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What would you have done different? Personally, I wouldn't have 5' 6" players in the game who might need to fight to get out of bounds.

Pitt 34 Akron 10

He will be magically better when the MAC season starts. He will look bad today though.

They don't need to go down the classic Browns road this early in the season. Especially after a loss that was basically fumbled away. The team has talent at WR, but only in a couple of positions which is easy to stop. None of them are particularly physical so it makes it hard for them to catch balls in traffic. With that said, they aren't the primary problem. I'm not buying for a second we have a QB problem. Our problem is the lack of a meaningful running game. Get the running game straightened out, string series of complimenting plays together and the passing game will get better. A better running game will also make us better in the red zone, goal line and third down. And for the love of God, the RBs need to do a better job of holding on to the ball the rest of the season. I'm going to break some news to everyone. This Saturday, the Zips are going to go to Pitt and lay an egg. Pitt is a BCS level program going into their fourth game and has five weeks of the season under their belts. They are going to be pissed off to no end they lost to Iowa last week and are going to be looking to take it out of our asses. We don't have the horses to keep up with them and it's too late in the season to surprise anyone. The Zips now have three games under their belts and two of them are losses. The tape will reveal how to beat the Zips. I'm sure the old fan panic of replacing the QB will be the answer to all of the Zips problems. It isn't. It's a trap MAC schools can fall in to during the OOC schedule. A much less talented KP started out the season the same way last year and was injured most of the season. That same KP was able to play well enough for the Zips to win a lot of games the second half of last year. He has better players around him this year and is a better QB. My prediction is the offense will magically improve once we are no longer playing against teams more talented than us. I still predict a 6-7 win season this year.

The bubble screen has become the off tackle play for a lot of passing teams. I neither like it nor dislike it. The successful use of this play is essential for some types of offenses to be successful. I can see how it's successful use can lead to a successful running game by forcing defenders away from the "box" and open up lanes for running, especially if the offense has a great playmaker catching the bubble screen. It's just another type of body punch. There has been some discussion on this boars about the type of defenses teams employ. A couple of years ago, I said teams would move to a 4-2-5 base defense and that has become more popular since I said it. It may not be base for some, but they go to it a lot. There has always been a "nickle" defense, but it never served as a base defense. Here is a primer on TCUs. I'm not sure Gil Brant is correct. Teams have just as many players at the line, they have just replaced small LBs with large strong safeties that give them more flexibility against both the run and the pass. Teams can run more now not because of the focus on the pass, but in my opinion, the size of defenders is declining while the offensive linemen are still huge and getting morbidly bigger. A good, patient RB like L. Bell of the Steelers can wait for a line to move the defensive line some and then make his move. Therefore, running attacks can be more successful IF a team has a patient back. Not sure if the Zips have a back patient enough or good enough to wait for holes and exploit them when they open. I don't know if the NFL is a passing league or a running league. You can't have one without the other. I do know that big plays that lead to touchdowns make the difference in teams winning or losing. A regression analysis was once done on NFL stats by the Wall Street Journal over a long period and the most significant stat in determining the Super Bowl winner was Yards Per Attempted Pass. One can determine from that stat that passing is more important than running. If that makes it a passing league, then it is a passing league.

ETV lot. Be there at 4 PM.

Interesting stat indeed. I'm not sure what "equal amount" means by your quote. Of the 18 games, half had had this characteristic and half have not?.?. I'd be more interested to know which of those 18 teams have won their games. My guess is it is a lot. I would say the NFL is still a passing league because it is, and always has been, a league when teams depend on big plays to score touchdowns and win. Big plays come in a variety of ways on both sides of the ball and there are too many to get in to. With that said, there is still a relationship between the run and the pass, just like in boxing there is a relationship between body punches and knocking someone out. If one boxer only tries to punch the other in the head, he will never knock him out because his attack is too easy to defend. If a football team only passes, it will never beat the other team because their offense will be too easy to defend. It seems to me that modern day offenses use their passing game in two different ways. The one we see most of the time today in college/NFL football is the "match-up" passing game where coordinators are just trying to find mismatches with the opposing defense similar to what basketball coaches do. I think this is the least effective of the two ways in terms of being able to win games. It can be used to win games, but it is least effective. One thing that worries me about the Zips is they are this type of offense. Why does it worry me? There is not a relationship between the running and passing game. The second way is one most people call a balanced attack, but I like to call it a "symbiotic attack". Balance means one is trying to find some sort of equilibrium. I'm more interested in winning than equilibrium/balance. A symbiotic attack is one where all of the plays run in a game compliment each other and result in the team winning. There is an old saying about offensive coordinators getting into a rhythm. This means all of the plays they are calling tie together and work because the other plays they are running are working. It's less about balance and more about the relationship between all of the plays being called. "The most dangerous team is a team with confidence and momentum." - Bill Cowher. When a team has momentum, you see the symbiotic relationship between plays because they are going on long drives and everything ties together. Because the players have momentum, the players have confidence the plays being called are going to work so they use their confidence to play better. When a team is going on short drives and punting, they never develop confidence and momentum because nothing is working consistently. Coordinators will start to grasp at straws for anything that works (frequently passing on every down to try to get back in to a game or hitting a big play) and that throws the symbiotic relationship between running and passing off. In reality, it leads to turnovers, which are the golden nuggets of football. It's extremely hard for a defense to create turnovers when they are completely confused by play calling. From what I have seen from the Zips this year, they do not have this type of symbiotic attach about their offense. There doesn't seem to be much patience with the running game.

