skip-zip

Rowdy, you just reminded me of something. I went to BW3 on campus last year to watch the Akron/Penn State game. When we got there, the bar was already full of Suckeye fans about to watch the OSU/N. Illinois game. And every television in the place was already turned to the Columbus State game. There was already some other Akron people in there getting ready to watch the game too. I remember us all looking around, and I think we eventually got about 2 of the 20 or so screens turned over to the Akron game. And this happened right in the Zips back yard. What was funny is that every time we cheered a good Akron play, the OSU fans would start looking at us like "what the heck are they yelling about" ?Anyway, I'll never go there again for a Zips game, but I guess if Ohio State is not playing at the same time, you'll be fine. However, they will start rolling in to take the place over before your game is completed. My predicition? - Indiana is too much for us to handle after such a physically demanding game at Ohio State. But, I don't see anyone scoring more than 3 touchdowns on us the rest of the year.Indiana - 20Akron - 12

Here's what bothers me...1) Indiana has momentum, and just whooped on another MAC school that they believe is much better than us.2) We will be coming off of a very physically draining contest.

Moose. It's part of a long history of fan apathy, and several other factors that would take a novel to explain.We appreciate your enthusiasm, and any role you can play to help us turn that around.Go Zips !!

johnnyzip...I see that. That's hilarious.Well, it sure looks like Monte will be a formidable foe in a head-to-head matchup. Come to think of it, what else do they have to do in Montana? The entire state is probably going to catch wind of this contest, and since there is only a couple of major colleges in that state, that could be dangerous.I'm also worried about Cocky down the road. The "general population" proabably would lean towards Cocky as their favorite, just because of the name.

JohnnyZip...my student days go back to the Dennison era as well. If Miami and Bowling Green are indeed back in the mix, then the MAC East has gotten considerably stronger over the last couple of years. That's not good news. And we play both of them on the road. We also now know that it appears Can't may just pick up where they left off last year, and people are saying that Buffalo is no patsy anymore.This is going to be a dogfight (no Mike Vick reference here).

Dr. Z....I hear you. If you read the rest of my statement, you'll see that I am not praising the play calling. I'm only saying that I will reserve my opinion for right now, and give it a chance. I believe that the bigger problem is just that the talent on the offensive side of the ball is somewhat thin this year.

Captain Kangaroo, I am also holding out hope for Fuqua. I've seen him in practice many times, and we looks great.However, I totally disagree with your assessment that Lindsay is not a great loss. He was probably our only WR last year who worked across the middle of the field effectively. And he would have taken a lot of pressure off of Jabari.Sure, he dropped some passes, but so did the best receiver we have right now. And I'd say he ended up developing quite well.

Personally, I'm going to wait and see how this offense gels. With the young OL, I think it's going to take some time. JD has the offense in the capable hands of his coordinator, and I will trust that for now. I really don't think it's a problem with the play calling at this point. I honestly just think we're a little thin on overall offensive talent, especially up front, and at the WR spot.

zipboy....that's the understatement of the year so far. We had nobody that could get away from Columbus State defenders last Saturday.

No. I think we do have a great defense. And I thought that before last weekend. I was just curious if there was any publications, etc. that were actually saying that we had the best defense in the MAC. I don't like to miss that kind of information if it is actually out there somewhere. Oh, and John Mackey is the man. I had friends calling me up that were watching the game on TV that had never seen him play before, and were quite impressed.

skhorbotly....I wasn't making that argument at all. I was just curious if anyone had any insight into how those two teams have improved so quickly. johnnyzip...yes, I am aware of how good those two programs are historically. I'm an old man, so I've been around the Zips, and MAC football long before we even joined the conference. Thanks for the insight. I'm sure that some key injuries can really kill a season.Although..I sure wish those two teams would have stayed at the bottom a little bit longer

It's 10:15, and Zippy continues to extend his lead over Cavman in round 1. Cocky is getting the 2nd highest total number of votes. I'm hoping we don't have to face him until a late round. So many people will vote for Cocky just because of the name.

I'm just dumbfounded about why Western Michigan was a favorite against Indiana, and we are a huge underdog. Besides the home field advantage.Is there that much difference between us and Western at this point? If so, we've lost serious ground in our own conference over the last couple of years.

Ok...someone help me out here. We beat Bowling Green and Miami fairly easily last year, and they both finished near the bottom of the MAC East. Yet, this year everyone is thinking they are both two of the top teams in the league.How have they made up so much ground, in one year?? I'm thinking that can't be possible.

sgm...you must exaust yourself when you come here.I could be wrong, but like myself, I think that most of the posters that support Frye have simply told you, over and over again, that you DON'T KNOW how good a QB is going to be early in his career. Do you want to dispute that? Then how come, historically, more than HALF of QBs that are drafted in the FIRST ROUND never make it. However, since you have this knack for knowing these things, I know 30 teams in the NFL that have a high-paying position ready for you in their front office.Beyond that, what really is astounding to me is that we are all here to support the Zips. Yet, if we looked back at your posts, we'd probably find that the majority of them are for the purpose of...1) Praising the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes (oh, who by the way, needed nearly all 4 quarters to pull away from the lowly Akron Zips this weekend)2) Cutting on Charlie Frye I just don't get it.

