johnnyzip84

Earth to Zach - UA moved up from 1-AA/FCS in 1987. I'd expect the Utah STATE Aggies to be about a 7-10 point favorite. Having Chuckie back at QB is huge for them, although he looked a little tentative when I watched some of their game in Logan against BYU.

In the last few weeks of the season, the emphasis was on Akron getting bowl eligible for obvious reasons. Initially, there was also a lingering thought that having several conferences struggle to reach their quotas for supplying teams for various bowl tie-ins was a good thing for a bowl-marginal squad like the Zips. Up to a certain point, this could have played in UA’s favor. But once it became apparent that there would not be a total of 80 bowl eligible teams throughout FBS/1-A, this quickly became too much of a good thing – which is always a bad thing. Once the pool opened up to 5-7 teams from P5 conferences, any leverage the Zips had (like impressive previous attendance figures in Detroit), which was probably minimal anyway, soon evaporated. The Zips will play where Jon Steinbrecher and the MAC tell them to play and, you know what, I’m completely OK with that. Does a team that was a perfect 7-0 against losing teams and an equally imperfect 0-5 against winning teams really have business dictating where, when and who they should face in a bowl game? Of course not. Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t diminish my appreciation for the efforts the staff and team put forth this year to get things moving in the right direction. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Wherever the Zips play, they have a supreme opportunity to make a statement. The first 8 win season in FBS/1-A history and the first win over an FBS/1-A team with a winning record since Toledo in 2013 (Pitt was 6-7 last year) should provide exceptional motivation for the team. Even though it’ll most likely be from in front of a TV, I’m really excited to watch them take their best shot. Bowl games can often be more unpredictable that regular season games. A healthy, talented defense, combined with an offense lead by a QB whose confidence is growing day by day, should make the Zips a dangerous bowl opponent. Go Zips!!!!! :gun: :gun:

The Suburbanite has a nice article on both Pratt and Brumbaugh as they enter the end of their Zip careers.

...the same Ga Tech who whipped Arkansas by 10

Jatavis will definitely be drafted, but I also expect Coe to land with an NFL team. Down the stretch he was almost unstoppable. Should be an active pro day indeed this year. @CK - those O-Line stats raised my eyebrows a little as well. This unit definitely started to come together as the season wore on. Woodson being a little harder to contain helped out some with the sack total, as did the weaker back end of the schedule. With all those seniors leaving, hopefully it won't take a major dip in 2016.

Richly deserved! GoZips Link

I believe Babers has his sights set a little higher (Mizzou, 'Cuse, etc.).

Someone in NOLA thinks TB would be a good candidate at Tulane. An interesting side note is that ULM AD Wickstrom WAS also a candidate at Tulane for their open AD position, which is expected to be filled in the next day or so..

And we'd all enjoy some poutine before the game!

The Argonauts used to play there, so fitting a field isn't an issue. It wasn't bad the 1st time they tried it.

I still expect Babers to go somewhere this year with so many highly visible jobs available and the domino effect that typically ensues.

or not.

IF (big if) Matt Johnson does happen to get his 6th year of eligibility, I wonder if he follows Babers?

There's no way I'll count on anything until the bids become official, but I for one would love to see Chuck "The Chest" play chess against his former program. That certainly would make for a nice story ahead of this potential matchup.

Exactly. This is why it surprised me a little when TB made the early statement that the players would have as much say in where they end up as anyone. At some point, financial considerations have to come into play. The Bahamas Bowl, while perhaps the best reward for the team's hard work, seems likely be to be a losing endeavor for UA in terms of cash. At the other end of the spectrum, IMHO, is the Quick Lane Bowl. The last time the Zips went to Ford Field for a game they brought along at least 15,000 fans. Since it's been 10 years since that happened, I believe another strong contingent would follow along once again in 2015. One would think this might weigh in on both the people selecting teams for the 2015 Quick Lane Bowl and UA's ultimate decision (if it's in their hands).

