GP1

Good day for Steelers fans yesterday. Beating Cleveland has almost gotten boring. The most funny thing to watch was a Cleveland team winning 21-9 at half come out and lose a game they clearly should have won because of all the big plays they made. Their body language looked like somehow they knew they were going to lose.The sporting lesson here is that winners win and loser lose.Cleveland still has a good and improving team though. DA may not be perfect, but he makes the Browns a better team as he makes the players around him better. Since the NFL is so bad, the Browns could win nine games with him this year.Why is this thread still alive again?

Temple goin' nuts!! Hit the nail on the head CK. I can't believe I'm about to type this again, but the future of MAC football is in Philadelphia at Temple. The brilliant and well hung GP1 with his movie star good looks was the first to post here weeks ago that Temple has a chance to dominate the MAC within three years. Temple will be the next Marshall, but with the potential to be even better. That school has a good geographical area to recruit from, they play in an NFL stadium, they have a huge population base to draw fans from, the school has played big time football in the past so they know what it takes and it is in one of the largest cities in the US so the kids have plenty to do when they are there. The campus is in a bad part of town, but so is Akron.Whatever stadium we build will be dwarfed, as well as every other MAC stadium, in comparison to the stadium Temple offers.I notice Temple is drawing a lot of "urban" players. They are accustomed to keeping at risk kids eligible with a big time basketball program and should be able to do it for football as well. We worry about recruiting "good kids" or "good students" or whatever anyone wants to call them. I call them future losers.The thing I notice, outside of the fact that there are slim pickings, about the Zips is one of the players is named Harvey. Any relation?If JD is banking the future of the program on kids from NE Ohio and western PA, that will be a disaster. NE Ohio and WPIAL high school football is a shell of what it was 20-30 years ago. Once the major conference programs finish picking through the better players, there is little quality left.

you mean after the signal?Does Dr Z stand for Dr. Zapruder?

That offense never put up points when it mattered. Winters is not the answer.The only "Akron guy" qualified to coach the team is Mike Johnson. He is a former QB and the WR coach for the Ravens. Zero college experience. NFL position coaches make in the neighborhood of $250,000 to $400,000 per year. He would laugh at the salary.

Last night showed the type of coach JD can be. He is indeed a good coach and the best we have had, by far, during the D 1-A era. The consistency of the team will improve with the consistency of the coaching.The offense was much more excitiing to watch last night. With the exception of the interception, CJ11 looked good (Note to CJ11: When blocking, use the left side of your body). Maybe the foot in the @$$ last week was what he need to snap him out of whatever funk he was in. The play calling was much different and had OU off balance most of the night.Player development. This coaching staff has taken a young offensive line and turned it into a solid group that is only going to get better in the future. There should be more posted on this board about the improvement in the OL this season compared to last. The coaching staff has recognized it is a young group and has changed blocking schemes to help them. That's good coaching. I hope I can say the same thing next year about the secondary.Leadership. JD figured out this year that it isn't the NFL. In the NFL, the players lead the team. In college, they players are too young to really lead a team and need an "adult" to lead them. JD has to continue to do what he did last night.Recruiting. JD does the job he is asked to do recruiting. He goes after good players and brings good players to Akron. JD can't coach, watch film, recruit, fundraise, etc. and be a tutor to the players. He needs the University to make a commitment to helping him retain the players he brings in with a good academic support program.Staff. The pay at Akron is horrible for assistants. When Jim Prye leaves Akron to go coach tight ends at Illinois and makes more money than JD, there is a problem funding good coaches. 2-3 coaches will leave at the end of the year again this year.I like JD. I want him to stay and be successful. I don't think any of us agree with 100% of what he does. Some on this board wanted to run him out after his first five games at UofA and won't give him credit for doing anything. That's fine, but that thinking is sad on many levels. JD isn't some salesman who just walked off the street and got the job at Akron. He has NFL and major college coaching experience under his belt and knows more football than all of us put together. We are lucky to at least have someone here with that experience. Does that make me a JD apologist? Maybe......If so, I can live with it.Good job last night JD!

