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Wow!! Beano thinks both tosu and tressel have problems. Ya think?!?! Nothing gets by that guy. And believe it or not, most Cowlumbus State fans I know are still in denial, and still spitting out excuses.

I believe the military is still running on an all volunteer basis and, therefore, none of these young men are in danger of being drafted. I'm trying really hard to believe that at least someone has some NFL-level skills. It's not gonna happen.

Well, I haven't predicted anything yet. But at this point, unless something changes my mind, we're a 1-11 football team that's lost 9 starters, including our top 2 running backs, our top 3 receivers, and a few long-time starters on the offensive line. And that's not even addressing the defense, which certainly can't be encouraging after the spring game. The arrival of Chisolm and Moore has raised my hopes a bit, but I think I need to see a lot more before I can predict any significant improvement. The good news is, being better than last year isn't going to take much. No doubt there are plenty of concerns and unknowns at this point, particularly on defense. But right now I believe, one way or another, the offense will be considerably more productive in 2011. The more I read about the incoming class, I also think we'll see contrbutions from JT Price, Nick Rossi, Tyler Williams, Tyrell Goodman etc Williams was reportedly the quickest player on the field in the North-South all-star game (see link in other thread). Goodman was the New York HS Class A player of the year as a QB, but I think he'll find another way to get on the field sooner. Like gozips19 and others have said, I hope Rossi gets a shot at LB first. Bottom line, I think this class is a lot better than it was rated by Rivals or Scout. Time will tell. The funny thing is that I think we had a lot more reason to be concerned about the offense, just simply by the key personnel losses. But after last weekend, I'm certainly going to be looking closer at possible defensive issues now.

Well, I haven't predicted anything yet. But at this point, unless something changes my mind, we're a 1-11 football team that's lost 9 starters, including our top 2 running backs, our top 3 receivers, and a few long-time starters on the offensive line. And that's not even addressing the defense, which certainly can't be encouraging after the spring game. The arrival of Chisolm and Moore has raised my hopes a bit, but I think I need to see a lot more before I can predict any significant improvement. The good news is, being better than last year isn't going to take much.

That's what I was thinking. If we can't contain our own offense, those guys in Cowlumbus will just run right over us. It was also a defense that was missing 4 starters and wasn't really allowed to do much of anything because it was a spring game. Joe Bauserman looks to be the starter at OSU while Pryor is out. Pathetic doesn't even describe how awful he is. I would stack the box and make them beat us by throwing the ball. Stoneburner will be tough to defend at TE and Chris Fields will be very good. Their running game scares me, but Bauserman doesn't. I don't care who he has as receivers, he couldn't hit anyone last year. Don't forget, they were recording QB sacks simply by touching the QB. So, they had plenty of advantages that they wouldn't get under normal circumstances too. Giving up 550 years during a continuous-clock scrimmage to our offense should be ALARMING at this point of the year, when offenses tend to have very little continuity. I just don't get the lack of concern.

That's what I was thinking. If we can't contain our own offense, those guys in Cowlumbus will just run right over us.

I think I might have all of this figured out. It could be that they just feel pressure to uphold the schools tradition

I'd have to see it before I believed it. Is anyone else amused that they seem to feel that this job could lure a long-time assistant away from Duke?

My guess would be that there was probably a 1 in 100 chance that Temple or UMass had any thoughts of moving both football and basketball to the MAC.

What are the chances that an incoming QB would be promised the starting position over a veteran without having seen the incoming QB take a snap at the DI level or how much the veteran may have improved over the off-season? I'm not picking on you, but how familiar are you with the recruiting process? I never said "PROMISED". Let me put it another way.... You're a big time high school QB with state titles under your belt, were recruited by a number of big programs, and you just tore up JC for a year. Then, one of the worst D-1A schools in the country comes calling, and tells you that if you come to this horrible program, you might also have the additional priviledge of sitting on the bench behind one of the worst QBs in D-1A. Would you go there? Think about it.

Isn't it usually pretty tough for an incoming QB to unseat a returning starter, even if the newcomer is better? Do you think Nicely will have to struggle a bit during the season for Clayton to be put in & get quality PT? Especially before they've even entered training camp. So this doesn't surprise me at all. Several people sitting around me at the spring game were ready to name Moore the starter after he threw his first couple of passes on Saturday. That's pretty bad. But after what we've seen, it's understandable. As I've wondered all along....what are the chances we were able to get a guy like Moore by telling him that he only had an opportunity to become the starter?

I'm almost certain that particular play you mentiioned was against Western Michigan. Band Zip is right, there were others. I'm not sure if I would put this Western Michigan play, or the Ken+ play in the end zone at the top of the list.

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40. Why am I not surprised by your comments? They could have dressed the Green Bay Packers in Akron uniforms and you would have gone into a tirade about how bad the team sucks and how the coach has to go. You are beyond a broken record. They gave up 550 yards to OUR offense. And had the benefit of only having to touch the QB to record a sack. It's hard to argue with such an assessment, don't you think?