The over/under on this game (39.5) has to be one of the lowest numbers throughout FBS this year. If the Zips take care of the ball, I just can’t see K.E.N.T. scoring enough to win. With rain likely to play a factor, ball security will be of utmost importance. I also envision Haynes to use one or two trick plays during the game, probably sooner rather than later. It’s a big advantage for UA that Woody doesn’t seem to mind “throwin’ in the rain”.

Sorry for the misinterpretation It was easy to see that the last part of your post was intended to be humorous, but that wasn't as obvious (to me anyway) with the first part. I think I'll take your advice:

IMHO, that is the worst combination. I don't mind one cupcake, but if you're going to go that route make sure it's certifiably digestible. There's a rather long history of UA having some difficulty with I-AA/FCS teams from the upper echelon, and some sadly not even from that group (the infamous OT loss to Gardner-Webb in 2010 and getting torched by the Delaware State Hornets 52-26 in 1987 stand out) . We were stretched by JMU just a few years ago (will be glad to play them as a member of the FBS). I see nothing to gain from this strategy - I'd rather play another Sunbelt/C-USA team instead of one from the Missouri Valley or CAA.

Now that you mention it, I think you are correct on Hundley sharing that carry with Woody.

I finally had a chance to watch the recording of the game to compare it to what we witnessed in person. I wanted to see this before providing any commentary. Here are some random thoughts: It’s been slowly and steadily heading in this direction, but this game highlighted the staff’s focus on using TW13’s strengths – stretching the field with the deep ball and running him just enough to not allow the defense to key on the lone RB. The play that #55 (Brandon Crawford) made to take CH4 out of the game appeared to me as a borderline personal foul call in person, and after watching it on TV I still think it (partial head plant) could have been called. Crawford did impress me with his strength and aggressiveness, though. Hopefully, Conor will be OK soon (looked like a concussion concern to me). If CH4 is out for this week, I hope Woodson and Alexander work some on the read option. While Alexander had a fantastic game in relief, there were a few times when the confusion as to who was going to carry could easily have led to a turnover. There was even one instance when they BOTH held onto the ball (hadn’t realized that in person). It’s good to see some younger players stepping up in the secondary when the game was still on the line. Brown and George both made big contributions. It was also good to see the 2nd and 3rd team D get some reps, especially since UB left Licata in the game until the end. Sure there’s plenty of work to do there, but it was the 1st time I recall seeing guys like Bell playing beyond special teams. Speaking of future LBs, I think Ulysees Gilbert could be the next exceptional one at UA. He’s been great on special teams all year, and I liked what I saw of him at LB on Saturday. He’s got the speed to stay on the field for every down. It’ll be very interesting to see how UB does during the rest of Leipold’s tenure. He was one of the more interesting FBS hires last year, and I imagine Bulls fans are a tad disappointed in the results thus far. I saw a fair amount of talent on the far sideline on Saturday, and I’m not sure they’re getting the most out of it in 2015. After last year’s shellacking in Buffalo, the turnaround on the scoreboard was most pleasing. I enjoy the rivalry that’s brewing between these teams.

Zips are 10.5 point favorites at the moment.

Hence the huge shift in the line from Arkansas -4 this morning to Arkansas -7 now.

Well it seems to me that if you’re going to bother celebrating a culinary delight which has its origins in rural Quebec of the 1950’s, you might as well enjoy it with the appropriate weather. I’m normally pretty careful about the nutritional value of a meal – not this Saturday. Paired with some select Unibroue offerings, I know one little corner of Lot 9 will be transformed into Vieux-Montréal, if only for a day. Why it’ll be the envy of Céline Dion, Mario Lemieux, and Jabari Arthur. Let’s rock this poutine cookoff!

If you can pull this one off, ZNo moderation will no longer be a concern. You'll be the most most powerful person in all of Canada!

Hmmm zipsoutsider - maybe you need to change your screen name to zipsinsider?