skip-zip

Just out of curiosity....After Can't's dismal showing this year, after being picked by many to win the MAC Eest, does anyone know if Can't State coach Martin is still saying that he has the better team every week, and that they beat themselves?

Not sure how these retention rates compare to those of other D-1 schools. I'd like to know. However, it doesn't seem all that unusual to me that over a 4-5 year period, kids get home sick, flunk out of school, get mad because they are not playing more, etc., etc. I'd like to see how our numbers compare.

You know, everyone has a right to their opinion. It just bothers me when people ignore facts, and just give their expert analysis, as if they are an NFL GM or something.Since Charlie is no longer in Cleveland, it's a mute point to try to compare how each of them would be doing now under similar circumstances. All we know is how they performed when they were both on the team, playing with the same players. Which makes us take a look at 2006.Some of you speak about how their arms compare, and I assume that in many of these cases you're referring to arm strength. Well, how about accuracy? In 2006, CF had more than a double-digit advantage in completion percentage. Anderson completed barely half of his passes, and not much has happened to change that dramatically. I believe he's still in the 50s. That's considered pretty poor for an NFL starting QB in terms of accuracy. Some of you have talked about winning. Well? Charlie won 4 games as Cleveland's starter in 2006. And Anderson? ZERO. Getting rid of the ball faster?? Come on folks, watch the tape of the Steelers game back in September, and you clearly see an offensive line getting steamrolled. No QB could have succeeded in that situation. Ask Anderson himself. He stunk for the other 3 quarters after Charlie came out. There's a reason why through 2 training camps, and an entire regular season, that Anderson was sitting the bench behind Frye. Ok, I'm done with this. Charlie is gone, and there's simply no way to compare how each of them would be performing now. But the Charlie bashers can feel free to speculate all they want.Go Browns!!

Was this directed at me? What did I say that you categorize as "childish behavior"?You have a right to expess your opinion, just like everyone else. That's what this forum is for.

Oh...sgm...by the way...You forgot to mention that Anderson was 0-3 as a starter last year, playing under the same circumstances / offensive line / coordinators that Charlie was playing under.

There are web sites that are showing that name as a member of our roster. However, our official website does not. Was he recently removed? Interesting.

We all know the facts...1) Frye played behind some offensive lines that could not start at most D-1 colleges. 2) He never had the receiving corp that Anderson has now. At least not all of them being healthy at the same time.3) He never had a good OC.4) He never had a top-caliber running back to open up the passing game. As a Browns fan, I'm happy to see Anderson playing well. But it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the situation is now much, much, much different than it was during Frye's tenure as the starter. Anderson is getting sacked about once per game, and he is not mobile at all. I think that just about explains how things have changed.If you think Frye was bad, then you think Jeff Garcia is bad also. He played at Cleveland under similar circumstances, and look at how he is performing now.Oh, by the way, Anderson still has a long way to go to be as proficient as Frye. How amazing...Charlie completed about 10% more of his passes than Anderson has, and did it under much more adverse circumstances. There's a reason why Anderson never was able to beat out Frye for the starting job. Like most of us have said all along, the point is that we DON'T KNOW how good Frye will be as a pro quarterback. He's not been in a very favorable situation to show anything as of yet. But from what we're hearing, the Seattle staff, system, and West Coast offense is good for him, and will give him the necessary tutoring he needs to develop. According to the paper on Sunday, Holmgren is very impressed with him, and would not hesitate to use him.sgm...please feel free to join the ranks of those Browns fans that continually embrace the backup QB as the savior of the organization. But, doesn't the recent developments, more than ever, prove that the QB was not the problem??

Like I said in a previous post, the only question I have is this...CJ7s athleticism was impressive. He avoided rushes, and ran the ball quite effectively. But, will his passing ability and decision-making get sharper with more experience??I guess the next few games might give us a preview as to whether that will happen. If not, it's time to see if some of the younger guys have what it takes. And I am not someone who likes to point my finger at the QB when a "team" is playing badly. Jabari is great (although sometimes has suspect hands). I'd like to see if they can get the ball in his hands closer to the line of scrimmage, such as some reverse plays or WR screens. Our inability to score when we have opportunities to score is definitely the trademark of our offense this year, and I'd like to see the coaches get a little more creative in the next few games to turn that around. Defensively, since we can't get a push up front, we're blitzing LBs. When we do this, the middle of the field opens up. It's been happening all along. You'd think that if we only have 3 DLs that we could have 3 very good ones. But I'm still seeing us being very very thin in talent up front. To solve the problem, we rush 3, and leave 8 guys in coverage, which then gives the QB too much time to throw. This problem might need a few more recruiting classes to come around.

GP1...your post about recruiting at-risk athletes is absolutely ABSOLUTELY correct. LO used to pride himself on getting "good kids" who were "good academically", and he proceeded to lose 25 more games than we won over a 9-year period.You need to get the best athletes that you can, and hope that you can help them stay eligible. We are a program that can afford to take those risks to get a blue-chipper, and we should continue to do so.

