GP1

I agree with everything....basically....and I've been posting it for a while. At this point, they shouldn't do it alone. The non-bcs schools/conferences need to find a way out of the mess the vast majority of them are in. They all need to get together and form their own division. How much more does everyone need to see? The game is over. 20 more years? Please..... IF the non-bcs schools/conferences can't do something in the next two years, then UofA needs to act unilaterally. OR, the MAC needs to act with the membership to make a move to I-AA. Two more years after this year is all they get. Enough is enough. Another division or I-AA are the choices. +1 Anyone who comes on here and says any of us three don't care, save it. We've put our time in.....and plenty of it. Right now, somewhere in the world, a doctor is cutting off the leg of a patient in order to save the life of the patient. We are just trying the save the life of this program. The program is dying right in front of us. We might even thrive at another level. What 20 years has taught us is we can't survive at this level.

I agree with everything....basically....and I've been posting it for a while. At this point, they shouldn't do it alone. The non-bcs schools/conferences need to find a way out of the mess the vast majority of them are in. They all need to get together and form their own division. How much more does everyone need to see? The game is over. 20 more years? Please..... IF the non-bcs schools/conferences can't do something in the next two years, then UofA needs to act unilaterally. OR, the MAC needs to act with the membership to make a move to I-AA. Two more years after this year is all they get. Enough is enough. Another division or I-AA are the choices.

While reading CK's post, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Myron Cope used to call him Clipboard Cliff because he played something like his first six years in the NFL without ever getting into a game.

Good post as usual. Are you saying that the 1.8 yards per carry rushing game we have isn't going to fool anyone in play action passes? In terms of finding a pro style QB, you are correct as well. They are going to have to look west to find a pro style QB. Mike Johnson was that QB years ago and he was the last one the school had. Getsy was a solid pro style QB, but we really didn't run a true pro style with JD. I make fun of the fact that half of the NFL QBs starting on Sundays aren't any good. How could many of them? The current landscape of high school and college football is full of spread offenses and the players are not prepared for the NFL. It's neither right nor wrong, it just is. A lot of HS QBs are prepared for college because they are prepared in HS for college spread offenses. NFL GMs need to do a better job of finding talented college QBs who may not come from a pro style offense. You really should contact the NFL and tell them about this. I think they already know and aren't certain what they can really do about it. Well, actually, there is something they can do. They should start a minor league system for the NFL and stop using college football as their minor league, but that will never happen.

Umm..You may have forgotten about Auburn. Thought they were in Mississippi. Ever hear of the Egg Bowl? That some kind of omelet? No, it's the yearly clash of SEC West midgets..... Miss vs. Miss State. Let's not forget So. Miss.

Good post as usual. Are you saying that the 1.8 yards per carry rushing game we have isn't going to fool anyone in play action passes? In terms of finding a pro style QB, you are correct as well. They are going to have to look west to find a pro style QB. Mike Johnson was that QB years ago and he was the last one the school had. Getsy was a solid pro style QB, but we really didn't run a true pro style with JD. I make fun of the fact that half of the NFL QBs starting on Sundays aren't any good. How could many of them? The current landscape of high school and college football is full of spread offenses and the players are not prepared for the NFL. It's neither right nor wrong, it just is. A lot of HS QBs are prepared for college because they are prepared in HS for college spread offenses. NFL GMs need to do a better job of finding talented college QBs who may not come from a pro style offense.

Umm..You may have forgotten about Auburn. Thought they were in Mississippi. Ever hear of the Egg Bowl?

