GP1

7-5 in the MAC is 9-3 at a BCS school. Throw out two guaranteed losses for two guaranteed wins like BCS schools do and you increase the wins by two. MAC schools guarantee losses for money to sustain their athletic departments. BCS schools guarantee wins for money was well, but the money they are looking for comes from packed stadiums with guaranteed wins against lesser competition, bowl money and the alumni support that comes from going to bowls. That which goes on in college football really isn't that difficult to figure out.Does anyone really think a MAC school can sustain 9 win seasons year in and year out in the current college football climate? I think the historical record shows different. Save me the new facilities nonsense, the new stadium has only been open for a month and at one time everyone in the MAC had a new stadium yet they all go through more periods of sucking than being good. Marshall won in the MAC and their school is in Huntington, WV....anyone who has ever been there knows what a dump the place is yet they won. Did Marshall have a new indoor practice facility or did they have chronic winners playing for them? I know they had chronic winners but I'm not sure about the facilities.One solution is to eliminate the money games, play I-AA teams at least twice and cupcake D-1A teams. The Zips can not continue to play three BCS conference teams a year...the risk of losing is too great. If we did that, I would expect nine wins a year. Until then, 7 wins is the benchmark for a good season.Anyone who thought any MAC team would be more than 1-3 at this point with the schedule the Zips have played is fooling themselves. I did think we could rally late after the first four, but I didn't figure losing our senior QB before the rally, the playcalling that got Shame fired from Miami (although this shoud have been obvious to me) or a QB coach that is hanging around until the end of the season so he can retire back to Pittsburgh (should have also been obvious to me looking back now). The Zips are in heap big trouble. The Zips badly need to schedule differently unless they really need the huge paydays.

CMichFan,Please don't let the fact get in the way of a good argument.Also, when you see Dan, please tell him the Great GP1 is not interested in autographing a keyboard for him. I just don't have time to send him a note.

It's because buildings don't win games. There has been an arms race in the NCAA over the past few years. We were just part of the arms race and not operating in a vacuum.Getting back to the main point. 7-5 is a good MAC season. A senior QB would help right now but we all know how that went....Jacq was sent back to the mean streets of Mentor and we were left with our mess. Rodgers had been playing college football for three years now I think and he looks as if he will never be able to play. "Growers" beware, Rodgers isn't going to grow into anything.

Just wait until Burger King gets their hands on them....

I thought I posted something about this this morning, but it must not have taken. This post has nothing to do with the QB situation.Prevailing fan logic about red shirts is that they are always good and players are better because of them. When words like "burning" are used, it is being used in a negative manner. When prevailing fan logic is one way, GP1 usually goes the other way. For example, when the fans yell, "Go for it" on fourth and four, GP1 yells, "Punt. Don't listen to the crowd, they've been drinking all day". I always laugh when announcers say, "The fans want them to go for it". Of course they do, they are impaired by alchol. Here we go. Red shirts are on scout team. Players on scout team do not get much individual attention and do not develop during the season. Being red shirted can stunt their growth and in some ways harm their development when bad habbits are developed, etc. Players develop by playing them in games. When a player is on scout team, there is no telling how he will do in a game. Red shirts are not always good.If a player can play, then play him. The people of Ohio are paying too much for our guys to go to school not to use them if they can help win.

I've worked in the construction industry a long time... {Moderator Edit: Off color ethnic comment removed after several complaints. Please refrain from this behavior}

I thought this was JD's plan for the bye week..... I bet it is to polish up his resume and network some.

Charlie Frye? How many Championships did Frye win at UofA? The career LeFevour has has at CMU dwarfs what Frye did at UofA.As far as Boo Jackson, while the Great GP1 does know everyone in addition to knowing everything, Boo has not contacted me. I didn't go looking from the note from Dan, he sent it to me.

Why are there some people obsessed with not burning red shirts? One year on scout team can do more to hurt a player than help their development. Players on scout team get very little instruction from the coaches and can lose more ability than develop.These kids make thousands a year in scholarships. Use them.

This logic is interesting to me. The logic is if there were leftover LO players then the team isn't his. OK then, JD has only been the coach for two or three years now and he should get three more years to make the team "his". Everyone should read that last sentence out loud to see if you feel stupid or not after reading it. How come the 2006 and 2007 teams wouldn't be his as well? Weren't there LO players left over at that time as well. The truth is, they were his teams. Brett Biggs, a JD recruit, was the reason they won the MAC. Luke Getsy played a huge part in them winning the MAC....Luke didn't transfer to UofA because of the nice climate. Alleman didn't transfer because of the nice climate as well. Kemme was a JD recruit and part of that team. JD rescued Hixon from LO's defense and put him on offense then turned him into an NFL WR....Owens didn't do that and JD should get the credit.As far as the players, did Owens produce an NFL player in his first five years? Taylor, but Faust recruited him. I really don't remember one, but they were all so easy to forget. Alleman is an NFL player. The Browns have a Zip on their team. Corner is there. Would Blackburn be in the NFL without JD?...there is no answer to that but it is always nice to have a coach and group of coaches who know NFL coaches.After this season there will be a new coach. We need one. I fully expect the team to be his on day one. There is enough talent to win and to put off winning for two or three years until the team is "his" is just stupid. I just hope the players don't throw temper tantrums and leave the team after he gets canned.Seriously guys, you don't have to come up with strange intellectual gyrations to justify firing JD. It's a waste of time. He isn't doing anything with the talent he has and will be canned at the end of the season. All the coachers will be happy until the Zips lose a game next year then they will all be back with the same logic.