Guys....this is some great chat. I can certainly see every side of this issue, and it's sure nice to see some people who really care exercising their opinions.Let me add something else....After every game, I've been looking at the good, bad, and ugly. Most of last night falls into the ugly category, but I did see something that really warrants my attention, and it also reminds me of a similar situation at Suckeye State.I'm sure everyone remembers the Troy Smith / Justin Zwick scenario? It seemed as it Tressel trusted Zwick to run his offense, and thought Smith was the more talented athlete that made too many mistakes. Smith ran too quickly in passing situations early in his career, and frustrated the coaches. But, it seemed as if the more he played, the more he matured, and the more his decision making ability caught up to his athleticism with experience.Seeing Carlton Jackson's athletic ability last night was impressive. The way he avoided rushes in passing situations, and ran the ball, was certainly noticable. Might he also gain the decision making ability to be a great QB for us over the next two years if you just let him play through those mistake-prone situations over the next few games? Just as OSU did with Smith?I'm hoping I see a similar situation manifest itself here.

Ok...let me see if I can add some clarity.First of all, a school like Akron is not in a financial position to fire a coach who has a long term contract. If anyone is wanting to see JD get canned in the next couple of years, it's not going to happen. Maybe when he gets closer to the end of his contract.So, what do we do??JD certainly will be questioned about how he is running the team. Who is doing the recruiting? Who is responsible for offensive play calling? etc., etc. And he will likely be asked to make changes, and will continue to be evaluated closely. I'm questioning JD a little bit more these days, in terms of whether or not he's the long term solution. But firing a coach 3.5 years into a rebuilding process after taking over a bad program from a bad coach is really jumping the gun. JD had some early success, and now some of you are holding him to that standard, and that is really unfair. We still have quite a bit of work left to rebuild this program, and last night was a good example.

Captain....I don't always agree with you, but this analysis is pretty close to exactly how I feel about everything right now. Let me also add something...Those couple of years where LO had 7 wins did include wins over some bad 1-AA teams, but it also included some wins over some very bad 1-A teams as well. Look it up.

Looks like Winthrop gets some big names to come and play them at home. And that tournament they are playing in is loaded with big programs.Hmmmm.

Ryno....?????I wasn't a math major, but there's quite a difference between a winning percentage around .500. and a winning percentage of .272

I think he's merely pointing out scenarios where we can win the division. I don't see why pointing that out does us any harm at all. There's still a chance, and that's good to know.

My only problem with the Z-fund donation requirements, and the processing fees, etc., is my fear that we are being run like a top-25 program. And I hope we don't alienate fans because we are trying to run our programs by standards that only work in situations where demand is very high.

No improvement over his predecessor?His predecessor was 12-32 thru 4 years.JD is about even in the win/loss column thru almost 4 years.As fans, you have a right to expect more. We all do. But you can't argue that there hasn't been improvement since JD took over.

Good point. I guess there is a scenario where just matching Buffalo's record would throw out their head-to-head advantage if there is another team involved in the tie.

bigzipguy...your scenario sounds correct. Those critical head-to-head tiebreakers essentially give you a TWO GAME advantage against everyone you beat in the division.So let's look at this.....how can we beat Buffalo?We're 1-2, and they are 3-0, with a tiebreaker advantage.It's pretty simple. We need to win our last 3, and they need to lose their last 3.

My thoughts....1) First of all, let's take a look at our ever-so-slim chances. The BG loss helps. But we still need to win road games at Miami and BG, and hope for a Buffalo collapse. Not likely, but it happened to Can't last year.2) This team losses games because of execution problems in critical situations. You decide who to blame, but those things happen to a young offensive unit.3) I was clearly expecting this to be a rebuilding year. But the early wins against Can't and WMU showed that maybe we could win the East this year. It didn't happen. And other than the huge post by Captain Kangaroo before the season, did anyone really think we had a MAC Championship caliber team going into the season?4) It does indeed look like JD will stick with CJ11, for at least this season. So, he does have a few more games to see if he is developing. My concern is that he is making mistakes, and we were told that he was playing because he does not make mistakes. So, now what?5) Hopefully, these last few games will be used to solidify some question marks for next year.6) I'm still happy for one thing. After Can't State's early success last year, they've really nosedived. It's funny to see Can't back where they belong. And hopefully our win against them at the Rubber Bowl earlier this year contributed to their downslide. 7) I want to know if ONE person, when looking at our schedule at the beginning of the year, would have quessed that we would have beaten WMU and Can't, and lost to Temple and Buffalo.8) And....is there any one person on here who would have guessed that Akron's defense would be the defense that gave Ohio State's offense their lowest point output of the season.

I have to be honest with you guys.I've driven through Buffalo several times in my life, on the way to Niagara Falls, and I don't dare get off the highway. My usual thinking is that "I better get gas on the turnpike, so that I don't have to get off of the highway in Buffalo".It reminds me too much of Cleveland. Enough said.

Well, we've now embarked upon our most winnable road game so far this season, if you consider the oddsmakers to be accurate.We're only a 1 point underdog at Buffalo. I think this is a clear sign that we are getting some respect heading into this game.

That can happen. One good season can start to create delusions of grandeur. I do agree with the point that probably no MAC schools has a significantly better chance than another to get plucked by a larger conference.

You know, that article about Ohio State was very revealing last week. They are in a city where thousands of people can't even make their mortgage payments, yet they rake in serious money for athletics. Again, I think the biggest difference between us, and those down in Columbus, is that they view OSU's national title hopes as a big part of their lives. We don't get those kinds of opportunities, so people may not view it as being as important. But, the Ohio sports fan mentality is still basically the same in that even poor people will jump on a bandwagon of a winning sports program.

Read the transcript from JDs weekly press conference.He is saying that Mackey has already practiced in about 20 plays.I am going to be just as stunned as anyone (JD sounds like he can't believe it either) if he can actually come back and play in any games this year.