GP1

Don't forget extra points.

Great point CK. If you look at the history of Akron football, there are two cases in which the original staff of the coach leaves on some level and with them goes a lot of success. Faust had a great staff when he started, Woodford was one of them, and he was unable to replace them effectively when they moved on to bigger places. At the end, Faust had a bunch of knuckleheads coaching for him. JD had basically his original staff when we won the championship and shortly after that many were gone along with the success of the championship. For whatever reason, it seems like a hard thing to replace the original staff.

Agreed TDs are better than FGs. However, when the coach decides to kick a FG, the kicker needs to make it. We are talking about going forward. Points put pressure on the other team. Some points are a reward for a good drive. 50% of the kicks this year resulted in the team not getting anything for moving into scoring position. A missed FG is a momentum killer. Here is a scenario. Zips score a TD...kick off and force a turnover putting them automatically in scoring position. Zips run three plays then attempt a FG and make it. 10 point swing in the game. Miss the FG and it is as if the turnover never happened. Make it and a pressure is put on the other team to respond in a way that a lot of mac schools don't do well.

I'd love a case to go to court so we can see some evidence under oath. But then again, I don't think the ncaa would care. They just want a money grab and are past the point of caring about whether or not everyone knows they are all a bunch of low lives.

All good responses. If it takes a a few years, meaning five, we have just signed the wrong guy to a contract extension. It doesn't take a few years in the mac to get good. In most cases, it only takes a couple of years. We were so bad, it will take three to get to six wins and a bowl. I have nothing to gauge my opinion of talent on other than what I see and wins/loses. We have better athletic talent...it isn't great, but better. We went a year without winning a MAC game. That means there is not enough talent to win in the MAC. A team can win one MAC game a year on talent alone against another horrible team. Here is your second quote I wanted to discuss MaxZIP, "Zips kickers have not been that much worse than other MAC kickers. Lack of kickers is a huge issue and needs to be addressed because of how it changes coaching decision making. Now I am not talking about going for 3pts down 48 in the 3rd quarter or anything. But lack of confidence in the kicking game does alter play calling beyond going for it in the grey zone." We are last in the MAC in FG percentage at 53.3%. The high mark is 94.7% with Toledo. The median mark is roughly 70%. BTW, Toledo has a great kicker. Use the link below and look at the various kicking stats. Some of you like to go to games to see potential NFL players, he may be that guy next Friday. Link The link above takes you to the MAC website statistical page. Another team stat we need to improve on is kick returning. We are either last or near last in KO and punt return. CK made reference to this in a post above and the stats prove him out. I'm still going with consistency is our number one objective next year. We can and have been good at times this year so we have guys who can be good. We need them to be good more often and that is frequently the hardest thing to accomplish.

Best improvements are in blocking, tackling, catching, throwing, running, jumping, etc. That's no joke either. They now have the talent to execute the basics of football that leads to a four win MAC team, but they still have a long way to go. Areas of improvement would start with those improvements listed above. I think more physical development of the players is in order. I'd like to see a red shirt or a guy going from his first year to second year improve to the point fans are wondering if he is the same person. We really need some young guys to get their adult bodies on and contribute next year whether in a starting role or back-up role. Good programs take the largest steps in player development between their freshman and sophomore years and if we are to be good, we need to see this next year. Consistency is the key. There is no reason for us to be 9th in the league in pass defense and 3rd in the league in interceptions. Those numbers should be muhc closer. There is no reason for us to be 3rd in the league in interceptions and 8th in turnover margin....stop giving it away almost as much as we take it away. Buffalo's turnover margin is +16...they are the Kansas City Chiefs of the MAC. A MUST improvement is our FG percentage is last in the league...we need to change our kicker or change our kicker. Sometimes as fans, we worry too much about who is going and who is staying. I do it too much myself. With a 4 win team, we shouldn't worry too much about who is going. We need to worry about who is coming in and how are the existing players being developed. With 11 players, football allows teams to support players who may not be as good as the guy before him...offensive lines do it all the time.

We are better than last year when we were horrible. Now we are just bad. I expect six wins next year. A program in our condition will have three types of teams we compete against next year. Four teams we should beat. We've done that this year and I expect them to do it again next year. Four teams we shouldn't beat. We won't be quite where we need to be. Four teams that are a toss up. I expect us to win two of these games next year. Six wins gets us to a bowl and extra player development. 2015 we should compete for the MAC East and league Championship.

Little known fact (I think). St. Clairsville is the only high school go have two Zips players go on to the NFL: Shawn Vincent and Robert Lyons. Interestingly, their position coach back in the 80s is Mike Woodford, the Zips DB coach now.

Everything will be fine. Sometimes it's like taking a big crap. It builds up and builds up then once it's over you feel a lot better. Let's hope Tree is sitting on the can right now.

I agree with A. Iverson on this one. Let him miss a couple of practices and clear his head if that's what he needs to do. Who knows?.... We are only talking about practice.

Isn't it nice to see the MAC East standings posted on TV and not have the easy task of looking straight to the bottom to see the Zips logo? I was so sick of that....