When things get this bad, there is never one single problem. JD is not THE problem, but he is a big part of the problem. There is a lot of blame to go around, but the buck stops with him. He has eight more weeks to get six more wins.....

Oh, that's real classy CMichFan. I would expect that out of a school that produced a QB that passed along a letter to me to forward to one of our posters today. You can see it on another thread started by GP1. You're all a real class bunch. Learn to win with class. Your QB should be out studying...instead, he is writing letters to be posted on this board.

I agree. She is climbing the Mt. Everest of coaching problems and I think she is doing a good job. Hopefully the new AD shows some patience with her. Six years with JD is enough. JK should get at least nine.

I'm not worried about Zeke and bad passes...he'll be too busy dunking on the horrible players that the MAC call "centers" to pass. I'm not worried about him missing layups....he's 7' tall and should be getting dunks. Zeke is a HS All-American and will lay waste to this horrible conference.

Maybe my memory isn't what it use to be, but wasn't Brett Biggs #34?

Like I said, don't shoot the deliveryman.

In addition to knowing everything, the Great GP1 knows everybody. I mentioned couple of week ago that Dan LeFevour sent me an e-mail saying after the UofA vs. CMU game he was going to send me a letter to forward to Captain Kangaroo. Apparently he was upset that CK called him overrated. I logged onto my e-mail and found the letter below from Dan addressed to CK with a request to post it on ZipsNaton.org. Below is that note with my commentary after. Don’t shoot the deliveryman. Central Michigan UniversityDan LeFevourAttention: Football OfficesMount Pleasant, MI 48859September 27, 2009ZipsNation.orgAttention: Mr. Captain KangarooAkron, OH 44325Dear Mr. Kangaroo,Suck it.Sincerely, Dan LeFevourQuarterbackCentral Michigan UniversityThis letter throws me into a whirlwind of emotions and confusion. I’ll start with the emotions first.I’m absolutely appalled that a D-1A QB would send out a letter to a fan board owner. I would think Dan would not have the time on his hands to do this. The coaches should take immediate disciplinary action and make certain this does not happen again. He should just keep his mouth shut and play football. You won Dan, now walk away with some class.The other emotion is actually positive. When I was growing up, young people did not call their elders by their first names the way they do today. They called them Mr. or Mrs. It’s nice to see that Dan respects his elder in Captain Kangaroo enough to call him Mr. Kangaroo. I guess that is a positive in Dan’s favor. As a sidebar, I would be interested in knowing if the word "Captain" was earned in the military (please site branch) or if Captain Kangaroo has some eccentric parents who handed out strange first names. Let's get back to the letter though.My confusion lies in the body of the letter. I think we all know what suck means. It's a verb and a pretty easy to understand verb. The confusion is in what “it” means. I would expect a college senior to be able to write a letter with much more clarity than what we have been provided. Clearly he is not an English major. At this point we are left in a state of confusion and can only speculate as to what “it” means. I have some ideas below, but it is only speculation.Maybe “it” means his two MAC Championship rings. I don’t think that is the case though. If it was, the word usage is all wrong. “It” is singular and since Dan has two championships, the sentence would need to be, “Suck them.” "Them" being the plural in reference to his two MAC Championship rings. Maybe he was just referring to his two championships, but again it would say “Suck them” in lieu of “Suck it”.“It” could also mean his Motor City Bowl MVP Award. I doubt this as we had a game against them yesterday and that game was a long time ago and the Zips did not even play them.“It” could also mean his MAC Freshman of the Year Award, but I don’t think that is the case for the same reasoning as the previous paragraph.“It” could also mean his 2007 MAC Offensive Player of the Year Award. 2007 was a lot closer than 2006, but this also does not fit as well.Against Michigan State, Dan surpassed Byron Leftwich as the #1 all time total offense producer in the history of the MAC. Maybe he was referring to this record when he wrote “it”. With several games remaining in his college career, I don’t think he would have been referring to this record.One year he passed for over 3,000 yards and ran for over 1,000 yards being only the second player in NCAA history to do so. Vince Young was the first. I also do not believe the word “it” is in reference to this award. Dan doesn’t seem like the kind of player who is concerned with personal records.LeFevour has a career passer rating going into this season at 138.8. He also had 72 passing TDs and 32 rushing TDs going into the 2009 campaign (that’s 624 points, but who’s counting). Maybe the word “it” is in reference to one of these statistics. Again, I doubt that because I don’t think he is concerned about personal statistics.I’ve run out of ideas as to what “it” means in his letter. If anyone can help, I’m listening. Please don’t shoot the deliveryman. If I receive any more letters from Dan, I will be sure to forward them to the board.

