johnnyzip84

While I absolutely LOVE the style of play and much of the execution I am seeing on the field at this point, I'm not going to place too much emphasis on the records broken, etc. But I agree with Dr Z that the fast-paced, fun-to-watch, offense simply HAS to be an advantage when battling for offensive talent on the recruiting trails. And I said it after the UCF game and I'm even more convinced now. If DW13 continues to play to this level, he WILL set several records come MAC play. I want to highlight something that is less tangible than yardage totals, but probably more important. It's related to STZ's LaFrance sideline memory. I'm not sure if there is a specific word to define the quality in a leader that enables him/her to somehow get the entire organization moving in the same direction, but Coach Bowden clearly has "it". I noticed an interesting exchange on the sidelines immediately after Andrew Pratt's 1st collegiate TD. One of the 1st individuals to zero in on him for congratulations was #40, Austin Bailey the one-time Zip starting FB who is now pitching in admirably as a back-up defensive tackle of all positions. If you recall, Austin started at FB in Ianello's 1st season, and while he was more of a role player he actually displayed some ability as a check-down reciever out of the backfield at times. Now that the spread in up and running, Austin's chances of scoring TD's at UA are pretty much over. You might even excuse the guy for not being overly excited to watch this "rookie" doing something on the field he will likely not have another chance to accomplish in his career. Nevertheless, there was Austin celebrating and congratulating Andrew with as much excitement and enthusiasm as he could muster after that score. Coach clearly has all the oars pulling in the same direction.

The Beacon reported today that UA released details on Coach Bowden's contract . I'd say it's a pretty fair deal all the way around.

While I agree with this (assuming we stay relatively healthy), I'm not so sure OU gets past Marshall this week for "the Bell". The Kitties are favored by 6 (in Huntington). I'll bet that hasn't been the case in a long, long time.

that's one way of putting it!

I watched the 1st 10 minutes or so and I couldn't believe how many penalties Rutgers kept committing. I was a little surprised to see the final score this morning. I must admit, I liked the new unis for the Scarlet Knights:

I think the defense is going to play much better this week. The weather conditions (high of 69 F, 65% humidity) will allow the starters to be more effective, the youthful backups are starting to catch on to the system, and I believe their overall speed will become very evident in this matchup. Plus I think Coach Amato might have a few tricks up his sleave. Zips 42 Bears 14

Hmmm what do THEY have in common?

You are correct, but let's face it. If you're a MAC/Sunbelt/C-USA/WAC(R.I.P.) school and you're on the list, chances are you earned it. If you're from a "big" conference and you still made the list, you MAY have earned it but you also might just be merely the target of a funny. Like I said before, I don't think we'll be seeing the Zips on this list again for a very long time

Now listed on Scout as a UA commit. Beat BG, OU and Toledo for him

Down to #8, and this will be the LAST time you'll see "Akron" and "Bottom 10" mentioned by me or ESPN for the foreseeable future. BTW, check out #10.

+1 UCF will have some added incentive after losing to them on the road last year. Does anyone else but me find it extremely odd that UA, FIU and UCF will have completed a round-robin schedule by the 3rd week of the season?

I don't think there is any doubt that it's happening.

Notre Dame to ACC (except football)

Sure thing, Dr Z. I like to have these videos readily available in the most pertinent thread. Of the many things that impress me greatly about Coach Bowden in these press conferences is that he appears to be completely unflappable. His thinking always seems to be focused and attentive, regardless of the question or topic. In short, he’s an excellent communicator. wonderful communication skills + wealth of football knowledge = excellent football coach

More fun stuff

Game preview from Morgan State web site.

Keep an eye on Morgan State's #20 this Saturday. Out of his 126 yards rushing versus U@B, 108 of them came in the 1st half. I'm excited to see what Coach Amato might have planned for him. Coach Bowden pointed out on the coach's show that both TD receptions by Chisholm were "wrinkles" put in the offense especially for FIU. Imagine that!

Good observations, Cap’n. My wife and I looked at each other and grinned as Jawon was talking at length about the former coach without ever mentioning his name. I’m with G-mann in that I can’t get enough of this team right now. I wanted the Morgan State game to start last Saturday night at around 10:40 pm! I’m sure the team is glad it didn’t, though While I’m enjoying the coach’s show so far, they REALLY need to do something about editing (as pointed out earlier by another poster on a different thread). I know it must be extremely hard to record this on Sunday morning after a long road trip. So someone should have been able to help Coach out on Cody “Griggs” (twice).

Welcome! It's great to have him here. Regarding the original question, George Thomas reported in today's article (in FIU game thread) that the entire O-Line won the award in week 11 of 2008.

"No moral victory" in Coach Bowden's eyes. Thanks, GT!

If Morgan St runs well against us this week, then maybe I'll join you in your concession. But I'm not ready to concede just yet. I think it's easy for us to forget how well the defense played in the first half ASIDE FROM the 1st and last FIU possessions. Frenchy and Detweiler both said it was the hardest hitting UA defense they'd seen in many years. Of course they couldn't keep it up in the 2nd half, although they did make a 4th quarter stop to give the Zips a chance to recapture their last lead. How much were the 2nd half troubles related to lack of depth in key areas? I think this was certainly a factor that MIGHT be mitigated as Horner, Jatavis Brown, etc get more familiar with the system. You are correct that we're light on defense and we're stuck with that situation for now. But I think there's enough speed there to compensate against some of the teams remaining on our schedule.

You're absolutely right, Lee. I suspect our defense will match up much better against a throw-first team like Miami. At this point, Dysert versus Williams would seem to have the makings of a classic shootout. But I'll worry more about that in two weeks.

KD mentioned on Joe Dunn's 1350 AM talk show this afternoon that they're still putting together the necessary (and somewhat tedious) information package the NCAA requires in cases such as Pat's. I believe he said he thought they would have this portion of the process finished in the next 3-4 days if everything goes as expected. He didn't comment on how long the NCAA would take to review this package, however. So it would seem we're at least a few weeks away from getting a definitive answer on this one.

It’s Monday and time to forget about the 1st two games as we hopefully look forward to the 1st win of the Bowden Era this Saturday against Morgan State. Although the Zips are undoubtedly expected to win this game, we know better than to assume anything (ahem Gardner-Webb) at this point. Besides, it looks as though Morgan State isn’t quite as delicious a cupcake as they were when Carlton Jackson made his return to Akron for the inaugural game at the Indo. They are 1-1 so far in 2012, with an OT win at home over FCS Sacred Heart and last week’s 56-34 defeat at the hands of Buffalo. The Bears ran for over 200 yards in Alumni Stadium against U@B, so our run defense might very well be tested once again after yielding significant yards in the 1st two games. Hopefully, this fact alone will prevent any sort of let-down versus a team that is generally viewed as the “sure thing” on the schedule. Here is the Buffalo News story on the MSU/U@B game and here is the Morgan State athletic web site. I’ll save my prediction for later on in the week. Go Zips!!