Here is something we have not seen much of this year after halftime. The first three times OU had the ball after half, the following happened.First, three plays for seven yards resulting in a punt followed by an Akron TD.Second, three plays for two yards resulting in a punt and then an Akron INT.Third, 4 plays for one yard followed by an OU FG. Good job not allowing a TD after a turnover.Akron gave up some points later, but when they needed it, the defense came through and slowed OU. The defense gave the offense the ball in positons to make plays and win the game. I give this defense a lot of crap, butt in this case, I have say good job guys.

Can I get a report on the door, or lack of door, in the home side bathroom stall for men?I plan on never stepping foot in the Rubber Bowl again in my life. However, this bathroom stall will be my most lasting memory of the Rubber Bowl. If anyone out there could do me a favor and take a picture of this stall (only if there is not door on it), and e-mail it to me, there will be a special place for that photo in my bonus room. Please make certain the bathroom is empty when you do this as I do not want anyone to go to jail for taking photos in a public restroom.

But can he catch? We all know he has a bit of trouble holding on to the ball.Beat me to the punch........He can't even catch the ball coming slowly from between the center's legs. I don't think CJ can be turned into a Nick Sparks. Sparks was one of the better "athletes" to play for Akron. Switching positions is not easy.

I thought the same thing. It was an interesting move by JD. I'm not sure if it was by design or the fact that he felt a change was needed. If by design, he was playing one one quarter and the other the second. He went with the hot hand in the second half and it worked out. I have to admit that CJ11 played much better than CJ7 last night.Why was CJ7 taken out? You can't be serious. If Fumbles Mc Lollypop had stayed in that game for 15 more minutes I guarantee the final score would have been reversed. Thank God the plug got pulled before the damage was worse.Easy Capt.....I understand he was under performing. I just thought it was an interesting move. JD normally doesn't move that quickly on something like that.I'm just curious if that was the plan or not.I agree that JD made the right move when he did.

I thought the same thing. It was an interesting move by JD. I'm not sure if it was by design or the fact that he felt a change was needed. If by design, he was playing one one quarter and the other the second. He went with the hot hand in the second half and it worked out. I have to admit that CJ11 played much better than CJ7 last night.Last night was probably the best coached game since the MACC. Offense moved the ball and the defense changed coverages the second half and played much better.

Did anyone else get a season ticket mailer to day? Second round of mailers to non-basketball season ticket holders?

Let it go everyone. Four full pages is enough on a meaningless issue.

http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/zips/Here is a link to Rasor's blog. Sort of toward the bottom of the first topic, there is a strange note in there about a University administrator hooking up a hidden camera in a female dorm bathroom. Sickening.......My only question would be whether it is an Athletic Department employee or another department? Rasor normally writes about sports, but this doesn't seem like something someone from the Athletic Department would do or have access to doing.If this is true, the pervert who did it should go to jail.

sgm405,There isn't a single poster on this board who took more crap since Frye's senior season than the great GP1. You should try to be as gracious and magnanimous as the great GP1. Believe me, I knew then I was right and I know now I'm right. No need to rub it in.You deserved the crap when discussing Frye's senior year or any other year for that matter. Just look how atrocius the The University of Akron's QB situation has become in three short years. On any scale, CF was infinitly better than what we have now.One of those QBs played a great game when it mattered and won the MACC. It's not that Frye is a bad QB, he just isn't a winner and the numbers prove it.

sgm405,There isn't a single poster on this board who took more crap since Frye's senior season than the great GP1. You should try to be as gracious and magnanimous as the great GP1. Believe me, I knew then I was right and I know now I'm right. No need to rub it in.

