GP1

All in all, the Zips outplayed Toledo. Could have easily blown it and they decided to win instead. Great job! Sitting at the Akron airport and my feet and hands are killing me from the cold. Worth every second standing in it. The Zips wouldn't have dared to lose with me in attendance.

The work overwhelmed isn't used enough in reference to sports teams. Nice use of it. Conversely, the word choke is overused in reference to sports. Teams don't choke over an eight minute period. One player chokes at one moment in time.

Their program finished 4-8 this season and is in the toilet. A move to IA isn't going to make them all of the sudden better. CFU eventually got good, but it is in Orlando, FL, not Boone, NC. App State is in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a tiny, tiny town and the mountains surrounding it. IAA teams can be really good with a couple of great players who sneak through the cracks at a BCS school for grades or whatever reason and App did that for a long time. They are going to have trouble attracting the kind of players and the number of good players necessary to win in IA. App State was the head of the mouse at one point. Now, they are going to be the ass of the lion. In a few years, all they will be like Miamioh and their endless blathering about tradition without any real recent success. They will all have their "We Beat Michigan" shirts though. I guess that means something to some, but try to tell that to some hillbilly sitting out in the mountain cold in November by himself watching App State finish another 5-7 season. The insanity of college athletics continues...

What if by the time a kid gets to 12th grade, he doesn't want to live by his 10th grade decision? It seems nutty to me that an 18 year old should have to live by the decision he made when he was 15. What if between the kids 10th and 12th grade season, he blows out his knee or turns into a completely bad player and the school wants out? My point is this. Schools shouldn't be making offers to 10th graders, or 11th graders for that matter. High school kids shouldn't be committing to colleges when they are 15 or 16 years old. It is one of the many things about college athletics that has gotten completely out of control. Lastly, they do hand out a lot of offers and there is zero advantage in accepting one. In almost every case, they offer more players scholarships than available scholarships. Someone almost always gets screwed and it is rarely the colleges. There is no need for early commitment.

See, you made me think about something I haven't thought about since my last post...

It's not hard for me to think about because the only time I think about it is when the YSU score goes across the espn crawl. Then I immediately forget again. You shouldn't concern yourself for one second about what mouth breathing ysu fans say about anything. They are exactly where they belong...behind their big brother Akron pulling on our shirt every once in a while seeking attention. I'm not even certain that if they were D1A, I would want to play them every year unless we had to if the MAC went insane and allowed them to enter. In reality, ysu is making a sane choice staying in IAA. Schools like umass and mid tenn could be good some day similar to some of the success Buffalo has had. ysu has no shot at ever competing in D1A. Long term, schools like App State, GA Southern and Charlotte are making big mistakes. App State for example has made a decision that foregoing national championships at IAA in favor of a potential Sun Belt Championship and automatic entry into the New Orleans Bowl is good for their school. I would argue that there will be a lot fewer $40 parking spaces in Boone being filled on game day after the move. At some point, it has nothing to do with balls and everything to do with stupidity. Then again, App State is one of those schools people attend when they can't get accepted at a good school.

Schools give out verbal offers like everyone handed out Halloween candy a few weeks ago. There is more substance to the candy. The only offers that matter are those on paper.

It must be hard for YSU to sit back and look at the success Can't and Akron, schools no further than 60 miles away, have had in football over the past 25 years and not want to be a part of it. In the insane world of college athletics, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.

Do you also agree with the golf saying, "100% of the puts that come up short of the cup don't go in."?

Ah! You're right. Nice catch.

I agree. App State has a good name and they are well down the road to destruction of a once great I-AA program. By the time 2016 comes around, the Zips should be riding high and they will be in the sewer. Should be victories for the Zips both years. I'm looking forward to a trip to the mountains to watch.

Did I get a Facebook notice today about the Zips playing WVU or was that my imagination?

He doesn't have anything in writing yet. The only offer that matters is the letter of intent. Verbals don't count. I'm suggesting he advise his players to keep their options open when they are in 10th grade.

Let's hope not. Terrible high school football. I like the App State game. Their win against Michigan has catapulted them into a horrible team and I don't see them winning at the D-1A level. Should be a nice trip to Boone and overnight in Blowing Rock.

He fidgets too much between plays. Always adjusting something about his uniform or pads. It may seem like a petty thing to pick on, but I don't like that kind of nervousness in a player. To me, it is a sign of a lack of confidence. He was a really good high school player, but not BCS level. Michigan will be wasting a scholarship with him. A little too passive as well. He made a horrible error in committing to Michigan while in 10th grade. High school coaches should do a better job of steering kids away from early decision such as that. I have a relative who coached this guy in high school. He was one of the best high school LBs I have ever seen..tough, fast, smart, "a nose for the ball", etc. He couldn't get on the field at MSU much at all. He was way better than Ferns in high school playing against much better top tier competition around Columbus and just wasn't able to make the next step. Some guys just don't make the transition well. St. Clairsville has a kid by the last name of Stewart who just finished his 10th grade season. I saw he was on the sidelines before the Penn State game last weekend. Keep an eye on him.

The CFL has rules on import vs non-import players. Since Jabari is a non-import (he is Canadian) he could have a long career in the CFL.

That's because I'm here every day.

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.