Two points: 1. I could really care less about what happened in Can't however long ago that was now. It is not a news story. 2. If Bohner and Co. are elected, it will be only a change in stupidity. We are going to trade one for another. Rub one out while it's still legal. I'm suspect Z.I.P. will agree when I say the truth is out there for everyone to see. The problem with crazy people like Palin, the nut woman from Nevada running for Senate and the nut woman from DE running for Senate is they are caught on camera saying some really strange things. When asked about it, the say they never said it, when in fact there is a video of them saying it. They are all just a bunch of crazies telling lies. Andrew Sullivan has an interesting series on his blog titled, "The Strange Lies of Sarah Palin"...or something like that. If you read her history, you would see how crazy and dishonest she in fact is. The woman is absolutely a crazy person. I find it hard to believe any of them can get elected to office. The one with the best chance is the nut from Nevada. Las Vegas has been severely hurt by the economic downturn. Conventions are how they survive and Obama, because he really knows not much about anything especially as it relates to business, said companies should stop going to Vegas It is one of the more stupid things he believes. If this nut woman has a decent ad person at all, there will be an ad about this issue making Reid the guy who stands behind the guy who helped destroy their convention business....there would be some truth in that. Run it non stop the last three days before the election.

I really don't know what Nicely does when he is not playing football and I really don't care because what someone does in his personal life is his business. The following concerns me. Less than 200 yards in a game in 2010 is unacceptable. Less than 50% completion percentage is unacceptable. Not knowing a game situation when being sacked in the endzone is unacceptable. Three ints is unacceptable. Statistics aside, can anyone tell me what his win/loss record is as a starting QB? That's all you need to know. I realize it isn't all on the QB, but it is the most important position in football and the job isn't getting done. InTheZone is right....at the end of this season, they need to find a replacement for him.

I agree. The game last night matched up OK State against LaLaf. LaLaf looks like a MAC school and the games would be good because the equal level of player talent would create better competition. State had better players, especially #81, and was able to win on talent alone....How hard was it for the State Ocoordinator to call that game...."Tell #81 to run as fast as he can and just throw the ball in the air in his general direction." We can't compete at the BCS level, but we can compete against CUSA and SunBelt teams. I'll say it again. One BCS money game (25% of ooc schedule) Two non-BCS D-1A teams (50% of ooc schedule) One I-AA team (25% of ooc schedule). The loss this year was a fluke. There are sports programs at UofA who wouldn't dare to play an ooc schedule as difficult as the one I just described, let alone the level of difficulty the football team is playing this season. Let another program help pay for Title IX for a while and give the football team a break. That't the type of ooc schedule we should be playing. Three BCS schools a year (75% of ooc schedule) are killing the program. Starting out every year 1-3 or 0-4 is not helpful. Poor starts could still happen in my schedule, but much less likely. The Zips are set up for failure every year with our scheduling. We've been scheduling like this for too long and it isn't helping...it has to change.

Where is a broke college student to get beer money these days?

Respect is earned, not given. We are getting exactly the amount of respect we deserve.

Thanks for posting my thoughts from earlier this year, only with more detail added. There is no Brett Biggs on this team. Everyone is from this program and used to the losing. It was Biggs first year at UofA and the chronic losing had not taken hold yet. So GP1, by your logic, all the Freshmen and first-year starters are already used to losing because the Zips have not won yet? Don't we have something like 16 or 17 returning starters from last year. If two kids are playing on a playground, one good and one bad. Is the good kid more likely to become bad or the bad kid more likely to become good. In almost every case, the good kid becomes bad because it is easy to be bad. Losing is the bad kid. Good kids get around it and it is difficult to keep the good kid from becoming a loser. It happens very quickly.

Thanks for posting my thoughts from earlier this year, only with more detail added. There is no Brett Biggs on this team. Everyone is from this program and used to the losing. It was Biggs first year at UofA and the chronic losing had not taken hold yet.