You post a lot of numbers. This is the only statistic that matters.The Browns gave Frye the job for a good reason. He was the returning starter and DA did nothing to knock out the champ during training camp. Frye didn't wash out with the Browns because he didn't give his best effort.I don't know what the future holds for Frye. I've never thought much of his game or his ability to make a team a winning team.....but then again, I don't think much of the ability of half the starting QBs in the NFL and 95% of the back-up QBs. The NFL is full of a bunch of junk this year.Charlie may very well be in the twilight of his short career. If so, he is a guy who has lived a childhood dream for a lot of kids. Although, I wonder what the first thought in his head was that first morning he woke up in the Residence Inn in Seattle. It was a harsh and fast fall for him. The NFL is not a kind place.If this is his last year, he probably will not have enough money to live the rest of his life without a job and will need to work. NFL players spend a lot of money on stupid things and basic living expenses in the NFL are high. So while he probably has savings, it may not be as much as we may think. A couple million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to and guys who play for a long time still work after they retire. I'm not even certain if being active for 48 games is enough to qualify for the NFLPA retirement plan. Nobody knows what the future holds. I once predicted he would be the next Kelly Holcomb. Unfortunately, Kelly Holcomb is somehow still in the NFL and was starting at one point this season........amazing, I know. Therefore, Frye can't be the next Holcomb, but he could be Holcomblike. I will stand by my prediction and say that Frye has at least a couple years left. Probably not, but I'll stand by my prediction. As far as you Browns fans who think DA is the king right now, we will see this weekend when the Browns show up to play my Steelers. The AFC North has very favorable scheduling this year. DA is facing an easy schedule and may not be all he appears to be when the Steelers start to blitz. This brings us full circle to the point that Frye was released from the Browns. The clock is ticking DA. Troy and the boys will be waiting for you Sunday. Don't be late......

Am I going to hell for laughing at that?If you are, look me up when you get there.

We do lose scholarships. The trick is to make certain they don't become ineligible, not to recruit better students.

Isn't it one definition of insanity to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results???Where is the rest of the post?

Thank you.It goes beyond the AD right up to Dr. P. It is also bigger than that (the alumni and NE Ohio community), but I could write a book.When those guys from Cincinnati were here, they did nothing to retain better athletes by improving academic support. We are largely in the position we are BECAUSE of them. JD's first two recruiting classes happened under their watch and they knew we were bringing in at risk students and put nothing in place to support them. Doesn't seem very foresightful to me. It didn't happen the day they walked out the door. Their hands are not clean on this matter. Their answer was to improve academics by bringing in "better students" which resulted in the disaster that was the final three-four years of the Owens years.Cincinnati is doing well this year. Although, we could get 22 guys off this board and beat USF when they turn the ball over 7 times. We'll see if Thomas can keep it up or if he will do the smart thing and move to an even bigger school with more money. Those guys only had one really good sporting year at Akron. We'll see if that continues at Cincinnati. The trick they all seem to play is to move before they get discovered. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors in college athletics. You guys need to be much more cynical about what goes on in the offices than you all are.

It's not but monkey, it's butt monkey. We can all be described as that at times.

Those of you who think changing coaches is going to change the program are mistaken. JD has his problems, but the University's approach to athletics is years behind what it needs to be for UofA to have a winning program. It isn't the coaches who have turned Akron into "The Graveyard of Coaches", it is the University that does it.Those of you who want JD to recruit better students unknowingly are actively endorsing losing. While you may not see it that way, that's what you are doing. I'll say it again for the third time on this thread. Akron needs to continue to recruit the kids they currently are. In addition, they need to go out and find 2-3 potentially stupid players who can make a major and immediate impact on the program. Once those kids are in school, they need to be force-fed their classwork by an academic support group that needs to be better than what we currently have. This is what winning programs do.JD has said that he is going to stop recruiting at risk students. This worries me. While this makes some of you feel better, I think it is only going to make the quality of player worse. Enjoy the losing. It seems to be what some of you really want.

I will at the end of the year. It's much more than the University though.

