GP1

I used to get notes like this all the time from people on this board. Never responded. I got sick of the notices so I turned off my PM function.it doesn't bother me in the least....but something keeps urging me to teach morons like this a little life lessonJust enjoy the game. There are too many morons in the world to correct all of them. It's a losing battle. Go Zips!

Reality always makes for good smack. Well done!

I used to get notes like this all the time from people on this board. Never responded. I got sick of the notices so I turned off my PM function.

On a MAC level, I believe if the University had ANY clue, Faust could have done much better than what everyone saw at the end at Akron. Faust had nothing and had the highest percentage winning season in school D-1A history.What we don't know about Tressel is if he can win without cheating. Anywhere he goes, the NCAA is going to watch him like a hawk...which is why he'll never coach again.For those of you who think Tressel would come to Akron....dream on. It's about the same chance of Urban Meyer going to tosu.

I am relaxed. I thought my response was pretty balanced. And, I'm still not buying any MAC "building process".

None of them had access to Tressel's payroll.

This coach is a jerk and is killing any chances his kids have of being recruited. Not only that, the guy should know better. Go to any high school football game and the parents and fans will believe there are 5-6 D-1A players on their team. If they are lucky, there may be one, but that's OK because they are fans and parents. A decent high school coach should know what a D-1A player looks like. He's acting like a parent. He should in fact have serious conversations with these kids parents about their abilities and what their expectations should be.Think of how stupid this logic is. Akron needs to recruit more in Stark County so the kids can get more scholarship offers. Does that sound like a good use of resources for UofA? Stupid....just plain stupid.Also, if the kids are any good, they get found and recruited. It's too easy to get information on someone because technology is so good. If every school is taking a pass on the a kid, it is because the kid doesn't have it, not because the local university isn't recruiting him.What a lot of people in NE Ohio don't want to admit is high school football around Stark Co. has fallen off quite a bit in recent years. Massillon? Every kid I knew on the team from Massillon when I was in school wasn't very good and certainly not nearly as good as they thought they were.

Are we trying to run up the middle at all? Sometimes when a team is struggling to run, it can be helpful to just line up and go forward with limited thinking. On OLineman doesn't have to be the most talented to smash up on someone.

I don't have a problem with running to the short side of the field if they can make the blocking numbers work. I don't see the games, but if we are having trouble blocking the strong safety, then lining up strong to the field and running backside isn't a bad idea if they can make it work. At some point, player have to perform. OU has always been good at counting the numbers and running away from the strong side. Looks like we aren't as good as them at doing it...or much else.

Is that all?Let's assume that with attrition, there are 4.5 years worth of players on a team. That's 19 people per class year with 85 scholarships. We play a four man front so we use 9 linemen counting the 5 offensive linemen. That's 41% of the starting 22 players on offense and defense. Only recruiting six is between 1 and 2 fewer than we need to recruit just to keep the numbers even. TW might want to rethink that answer.

Dave WalkoskiThis is the kind of guy we need. Long time coach at MAC level and in the MAC. Comes from the Toledo program which was successful. If not him, would Toledo Tom want to get back in coaching?

I don't want the guy from App State. I was just trying to tie JZ84's example to him.

Twenty years ago, this guy was around Ambrose's age.I don't know exactly who I want, but I want an experienced coach who understands the challenges in the MAC. Specifically, how to get good players to a MAC school, which is something a school like Toledo has always been able to do for the most part. We don't need flash. We need a guy who knows the MAC and can actually get some players of MAC talent and turn them into something.Everyone is looking for that "one guy". I think there are a lot of coaches who could win at MAC schools and they never get a shot because they aren't the right age or have the flash of others. KD was exactly that guy for the basketball program. His career in coaching was basically over, but he was a good coach with successful MAC experience and a talent for coaching the game. It would have been easy to look past him when change came.In closing, I'm not surprised to see a thread like this. I am surprised to see JZ84 started it. Things must have been really bad yesterday. Very sad for UofA, but the truth is the truth.

I think he wants to win. The problem is his ideas on how a team wins are wrong.

