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Bottom Line...we aren't going to see even a hint of a change at QB because of one poor game. Plus, Jac has been playing for about a year and a half now, do you really want to start the process of developing a new QB all over again at this point?I was at the spring game, and saw about 4 QBs play. I can't recall that any one of them stuck out.

One more thing that I don't believe has been mentioned yet....Not only did the officials miss calling the Bowser TD catch correctly, but that was CLEARLY interference, if he did not make the catch. The photo undisputably shows the defender running straight at Bowser, with his back to the ball, and trying to push him out of the end zone.It's just unbelievable how bad these officials are.

uafan...I couldn't agree more. Bowser makes a couple of athletic plays in a game, and people insist that he is the offensive savior. But, what happens in between is still very questionable. If he wants to become a star, show me some consistency. Anymore...I can't name ONE of the top three receiver that can hold onto the football with regularity. I simply can't count how many times today I stood up to cheer a great play, only to take another look and see the pass laying on the ground. Zipsrifle...I certainly understand the frustration with the officiating. Does anyone else remember the ending to a road game against OU a couple of years ago? We had a chance to beat them the year they won the East. We had an onside kick at the end of the game to get the ball one more time with a chance to win. An Akron player recovers the fumble, and actually stands up and shows the ball. The refs are still looking into the pile, don't know what to do, and award the ball to OU. JD challenges the call, and the footage CLEARLY shows the Akron player standing up out of the pile with the ball in his hands, and they DO NOT overturn the ruling on the field. This finalized my view about the pathetic nature of MAC officials, and their known tendency to not overturn calls...and that is the reason why I had no faith in them making the right call today.

Thanks JohnnyZip.....that is one of those things I will never understand about football....Wouldn't it have been better towards the end of the game to rotate in some fresh pass rushers.....instead of your regulars...who cannot even breathe anymore?Towards the end of the game, especially on that play where he was scrambling in the backfield forever on that 4th down play, He made our DLs look like they were standing still. I mean, for about 10 seconds he was REFUSING to run past the line of scrimmage....and still...nobody could get within 10 feet of him. A fresh DL might have been able to get a hand on him.

Guys, keep in mind that our offensive line really got pushed today. I was surprised. I felt that was really a strength of the team. I don't want to jump the gun and think that this was a running back problem if that really wasn't the case. I heard something I was not aware of in the postgame report. If I heard correctly, Tuzze actually trimmed down a bit during the off season to prepare him to be a RB this year, and not a FB. He had some great runs during the Cincinnati game, and had a good run today. Maybe he needs a few more carries. I agree...if Torrence is the best we have right now, put him in. But, I think we would have seen that already if that's the way the coaches feel about him. I'd hate to see us burn his redshirt year just to see him get a few carries a game behind Kennedy and Johnson.

akronzipsbetch...about the 3-3-5 defense against a mobile QB.I think our chances are much better to track down an elusive guy like Edelman by having that Rover in the middle of the field, a guy who has better lateral movement and more athleticism than another inside linebacker or interior lineman. But the fact is, guys were whiffing on him all day, so I don't think it mattered who was chasing him. Beyond that, our interior defensive people were flat-out worn out trying to get him. We looked like those guys were walking after him in pass rush situations towards the end of the game. The one good play I saw against Edelman today was when one of our DBs just stood in front of him and DID NOT MOVE. This gave our pursuit a chance to catch him. He WANTS defenders to commit to him, so that he can step out of the way and make you lunge at him. That Akron DB, whoever it was, seemed to be the only time all day that people weren't whiffing at him.

1) I'll take a MAC road win, in a rivalry game, anytime. That's the best football Can't will play all year, and we still got the win. 2) Jac wasn't sharp at all today, but gathered himself enough to get it done in the 2nd half. The first two INTs in the first half were AWFUL reads. And the first one kept us from going up 14-0, and maybe turning the game into a blowout.3) Dropped passes....still a major issue.4) Give that game ball to the defense. Unbelievable effort keeping Can't off of the scoreboard in the 2nd half until the final seconds. Those guys were tired chasing around Edelman all day, and played their hearts out to get us the win. I just hate how many times they caught us off guard with that inside trap play. 5) It's very noticable that we were without 2 of our best tailbacks today. I know we passed the ball more than we would have liked. 6) I hope JD scraps the idea of running Bruce out of the backfield, and finds another solution to our RB shortage. 7) I hope we don't hear anything about a "controversial" call on Bowser's touchdown....on TV it was DEFINITELY a TD.