Generally a very good post with thought provoking questions. With the current leadership, nothing will be built. Unless there are drastic changes at the end of this season, we are in for years of trouble. Does anyone have a plan for the program? Good question. The answer to that is yes. The plan was and is to build a new stadium and we would be good. Unfortunately, that plan appears to ill conceived because nobody has yet to figure out that stadiums and fieldhouses don't tackle anyone. I also think the plan was to hire a good coach by using our new facilities to attract a great candidate, so we make ours....I believe.....the third or fourth lowest paid coach (someone please check this, I could be wildly off) in the MAC. There was a plan, just not a good one. This is a name that never comes up, but it should. Dr. Proenza...he got us into this mess and he needs to get us out of it or he can go also. I'll give him this one mistake, but he needs to act quickly. There is an old business saying, "Fire quickly and hire slowly". I think it is a good fit for where we are right now. It isn't always a fit, but now it is. Anyone who has ever hired people makes a mistake hiring now and then...you just can't do it very often or you look like a bad manager.

Are you saying the ABJ jock sniffer would be in the best position to know if someone was scratching their balls?

No. I hate the idea of firing a coach after one year. I have no idea what his buyout would be though. If it is only one year and we are absolutely horrible at the end of the year, we should do it. iCoach is a pro style coach. That's fine, but it isn't what is needed at UofA. I don't think a coach can change his spots. A coach does what he does. iCoach doesn't do spread offense. He comes from ND and Wisconsin where they run pro style offenses. It's all he knows. He isn't going to change and we shouldn't ask him to change. We don't have time to wait and see if he can change. Time is not on the side of the Zips right now.

Is it OK if we just call you "smart". The types of fans you describe are actually the best type of fans because they won't support a bad product. If you pay money to go to one of these games, you are actually encouraging the University to continue along the path they are on. It's no different than someone in Pittsburgh paying to go see a Pirates game...it only encourages the team to continue to lose.

If the basketball team was in private business, would they get money for a new manufacturing facility? The answer to this question is no. Their existing factory is enough to support their manufacturing needs. When they prove they can sell out the JAR on a regular basis, they can have a new factory with more and better seats. Until then, enjoy the back pains that come with the JAR. In a sane and adult world, this is how it should be treated. If they Zips go off and sell out the JAR over and over again, by all means they should get a new arena. At the end of the day, I don't think TW has clue one as to how to start moving the ball forward on a new arena even if the Zips were selling out every game.

I agree. This was the year to make a splash. The three questions that needed answered coming into 2010 were: 1. Can Nicely throw the ball on target? 2. Can the new guy coach or is he just a recruiter? 3. Can this group of Zips find a heart. The answer to #1 is no. Just check the statistics. The answer to #2 is no. There was a good enough team to win this season regardless of how long the new coach has been around. The answer to #3 is no. Same guys....same losing mentality....the more things change the more they stay the same. 20+ years is enough.

At the rate we are going, it could be ten years. I'm not over exaggerating either. I can't see myself actually giving a crap more than two more years at this rate. It's just terrible. I love UofA, but I just can't take watching/following this football team much more. I've bee debating the past couple of years about what I should put my money towards at UofA. I don't see how my hard earned money given to the football program/athletic department is anything more than throwing good money down a hole. There are lots of causes at UofA I could give my money to. I'm going to have to start looking around. Have a nice evening.

They really beat some big time programs on their way to that 2-1 start. I have a tv just like you and it shows me the same thing it shows you. Illinois is a bad team and if that is the best they can do after two weeks to prepare, they are worse than what they showed yesterday. BZ, saying you understand football isn't the same thing as understanding football regardless of how much Tressel Punch you drink. I hope you don't take this too personally, but I don't think you know much about the game, what makes a good player, what good play calling is or what a good coach is. I read your posts...there is nothing there. Have a nice evening.

