GP1

Could be or should be? Any team in the country could be 9-2 right now. Any team in the country could be just about any record depending on the number of games they play. The fact is we are right now a five win team. After all the injuries they have had, I am surprised they have five wins right now.

It is true that everyone is sick of it. It is also true that this has been going on long before JD got here. It is in fact the story of UofA football since 1987.

Ashland LosesSince we always have to read about when things go well for Owens on this board, I thought I might post this article. It sort of reminds me of an old saying, "Always a bridesmaid and never a bride." I really don't wish the guy ill, he is where he belongs.

Good mock conversation. I look forward to the final chapter.In my opinion, a lot rides on next week for JD. As I have been posting for three years now, the 3-3-5 defense is junk and the injuries to the DL this year are really starting to become magnified. The defense falls apart every year towards the end of the season because the small players used to play it are too small and beaten up to stop anyone. Throw in the fact that a bunch of young players are playing and the disaster that happened yesterday should be no surprise. I didn't see the game yesterday as I was busy watching Wake Forest continue their late season slide, but my guess is the game went something like this....Step 1: OU calls a play for their option offense.Step 2: Jim Flemming signals in his best guess for the 3-3-5 defense. After all, the 3-3-5 is a guessing game.Step 3: The ball gets snapped and the OU qb gets to see UofA's guess.Step 4: The OU qb adjusts based upon our guess.Step 5: Referee signals first and ten.I want JD to stick around next season under one condition. The 3-3-5 defense has to go. I predicted Akron would go 5-7 this season. If they give up 49 again next week, my prediction will unfortunately be correct. I want badly to be wrong. If they lose again next week, the conversation should sound like this:Mack: "JD, three loses in a row. I need you to make a decision right here and now. Will you get rid of the 3-3-5 defense?"If anything other than "yes" comes out of JD's mouth, he gets the boot. If not, he stays for another year.

There is an old saying, "You make hay when the sun is up."The sun is up for Coach Kelly and he should mow it down now. He has no ties to Cincinnati and Tennessee could easily buy out a million dollar contract. Take the money and run Coack Kelly. Cincinnati is as good now as it is ever going to be and one bad year and people will be calling for your head. There is too much upside for Tennessee at this point to pass up the job. God knows Tennessee couldn't get any worse. Tennessee vs. Cincinnati.....SEC vs Big East.......Southern weather vs. northern weather.......Smokey Mountains vs Ohio River..... SEC Bowls are better than the Big East Bowls..... I could go on but willl not. There really is no contest here. Go to Tennessee Coach Kelly. If you don't, you are not as smart as I think you are and I think you are a pretty smart guy.

It's OK to admit that you were wrong..... Really, it is OK.Kest is exactly what this program needed. Out with the losers and in with those who want to win. Great job lady Zips!

What do you call the MAC Championship against the best team in the league that year. He also beat the same team earlier in the season. How soon you guys forget when it doesn't meet your argument. I guess that's why the saying, "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good argument" exists.

It's great you guys are going to this game. I saw Pitt vs. UCONN a couple of years ago there and it is a great place to watch a BB game. The arena is the perfect size to make every seat a good seat.

I would like to say that I feel bad this is the last game at the RB, but I really can not. The place has been an anchor around the neck of this program for years and it saw beter days long before I was born in 1969. Saying goodbye to the RB is like saying goodbye to a car with 200,000 miles on it the day you bought your new car. There is only excitment about the future. Goodbye to the RB and good riddance. I am much more worried about winning tonight. Regardless of the last game or not, the Zips need to focus on winning. I am at the airport now on my way to a hunting trip in Colorado where I will have not TV or phone service until Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing the results when I get back to Denver on Sunday. Good luck Zips and you guys have fun at the game tonight. See everyone next week.

There is only one place to go for pre-game fun.....Peter's Pub.

Thanks to the ABJ for their bottomless supply of laughter filled reporting. See paragraph #2. If you are not already on your way to the RB, you had better get moving. You don't want to miss a play of tonights game. :blink:

Virgil Starks was a GA on the football team when I played. Along with a guy named Chris Ball, now secondary coach at Washington State, made a great pair. There was another guy named Rusty Bourne who never got into coaching after Akron and has sort of vanished. Virgil and Rusty went to college together at Rhodes College in Tennessee.Virgil spent many years at UofA in departments other than Athletics. Some of you may remember him as the graduatioin marshal who used to yell at everyone on graduation day for not being able to line up correctly in Memorial Hall.The last time I saw Virgil was with his wife (an Akron native) at Annabells (sp?) at Highland Square a couple of days before their move to Alabama. He was in great spirits.This is sad news.

The MAC is having one of the best years in history. Enjoy it while it lasts. The Big Ten is just a pathetic conference at this point and I don't really see it getting better in the foreseeable future. The Big Ten games ESPN shows at noon on Saturdays are almost unwatchable."The joke of college football is the Big Ten, and Ohio State is the punchline" - Kirk Herbstreit after the OSU vs USC game.

