johnnyzip84

The weather was fantastic, the golf was so-so (for the ZNo team) and the football staff was accessible as usual. I believe a team that included AJ Milwee won the event at 18 under par with THREE eagles! The ZNo team stumbled in at 4 under We had extensive conversation with coaches Amato, Jeff Bowden and TB. Here are some highlights as I recall: I don't think we'll see any 5th year transfers coming in this summer. There ARE a couple of late JUCO guys who could help right away (secondary/D-line), but upcoming grades will determine eligibility. Capi is healthy for the 1st time as a Zip (apparently played with nagging injuries last year). CJ Mizell came in at 264 lbs last year. He is now at ~230 lbs and is playing fast. The battle for back-up QB is wide open. Sconiers and Goodman will begin 2014 as inside receivers. Expect a few more deep balls to the outside receivers. Drew Phillips is now playing DB and will be given a chance again at KR/PR. Injuries prevented him from showing his ability there last year. A freshmen K from Atlanta has been brought in to compete - was all-State and apparently has a pretty consistent leg. Okafur's spring game sack outburst was probably a bit misleading (v.s. the backups to the backups) - but he'll still contribute. Amato thinks the defense is better this year, but early season depth is a concern.I'm sure others have additional tidbits, but there are the things that come to mind for me. I was already excited for 2014 and I heard nothing to dampen my enthusiasm. Go Zips!!!

Zips picked #79 by Orlando Sentinel.

Thanks for putting this together, MDZip! The numbers really do show how dominant the men were this school year. The scary thing for the MAC is there is room for improvement from the Zips! We may have lost the overall Wagon Wheel challenge, but I'll take the wheel itself over that every day (just my opinion). The wheel will go on and on (until K.E.N.T. drops football lol). I'm not so sure about the "challenge".

It's not a prediction, but TB provided some insight into his 2014 expectations for an Alabama newspaper.

The forecast is sunny with a high of 76 F. I'm looking forward to it!

Good points, K92. I wouldn't be surprised to see "Fresh" make these WR predictions look silly come season's end either. The Zips large contingent of capable WRs make it difficult for any of them to post the numbers that land one on all-conference teams however. And are there really 4 centers in the MAC better than TW67? I doubt it!

It's definitely been a badly kept secret, if you'd even call it that. I'd rather have him stay, but it's also not going to make or break the team. Good luck, Nick!

http://www.bcsnn.com/aac/777-aac-football-rewind-memphis-tigers-win-the-2005-motor-city-bowl.html The funniest quote in the article has to be the following:

Thanks for confirming my suspicion

The Blaze fails to ignite, falling to Southern Michigan 21-0. Akron is now 0-2, which really burns my butt

It's a little amusing to me that if you google "Alok Pattani" you'll find that he was hired by the network as an "Analytics Specialist". Of course he has a degree in Mathematics (from Boston U) specializing in Statistics. I suppose guys like Sagarin started all of this, but if I had known 30 years ago that you could actually have a CAREER doing this sort of thing I might have jumped all over it. Getting back to his specifics rankings, I'd be curious to know what stats he is using as input that would have the Zips at #115. My suspicion is that he may have a dampening feature in his algorithm that makes it difficult to ascend or descend rapidly, meaning those 1-11 seasons may still be weighing down the Zips ranking. The OU discussion is interesting to me for two reasons. First, there is the healthy rivalry that has developed between Akron and OU. Second, I think this is a crossroads year for Solich. I don't doubt that injuries were a major factor in their disappointing season last year. And make no mistake, with TT and a strong supporting cast returning for his senior season, 2013 was a pretty big disappointment for OU football. I don't care what the details are, if 2014 provides another fade down the stretch, this COULD be the beginning of the end for Frank. That's not necessarily a bad think for the Bobcats (see NIU and Joe Novak) however. I agree with GP1 that a win in Athens could easily occur provided the Zips take care of business at home.

Suffice to say ESPN, Alok Pattani to be specific, isn't too impressed at this juncture. They have K.E.N.T. at #98 and the Zips at #115. NFW.

That was clearly not my best effort, and you correctly called me out for it 'Meister. I call do-over. How about "Blaze Saddled with Mishaps in Loss to Mustangs"? Attendance is an interesting topic. I'm not sure 1 person in the greater Akron area knew about this game ahead of time. If people only knew how much the Rivals league treasures exhibition games.

The Blaze stumbles in exhibition action at the Info. Suel held to 2 catches by Southern Michigan.

While my brother is a WVU grad, this has nothing to do with me rooting for them in 2014. I’m generally neutral towards the Mountaineers (even rooted against them as a young follower of my hometown Pitt Panthers), but this year I have an ulterior motive in wishing them, and Dana Holgorsen in particular, success. Yinz (just to prove my Western Pa origin) guessed it!

I absolutely want him to be a Zip, but if he doesn't choose UA I wouldn't mind him going to WVU. We should all be rooting for a decent season out of the Mountaineers in 2014

While it's not exclusively about MAC talent, this Florida Gator blog discusses how both Bortles and Mack managed to slip past the staffs at UF, FSU and Miami even though they're both Floridians. There's also a mention of CJ Mizell back when he was an FSU recruit.

Let's hope we see some of this come September 20

And the Zips get another coach fired...

EA of the PD has a little more detail. I think a major part of his role is highlighted in the following quote: I wonder if it's too late for Nemec to help get one of his former Rough Rider O-linemen eligible to play for the Zips?

It's not very concerning to me at the very least. It's not even concerning to me in the least, and here is why. Spring game's are typically next to meaningless. This one was probably even more so. Since he was forced to scrub the last full contact scrimmage the Saturday before the spring game because of mounting injuries, TB seemed pretty determined to get past this spring game without any more occurring. The entire "game" was over in 1:45! Nobody really played enough on offense to get into any kind of rhythm. A few of us saw the full contacts scrimmage two Saturdays before the spring game. KP16 had a couple of nice deep balls to LT Smith and several other nice throws in what I would describe as a MUCH more competitive environment than the spring game. His accuracy was VERY good (he's always had plenty of arm strength).

Sarah’s was definitely a favorite of ours, as it also fit in our pre-kid, newlywed budget of the mid ‘80s. They had a sandwich called the “Hindenburg” that had spread chicken liver as one of the ingredients. In the description it further promised to send you down in flames. I succumbed over and over again. My favorite Sarah’s story is when DZ84 and I were having a meal there before heading to the Civic Theatre to watch “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up”. Robby Benson and Karla Devito (still married) had the leads in the musical, and they just happened to be sitting behind us in a booth at Sarah’s. During the meal, their daughter who was around 2 at the time kept playing with DZ84’s hair. There was something particularly amusing to me observing the two of them attempting to control their daughter (whose name Wikipedia now tells me is “Lyric”) while she was behaving like a typical 2-year old.

Thanks for the pics, Dr Z! Now with the spring game in the books, EA of the PD looks ahead to the 2014 season.

In a stunning development, the owners of the Rubber Bowl are giving up on hosting pro football for now, but they plan to put a dome on the facility. There was no comment to the rumor that the modified stadium would be renamed the Con-Dome.

That periodic table of beers is a pretty cool idea, Hilltopper. Today's been a long one, so I thought I'd give the beer below a go: I think Unibroue ought to reconsider the name. I didn't think it was so bad Seriously, if you enjoy their Trois Pistoles, then you will REALLY enjoy this complex, cornucopia of beer flavor. It takes Belgian Strong Ale to Schwarzeneggerian levels. Fantastic.