Captain....remember....as you state that JD needs to stop going for the home run on 3rd and 4th down in short yardage....that's exactly the gamble that won us the Can't game last year. The critical TD pass from Jackson to Arthur in the back on the end zone was on a 4th and short. Also, winning this game is not going to catapult us to a MAC title. Some HUGE tests remain....especially a game against BG, who looks to be far and away the best team in the East at this point.

Great story. I wish there were many more like him. I had been wondering what happened to him, and don't remember seeing any news.

johnnyzip84...I was at that game in 1992. There was indeed a play where Akron was running a reverse, and somehow the ball was sitting there on the turf just waiting for someone to pick it up. The Can't linebacker made the play of the game, and I still have an image of that in my head. Beyond that, we missed a FG from close range right before halftime, which gave Can't even more confidence. It was certainly one of those games where you say to yourself "what in the world is happening"? Heck, we lost to a not very good Can't team right in the middle of a 7-3-1 season (our best in D-1A). Those are the kinds of things that happen in rivalry games.The scary thing to me is......Can't appears to have nothing else to play for this year.....YIKES....that is never a good sign.

I'd love to keep these discussions going....You all know how I like to keep the assessment focused on current players, and what they will bring to the table this year. And prefer to keep the incoming recruits as the wild cards who may/may not have any impact this year.I see this boiling down to a few factors:1) Will Nate finally become a star this year? He seemed to really take a long time to hit his stride last year. And he is the most experienced guy on this team. We need as much out of him as we can get. Especially in terms of being the leader of the team. 2) Can we get more of the "streak shooting" games out of Steve M? The Miami home game last year is an indication of what he can do, but if he can do that a few more times this year, that would be a HUGE lift.3) Is Ronnie going to emerge as the point man that we so desperately need? Everything I have heard indicates that he is the man slated to fill that role this year. Lets hope he is the man.4) Will the two big men give us quality minutes in the paint?5) Last...but certainly not least....will the McKnights continue to emerge as two of the best players on the team?I certainly understand the prognosticator's predictions. We lost our 3 best guys all in one year. That kind of thing never sits well with peolple that are predicting your fate the following year. But if most of these things listed above can happen, we can have a decent year that we can all be proud of, and give us something to REALLY look forward to in the 09-10 season.

g-mann...I went to that game two years ago, and tailgated. I don't believe I have ever had a more embarrassing day as a Zips fan. Not only did they unexpectedly beat the crap out of us, but they mocked us too. But on the upside, it really made me look forward to last year's game at the Rubber Bowl, which might be one of the greatest times I have had at a Zips football game.Other than that stretch of wins at the start of the 2006 season, this still looks like the same old Can't State. They just caught us at the perfect time, when they were playing well, and had confidence. They don't have that right now, and I anticipate a much easier time out there. As every article I have read indicates, we're playing much better than expected. I think that applies to both sides of the ball. I'm looking for our offense to put 3-4 touchdowns on the board against a weak Can't defense, and our own defense to make some big plays once again.Blue/Gold Team = 27Blue/Pee Yellow Team = 17Yes, we'll probably have an extra point get blocked, which will be one of the only things for Can't fans to cheer about in this one. My only reservation...this is a rivalry game...anything can happen.

Dennis Kennedy will probably just play more snaps this week. If the game plan is anything other than that, I will be surprised.

I'm curious again about their "drinking rules" over there. When I was there for the game two years ago, the bike cops were going around giving some people a hard time. I can't remember now if they were giving people a hard time about not putting beer in a cup, or they were looking to busdt people, period. Something makes me think that someone commented that a cop asked them "what's in that cup"? Does anyone remember what the rule is out there?On another note, I had two friends who got $120 fines...each....for having beer at an Ohio State tailgate a couple of weeks ago...and they had their beers in cups. The cops had some type of alcohol tester that tested the contents of their cup. This would indicate that even mixed drink won't work down there, since they have a way to test it. I don't know...maybe rules are getting stricter everywhere. I'm cautioning people because I saw what was happening two years ago over there, and was curious if anyone knows anything that can help us out. This is also making me wonder if once we are on campus tailgating next week, are the rules going to change for us?