And once again, like clockwork, the all-knowing evaluator of NFL quarterbacks appears

Z.I.P...are you serious? Western Michigan was a 3 point favorite, but you expected us to be a 21 point underdog?

JP Morgan. You are absolutely right. But Crennel and company are getting desperate to save their jobs, and will resort to anything right now.When you pull your starting QB during the 1st quarter of the first game, you are getting VERY desperate. I do believe, like most people, that the move was intended to have a QB in there that the fans have no attachment to (Anderson) when it comes time to send Quinn out as the starter. Now, Quinn will go out there under the same circumstances and get his butt kicked, and this franchise will be set back another 5 years.I'm losing my patience.

gozips19. I'm not refuting what you say, but who is saying that we have the best defense in the MAC? That would be great if we do, and could go a long way towards us having a respectable season. Who is saying that? I'd sure like to see where we are rated as having the best defense.

I really didn't expect a number that high. Indiana's dominance of Western Michigan on the road last night might have had a big impact on this number.I was expecting a number around 5 or so. This surprises me.

WOW...Harvey and Lindsay were HUGE loses !! And the offensive line's inability to keep Buckeye defenders out of the backfield was the entire difference in the game yesterday.

I knew you guys would be talking about this, but I thought I would wait for the end of the game to give my analysis.I expected Frye to have a very short leash, but not that short. Three series???I'll defend BOTH Frye and Anderson by saying that neither of them could have possibly been ready for the start of the season with the coaching staff not giving either of them any chance to develop any continuity in the preseason. Although, if I recall, Anderson actually got many more throws than Frye or Quinn in the preseason. You simply can't have a QB ready to start the season, against a defense like Pittsburgh, while only throwing the ball about 30 times in the entire preseason. It showed today. Interceptions by both, some Frye passes off target, an Anderson fumble, and several more poor throws by Anderson that should have been picked off, etc., etc. etc. Even when Anderson threw a few nice passes to establish any kind of drive, he has a pass during that series that should have been intercepted. In my eyes, he seemed to have slightly more control of the offense than Charlie today, but that's not saying much when you are critiquing an offensive performance this bad.I like what the one annoucer said......something to the effect of...."If I am any of the Browns' quarterback, I don't want any part of this".With all of that said, we need to keep in mind that this is a BAD BAD FOOTBALL TEAM. Emphasis on the word TEAM. A new QB will solve nothing for this team. I hope Charlie gets another opportunity in a better situation. It won't happen here. He's lost the support of the fans, and the coaches at this point, regardless of what any of us think any of the underlying reason are that have contributed to his lack of success. Besides the QB's performances, many, many other things went wrong...1) Dropped passes (just about all WRs guilty)2) Fumbles (Anderson, Lewis, Edwards).3) Blocking Breakdowns (how many Browns OL's did you see get pushed flat on their backs in passing situations)?4) DL that could not get any kind of push to stop the run (something that should have been addressed in the draft while we were pursuing a new QB).5) Missed assignments in the secondary.6) Linebackers that bounced off of running backs with great frequency (the run by Davenport was a classic). I'm not sure what we'll hear more of this week....Fire Crennel, or Start Quinn. The first one might not accomplish much, but might be necessary. The second one solves nothing.

uafan. Maybe a bit harsh.Remember, a team of Ohio State's caliber can recruit great speed defensively. Sometimes, you just have to understand that they will be able to pursue ball carriers, no matter what plays you are running. It looked to me like they were trying a pretty fair number of different plays to try to get something going. They just seemed to swarm to the ball no matter what.

Well, since this is a chat board, and you can't often derive the true meaning of what someone says, you have to comment on posts based on what you read. So, for good reason, I have the same opinion about #4. Now, before a couple of you detractors decide to accuse me of being partial to the Zips, I DO IN FACT BELIEVE THAT THERE IS STILL A GAP BETWEEN A TOP LEVEL BIG 10 TEAM, AND A TEAM LIKE AKRON. So, that's not my point.My point is, you won't find people who will look at this particular game as an example of a game where a top-level team played awful, and a mid-major team played well, but since the top level team still won, it proves that a large gap still exists between these schools. Akron played good defensively, and so did Ohio State. Akron played poorly offensively, and Ohio State did as well, for most of the game. Both teams played poorly in some facets, and great in others. So, the comment about Akron playing well and Ohio State playing "absolutely horrid" (I'm sure Ohio State's defense would love to hear that comment after the way they played) is an assessment that sounds like an OSU fan trying to find some way to twist the realities of this game so that they can convince themselves that there MUST be some other reason why the game played out as closely as it did for the better part of 3 quarters when they were a 30 point favorite. Just take it for what it was, and don't paint this as a game where poor, poor Akron gave a solid performance, but still came up woefully short against a team that was just strolling along without a care. That's simply not the case.

I agree with most of this assessment as well.I don't want to add too much since I've posted several comments on other threads, but let me just add something very noticable about our DBs, from someone with coaching in his blood. The biggest difference I see with these experienced DBs we have now, as opposed to some of our DBs in years past, is that when the ball is in the air, they get to the ball with their FEET and not with their ARMS. It's a sure sign of experience, and surely some good coaching. Only good things happen when you do this. First, you get to the reciever faster when your arms are not flapping all over. And secondly, you are in a better position to jar the ball loose, if the ball happens to get to the receiver before you get there. I'm telling you guys. That secondary is going to win a few games for us this year.