GP1

I think you and I may be wondering about the same thing DrZ.....Doesn't anyone use a comb anymore?

I can't argue with that. OOPS! I mean basketball on the surface would seem easier than football, but that isn't the case. ZW makes a good point about a culture of winning. Akron and Can't come to mind when I think about a culture of winning in basketball. OU could be thrown in there as well. These schools tend to win a lot and have been at least good for a while now. Looking at football, I really can't think of a program that has the same culture of winning. Most football teams that get good have good players in all the right places so they win then they fall away when those players leave (CMU). Marshall was the last school in the MAC that one could say had a culture of winning. CMU was good then they went away. Miamioh is good now and when these good classes leave, will they still be good. I would respectfully agree and disagree with CK. I agree that Akron is a good example of a stable, good coach keeping a team good. Can't is not a good example of that. They continue to have a good program while coaches change, so the culture has to take over at that point. Getting back to the original point, on the surface, it would seem more difficult to get good at football because so many players play during a game. In fact, you can have a good basketball team with 3 good players with some average players around them. It only takes 4-5 good players in the right positions to be good at football, so the number of players you need isn't greatly different. As long as the rest of the guys are at least average, you can win in football with only 4-5 good players. Everyone else does it, why can't we?

Feel free to agree or disagree, but immediate success in MAC basketball seems much more difficult than basketball. The same schools have been good now for a while in basketball and it seems so nobody has been able to break into the good old boys club. I don't know why that is. Basketball, on the surface with such a small number of players, would be a good sport to get good at immediately. Just a thought...

Good post. Akron has two good QBs. All I want is the best guy under center. I don't care who it is. By game four of next year though, I want a decision as to who that will be. At some point, you have to go from the best guy on any given day to the guy who gives you the best chance to win in the last 8 games. The second guy isn't going to be perfect, but he has to be the guy I describe.

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A couple of things here. First, soccer is a bunch of guys running around a field in shorts trying to bounce a ball off of their heads. If you are lucky, one of the players will actually put the ball into this structure with a net around it called the "goal" and his team will be given one point and create an insurmountable lead. Football is a contact sport. Spring practice is development time. Some of the players are not ready to be thrown into a game yet and key players like QBs might get harmed in these games. The BCS teams would make a killing playing the non-bcs teams at their stadiums. No BCS team would risk losing to another BCS team in a game like this. It would become a joke to those with half a brain and a "great testament to the pagentry of amateur athletics" to those working at ESPN. Here's an idea for a contact sport for you: Go to the Y-bridge and jump off Too far to drive, but thanks for the recommendation.

The Great GP1 is safely tucked away in his South Carolina home on a stormy spring day. I think I'll keep the car in the garage today. Went to church last Saturday evening and my car now looks like a golfball because it was pelted by softball size hail. The only good thing about the storm was it came at the time of a sermon so you could not heat the guy talking....best sermon he ever gave. Fans want to see football. The players just want the whole spring football season to be over so they can go out and get drunk tonight.

I believe this is a form of child abuse.

A couple of things here. First, soccer is a bunch of guys running around a field in shorts trying to bounce a ball off of their heads. If you are lucky, one of the players will actually put the ball into this structure with a net around it called the "goal" and his team will be given one point and create an insurmountable lead. Football is a contact sport. Spring practice is development time. Some of the players are not ready to be thrown into a game yet and key players like QBs might get harmed in these games. The BCS teams would make a killing playing the non-bcs teams at their stadiums. No BCS team would risk losing to another BCS team in a game like this. It would become a joke to those with half a brain and a "great testament to the pagentry of amateur athletics" to those working at ESPN.

"To the line, to the lane, whistle...What?" Sort of makes me sad.

Worst fans or the smartest fans? Why would anyone go watch a team that bad?

Article This should be of no surprise to anyone who has ever been to Utah only to notice that everyone looks almost exactly the same. Salt Lake City is a very, very, very strange place.