When reading statistics, please remember there is a difference between the two. Link

Some information from Pittsburgh Post Gazette Article 1 Article 2 Article 3

The phrase "started hitting a low point" is an interesting perspective on what happened. I would probably use the phrase, "was thrown into the abyss" to refer to UofA. The suddenness of it all was amazing. The truly amazing thing is the backward thinking AD who threw our football program into the abyss is still employed by UofA. An even more amazing thing is watching Bowden pull the program out of the abyss with relatively little to work with. Michigan used their backward looking alumni as reinforcement for their bad decision to reject the modern game in favor of a "Michigan man". Michigan wasn't thrown into the abyss as much as they are experiencing death by 1,000 cuts right now. It's a much slower death for them. In one year, our AD heaped more destruction upon the football program than Michigan has even come close to doing. How much more time does TW have on the clock anyhow?

We built a new stadium for 64 million. Rails aren't that expensive. They have benches... Stencils and spray paint is not a big ticket item. Take out $5 million for that and one is left with a $222 million press box. Its vulgar.

As long as ADs can continue to use taxpayer money to fund their stupidity, I guess forever. When you lower the price of your product to the cost of a couple of Diet Cokes, it doesn't say that much about your product. Now the price has been set. This is a school that just issued a public bond for a quarter billion dollar renovation to their press box. A great example of how out of control the spending in college athletics has gotten. It's vulgar. For those of you financially challenged, when you issue a bond, you have to pay interest on the bond. That means the press box renovation actually cost the taxpayers of Michigan more than a quarter of a billion dollars. Congratulations to Michigan.

I see Yuengling on the list. I like that beer too. Funny story about the progression of Yuengling in the last 40 years. My sister-in-law grew up in central PA. Yuengling was what you bought in high school when you didn't have any money. Now it is beer of choice for those who like beer.

They have one of these in Cleveland, or they at least used to have one. Mallorca They used to served goat stew at the one in Pittsburgh and it was great if you are in to that kind of thing.

I'm more interested in the fact that The Great Recession started in December 2007 and that year was the high mark in these numbers. Only in one year since 2007 have they had an attendance above any number prior to The Great Recession. The had a decent year last year and still had a low average attendance. Something tells me winning is important, but in a poor state like WV, economics may be just as important. I'd really be interested to see the attendance figures for MAClike conferences in the five years prior to and then after The Great Recession.

At the risk of giving the college football slant, I'll give the college football slant because I have extensive experience with it. I have Wake tickets and go to almost all of the games knowing this year they probably aren't going to win too many after allowing Jim Grobe to run the program into the ground for three years. ACC season tickets aren't cheap either. Traffic is easy and parking is great. It costs me over $100 per game for my wife and I go. As bad as they are, I don't regret spending the money. I also have no affiliation with the school. I enjoy tailgating. I enjoy football even if I know the outcome isn't going to be favorable for Wake. Wake's players play hard so I don't feel like I'm having my money stolen from me. The thought of me sitting around my house staring at the television for 8 hours watching teams I have no interest at all in on a 75 degree North Carolina day makes me almost sick to my stomach. The thought of me sitting around my house watching television commentators discuss, in early September, who is going to play in the 4 team playoff makes me want to throw myself off of a bridge. The ACC allows me to see some guys play in college who will be first round draft picks. Wake provides a generally pleasant game day experience by doing the best they can with what they have to offer. Wake has a bright coach who seems to be doing a good job with the cards he has been dealt. There is a certain type of happiness I get at college football games that I don't experience doing other things I enjoy. If you change all of the words above to Akron, one could say close to the same thing about those sentences. The rest is probably pretty similar to the feelings a lot of people have about college football. The sports fan I feel most sorry for is the person who spends all day tailgating with friends/family, has a great time, gets to avoid sitting in their house suffering through espn broadcasts of games they don't care about and they allow their day to be ruined when their team loses. I think this person has lost all perspective about sports/competition and what they should mean for the viewer. The players should be upset when they lose. The fans should go to their car and continue with a fun day. The fans are not guaranteed anything with their ticket other than the right to walk in a watch a game. Nothing guarantees a well played game. It's all about perspective. It's OK to care about whether or not a team wins or loses, but too many people allow the success or failure of their team to reflect on them personally and that's just stupid. So, what is the difference between us and YSU? My wife has a cousin who has season tickets for YSU through his company. They tailgate for every game and they are OSU grads. They told us a lot of people who tailgate don't go to the game and the stadium is pretty empty. Everyone still has a lot of fun. Maybe the fans of YSU have it right. It is more important to have fun with your family and friends than the game. Take your friends to a game and have a great time with them. Watch some football then continue on with the fun after. The fun is remembered long after the outcome of the game.

