GP1

I agree 100%. I told someone this same thing earlier in the year and he told me I was crazy, but the truth is we do need to run the FB 2-3 times a game. Every other team out there does it and if you can do it, it takes pressure off of the RB. The FB needs to be more than just a guard in the backfield. If you can get your FB to average 3 yards per carry, he becomes an effective weapon and someone the defense must pay attention to. On a quick hitting play, 3 yards can turn into 15-20 like that (finger snapping). WVU's FB ran for 50 on the first play of the game yesterday on a quick hitter. In order to do this though, the FB must be in the game.I watched a lot of bowl games this year and my wife and I even went to the Music City Bowl when we were in Nashville on vacation and I have to say that those kids from the southeast love to run east and west because they all think they can out run everyone. Kennedy is from the southeast.....do the math. Biggs was from the southeast also, but he was toughened up by some good midwestern football at a JC in Kansas.Maybe this is another topic, but I think every 3 spring practice seasons need to be a boot camp. This team needs a boot camp this year to see who wants to play physical and who doesn't want to play physical. We are a talented team that doesn't play physical. At the end of the day, football is a game of aggression. Boise State is a hard hitting team with talent who the announcers said had a real hard hitting bowl practice season. How did they do last night?

Z-P and Zip Watcher are making really good points and I just want to weigh in. Three actually tie together and they are community support, stop complaining from the coach and product. Why am I weighing in? I have no clue because I'm part of the problem as I have not attended a BB game this year. Anyhow, here it goes.....The product first. I understand all of the points about the basketball team not winning anything last year, but I don't think the casual fan around Akron cares about that. The question I always ask myself about BB is whether or not the product is good. IMHO, for the price, there is no better value in Summit or Stark Counties than going to a Zips BB game. Whether or not they win the MAC tournament is immaterial to the fact that the games are entertaining, there isn't a bad seat in the JAR, the kids play hard and when one attends a MAC game, they see good competition come to town in addition to a good Zips team.The coach complaining about attendance. I don't like it, but I don't think it is hurting basically because few are listening. KD should be talking to the people attending the games and not those not attending. After the Toledo football game, one of the Toledo assistant coaches was doing a post game radio interview on the local radio network and more than once thanked those fans who came out on a cold night to watch the game. I understand his frustration, but that's what KD should be doing. The Marketing Department should be talking to those not attending.Finally, Zip Watcher mentioned community support. I hope nobody takes this the wrong way, but I am not originally from NE Ohio and I travel all over the country for work and I have to say that the NE Ohio sports fan is a strange bird. There is a strange sense of entitlement mixed with bitterness that obstructs enjoyment of watching sporting events and being a fan. It is the notion that "we are great fans; therefore, we deserve a good, championship team and if we don't get what we deserve then screw you". Approximately 2,200 of these people did not show up last Friday for the Nevada game. The only thing fans deserve when they buy a ticket to a BB game is the right to walk in and watch the game. They don't deserve a win. Contrary to what Terry Pluto writes, we deserve what we get. KD getting in the face of bitter people will not make the bitterman want to come to a game. Sports fans around this area want their asses kissed, so the Athletic Department had better pucker up if they want people to show up (Note to Athletic Department, this does not mean giving away free tickets).We like to blame the Marketing Department for lack of attendance and poor effort (they deserve it), but the culture around NE Ohio is a very difficult nut to crack. Asking 5,500 people to show up for a BB game against a Top 25 team at Christmas time is not asking too much out of a community with the population of Summit and Stark Counties. The price is cheap and the product is good (the easiest product to market and sell). It's really a cultural problem around this area. I've thought this for a long time and Z-P's and Zip Watcher's posts just helped me bring my thoughts together.

So do I. Early in the season, he looked much better than he did at the end of the season. He needs to stop trying to break every run to the outside and run in the middle more. He was continually running 25-30 yards to gain 2 before being pushed out of bounds. Over the course of a year, all that running adds up. #29 was a much better runner between the tackles than Kennedy was at the end of the year. They should have played him more. Kennedy needs to prove he can run between the tackles and not get hurt.Also, if the question was asked about the best receiver the past three years, a lot of people would say Dom. That's a good answer, but not the answer. The best receiver we had was Biggs out of the backfield. As little as he was, he made people miss and had a great straight arm. Kennedy is not a good straight arm user or an illusive runner in the open field."If you try to run outside, you'll never get there. If you run inside, you'll get outside." --Former Detroit HS great, former Notre Dame great, former Pittsburgh Steeler great, Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis. Listen to the advice Dennis.

This is a really good question. As a season ticket holder (football), this is what I think when I see these things ($1.00 tickets).When I buy season tickets at full price and give to the scholarship fund, I'm doing it as a means of supporting the University financially and also buying what I consider to be a fairly priced three hours of entertainment. What upsets me about the $1.00 tickets is not the feeling that someone is getting over on me. It's the idea that the University does not value the product the same way I value the product and over time it becomes depressing. I think they have a lot to sell, but they don't put the effort into selling it. They call buying billboards and ABJ adds selling...it's not.This nonsense has been going on for 20 years and needs to change. At no time has there been a "golden age" of UofA marketing. If they don't start generating more cash, the new football stadium will be a falling down mess ten years after it is built because there will be no money to support it.