Thanks for posting the Oline video JZ84. I thought the video on the Dline told us more about this group as it showed them coming off the ball well against defensive linemen. We see more technique drills in this video. Maybe something to do with the small numbers. The one thing I didn't like is the blocking technique where they cut the defender and continue on their hands and knees. I like cut blocking, but not by Olinemen as they always fall down and clog things up. Everyone should be on two feet as much as possible because you are hoping the RB makes the second level and you might need the Olinemen blocking downfield. The second reason I don't like this cut blocking is you can't double team high/low anymore. There are too many people in close proximity around where Olinemen live to risk this technique. Even if the contact is by accident and only for a second, it is still a 15 yard penalty. I hope to not see much of this next season. Yards are too hard to come by to risk major penalties.

I must really have nothing to do tonight, because I watched video of a spring football practice. Three encouraging things struck me watching the videos: First, in the defensive line video, a couple of offensive linemen come off the ball really well and control the line during one-on-one time. I don't know if that is a sign of improved play by the OL, or the same old play by the DL, but it at least looked good. Pro style offenses don't rack up points in college as it is more of a time and ball control theory of offense, so a good running game is needed. The negative side of that is if two highlights of the DL video involve Olinemen moving the Dline off the ball, we could be giving up a lot of points again this coming season. Second, we were really soft last year. The play appears to be more physical. Especially with the LB group. Physical play by the LBs results in tackles at the line or for very short gains. A LB can make tackles all day, but if they are 5 yards down field, it doesn't help. Getting back to point 1, the DL must do a good job of holding the line to give the LBs space to work. Third, Woody Allen must not be doing well making movies because he is coaching the RBs. I like Woody Allen....I like the fact that he is on staff for the Zips. This is a positive to me.

There is nothing new in this story.

There is one thing I remember about the HBO special that I found funny and the average fan was probably appalled by it because they don't understand how things really are. There is a player telling a story about what an assistant used to tell them after practice every day and it cuts to why these guys are actually there to play football and not get an education. The coach would say: "Remember guys (holding up two fingers), academics come first...and (holding up his index finger) football comes second." Auburn got picked on about this, but it goes on everywhere.

If the option is no bowl or a bowl against 30 of us from this board, I'd take the second option.

Finally, there is a term for it. Akron media, and this includes Mr. Rasor, needs to understand that it is OK for the Zips to do well in sports. Especially high profile sports like football and basketball. We don't need to be stuck in a Terry Pluto world. The media should be holding the Zips programs accountable for when they do poorly and demand better when they aren't living up to their potential. Give praise when it is deserved and slam them when they deserve it as well. It's D-1A sports for crying out loud. To Zips fans, it's OK if we win. I know it provides a different paradigm than the pile of crap we are normally fed, but the world won't come to an end if we get good.

There were some things that went on prior to that not painting such a rosy picture.

What's all this have to do with the Caliphates?

I hate to pick on Rasor twice in a week, but he sees controversy in the Championship game like Glenn Beck sees Caliphates.

This is being reported in a couple locations. He is traveling to Fresno today to possibly be offered the job.

T-Shirts!..... T-Shirts!...... Get your t-shirts here!

Poor shooting? That's like saying the guy driving the Titanic was a poor driver. It's been since the 1940s that a team scored that few points in the national championship game. Poor game, Hell yes. That's like saying the trip on the Titanic from England to the US was great...right up until they ran into the ice. The game last night was great until they threw up the ball at 9:23. At the end of the day, sporting events are about player performance. Both teams were terrible last night. Walker is talked about like he was great in the finals. He went 5-19 and his team won. If Nasir Robinson doesn't commit possibly the worst foul in the history of the Tournament, UCONN doesn't win the national championship. I don't know if Pitt wins it either, but surely anyone would have been better than Butler last night.

What makes you think there were still millions watching after that horrible game?