As I've said before, these prognosticators base a lot of their predictions on players you've lost, what they produced, and who you have coming back, and their stats. The impact made by incoming freshman is so hard to predict. So, I'm not really surprised by this. Losing your top 3 players all in one year is not going to make the college basketball wizards too optimistic about your situation. It's up to our coaches and players to make the most of the situation.

I know everyone is looking for answers, but this one is quite unlikely. Sure, Williams might still be "capable", and might know the plays, but he probably has not practices with this offensive unit at all this year. It would be tough to get up to speed with everyone, with the timing, etc., in a few days. And playing a position like running back while taking on defensive duties is far too demanding, physically.

In fact, I just looked it up.....it looks like we are going to open as a 3 point favorite.

GoZips...I'd love to see Vegas list us at 11 point favorites, on the road, in a rivalry game, within your own conference. Honestly, that wold be a surprising spread. I don't know if those numbers have come out yet, but that would certainly lead us to believe that our performances at Syracuse, at Army, and at home against Cincinnati have not gone unnoticed.If Ball State does go unbeaten, and can get a BCS bid (long shot) that would be HUGE for our conference. Especially with 3 or 4 other teams getting bowl bids as well. This could really be the year that the MAC takes a big step forward.

I went to the game at Can't two years ago. If any of you recall, the place was packed. But, that was the year we were one of the favorites to win the East, and Can't had just won their first couple of conference games, and looked to be a real contender at the time. I'd say, don't count on quite that level of interest in this game, considering Can't's current losing skid, but I think it will be more than half full. Remember, we had 18,000 combined Can't/Akron fans at the Rubber Bowl last year. So, I'd say to think of a number somewhere in that area again.

Well, considering that many people expected us to be the worst team in the MAC, this is pretty encouraging.

OH boy. First negativity about us not winning the game, and now "well, Cincinnati is not that good". I'm not getting this. They were ranked about 50 spots higher than us in power rankings. They were ranked higher than any team in the MAC, except Ball State. And, they were getting votes in the top-25 polls.Come on now. This would have been one of the highest ranked opponents we have beaten in the history of Zips football.

So...then the question becomes....what is the pattern for making this call? This never gets called unless there is no receiver in the area. In this case, there was. In fact, that pass was closer to Kennedy than many incomplete passes I've seen thrown in similar situations. And it was a game-deciding call, which compounds it even more.

The "superior" and "inferior" are in reference to the huge disparity in ranking coming into the game...not how the two teams played on the field yesterday.

uakronkid...nobody here is conveying a losing attitude. We all wanted to win this game (and my voice shows it today). I think you're missing the point. We're simply giving our analysis, and recognizing a good performance by the coaches and players in a game where we probably should have been blown off of the field.

SeeTeeZip...right on the money. I'm just not understanding some of the negativity. Yes, we could have won the game, but how about a little recognition that we even played well enough against a superior opponent to even have ourselves in a position to win the game? This Cincinnati team, on paper, looked to be capable of blowing us out of the water before halftime. In fact, I was prepared when I went to the game to be sitting in the parking lot early and having a good time, since the game was very likely to not be competitive. Maybe this is a testament to some of the success that JD has had because he's won a MAC title, and beaten BCS teams already. The bar has been raised higher now. I assure all of you who are speaking negatively today that performances like this against this level of competition would have been viewed as exceptional to everyone just a few short years ago. Is it bad for fans to be wanting more now? Of course not. I wanted to walk out of there with a victory too. Many, many times over my 30 years of following Zips football, I have walked out of the Bowl feeling dissappointed. This was definitely not one of them. And, among the large group of people I was with, who have also been followers of the program for the entire 25 years that we have played D-1A, I did not detect anything other than positive feelings regarding the effort put forth by our coaches and players against a much higher rated opponent.If anyone should be under fire today....it's the Cincinnati coaches and players....who flat-out got matched, blow for blow, from an inferior opponent.