GP1

Thanks for the response.I think you might be right about Wagner. He only had seven tackles. As the primary LB in our defense, he easily should have double digit tackles every game. It goes back to a discussion on the recruiting thread about the nature of small school kids vs. big school kids. We'll see how the season plays out for him, but I have a feeling teams know something about him from watching film that isn't playing to the Zips advantage.We did have three tackles for losses so that is an improvement. We also did not have a sack yesterday. I was hoping the four man line might lend itself to more negative yardage plays. If we can't get teams off rhythm with their play calling, it will be hard to beat many teams.I'm really curious as to whether or not our blocking on kickoff return was better. KO return is a good way to swing momentum your direction after the other team goes on a scoring drive. Wake did it yesterday late in the game. NC State went on a scoring drive complete with big plays and got close to Wake. Wake answered with a KO return to the 50 and scored three plays later. They totally neutralized the momentum of NC State with the KO return. BTW, NC State is worse this year than the year the Zips beat them.

You must not remember the end of the Faust years.

Didn't see the game, but I would like a report on these issues. Did we improve in these areas or other areas not mentioned?

You used a form of the word "stray" and "cat" in the same sentence. Well done.This schedule does not stray from what that cat KD likes to do. I look for another good season.

I always thought Lewis shot himself in the head....Great BookAkron connection....President Garfield was once President of Hiram College.

I just hope those same people who disrespect us will take the time to watch us play in the NCAA Basketball Tournament next March. A week before that, they can watch us win the MAC Championship on ESPN.

This looks like a pretty challenging schedule to me. Outside of the major programs, there is YSU so the fans will have fun. CSU is a good program and it should be a fun game to attend. Detroit has history as a good program. We have MTSU for a trip down memory lane in Tennessee. We all know what VCU can do. WVU is a good program....too bad it is on a weeknight so not many will get to see the Zips play in a really good college arena. Three road games in a row to start January will provide a good challenge as well."Challenging" is the word I would use to describe this schedule. Some say it isn't any good because of Hiram and JC...everyone plays those types of cupcakes and two games don't make an entire schedule weak.

That's blazing fast enough for me.No Heisman's just yet for the kid with 13 carries for 26 yards.I'm not interested as much about a Heisman. I'd just like a kid with some talent get to show what he has.

ASU Link

I know this is a generalization, but I'm going to generalize anyhow. A big school kid has to compete against a ton of people to get to be a starter on the team. Since there more kids in the school, he has to beat out more people to start. They play against similar kids from their leagues. It creates a more competitive kid. At a lot of small schools, there are barely enough good players to put on the field and you play against the same type of competition. The kids play just as hard, but the environment they are used to is different. The kids aren't hardened.If given the choice between a small school and a bid school kid, I'd take the big school kid every time if all is equal talentwise.

There is a UofA Alumni post on Facebook saying Shaun Pendleton passed away. Some of you may have known him. He was a former All American for the Zips. If this has already been posted, please delete this topic.

That's blazing fast enough for me.

After watching the game last week, below are the five areas of improvement I would like to see this week with the Zips. The first and second are in that order for a reason. The last three could be in any order.1. Our punter was good last week, but our special teams need to improve. It needs to improve so we can have better field position. There is less than a 20% chance of scoring any points with a drive starting inside of your own 20. Specifically, kickoff return needs to do a better job getting the front line blockers in position to make blocks. Maybe they were overwhelmed by the speed of osu's kickoff coverage, well know better about that this week. They need to get back faster though. Our punt blocking at the line was not sufficient enough to slow down the osu coverage so I want to see improvement in this area this week.2. Our QB needs to not look at the guy he is going to throw to the whole time. It makes for easy coverage. I'll write last week off to first game nervousness, but we need to see improvement in this area Saturday.3. Get the running game going. Our line is improved and we have a blazing fast RB, but we need to see the results on the field. The necessary deception in a pro style offense is play action pass. No running game, no play action pass. It's that simple. No play action pass, no big plays and an easy day for the defense.4. I liked our strategy of blitzing early last week. It didn't work for a couple of reasons. First, the osu QB completed some good passes against single coverage. Secondly, our DBs didn't tackle well when they were assigned back-side contain. The Zips had to stop blitzing or they would have lost by 80. It was a good move by the coaching staff.5. We had a total of zero tackles for losses last weekend. That number is unacceptable. Our defensive line looks better this year and we should have had at least one when we were run blitzing. We need the linebackers to do a better job of finding holes to make tackles behind the line and the linemen need to get off of blocks and make some tackles.6. I'll throw in a bonus point. Our LBs need to get off of blocks and make tackles. Wagner had 15 tackles last weekend and I can't remember a single one being within two yards of the line. He made a lot of tackles 8 yards downfield, but he and the rest of the LBs need to get off blocks and make them closer to the line. It can't be second and four every series or we'll get killed.

I would like to respond to my esteemed colleague from Green in the matter at hand.I'm not looking for Coach I to be a great coach. I'm just looking for him to get the job done like the guy at Miamioh did last year.The gentleman from the Carolinas may have overlooked the end of my post where I stated that I'm hoping that Ianello develops fairly quickly into a solid head coach. So we are in total agreement on this issue.Thank you to my esteemed colleague from Green for pointing that critical issue out. The Great GP1 had a little bit too much beer last night and got accidentally drunk. This explains the reading deficiencies.

JZ84 is The Tailgate Gourmet™. Sounds good, but I don't see anything about Mango beer. My set-up is a simple as it comes. Since you can't do charcoal, I focus on foods I can prepare ahead of time and keep warm on my little, portable propane grill. I leave the big stuff up to you Pros!Looks like you are the pro. Both good food and advice for the masses could get you your own Food Network show.

