changed had Pitt simply dumped the ball to Boyd in space a few more times. The one BIG mistake Boyd made was fielding that TREMENDOUS boot from Paul in the 4th quarter. He gave up 15 yards of field position on that one. The one side advantage of making Conner work so hard to yards was he wasn’t available (apparently) for spot duty as DE on 3rd down. It sure seemed like the 500 or so Zip fans there were making a decent amount of noise on Pitt 3rd downs. I wonder if anyone listening can comment as to whether the Zip fans were audible over the radio (or whether Frenchy or Joe took note). As MTB1’s confidence grows, I look for him to have a fantastic MAC season. If the inside running game keeps progressing, those 1-on-1 opportunities should present themselves even more. Nice job by KP16 to recognize it and make the throw. Kudos to the O-line for playing a remarkable game without Brumbaugh once again. I give special credit to KP16 and TW67 for having absolutely NO issues when KP16 was under center. Making a change like that partly through the season can sometimes cause problems, but they obviously worked on it enough in practice. I’ll say this about Nick Rossi once again. Nobody gives more than that guy, and now he’s playing some DE – in fact he played a LOT of DE on Saturday.Go Zips!!! Can’t wait for Saturday!

It's hard for me to decipher whether a Tablet (Samsung) is acceptable under these guidelines. What do you think?

EA also says Chisholm, Hundley and Brumbaugh will be back against Pitt.