I think it depends on where you live. Around Pittsburgh and NE Ohio, you will probably get ESPNU. Someone where I live may have to watch it on ESPN3.

Article on college football attendance. More of the same from the past couple of seasons. The only time when I worry about attendance is when I think about the destruction the athletic directors in the MAC have heaped upon the schools they work for by playing Tuesday and Wednesday night games and guaranteeing empty stadiums on national television. Other than that, I could care less. I have no control over who goes to games or how many; therefore, I don't care.

Thanks for stopping by, but if it's all the same to you we won't count our chickens before they hatch. The Zips have never had much luck at OU regardless of the team you guys field. It will be a tough game to win for the Zips. EDIT: If you really want to guarantee a win, you will give an all expense paid trip to Athens for ZipsWin! for the weekend.

My wife made a good point about this game last week. In her office, the do a "suicide poll". Not sure what you guys call it, but you can only pick a team to win once in a year so you have to be certain they are going to win when you pick them. She took Arkansas and had some really good reasoning. It got me thinking about our upcoming game against Pitt. Her point was (and she graduated from two different MAC schools, Miami and UofA) that she noticed that MAC schools tend to upset BCS level schools early in the OOC schedule but not late in the OOC schedule. She felt certain NIU couldn't go to Arkansas and win. It got me thinking...Why? I think if a MAC school is going to win one of these games, they have to do it early because of the following: 1. The difference in talent. Better talent develops in a season faster than lesser talent. The more games played, the more they have developed. 2. Depth. Better and deeper talent becomes overwhelming for the MAC schools after a couple of injuries. 3. Practice. These early season games allow the BCS teams to practice their offenses and defenses more so they are more prepared. 4. Integrating new players. It is a huge advantage to play new starters at home than on the road where they are less comfortable. As they get more practice, they are even more comfortable playing at home. We are coming up on the fifth week of the college football season. This amount of time has given Pitt a lot of time to develop their talent, prepare their depth, practice plays and integrate new players. A school that size should do it faster than we do. Heck, we already have some injuries to key players. I thought we could win the Pitt game going into the season if a few things went our way. I don't feel like that now.

He has to see the field again in order to determine if this was a one time event or a chronic problem. I'm willing to look at it as I look at the entire disaster from yesterday, a one time event. Lawrence needs to prove me right.

Article on turnovers. The above article was written about nfl turnovers. Not sure how close the similarities are between the nfl stats and ncaa stats, but my bet is they are pretty close. The major mistake he makes in the article is attributing turnovers to chance or luck. Turnovers happen because of hustle and concentration. There are few accidents in football. Re-watching this game again isn't going to provide some great clue as to what the coaches did or did not do right. It wouldn't have mattered if they stood on their heads and signaled the plays in through mental telepathy, -3 in turnover margin = almost guaranteed loss. The Zips were +4 turnover margin going into yesterdays game. They are still +1 on the season after yesterdays game. If the Zips can maintain a +1 turnover margin for each of the three quarters of the season remaining, they can win the MAC East. Lastly, "The most dangerous team is a team with confidence and momentum". - Bill Cowher...... When you have as many turnovers as the Zips did yesterday, you are never going to capture either. Turnovers doomed the Zips to a horrible afternoon. Yesterday was really a lesson on how quickly a game can spiral out of control and why they spiral out of control. Turnovers equal easy points. Easy points puts pressure on teams to respond to those points in ways that forces a team out of their game plan. Once you are out of your game plan, you have huge problems. The good news? The Zips are still a team that has forced more turnovers than give up. When they stay within their game plan, they are an effective team and in the top third of MAC schools. Bowden is still a good coach and one bad day doesn't make someone a bad coach Browns fans. They still have some really good players who just happened to have a horrible day yesterday. The MAC is not a good league. Pitt is a beatable team, but early season upsets are more difficult as teams close out the OOC schedule. I didn't think the Zips would win yesterday and I didn't expect them to be any better than 1-2 at this point in the season (I don't expect them to be any better than 1-3 after next week either). I did expect them to play better. I still expect them to win 6-7 games. Yesterday is over.

4 turnovers spells doom.