GP1

I have the MAC a close fourth.

Before I say this, it isn't a knock on the team. I was very pleased with a lot of what I saw yesterday. I should say, most of what I saw. The Zips are a good team. However, if we are to improve as the season progresses, there are some things with the offense that need to be developed better. After watching at least the first half yesterday, I think I understand why we don't throw down field. It's play calling. It's offensive rhythm. It's talent too. First, the sequence of plays depends on how other plays are working. In older style offenses, running off tackle was the beginning of the offense. If you could run off tackle, it set up play action (big plays down field), it set up counters, it set up maybe a QB keeper off of faking off tackle, etc. The same ideas exist today, only from different styles of offense. I think one of our problems is we have not yet established a solid running game. Since we have not established a solid running game, teams aren't pressing the line of scrimmage and can use more players to cover down field. Play action, etc. is not available without establishing the running game better. This moves me to my second point. We have a couple of good WRs, but not enough talent around them to threaten a really good team. Starting four WRs does not mean all four are really good. There is some speed, but not the physicality to compete at a high level down field in tight coverage. If we can't get the running game established on a higher level, we are asking our WRs to do some things they aren't quite equipped to do against high level competition. I really, really like Pohl. Those of you on this Board who doubted him should be eating your words right about now and should be man enough to come on and admit how wrong you were. Smart, good accuracy, team rallies around him, good mobility, doesn't turn the ball over, carries himself with confidence, accepts coaching well, a good leader, etc. He does a lot of things that should win the Zips 6-7 games this year...maybe more....the team is a lot more talented than I expected. What Pohl doesn't have that is not a requirement in the MAC, but is for high level games is a strong arm. He can lay the ball in someone's arms fantastically. He can't fire a fastball into someone's arms. Without developing a better running game, he will struggle to complete passes down field because he needs fewer defenders in the backfield to help him compensate for his lack of are strength. The next paragraph is about Pohl. So if you feel a sudden knee jerk reaction to defend a certain team, please save all of the annoyance of reading your stupidity and don't...... Since the Cheesecake Factory of College Football (tosu....Everything looks good, but the product really isn't that good. Invariably leaves those who think it is good with a stomach ache and leaves those who know better with the satisfaction that they haven't bought into the hype.) came up I'll make an analogy. Given the current circumstances, Pohl would be starting for the Cheesecake Factory of College Football today if he was on their team. That QB they have playing for them is garbage and doesn't have much talent around him either. They got smashed by an ACC team that won't even win that horrible team that won't even win their conference this year. VA Tech looked good not because of their team, but who they were playing. Urban is recruiting solid ACC talent and that's it. Pohl could easily start for half the teams in the ACC/Big Ten (there is no difference at this point). I hope those of you who go to the games appreciate how good he is and not sit there hoping to see the back up play so you can "see what he has". Keep doing what you are doing Pohl. You are a damn good player. Get your running game straightened out Zips and you can control your own destiny getting to the MAC Championship!

It's not about you.

Buckley isn't big enough to make catches in tight coverage against better talent. He isn't the answer.

Announcers are idiots. That was an obvious punting situation. Its only seven to zero.

Catch!

Good, efficient running by Pohl.

Why is Bowden's hair orange?

Doing a good job of mixing up rush schemes.

Good punts today. Important part of the game.

Needed that momentum breaker.

Make easy FGs.....catch easy passes...it really isn't too much to ask.

Bench this kicker. Not close on a chip shot. 31 yard FG should be automatic.

Good article about student attendance. I guess my immediate reaction to the decline is to think about whether or not that is a bad thing. On many levels, I think it is a good thing, but in general, there are things going on at Universities that are making this happen that are taking the game day experience away from students and replacing it with something else. First of all, we expect kids in college to be smart. Part of being smart is identifying crap when you see it and avoiding it. If the product on the field is bad, shouldn't we expect smart kids to avoid watching crap? Fair weather fans are overly maligned. In some ways, they are the best type of fan because they won't settle for watching a bad product. Good for those students if they won't sit there and watch crap. A concern I have about the culture surrounding college athletics has become the idea that if your team can't compete for the national championship, what's the point in supporting them. This is the problem with the now obsession with the four team national championship. College football has become a vehicle for schools winning a national championship and not for the sake of good competition. ESPN Game Day will spend half of their time this morning talking about the playoff (The program is too long and has become unwatchable). 7-9 wins seasons will be looked upon as failures. Teams that make the playoffs but not win a game will be looked at as a failure. When the talk of firing coaches centers around whether or not they win a playoff game or make it to the Sweet 16, it is a sign that they are actually professional leagues. That's fine for the NFL and NBA because (drum roll) they are professional leagues. So, what does this have to do with students attending games? If you are a student at let's say, NC State, and you know your team has no shot of getting in the playoffs or for that matter competing for the ACC Championship, what is the point in going to the game? They will be bombarded with the idea that only winning the championship matters. They have more things to do? I totally agree with that. Universities have become playgrounds for over indulged kids. Schools used the "building process" to give them any number of fun activities and then are surprised when they use those activities in lieu of going to games. A lot of kids probably now have to work to pay for the student fees that are used to support the "building process", so they don't go to the games in the stadiums that the "building process" built that were supposed to be for them, but in reality are designed to bring in more money through other means. In an ideal world, if you think like an Athletic Director, a full stadium without a single student maximizes revenue...They get the student fees and have no game day expenses for them attending the game while selling the remaining tickets to others in addition to the foundation donation for the yearly rights to those tickets. It's king of like double dipping. College football and basketball has probably been through its high mark as far as student attendance. Look for the current trend to continue for the next 3-4 years and then level off. Years from now, there will be stories about increased student attendance at various schools, but it will never reach the levels of say 10 years ago.

