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I think this sets up as a classic dilemma that coaches have from time to time....Do you play the guy with more raw talent? Or, do you play the guy that you think does a better job leading your offense?CJ11 actually did a really good job in the first half last week, against a good BCS level defense. Besides the mental error at the end of the half, and a couple of other times he failed to throw the ball away before getting sacked, I was quite impressed. If you recall, Jim Tressel had a similar situation a few years ago with Smith and Zwick. He ended up going with the guy with more raw talent, and he eventually matured, and it looked like he made the right decision. I'm just hoping JD is making the right decision.

JDs Press Conference transcript is posted on GoZips.com.Here's my comments.It doesn't mention anything about a starting quarterback, but he seems to be quite a bit more positive about CJ11s performance this week, than he was about CJ7s performance in the Can't game.He makes a good point that we've played one of the toughest schedules in the country to this point.He talks about something I especially want to keep in mind this week. Sure, winning BCS games would have been great, but the ultimate goal is to win the MAC and get to a bowl game. As long as we're in the MAC, I think that should always be our primary goal. He points out that everyone pretty much forgot about our win over NCST last year because of the way we played in conference play after that. And I think he's right.I think it's time for us to put last week's ugly loss behind us, and starting cheering our team on to a MAC championship run !!

Yep, everyone is going to be voting AGAINST us now. If I read the contest rules correctly, all we have to do is get into the playoffs, and I believe it said it was the top 6 mascots. So, we're well on our way to accomplishing that.

I know what he's saying about OSU and Indiana.We were ONE play away from taking the lead in the OSU game for 3 quarters. And we were in pretty much the same position against Indiana.I wouldn't run around saying "we almost beat" those two teams, but I understand the point he is making.

That would be exciting to see Harvey and Williams returning kicks. I hope it becomes a reality.

I'm not sure how you could "renovate" the JAR to add more seating.And I also don't see "talking" becoming "doing" until we start to pack our current arena, which didn't happen during a 26 win season, with two local HS stars in the starting lineup.We have a long way to go in order to make a new basketball arena a reality.

I was SHOCKED. The Suckeyes game story was actually the one in the back of the sports section today.We can only hope that this is the beginning of a philosophical change in their coverage for their hometown team.Lets continue to lobby for better coverage for our Zips.

uafan....I disagree with you about the special teams. The special teams are much improved from last year. Do you recall that we couldn't kick a field goal (or sometimes extra points) last year? That our punts were getting blocked? And, our KO returns have looked pretty darn good with Williams back there this year. I would not judge our special teams performance this year based on one KO return getting through for a touchdown.Let me add this also...JD's MAC championship team was helped tremendously by two big additions. Luke Getsy transferring from Pitt, and Brett Biggs coming in as a transfer at RB. Also, freshman linebacker Kevin Grant, and guys like Branden Anderson, Chris Kemme, and transfer Davanzo Tate were very helpful pieces to that puzzle. Plus, the previous year, Charlie Frye had a near-1,000 yd. RB in Brett Biggs, which really helped us get bowl-eligible, and helped JD get COY. So, I certainly would not say that JD won a MAC title because he had the other coaches players. If anyone would rather have LO as our coach at this point, I personally think you are crazy. Honestly, I thought this would be a rebuilding year. BUT, the MAC East is not going to be very strong this year. We have as good of a chance as just about anyone at this point, especially with one good quality win already under our belts. Yesterday sucked, but lets keep our heads high and support this team, and let this thing play out for a few more weeks and see how we progress. Anything close to a MAC title would be a good year, in my opinion, based on the players we lost from last year's team. If this year ends up turning bad on us, and the coming year does not look all that promising, then I would think that we've reached the point where JD might have to be examined closely.But for now, this could still turn out to be a pretty decent year. Lets support our Zips. Go Zips !!

For those with my many years of history with this football program, you would know that we never play well AT Western Michigan. It's hard to put must-win status on a game in a place where we play horribly, and is out of our division. Assuming that we can win our homes games, I believe that our most critical games to get bowl eligible will be the road game at Buffalo, and the road at Miami, considering that BG might be the front runner to win our division.

Probably the only promising thing that happened today was that Can't drilled Ohio U.No, I'm not one to celebrate a Can't State win. But, it shows me that Ohio does not have the defense they had last year, as I suspected. This does make the MAC East look a little bit more winnable today, especially since we've already beaten Can't State head-to-head.