I would like to respond to my esteemed colleague from Green in the matter at hand.I'm not looking for Coach I to be a great coach. I'm just looking for him to get the job done like the guy at Miamioh did last year.

To answer my own question...nope. If you get cut by the Bungles, is that it?I can't believe the crap stew Cincy is serving at QB this season.I wonder what Brian Kelly would give for Dan LeFevour right now?Seeing on how Reis is probably a better QB, not much.Time will tell.....

Pro teams are still running pro style offenses, it just looks different than it has in the past. The fullback is gone and one back is in place. A lot of the evolution of the pro game has to do with the size of the players. There players have gotten so big they just take up space on the line and there aren't holes the way they were thought of as holes 20 years ago. RBs run to the line and have to find an opening. If no opening, they have to run into the line and hope they come out the other side. The NFL would be better if they had a size limit on players and opened the running game back up.I like the spread offense in college (it wouldn't work in the NFL because the d-linemen are too fast and EVERYONE is good) because of what I saw Saturday at Panthers Stadium. ECU hung with South Carolina because they were able to take their best players and put them in a position to be successful. 45.5% of the players on offense are offensive linemen who will not touch the ball. It is hard as heck to find five good offensive linemen at any school, let along a MAC school, so you end up with some kids who need some help or support while on the field. The spread allows for this help much more than a pro set. ECU took some of their poorer performers and masked their deficiencies by getting them help or double teaming. I hate to say the spread is less of a "team game", but on many levels it is and I don't know what else to call it. An offense doesn't need as many good players in a spread as they do in a pro set. So getting back to the Zips. We have the same problems every school has only they are more pronounced right now. The spread helps cover those problems and that's why I have a philosophical difference with Coach I. If he can get the horses, he will prove me wrong. If not, another building process....

I don't disagree with a single word. That last sentence scares the crap out of me though, because it could be true. 2018 is a long way away.I too can't take another building process, so I'm hoping that Coach I gets things turned around...and soon. There are always reasons why a team is bad. We'll know a lot more about this team after Saturday. Jesus....2018....how depressing.

Interesting stat...the 187 number is almost amazing it happened two years in a row. I'd love a math major to calculate the probability of that happening.In order to score 187 points this season, we need to average 17 points per game...doesn't seem like that should be hard to do. I'm setting the over/under on our point total for the remainder of the season at 220.

Amen. It is so refreshing seeing a more tough-nosed defense w/ 4 DL. If we get shoved around w/ 4 DL, so be it; our opponent deserves to win. But I was so sick and tired of watching our 3DL D get shoved up & down the field year-after-year. Seeing 5 defensive bodies on the line of scrimmage on 3rd and short, instead of 3, was a dream come true. I almost cried. Someone needs to start a "Why the Zips defense is better" thread. It will be a bright spot for the Zips this year. I can't do it all around here.

No, but this isn't a court of law so we are allowed to use our brains. My only data to back it up is TW and Coach I worked together. This goes on all the time in business and in college athletics. I don't need to spend six months putting together Six Sigma cause and effect tables to figure this one out. As far as the last comment, I don't take what Zach says seriously. I don't expect you to issue youself an official ZNO demerit, but in the name of more civility, I'll be awaiting your apology. Claiming someone takes Zach seriously is one of the most viscous, almost violent, statements one poster can say to another. Shame! I'll say it again. Let's not call it a lazy decision...maybe it was an easy decision (is there really a difference?). That doesn't make Tom lazy. Lots of us do things every day to make our lives easy and on some level, that could make us lazy at that task. I think he made the easy decision in this case. I believe it isn't hard to look at the landscape of college football and conclude that a pro style offense isn't the way to win. Either TW didn't know this, or he willingly decided to take a direction that would not lead to success. The recent history of the MAC shows it isn't the way to win. I don't see how that makes him a good decision maker in this matter, which was the most important decision he had to make thus far. It's not a personal attack at all. It is an eveluation of his ability to make important decisions at his job. In conclusion, I agree that the personal attacks of the AD and Coach I have to stop. Especially in the case of Coach I. I find the attacks in regards to his personal appearance repugnant. I will continue to have philosophical differences with his style of offense even though I think his style of defense is one I enjoy.

To answer my own question...nope. If you get cut by the Bungles, is that it? I can't believe the crap stew Cincy is serving at QB this season. I wonder what Brian Kelly would give for Dan LeFevour right now?

Lazy? Yes, I think his hiring of Coach I was a lazy decision. I didn't say he was a lazy guy, just this decision was lazy. Try not jumping to conclusions next time. I know how close you like to get to people within the Athletic Department, so please don't let your relationships with them impede your reading ability. Have I ever met Tom? No. So what? Save me the nice guy and hard working stuff. People are supposed to be nice and hard working. Everything good about Akron sports today was in place before TW too over. KD was the basketball coach and the program was rolling. The soccer program was established. Other programs are good as well. We didn't need direction in those programs. We needed direction in football. The AD was responsible for providing that direction and he has failed badly. Soccer has maxed out. Basketball has shown it will attract the same 2,800 people a game on average and that is about it. Remember the Motor City Bowl and how many people were there? That could be every week, and more, at The Big Dialer. It's not like there is no proof it can be done. The MCB is the proof.

I don't know if I would use the word coward. I would use the word "lazy". I worry about what happens if we have a terrible next couple of years. This downturn couldn't have happened at a worse time. It raises so many possibilities and none of them are good. Things could be bad in a way that they were after Faust's final season.