I think it was a terrible showing. Our defense will be lucky to hold any opponent under 40. That's the problem with feeling impressed with what the offense does in a Spring game. It means the defense wasn't good. And that was the case today. Same problem as before, our poor ability to bring down a ball carrier. I hope Chisolm and Moore are the real deal too, but I think our defense made our offense look good today.

That's pretty funny. I hadn't looked at it that way, but sadly, it's a great point.

I wish that would have happened as well, because it would have benefitted the Zips. But Hockey is one of the 4 most popular sports in America.

Ah Yes. The tradition continues. Would you expect anything else?

Can someone tell me anything controversial about the last play of that game? What happened that merited a protested outcome?! Why is it such a laudable attribute to simply accept defeat? Has society reached the point where basic sportsmanship is such a commendable act? K.e.n.t. got beat in a great game. No "phantom fouls" or "no-calls"...no clock operator negligence...time simply expired and K.e.n.t. didn't score enough points to win. End of story. Actually, as far as end-of-game play controversy goes, there was no story. Important notes for any idiot are listed below: 1.) The scuffle after the game wasn't a "play." 2.) Video of the Zips celebration as the clock expired showed a couple Zips players accidentally stepped on K.e.n.t. players that were laying on the ground. The Zips players temporarily stopped their celebration, and immediately apologized. As far as controversial plays go...those with "protestable" game outcomes...where would YOU rate the 2011 MAC Championship game's final play? On a scale of 1-10, "1" being completely devoid of controversy and "10" being an out-and-out criminal act, I rate it a "1." Agree 100% CLASS defines the coach on the losing end of the clock debacle in the MAC Title Game in 2007 congratulating Charlie Cole. LACK OF CLASS defines the coach who continually showed his displeasure over Singletary being booted for punching Linhart. Actions speak for themselves, and are often predictably a barometer for future behavior.

BINGO!! Number #75 in RPI would be a good goal. I don't care if it's 5 Top-25 teams, or 10 Top-50 teams on the schedule. Whatever it takes. What we're doing now isn't nearly good enough. Again, just look at the resumes of some of the last teams into the tournament every year. I'll refer back to my first post in this thread again. Winning mid-major programs are knocking off top programs. We're a good, competitive team that also has a winning mentality, but simply aren't giving ourselves enough of those same opportunities. We can also continue to debate forever about our schedule vs. Miami's schedule, but one thing is certain. Miami puts together a schedule that gives them 2 potential routes to the Big Dance, and we do not. I just don't see the sense in continuing to play a OOC schedule that virtually eliminates your chances of an at-large bid before the season even starts.

I sure hope so, although I'm pretty sure he won't be able to run full speed at the ball for 12 yards and kick it. I truly beleive that most D1 kickers look good like that with no rush and all the time needed to set up. Doing this under a rush and game pressure is a tad different. It's sort of like saying you are a great hitter because you can hit the ball in batting practice. I'd have to agree. When you have only 120 D-1A schools, and maybe only a couple dozen open kicking jobs every year, I would think that the candidates for those jobs would all be able to stand out on a practice field and boot field goals all day long.

That was my thought too. For the length of time they showed him, we could have had millions of people across the nation looking at the word "AKRON". That would have likely been the best exposure we ever got that we didn't pay for

I sense this same "we're afraid to challenge ourselves because we might lose more games" mentality that's kept us at status-quo for the last 5+ years. And I know you're not alone. And again, where did I say that we should load our schedule with Top 10 teams? Murderer's Row? Hey...you stole that line from Gordon "foot-in-mouth" Gee.

More opportunities to make an impact nationally. Same answer as always. And maybe your conclusion could be that playing those games certainly didn't hurt their cause either. They had 4 more losses, but a similar RPI. And they still got to play in the MAC tournament as their 2nd opportunity to get to the dance, just like everyone else in the conference. And how do we know that playing that schedule didn't make Miami a better team than they would have been if they had not played those teams?

No, that's not my point at all. It's all about opportunities. Our current schedule doesn't have nearly enough opportunities to increase our status. And I clearly stated in my last post that it's not an argument that we should play a schedule loaded with national powers.

I don't think it is asking too much for an adult (most are older than 18) to live up to his potential from day one until the end of the season. There are games to be played in December and January just as there are games to be played in March. The expectations of this Zips program should be: 1. Win all the games they should win. No more losing to teams like NIU and EMU. No more slow starts. 2. Win the MAC East. 3. Win at least 33% of the games against major conference teams. 4. Minimum make the MAC Championship Game. It still amazes me that some people appear to be so opposed to creating alot more opportunities to elevate our status nationally. We're far from where we need to be. This isn't an argument to put a bunch of Top 10 teams on our schedule. We didn't play a SINGLE top-notch team this year. How many teams did we play that were even in the Top 50? Nothing is going to change unless our SOS climbs at least 50 places higher. Just look at the resumes of some of the teams who are the last ones into the tournament. We aren't even remotely in the ballpark, even with a few more victories. College basketball players simply do not play well every time on the floor for 30-35 times a season. And that's not going to change. Yet, every year we put ouselves in a position to have to play to that level of perfection because we don't have an SOS that's even remotely close to where it needs to be. If we don't take some chances, and create more opportunities, nothing is going to change.