No I don't. Thank you for your opinion. I will take it into consideration the same way I take all the other opinions on this board. This board loves my opinions....they may not like them, but everyone responds to them one way or another. The board would be borring without the Great GP1.I'm off to the Zac Brown Band concert.

Are you sure it isn't that there are a bunch of lazy people working at Sporting News, who really don't know about the teams they are ranking because they don't have time to research 50 teams, looking at the field of 64 from last year and placing them somewhere between 1 and 64?Grow that....

The answer is to bring in players who are motivated by winning. Spend time interviewing kids about their views on winning instead of showing them buildings and hoping they turn into something. Treat recruiting somewhat as an interview process. Coaches run around offering scholarships these days without ever talking to players because the NCAA forbids it. It's insane. Bring in players who were on winning teams in high school. Don't bring in players who are motivated by playing in a shiny new stadium or fieldhouse. New facilities are pretty, but they don't win....just like the players who are motivated to come to UofA because of them. If facilities are so important, how come we have a successful soccer and basketball program? I think the coaches of these teams bring in players who are focused on winning and not looking nice in their new stadium/fieldhouse. The soccer field and the JAR are substandard yet we win.I hope this simple logic as not too difficult for you to understand.

Insert GP1 foolproof Browns/Zips fan logic and you will have the answer.There is a reason Jacq was the starter....he was the best player. There is a reason Rodgers is number two...he is better than number three.If you lose your starting QB in the MAC for any reason, you're finished. The Zips are finished.

Maybe, but IU still had a long way to go late with a poor QB.Just goes to show that IU is a better team than thought. IU is good enough to go bowling.

Rankings mean nothing. It is what goes on on the court that makes a team a national power. Winning the MAC is a good start, but they need to win an NCAA game. Right now, they are not even close to becoming a national power. I go to ACC basketball games....they have national powers playing. I can assure you UofA basketball is many years away from getting to that point. I do enjoy their success, but I can't kid myself.

Why would any Akron or any school want to pigeonhole a sport. This thinking is backwards and should never be adapted as part of any strategy. Every great program at any school has cycles of great and down years. The big schools cycles are shorter. Any coach and AD should never be satisfied with one "great" program. We should in fact strive to dominate the MAC in all sports. Dr. Proenza And Tom Wistrcill said as much.I'd love us to be great in every sport as well. I just don't think it realistic. Right now, our best sports program is soccer. It is a low cost sport and something we can be great at with limited resources.

As an Ohio State fan who has seen real "out of control" behavior, I hope you have laughed in the face of anyone inferring the Zips football program is "out of control." The Zips starting QB was kicked off the team. That's disappointing, but hardly unheard of in college athletics. Indiana's starting QB was kicked off the Hoosier squad this summer. It happens. Maybe it stands out because JD has had so few character issues during his tenure?The "recruiting violation" will prove to be irrelevant. Take this to the bank -- the infraction alleged against the program has Z-E-R-O chance of losing a single scholarship. It has a realistic chance of generating no penalty whatsoever. The mainstream media sickend me with their portrayal of the Zips program this past week. Most lumped the alleged infraction along with the QB story to make it appear a coach paid the QB cash. I know this because I heard it 4 times before 9am at work Thursday, and from several people at my bowling league Thursday night. I hope when this plays-out, if the program is found clean, that the media goes after that story with as much zeal as it did with their misleading headlines last week.*Note* - This will likely be the last time I comment on this situation until the investigation is completed. The Zips problem is stopping the run with the 3-3-5. And moving the chains on offense. The other stuff is all BS. As GP1's tag line says -- "...you want it to be one way, but it's the other."CK is on fire today."The program is out of control" is the cry of idiotic sports fans around the county because it gives a person a tag line for why they should fire someone. JD should be fired for one reason and one reason only....the team isn't winning with a great deal of good MAC talent. Like CK said, play physical and stop the run. Play physical and get yards on first down.Walt Harris is working at UofA because he bought a century home in Pittsburgh that is being gutted and fixed up. He needs somewhere to live and something to do for a year. Whether JD is here or not next year, Harris will not be. You don't fix up a century home in Pittsburgh to live in Akron. Harris could consult for the Steelers or something once he gets back to Pittsburgh. He is also older than he looks and may be able to retire.