I'm not here to defend the coaches. Their pro style offense will never work here and the sooner they are gone the better...along with the guy who hired them, but the players need to show some pride in themselves. Move the freaking ball and stop the other guys every now and then. Why do you say that? Teams that win with pro style offenses have a lot of future pros on their team....Alabama is loaded and runs a pro style offense. They are loaded with future NFL stars. In the MAC, you get MAC talent. I don't think it takes much to make a bad team average or an average team good in college football. Success in the MAC can come from scoring a bunch of points and not shooting yourself in the foot on defense. If you can hang around long enough in a mac game, the other team will hand you the game. How do you get those points?...... CMU was very successful with the spread offense and a great QB the past four years. Cincy did the same thing in the Big East. Score a bunch of points and make teams in bad conferences try to match your point output. It's easier to do in the MAC and Big East than the major BCS conferences. CMU was unsuccessful in bowl games but beat the crap out of the MAC because the moved the ball in a spread offense. Cincy was exposed for being a fraud in the Sugar Bowl last year, but they killed a terrible Big East with the spread. I've said this before, Texas almost beat Alabama last year in the BCS Championship with an off the bench freshman QB. I see average teams win too much with the spread to think that it doesn't work. There are real reasons for the success as well....For example, it makes pass blocking schemes easier for linemen because it moves potential rushers away from the line. Same with the running game. If one OLineman makes a mistake, the whole line breaks down. Make an average line good by moving defenders away and eliminate confusion. The spread is actually a very simple offense that looks complicated. If there was a book about explaining the spread, it would be called, "Offense for Dummies". The Zips don't have time to assemble a team that would be able to run a pro offense and finish any higher than second place in the MAC East. It will take years and by then the coach will have turned over twice already. It just isn't a reality. The reality is, the spread offense turns programs around fast because it doesn't take as many pieces and parts to be successful. A pro style offense takes a lot of good players. The Zips need to win now, not 8 years from now. If we look around at teams that run pro style offenses in the midwest, how successful are they? Wisconsin?....Nice team, but the saying, "Always a bridesmaid and never a bride" comes to mind. Chronic second and third place Big Ten team. Pitt?....Third place Big East. Iowa?....Lost to Arizona who if my memory is correct, is an average team that has become good by running a spread offense. Notre Dame under Weiss?...Hello Kansas City. Stanford is having success with a pro style offense out west, but I'm not sure if they will fall into the Wisconsin and Pitt trap or not. Time will tell with them and they already play in a league with pro style offenses being played around them such as at USC. They crushed Oregon today, but I suspect Oregon will lose more by the end of the year. The spread offense isn't for everyone, but if you want to go from being poor to at least average (we would probably take that right now) or average to good, the spread has been shown to work in the MAC. We are a MAC team and we need to do what works in the MAC. I'm sold...you're hired. (dead serious) Send in your resume, you can be my #1 assistant. I'd like to add more evidence to how effective the spread is with a QB that can run. Please do not take this as an opportunity to start the UofA vs. tOSU argument. It really makes a good point about how the spread offense takes average-good players and makes them good-great. If you are offended and want to continue to read, insert Team X for tosu and you will feel better. Insert "Joe Smith" for Pryor. Pryor was churning out a ton of yards yesterday and tosu was on their way to a blowout of a hapless Illinois team. His yards were gained out of a spread formation running the read option, not from under center. Then Pryor gets hurt and really couldn't run...same guy, no wheels. It was shocking how fast tosu changed into a very average offense at that point. All of the sudden, their RBs couldn't get yards...the Oline didn't look as good.....Pryor wasn't quite as good of a passer as he is when the threat of running is there....their WRs became EXTREMELY average. Pryor is the difference between tosu finishing first in the Big Ten or third. Without Pryor, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and maybe MSU are all better teams than tosu. College football is a team sport, but if you can just find a couple of the right pieces, you can be very good very fast. Bad analogy. You are wrong on many fronts here. I will not point them out, because I don't want to start that argument, but you would be better to use a DickRod coached team without Denard Robinson as your example. Actually, I am exactly right and anyone who saw the game yesterday who knew anything at all about college football would agree. A lot was exposed for tosu yesterday. With that said, Michigan is the other team that would be a good example. I would agree. Michigan is .500 without Robinson....at best.