Stop making sense. A team like Walsh should never outANYTHING a D-1A school as it relates to basketball. I have no problem if they can outSAT Score us, but anything involving athletics should be a hands down win for UofA.I don't want to hear the excuse that this was an early season game either. It's early season for Walsh also. UofA gave up 81 points to an NAIA team. That's terrible.I will be going to two early season games and I hope to God I don't have to watch the Zips get beat badly. We are going into the 2008-2009 season, not waiting around for the 2009-2010 season. There are tickets sold and games to be played. Get freaking winning. Good day!

Stop making sense ZT11! In most years, the MAC is Dollar General. This year, it is a little better than that, but not much...I'd call it "Army/Navy Store".

Allow me to take a more realistic look at this schedule.BG - LossBuffalo - WinIowa - LossSyracuse -WinUSF - LossNavy - LossRutgers - LossNortre Dame - LossLouisville - WinCincinnati - LossWVU - LossConnecticut - LossEnjoy that 3-9 season. We could throw in a loss against Pitt if we want to as well in the annual Toilet Bowl. That's OK though, we could spend the next 20 years "building" the program up to a consistent 5-6 wins per season. In 20 years, we could get the BB program back to an NIT participant as well. Man, that's exciting to think of. Just think of how crowded InfoCision Stadium would be. When do we get started?

Can't 106.9 take a break from playing Led Zeplin and Pink Floyd for a few hours a year to air the Zips?

Good timing on this topic. I was thinking the same thing yesterday. Yes, this is the best year ever for the MAC. Considering the league has been around since 1946, that isn't saying much. Time shows that it could be a few years before the league is this good again. As far as Big East basketball and the Zips, we would get absolutely killed. The Zips have five good players. Big East teams have eight good players and two great players and three other guys who never get in who would get playing time for the Zips. There is no comparison between Big East bb and fb. They are one of the best if not the best BB conference.

I thought the same thing. The real question is how serious would a team need to be about him to take him.DK is a solid player, but his biggest down fall as it would relate to an NFL team would be his being often injured. The shoulder injuries would be especially problematic for a team because that is the first thing to go on an NFL RB. Teams need guys who suit up each week and perform at a very high level even when they are injured.

Screw that. This is KD's 5th season and we're 3 points better than an NAIA team? We need to get rid of our coaching staff and find some retread coach who failed as a BCS school. We also need to strongly consider dropping back to the NAIA level where we can be competitive. Is it too late to do this for the 2008-9 season? We also need to get the "money games" (ie. Pitt) off our schedule. They are unwinnable, and kill our chances for any at-large tourney berths. Anyone who thinks this is overreacting is a fool. We need to make changes NOW! The Germans started with France. The Russians started with Czechoslovakia. I'm telling you we need to react NOW!Until we win a game or two. Then we need to extend the coach's contract, and begin membership negotiations with a "major" conference.Sincerely,The Football BoardDon't forget the always popular phrase that nobody really knows what it means,"It's clear from last nights performance that the coach has lost this team."

I don't know about the seat, but if anyone could go take an electronic photo of the doorless bathroom stall in the mens room of the pressbox side and get it to me, it would be greatly appreciated.Upstairs (outside) or the one below the seats?Below.

I don't know about the seat, but if anyone could go take an electronic photo of the doorless bathroom stall in the mens room of the pressbox side and get it to me, it would be greatly appreciated.

This program has come a long way. Three things happened last night that changed momentum in favor of UT and in the past would have cost the Zips the game and they didn't.The first was the Jacq int. It was a horrible pass into five defenders in the Red Zone. Jacq was playing great until then and when a QB is playing great, the Red Zone actually becomes The Garden of Eden. See, sometimes when a QB is playing well, he thinks he can do anything so he forces things in the Red Zone because the temptation is so great.... That's why it was the Garden of Eden. Jacq couldn't keep himself from going for the end zone resulting in taking a bite from the forbidden tree. Luckily, God took it much easier on Jacq than Adam and Eve. How did Jacq respond? He shook off the mistake and played well throughout the remainder of the game. Years ago, the team would have found a way to lose after that mistake.The second was the personal foul giving UT a first down after an incomplete pass on 3rd and 12. UT scored a TD on that drive and I told my wife, "this is how the Zips lose". Not long ago, that would have been a back breaker for the Zips and it wasn't. UT had a lot of momentum then and the Zips broke it. I don't think #67 saw the field after that.Lastly, the Zips of the past would have never broken the momentum UT had after the above paragraph. Last night they did. Pinky's TD late was a back breaker and years ago, the Zips would have missed a FG or something late to keep UT in the game. I think we are watching a program grow up right before our eyes.

You are 100% correct. I watched Buffalo play Tuesday night. While they are a good team, they are not nearly at the same level as say a Ball State. I was expecting more out of Buffalo than what I saw. If the Zips play the way they did last night, they win next week.

While I only watched the game on TV last night, I heard two funny things and I wanted to see if anyone heard anything more funny.When ESPN showed a profile shot of Toledo Tom, my wife said, "Is Toledo Tom 36 months pregnant or what?" Toledo Tom has earned a lot of respect and has been generally good for the MAC and UT. He should check himself into a fat farm for six months when he retires so he can live a long happy life.The second funny thing was not really one comment, but the ongoing comments of Donnan doing color for ESPNU. For those of you who recorded the game, listen to his second half. I would bet $100 the guy was a drunk as a skunk. He was making no sense at the end of the game.