PSU 34 Akron 17 PSU beat a good team last weekend and found some huge mojo at the end of the game. Confidence is huge in football. My guess is PSU will be even better this week. There will be a huge crowd to greet their new coach and it should provide a good boost for their team. I can see them scoring first and never giving up the lead. Akron won't make fools of themselves. I'd go as far as to say they will represent themselves well tomorrow and the score will seem closer than it appears. They will never be able to capture significant momentum though. Safe travels and have fun if you are going.

DrZ stole my thunder. If a book was written about the Cleveland sports media, some of the chapters would be: 1. Lebron James: A Love Story 2. I'm Bored 3. Waiting For Terry Pluto to Tell Me How to Think 4. I Take Cleveland Fans Serioiusly: But I Can't Remember Why. 5. Bill Belichick Isn't Nice To Me So He Is a Bad Coach 6. Study By Winking Lizard Bartender Proves LBJ Returning Will Save the Cleveland Economy 7. Free Chicken Wings in the Media Room vs. Developing A Good Story: Ranch or Blue Cheese I could go on. The Cleveland media is so lazy they can' t think of anything better to do than pander to fans by repeating their stupid ideas back to them in the hopes of getting more clicks on their websites. It's an insult to those few Cleveland fans who managed to not go insane between when the Browns left Cleveland and then came back. Quite honestly, I blame a lot of it on the fans of Cleveland teams and their constant desire for the next "savior" to come along to save their teams. It is the single greatest driving force in all of the nonsense.

You should only get flamed for saying that because it isn't true. The Zips are a workmanlike team that can hardly be described as entertaining. I would describe them as hardworking, but not entertaining. MTSU is on the schedule this year....

Interesting point. There are only about 15-20 college basketball programs that play in front of full arenas so any kid who has this in his mind is either good enough to pay at one of those schools, or is delusional. Take the kid with winning in the forefront of his mind. I'd be concerned about the fan base if the season ticket numbers were dwindling, but not overall ticket sales. If season ticket sales are going down, I'm concerned.

I took a minute and surfed some of our fellow MAC websites and looked at a few schedules out there. I'm hard pressed to find a schedule significantly different than our, "generally speaking". So, since it is almost always the case that people working in Athletic Departments follow like sheep, it makes me think that guaranteed wins have become the priority for mid majors. No high school kid you would want on your team wants to play for a losing program. It's hard enough at mid majors to get top level talent. Winning records help get better players because the better players want to win. I can feel myself going in to a rant about the Zips not taking enough advantage of their success so I'm going to stop.

Change it to whatever you want. It doesn't change the real problem with our inability to take the next step.

I wish it was that easy. It takes a lot more than scheduling to take the next step. If we scheduled Kansas, Duke and UCONN for this coming season, it wouldn't change the parts of the program that need changed to take the next step and it has nothing to do with a new arena either. I'll leave it at that....

Agreed. In terms of the Zips scheduling top teams, or at least teams from top conferences to come to the JAR, it might even be next to impossible. Why? 1. The University is swimming in red ink. The amount of money it would take to get a team from a top conference to come to the JAR to play and forego a game at their own arena would probably be pretty expensive. The kind of expense the University can't afford right now. 2. The teams that would provide a big name and a chance for a win are at schools where their basketball team is probably losing money for their school in a game where there is a risk of a road loss. Because of that, it is impossible for them to give up a home game for a loss of money at the JAR. Other teams can't afford to come to the JAR and play. There is a difference between "needs" and "wants". We live in a country now where it is hard for people to understand the difference, or maybe they can't tell the difference because we tend to always get what we want. I want the basketball team to play better teams at home. I also know the University is well into the red ink and this isn't what it needs right now. They spent a lot of years in the "building process" giving themselves what they wanted framed in the idea that it was what the University "needed" to move forward. Now they need to pay for it. Since the need to pay for it outweighs the want to do something different, the need wins. Enjoy this schedule. It's what the University needs right now.

Bluffton and Coppin State are a couple of turds I'd rather not see floating around that late in the OOC schedule, but other than that I don't have much to complain about. The Charleston tournament is a huge opportunity for the Zips to prove themselves early against some solid competition. Then they come right back to PSU for some bottom Big Ten competition and have a good opportunity. There is a good combination of guaranteed wins, not too many guaranteed losses and some evenly matched games. I like the OOC schedule. I love WMU, Toledo and BG right out of the conference schedule gate. The last six games will be a real test as well. This is a very competitive schedule for the Zips at all stages of the season (beginning, middle, end). They need to have a good pre season and be as prepared as possible early. BTW, I always enjoy seeing Marshall on the schedule. A good schedule as far as I'm concerned. Not great, but good.

I'm going too....by way of television.

Is he going to hit the mark this year for the oldest guy playing college basketball?