johnnyzip84

I agree, UIC will be no gimme. The Horizon is making a strong push to become the next "Valley". I think this result also points out one other thing. The MAC West looks pretty awful right now. Western's had a few decent wins (Va Tech), but also a few bad losses. I guess I have to agree that the Nevada game is a must win to earn an at-large berth (if needed).

Among recently built structures, Papa John's Cardinal Stadium is the 1st to come to mind. I think Troy plays in some Movie Gallery Stadium or something like that. The Carrier Dome may have started the ball rolling in terms of collegiate venues. I'm sure there are others.This reminds of a very stupid joke from the Faust era. Somebody had thrown out the idea once (probably after a particularly rainy home FB schedule) to put a roof over the Rubber Bowl. I always felt the obvious new name for such a revision would have been......cover your ears and start wincing......the "Con-Dome"......ba dump ttttisshhhhh

Yeah, well the whole "build it, and they will come" saying has gotten pretty stale. Here's to the brand new corollary, "name it, and they will build it!!".

I personally think the game at Illinois-Chicago could be difficult. They are unbeaten at home so far this year.

I must say, this is an intriguing proposition. Do you think Harris would be interested? Could he be pursuaded to leave the California sunshine again? I remember his Pacific ('til they dropped football) Tiger teams doing a whole lot with very little, even before the Pitt/Stanford days. Sign 'em up!! He is definitely a passing game wiz.

UC hired Brian Kelly of Central Michigan as their new head coach. So it looks like we have JD for a little while longer. Hopefully, this will help with the new recruits.Cincinnati Enquirer Story

Touche oldzipdt!!! Hey, I think I might want to major in French! Touche, touche, touche!Seriously, good point. If he's studying French literature or preparing to teach French or something along those lines then I should cut him some slack.

OK, so I was way off on my prediction of OU winning. The QB situation didn't help, but CMU was clearly the much better team as the rest of you suspected Did anyone happen to catch CMU WR Obed Cetoute's major when they showed him up close? He is a native Montrealer like Jabari and Nedd. I think he is even from the same school (Vanier Prep). His major was listed as "French". What a deal!!! Do we let our soccer players from Norway major in Norwegian? It's just a thought.

Maybe if you were Zipbuck, I could stomach some of this OSU garbage on a UA board........nahhhhhh!Here is my personal list of LEAST favorite college football programs.1) Ohio State (or just "State" to the pompous buffoons that expect everyone who happens to live here to worship them)2) USC3) Notre Dame4) Penn St (I grew up in Pittsburgh and the Nittany Lion boosters are almost as bad as the Luckeye boosters)5) MarshallI know CMU won it last night, but I'm sticking this here one last time! Go Zips!!!

I'll second that Dr Z!! I'll be very curious as to how many fans both OU and Central bring. With this being the 1st Michigan team in the MACC and OU being down so long (needs a blues riff.....da naa na na naaa), one might expect a pretty big crowd. The weather might hold a few people back, but I recall the weather being a little dicey on the drive back last year as well. I'll definitely be tuning in.

Charlie may have indeed earned that spot last week, but how on Earth can anyone rate Rex Grossman as the 15th best QB in the NFL? This alone puts a dent into the credibility of THIS list.

How true!! If I had one more chance to see Wolfe, I'd definitely take advantage of that.

I know it’s tough to watch these other teams playing at the site of recent (and we all know painfully elusive) Zip glory, but I was wondering about Zip fans’ prediction for the MACC. I see CMU is a 3 ½ point favorite probably based in part of the West seeming to have more balance this year, and it’s hard to argue with that. However, I think that OU is playing like one of those “teams of destiny” that might not look pretty but somehow finds a way to score more points than the opponent. I look for McRae to have a solid game and Lasher to make a late game winning FG in a tight contest.I sure wish we were all headed back this year, but I figure it’s time to rally around the conference and put our rivalries aside…..just for one day that is!Ohio 27Central 24

Despite our disappointing season, I'm happy for the 4 teams that are going. This makes up for a few years when NIU was worthy but left at home. Plus, Can't isn't one of the 4 teams......

It looks like the Cincinnati Enquirer doesn't think that Brookhart is a leading candidate for the UC position. They don't even list him in their current poll.Dantonio Replacement Poll

CK, I guess I would counter that if the D had been even remotely helpful in those years, maybe Winters' O wouldn't have been put in the position to contantly carry the team. I also go back to the 2000 Marshall game. If Jake Shifino doesn't drop a sure 1st down pass, Leftwich and company probably don't get the ball back and the Zips may have had their 1st MAC East championship a few years earlier. Winters' O moved the ball against just about every team it faced. It was well balanced, almost to a ridiculous level at time (I recall one year being right at 50/50 pass vs. run yards). These are simply my opinions. Glad to have a place to voice them with other Zip fans!