Good point. The real problem is Akron has little ability to do anything other than send up red flags and tell the students to "study harder". They have a poor support program for student athletes. My understanding is it closes at 5:00. It should be open until midnight and the kids should be forced to take advantage of it like at big time schools.I'll say it again. In order to win in D 1-A college football, at risk students have to be recruited and then retained after they get to school. Akron needs to do more than what they are to make certain students stay in school and don't flunk out. If not, enjoy the losing. It's really that simple.

JD gets one more year.....and if the team doesn't have a winning record next year he has to be fired.I've been saying since the Championship year that the 3-3-5 defense is a gimmick. Spare me the MAC defensive rankings. Spare me the good game against OSU...if OSU wanted to score 70 on us that day, they could have. BG put on a clinic last night on how to beat it. Throw short to middle passes in zones that are wide opened because the defense is trying to prevent touchdowns and not first downs. I would complain about tackling, but when passes are completed time and time again 8-12 yards down field before a defender comes in contact with the ball carrier, does it really matter if you can tackle or not? Akron's defense looked like the scout team. Remember that the job of the defense is not to win the game, it is to put the offense in a position to win the game with good field position. Since the board is normally short on solutions, here is my first. 1a. Tell Jim Flemming to change the defense to a 3-4. If Flemming doesn't want to change, execute plan 1b. Fire Jim Flemming. If JD doesn't want to follow either 1a or 1b, JD has to be let go. Keeping this defense alive is like keeping a 15 year old blind and deaf dog who sh!+s all over the house alive. There is no point.The players. I've been telling you guys for years that regardless of what our wives tell us, size matters. Our players are too small. Akron was physically beaten up by a bigger and more physical team last night. It was men against boys on both sides of the ball for most of the game. Was #55 for Akron playing defensive back last night? He sure was pushed back there a lot. Solution #2: Get more physical players....not just big, but angry at life. Nate Robinson is the last guy off the ball every snap. It's no wonder the guy washed out at Rutgers. He couldn't get on the field there. JD needs to immediately go to every JUCO out there and bring in 2-3 dummies to play and get our size up. The University needs to improve the academic support system for student athletes so we can keep the at risk students on the field and out of grade problems like big time programs do. If you guys are really serious about winning, bringing in at risk students is necessary in college football. We NEED guys like Harvey to not flunk out.Offense. Joe Morehead was a passing QB in college and wrote the record book at his school. They never ran. He played in the Arena League where you never run. Akron has moved to an offense he is not familiar with and it shows. You guys have to keep in mind that college football assistant coaches are only slightly smarter than high school gym teachers. They are sort of like high school gym teachers, but with misguided ambition. Solution #3: Change the oc. Akron has too many good players on offense to be this bad. The line is playing well, the running backs are good, Jabari is a good player but they need to develop depth at WR and CJ7 is a good player who can win games given the chance. He needs to continue to play.The University. I could go on and on about why JD, or any other coach, is in an almost impossible situation at Akron. That is a separate post though. Getting a new stadium and fieldhouse is not going to solve the problems at Akron.In general, last night was a disaster. These things happen to a lot of teams and unfortunately, Akron has a history of being on the losing end of games like last night for years now.If any of you wasted three hours of your life watching that nonsense, here is a web page for you http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7...ask_before.html I only wasted 1.5 hours watching and then went to see a Miranda Lambert concert. I'm in a much better state of mind today because of it.For those of you who actually went to the game, please reference the above web page.For those of you planning to attend future Zips games this season, please reference the above web page. I have tickets for the day after Thanksgiving when I am back in Ohio and I wouldn't waste 10 minutes of my vacation going to watch Akron play in that dump. I paid around $30 for the tickets. I'd pay $100 not to have to go watch them play. I don't think that makes me a bad fan, I just don't want to be insulted any longer.If JD doesn't leave after the season on his own (financially, the best deal is to get fired and then double dip with another job), he gets one more year to win. If there is no winning after next year, six years would be too many, five seems just right. Owens should have been fired after five and look how bad the program was at the end. We can't go through that again.