Agreed, but when they start to go south for a MAC school, they really go south. It's hard to reverse the downward course once one starts down that road.

Article George Thomas published this article as late as around 7 PM last evening. A lot can happen in 14 hours, but he would have found out there was at least a problem while reporting. There is still no article about this. I have serious, serious, serious doubts.

Haven't found a media outlet with this story.

Confidence and momentum. They were riding pretty high when they played us as they were on a three game winning streak. They were on a two game losing streak going into last light. Not only had they lost two in a row, they lost them in a bad way. OU Schedule with results YTD When a MAC team goes south, they can land pretty hard.

I like this play.

Then why aren't they? My guess is even Raquel Welch gets old. Show this photo to 90% of the posters on this board, they say, "Look at that piece of ass". Show the same photo to an 18 year old, they say, "Who's that lady in the clown mask?". Makes me think is one of my favorite Sopranos scenes. Paulie nails it right at the 2 minute mark Video. One of the great myths of college athletics is you have to pander to the memories of old people. The reality is, you have to get young people to want to come to your school and young people are impressed by the present, not the past. They are impressed by winning. The more they win today, the less the old people care about the past.

Excellent point. A 12th grader doesn't care about something that happened six years ago when they were in 6th grade. The recruiting competition is for that person. Some of the seniors they have on their team, that is now going 3-7, may have been impressed, but what are they doing now. It's as bad as the guys I see at Wake games wearing their Orange Bowl shirt from eight years ago, or how ever long ago it was. Nobody cares anymore. We don't live in that kind of society. The Zips basketball team was built on winning and bringing kids to UofA who want to win foremost. It certainly isn't the great weather, arena or any of the nonsense we are supposed to believe is important. Winning is important and cures a lot of problems. It's the strongest of foundations.

Or, you recruited the wrong horse. Zeke may not have been a natural, but there was ability there that never seemed to get developed to the fullest. Visit My Website It's was almost impossible for him not to play in the NBA. The LBJ one is interesting. I credit the maker with his basketball ability. He has something about him that can't be taught. A true natural. LBJ is also a master with the media, with the exception of "The Decision". He always says all the right things and presents in a positive manner. I'm not saying he doesn't stay in touch with KD and they might talk basketball, but the amount of development would surely be in question.

I've never seen anyone make a grass field by an airport runway sound so sexy...

Worrying about national perception is one of those things that I find difficult to do being a Zips fan. In fact, I could care less. I understand that an ncaa win and bcs wins bring some positive perception to the program. How much and for how long? I guess that depends on how many there are, how far apart they are spread and other factors going on around them. I mostly worry about sustained success. All of the other bling will happen if we have sustained success. We beat MSU two years ago. Are we in a better position today than two years ago?...We'll find out the results to that question at the end of the year. For me, it's always the App State question. Is App State better because they beat Michigan in 2007. I've posted this before. The answer is a resounding NO. They have become progressively less successful since that day. They are now sitting at 3-8 for the season. Bling wins are pretty, but if the foundation isn't under them, they are worthless. If a BCS win was the foundation for the future of App State football, that foundation was sand. Our foundation is strong: good preparation, good recruiting, good game day execution, good game planning, good effort. What is my biggest worry about Zips MBB? I've been posting for years. The lack of player development. It has always been an area KD has struggled with and I don't think that is unfair criticism at this point. Good players don't take big leaps in ability under him. Specifically, a player almost never takes a big leap between his freshman and sophomore years. We are seeing that now with our point guard situation. Big time players and big time coaches make the leap between year one and two a large leap. I understand the AA argument, but even if he was on the team, we would have still needed better production out of the #2 PG.

Article I don't think we have had a discussion on this so here it goes. The NCAA is going to be more strict on hand checking this year. I agree with a lot of articles that fouls early season will be up until teams adjust. How does this impact Akron? At first blush, I think Akron will be the kind of team it impacts the most on the defensive end. The Zips have played very aggressive, tough and physical defense inside and outside under KD. There will be some adjustment here. If you are seeing the adjustment, how are they adjusting? If they aren't, what do they need to do differently?

When I saw your comment, I thought it couldn't possibly be true so I did some research. Went back ten years and in that period, you may be right on the money. We have a large list of ooc teams we have lost to in that period and I wouldn't advise anyone to go down the road I just took...too depressing. Miss State lost in the first round of the NIT that post season.

It used to be the Marshall win one for the MAC bandwagon. The league treated them incredibly favorably years ago to get in the MAC and it created a situation where they dominated the league. To pretend leagues don't show selective favoritism to various teams on a year by year basis is foolish. It's good business to do this for the league. Horrible for the likes of UofA. It isn't just the commissioner though. A school has to have an AD willing to fight battles to keep his/her school from being exploited in favor of the NIUs of the world. Ours doesn't seem to be effective at fighting that battle. As it relates to the football program, the only thing he has shown himself to be good at is running it into the ground. The best job this guy should have in athletics is loading t-shirts into the air gun on the back of an ATV at minor league baseball games.

You're forgetting the most important part. If the team does all of these things, better things will follow.