A problem this big isn't caused by only one person. The current condition of the Zips football program is due to a broken system. Coach I is going to do exactly what he said he was going to do in his job interview. He didn't hire himself. The AD and a hiring board of God knows who...I can only assume complete incompetents hired the guy. Firing Coach I isn't going to solve the entire problem.

What do your eyes tell you?

If this is true, TW should be shown the door. There should be weekly evaluations of performance. If true, this shows me that TW can make the easy (stupid) decision of suspending a coach who had a MINOR violation, but he can't make the big decisions. If true, he can make the easy decision of hiring a friend, but can't make the hard decision to fire a friend; or even worse, to question the decision making of a friend. He can make the easy decision to cancel a golf outing, but...I have no idea where I'm going with this one....something to do with things that don't really matter.....anyhow....Akron football may be dead and buried by then? It might be dead already and the rotting corpse is stinking up the joint. I'm serious. We don't even compete well against MAC schools. 20 points in a college football game is unacceptable. At the pace we are going, the Zips will score 198 points this season. More than last year, but less than 20 per game. They give fans nothing to cheer about. When the most fun people have is at the tailgate, there is a huge problem with the program. The real problem is there isn't anyone around to smell the rotting corpse...How many people were at the game to smell it?

There is still a chance for a D-1A Super Crapference. This Global Conference will get demoted, like Pluto, when the D-1A Super Crapference is created.

I watched Duke go 4 of 5 on fourth down conversions in the second half of their game against Wake yesterday and almost upset Wake. Some of them were even out of fieldgoal range. That's a coach who saw a game he could win and tried to win the game, not manage the game.

StatsDidn't see the game. Didn't have to. Thank God I didn't. The one stat that sticks out to me is we only had 18 first downs. As I look at that stat further, 5 of those first downs came from OU committing a penalty. Feature RB with less than 50 yards...terrible. The score was 3-3 and the Zips allow four unanswered scores...when they finally did score, there were only 35 seconds remaining in Q3...terrible. Less than six yards per pass attempt...terrible. We allow OU to convert 71% of third downs....terrible. We convert 27% on third down...terrible.We stink.

Good stuff Dr. Dr Z.Our top line running back is showing consistent improvement over the course of the season. A little stumble against FIU in production of total yards, but they were a much better team than us and we still hung in. He has had 131 against EMU and 134 against UC. I'm a believer in this kid from watching his effort in the tosu game and his stats as the season progresses.This tells me the running game is in place to create play action for a QB....something critical to a pro style offense. The passing game has to be in rhythm with the run game for winning. In order for the other team to take our passing more seriously, we have to complete more passes and there has to be a deep threat. We need the QB to get the ball down field and a guy who can get open down field in order to be successful. The first piece is in place with the RB....the rest needs to follow.

....Or, they are the most unimpressive 4-3 team in the country. The have two wins against I-AA teams. They have been destroyed in two "rent-a-win" games. The were destroyed by Toledo. They beat Akron and CMU who have a combined win total against D-1A teams of....let's see....one.I'd still take their 4 and whatever over our inevitable 1-11.I would too, but let's not get carried away about the great "building process" English has going on at EMU. A bit of smoke and mirrors if you ask me.

....Or, they are the most unimpressive 4-3 team in the country. The have two wins against I-AA teams. They have been destroyed in two "rent-a-win" games. The were destroyed by Toledo. They beat Akron and CMU who have a combined win total against D-1A teams of....let's see....one.

This sort of reads like a Hemingway passage. Well done.

I would be interested in knowing when they run. Is it on first down and second down mostly resulting in third and long distance? Or, are they passing on first down and running on second down like they do in the NFL (I like this strategy because if the first down pass is incomplete, it can shorten the potential third down pass). NFL offenses spend the vast majority of their practices in their third down offense because it is so hard to get a first down in the NFL and it takes three downs to get one in many cases. Since we run a pro offense, it is especially critical to convert third downs out of shorter distances.I'm going to the Wake game at Duke tomorrow and will be in a bar to watch some of the Zips after the game. Looking forward to seeing the Zips win.