I’m not going to say that I expect JD to leave for Cincy, but I also wouldn’t be totally shocked if he did. According to the USA Today, Dantonio made a total of $495K with a max bonus of $702K for this year. This compares to JD getting $208K with a max bonus of $18K with the Zips. The JD/MT connection is well documented and I still feel that the body of JD’s work at Akron probably remains as positive in many circles.Crowton also was a very successful HC at Louisiana Tech, but I don’t think he’d seriously consider Akron. Why are some people down on Paul Winters, may I ask? Do people realize how pathetic the Wayne St. program was before he took over? I have heard that Dantonio actually wanted Winters as his OC at Cincy early on, but Paul has already taken the Wayne St. job. Am I the only one who thinks that the Zip offense was perfectly acceptable under LO, and it was always the D that let us down?On a side note, I also heard that Winters might be in line for the Michigan St. OC position under Dantonio.Here are my 3 to throw in the discussion (although I don’t want JD to leave just yet).1) Paul Winters2) Tim Rose (DC at Toledo, 1 time HC at Miami U)3) Larry Kehres (never gonna happen I suppose)

IF this is going to happen (BIG IF at this point), I think Paul Winters is a good candidate. He was 6-5 at Wayne St. this year, winning the GLIAC coach of the year award. LO's offense was NOT the problem during his. Coaches like Paul and Tom Stacy ALWAYS seemed to have that side of the ball ready to play against just about everyone, including the "biggies" on the schedule. Plus, I believe that Paul would tend to be in it for the long haul. I think that knock on him the 1st time around (when Brookhart was hired) was that he had no HC experience. That can't be said now.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mackey as a leader. Stokes, Arthur, and Walker would also be good candidates. Admitedly, this list is a bit devoid of leadership potential at first glance however :blink:

I look at 2006 as JD's "free pass". I figure everyone deserves one of these. There is no question that things lined up perfectly for the Zips last year. If the timing of Omar Jacobs injury had been different, our discussions this year would be equally different. I just thought and hoped that the Zips, who took advantage of the opportunities presented last year very well, would carry some of this over into this season, but this never really took place. The apparently strong showings at PSU and NC State were ultimately shown to not be all that impressive as the season played out. The offensive line never really gave the offense any consistency and the defense was put in too many bad situations all year. Listening to JD on the 1350 post game show saying that some self evaluation, presumably on both the coaches and players part, is necessary made me feel as though he at least understands the problems. Whether he can effectively address these in the off season is the big question. I'm close by say ing I wish the Zips had at least kept the game close. I was amazed at how long the crowd stuck around tonight and equally impressed that they never turned on the team (at least from my vantage point). Let's hope they don't have many reasons to next year.

I wish I thought otherwise, but the Broncos have a lot more incentive and have been playing much better football lately. That DE of Western's will be difficult to handle.Zips 21Broncos 27But it'll be a great day for football and we only get so many home games to enjoy so let's do exactly that regardless of the outcome.

How about the "will his health, stamina or attitude ever allow him to play 75% of the game" award to Nate Robinson. I sure hope he can somehoe play more downs next year, because he definitely makes a huge (pun intended) difference when he's in there.

I just saw that Danny Sheridan has the Zips as a 1 1/2 point favorite over Western on Friday. I'm as big of a Zip fan as anyone, but doesn't it seem like he has the wrong team favored? I realize the line's purpose is to evenly distribute the wagers, but this still seems off to me. In fact, I think the oddsmakers have incorrectly judged the Zips most of the year (road favorites at least 3 times I think). Any thoughts? What are the other odds for this game?

Hmmm let's see.....Terry Bradshaw.....Phil Simms.....Joe Namath.....John Elway.....Steve Young.....the list of QB's that didn't exactly light the league on fire initially, yet went on to have excellent careers, is long indeed. If you question me, take a look at the stats for the 1st couple of years for these guys. I'm not saying that Charlie will eventually be in this category, or even if he will stick in the NFL at this point or not. I think it's too early to tell quite frankly. But if sgm405 thinks he can count him out at this point, then he is working in the wrong field. He should be a chief NFL scout!!! Marino and Brady and Big Ben.....these guys are in the VAST minority (NFL QB's who achieved early success).