Unless we can recruit and develop some DTs and DEs, and get some depth up front, we can't run a 4-3 defense. And we're a long way from accomplishing that.

I don't think anyone meant that this game doesn't matter in the sense in which some of you are taking it. Sure, it matters in our quest in achieve success greater than a MAC level. But, it has no bearing at all on our MAC record, which is really the most important thing in the short term.I have to disagree with those who say that John Mackey's leadership was missing today. I must add....his TACKLING ABILITY was missed BIG TIME.I know quite a few people who got the impression that the defense gave up. The offense still needs a lot of work. But, I'm really starting to get the feeling that the Williams/Allen combination is starting to put some life into the running game. JD let the Big East refs have it on several occassions. But, that call they made that ended the first half needs to be looked at by someone. That really took away our chance to take momentum into the locker room. Even if his forward progress was really stopped in-bounds (and it wasn't), then you have to call a personal foul on the defender who threw him out of bounds and into the photographers. That call was just unbelievable.We're still a .500 team at best this year, just like I originally predicted.

Looking for an article about our game today against unbeaten Connecticut??All you have to do is get our "hometown" paper this morning, turn all the way back to page 7 of the sports section, and you'll see a short, generic article, from the AP. Wow....that really gets me excited on game day.

I always thought it was 2 points also.

Ok...I'll start this. Right now, I'm hoping that we get the same Connecticut team that narrowly escaped losing to Temple at home. If so, we win easily.However, we are coming off of an emotional win, have to travel far for this game, and are a little banged up. But, we'll still pull off our first win against the Alaskan Dogs. Akron - 21Connecticut - 17

January?I want to see them try to get Luis P. to go out there with a shovel in sub-freezing weather and try to stick the thing in the frozen tundra. I might pay admission for that.

zipseuph....I am having the same problem. Sometimes the code appears, and sometimes it does not.

How about that. They mention Ohio A&Ms Ranking, but no mention of anyone that has us ranked. Are we sure this is an Akron paper? They certainly could have done a little checking to see if their "hometown" team was ranked somewhere to give us a little plug in our "hometown" newspaper.

I think that Connecticut's wins have not been as impressive as some people are giving them credit for. BUT, they are a 4-0 team, that feels real good about themselves right now, and they are playing at home. I hope I'm wrong, but playing a game that far away from home, a week after such an emotional win, is not normally an good situation for a team.I firmly believe that Mackey's absense will be felt the most in our ability to tackle people. I think he was at his best when lined up at that outside linebacker spot close to the line of scrimmage. Beyond his playing ability, his on-field leadership might be missed even more.

Ok..someone correct me if I am wrong here.We've had a nationally-competitive soccer program for decades now, right? We even played in the national championship game back in 1987, and were the #1 ranked team in the country for several weeks back in 2005. I don't recall EVER seeing a game story about an Akron soccer game on the front page of the ABJ the following morning after a game.But today, after playing Ohio State, "Ohio's only major university" according to some, we end up on the front page of the sports section. I know we'll take whatever coverage we can get, but I just find it funny that we got our most high profile game coverage ever after playing Ohio State.

My recollection of the downfall of Channel 23 was advertising revenue. Being in the same market as Cleveland, we would end up way down the list on ratings, could not get big advertising dollars, and thus, could not put on a competitive news cast.There are much smaller cities than Akron that have their own newscast. But fortunately for them, they have no competition from a larger media market because there aren't any in close proximity.This is all about us being too close to Cleveland, as many of you have said.

No beer in the Tommy Evans lounge...right? I've been going to Winking Lizard in Fairlawn for quite some time to watch some of the away games on tv. I think the set up makes it a much better place to watch sports than Rocknes on Merriman.

At this point in the competition, the problem probably is not the opponent we are facing. The problem is the people that are voting AGAINST us in order to try to get us out of that top spot.Lets keep pushing....we've been getting it done so far.

I REALLY miss 23 News also. I used to watch it all the time. I wish they could find a way to bring it back.Eric Mansfield just got a huge in my book.

Bobby...that's exactly my question at this point.My response from Channel 5 clearly states that they were "under contract" to make this decision.However, the Channel 5 exec. that Thomas talks to when doing his article seems to clearly indicate that it was a "business decision".As they say, "Something stinks in Denmark".