johnnyzip84

The line on the Ball St/UMass game surely shifted a ton. I believe BSU opened as a 3 point favorite. And no, I won't stop calling you Shirley

GT's article in the Beacon did have this bit of good news: Isaiah Williams, Quaison Osborne and Newman Williams will all be back.

I saw where RB Anthone Taylor is questionable for the Bulls, so I switched my vote to OU.

I thought heading into 2105 that a 7-5 season (or better) was necessary for the staff to legitimately claim that the program has turned the corner. I also felt that 2015 was the crucial year in terms of overall program momentum – a turnaround season could be the vital piece of evidence that could be used to finally wean TB’s Zips off of the transfer teat. None of this has changed in my mind. If the team falls short of 7-5, I believe TB’s window of opportunity to build a winner at UA will likely have closed (keep in mind the number of KEY seniors that are playing this year). Now if this team had been constructed in a more traditional manner, using mostly HS recruits, I would not feel this same way. But in order to finally start taking our share of recruits from the Toledo’s and WMU’s of the MAC, a clear turnaround season is needed NOW. Do I consider 7-5 to be acceptable? At this juncture, I do, but it’s the minimum in my view for reasons stated above. Do I think the Zips will get there? I’d put that at about 50-50 right now. I just don’t currently see a lot of separation between UA, U@B and K-E-N-T, which is why I’m not ready to assume a 4 game winning streak to close out the season. An upset win over CMU would surely change all of this. Let’s hope for the best after the bye week. Go Zips!

On a related note, this article was written before the Impact clinched the playoff spot. Evan truly has had a breakout season in 2015.

I recall Tommy Woodson and Austin Wolf connecting on a long TD pass during the closing moments of the blowout win over Howard when they were both RS FR. I thought at the time that perhaps that was the 1st of many over their Zip careers. That hasn't happened yet, but with the deserved attention on Jerome Lane, maybe Austin will have a breakout game today?

I agree that the 399/400 yard demarcation is about perfect for a poll like this. I went under, but it’s probably wishful thinking. Cap’n is correct about the need to put pressure on Johnson to prevent an over– but I was somewhat disappointed in this part of the defense last week against EMU. Maybe the Eagles have a decent O-Line, but I would think BG’s is at least as good. I like the way the team is progressing in all phases (Jordan George on kick coverage deserves a shout out), but I don’t think the Zips are quite there with the Falcons at this point, unless (as I pointed out earlier) they win the TO battle by 2 or more. I think that’s asking a lot, so I predict the following: Falcons 40 Zips 31

This will make an appearance at the U@B Poutine Tailgate:

I'm still thinking "poutine" for the U@B tailgate

I don't really understand why most people aren't giving the Bulls any respect this year. They've lost 3 tough games to 3 pretty good teams. They still have Licata and Taylor on offense and the new coach certainly knows how to win football games. They're not much different, personnel wise, than the team I saw manhandle the Zips in Alumni Stadium last year. Back to the task at hand, I think skip's bullet #3 is the most important. If UA wins the TO battle by +2, I think the Zips will pull the upset.

Could be - if he is able to create a turnover on one of his rushes, that could be huge. Would like to see him and Marcus at LE and RE in these situations.

They've actually been quietly doing that (playing him at rush end on passing downs, 1 or 2 times per game) all year. I'd say he's due for an impact play on D.

The passes that have given Jerome the most difficulty seem to be the ones with high velocity that are thrown into his body. The balls that are thrown above him he actually snags with considerable skill and reasonable consistency. This is why I hope they start to throw more of the “jump ball” type of plays to him in the red zone, as opposed to trying Pratt almost exclusively in these situations.

Bump. How in the world did THIS happen so quickly? It just shows you how fleeting success can be in any endeavor, but particularly collegiate athletics.

Here's a pretty decent preview on Hustlebelt.

There's no doubt that, while his memorable calls during Zip highs over the years (WMU kick return on last play, Alcorn's 56 yard FG, Payne's punt return at Navy, etc) are fantastic to hear, he has a way are sapping the serotonin right out of you when things are going south on the gridiron.

Now I predicted a 31-21 victory, but I have to admit I am a little surprised that NOBODY, out of 28 so far, has picked EMU to win. I think they have better than a zero percent chance of winning. I also think they have better than a 3.6% chance of winning (1 of 28), or even a 7.1% chance in winning (2 of 28). I'd put EMU's chance of winning at about 15%. Who remembers the Brookhart team that went up to Ypsi and was very fortunate to come away with the W after a blocked FG was recovered by an alert Zip punter/holder (Andy Hildreth) and converted into a 1st down that lead to a game winning TD?

Frankly, I don't see much, if any, separation between UA, U@B or UMass (or even K.E.N.T) right now. If you take a look at any of the opposition blogs, Bull and Minutemen followers/bloggers are all expecting a win over the Zips just as some of us are expecting wins over them.

I'll go Zips 31, Hurons 21. While I like our D a lot, Eastern has moved the ball pretty well against everyone - even LSU. I don't think we'll shut them down, but the Zip offense SHOULD have a much easier time that they did last week. EMU will probably stuff the box, especially early on; so the "run it down their throat" approach might not be as effective as one might think based solely on season stats. I look for a balanced attack, akin to what we saw against the Cajuns.

It either has to be a Zippermaker, or a Boilerzipper: A shot glass full of Drano dumped in a mug of Kool-Aid. Who would've thought an EMU-UA game could be so pivotal? But it really is huge, especially for the Zips. I see the line is down to 7.5.

This guy has the "under" play (over/under is at 54 right now) is one of his top 10 over/under plays of the week.

While it was a pretty frustrating game to watch as a fan, it had to be infinitely more frustrating for the players and coaches. The loss definitely makes "the turnaround season" (7-5 or better by my definition) considerably more difficult to achieve. And I've said it before and I'll say it again. If the big turnaround doesn't occur in 2015, I certainly don't expect it to happen in 2016 - WAY too many holes to fill, especially on defense. It's unfortunate for the staff that the MAC in 2015 appears to be as generally competent, top to bottom, as it ever has been. The only coaching thing that had me a little bothered/puzzled concerns the 1st two plays called once the Zips got the ball back with ~2 minutes and 2 TOs left. It seemed as though we were trying to hit a big play at the time when I felt we should have concentrated more on getting a couple of 1st downs. The safety blitz that resulted in a sack on 2nd down was a killer - it didn't seem like there was anyone to check down to on that play (or Tommy just didn't have the time/awareness to spot it). Hopefully there will be no residual blues within the team heading into EMU. The staff might have their work cut out for them in this regard.

I think this game could come down to one simple thing. Can the Zips, especially the defense, play aggressively without tempting the officials to flag them for questionable decisions? Two facts come into play here: UA has yet to play in a close contest in 2015. Since Solich has been HC, OU is not the type of team that defeats itself.The Zips simply have to play with composure on both sides of the ball on Saturday in order to come away with the win.

I agree that they're notoriously inaccurate and incomplete. And a hamstring is a tough injury to come back from in a short period of time. We'll see how accurate this is in this case.

This source has Pohl listed as the only injury, and he's listed as questionable. Hopefully they're just being cautious with Kyle and hopefully that also means Newman Williams is back from his hammy. In addition to Jerome, he can be another match-up problem for MAC secondaries if he can get the ball with some forward momentum.