My brother called me on Friday to tell me he received a call from UofA. It was a survey about a new stadium. He lives in Columbus and is not a graduate of UofA, but his daughter is a recent graduate and they probably still have her listed as living there so they received the call.I was in a bit of a flu fog, but from what I remember, some of the questions were about multi-use aspects of a new stadium such as retail and bars, lounge areas within the stadiuim for alumni, the importance of chair seating and one other funny question. The funny question was along the lines of it costing approximately $450,000 to fix the Rubber Bowl and should they use that money to fix the Bowl or build a new stadium. I guess it was my brother's answer and not the question that was funny. Being in full knowledge of how bad the Rubber Bowl is and in a state of shock over the question, he said to the person, "I can't believe that question is even part of this survey".Some of you may receive the same call. My brother said it took about 20-25 minutes to complete the survey.

Probably not, but the season is not over yet. Not feeling much hope though.I'd be interested to know Mack's priorities. If they are to generate money through season ticket sales, football season tickets went up from approximately 1,150 to approximately 4,100 and they broke their 15,000 ticket average. That is a successful first year. My guess is the ISP guy sold a bunch of tickets to community minded corporations. That's all well and good and looks great on a resume, but it does not solve the underlying problem which is getting at least the alumni and community around Akron to pay to come out to support the team.If the intent is to get people in the stands, the football season has to be considered a disappointment. Money must be made from just ticket sales. Food and clothes need to be sold as well. Let's face it, the food is crap and has been for years, and the clothing items sold at games are crap and have been for years. Every away game, with the exception of Buffalo, the fans have better merchandising than Akron. You never see anyone wearing anything around Akron because most people would not be caught dead outside of their house or a game with some of that stuff they sell on their backs.Back to basketball.Next point, I've seen on this board that they are having $1.00 ticket nights for basketball coming up. Is this A. good marketing, or is it B. the same old give away crap I have seen here for 20 years? Answer: Neither A nor B. It's worse.....in fact, it stinks of desperation. Organizations that only market and don't sell are doomed to failure.Another point. Do any of us know why people don't go to games? Probably not, but it isn't our job to know because we are just fans. Does the Athletic Department know why? That's the question. When I hear of $1.00 give away nights, I can only assume they don't know why or they would not have to be so desperate. They need to do some type of survey to see why people do not go to games. Don't survey the choir either. Every time a customer does not buy from me, I know exactly why. I don't know that the University does. If they would go out and talk to the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Knights of Columbus, etc. they could hear first hand why someone may not want to buy. Everyone can't be satisfied, but hearing first hand from people is a good way to formulate your message. It is also the best way to overcome a person's objections as to why they do not want to buy. There could be a lot of misconceptions out there about the program and a good Q & A session in front of 50-100 people per day all summer long helps to clear up the misconceptions. God knows anyone reading the ABJ would be confused about the state of athletics if that was their only source of information.Selling the program should not be difficult. What do they have to lose? It's like getting a date. If you don't ask someone out, you don't get a date. If she says "no", you have lost nothing. So if you are in a slump, ask as many as possible. The University has nothing to lose by going out and asking people, and lots of them, to come to games. The costs of selling are small compared to the costs of not selling. Let's start selling this product.Sorry to go on for so long, but when I see the same nonsense going on from the marketing team now that I have seen fail over and over again for the past 20 years, I tend to get a little upset.

All good points by everyone on this subject, especially skip-zip and seatea. When I'm not goofing around on this board, I'm a regional sales manager for a product line in half the US and Canada for the largest privately held company in the United States. Three quick items about what UofA has always done wrong in this area.1. Sales or Marketing2. Sales/Marketing3. Sales and MarketingUofA has always done the marketing end of #1 fairly well, they have always thought they are doing #2 (keep the jokes to yourself), but they need to do #3. The AND is the most important part of #3. Sales and marketing are separate things, but they must work together for either to work effectively. My skills are in sales and not marketing. Most marketing people frequently lack effective sales skills. I couldn't do my job without the marketing department.With that said, the folks at UofA need to be quicker getting scheduling and ticket information conceptualized, designed and printed. Selling season tickets during the season in the future should be considered a failure. Late spring/early summer is best. I know it's government work, but get your butts in gear and stop with everyone putting their little stamp on everything so they can add it to their resume for their next job interview. That's the marketing end.The sales end should involve more than just the ISP guy selling tickets to corporations. From what I have heard, the ISP guy is doing a good job. My company outsources our field level sales representatives and it really is the most cost effective way to get a product to market. Outsourcing this function is a bright spot and a step in the right direction. For UofA to be able to sustain a future football stadium, the general population of at least Summit County and northern Stark County are going to have to be brought in to purchase tickets. I've seen enough ineffective billboards and ABJ adds over the past 20 years to last me a lifetime. On as many days as possible throughout the summer, Mack or Brookhart or Dambrot or Kest, etc. need to be in front of as many community groups as possible, with marketing material, promoting the Athletic Department and ticket sales to every community organization possible until rubber chicken lunches are coming out of their noses. They could give the same talk at every event. Someone within the Athletic Department should be in charge of scheduling these lunches and this needs to be a priority so giving the task to an intern to shield yourself from responsibility is unacceptable.I don't know if it is possible to do what I want or not, but the same old nonsense isn't working and hasn't worked for my 20 years in NE Ohio. It's time to start selling!

I'd like to challenge Zips Win! to the first ever "Lee Owens Hate Off". I think he could give me a run for my money.

These are all good points and difficult to argue with. Is he a big part of the problem? I agree he is. Any NFL team doing poorly must look at their QB as a potential problem for a lot of reasons. I'm a Steelers fan, and there is no doubt that Ben is a huge part of the problems they are having this season. Teams live and die by the QB play. Look how good the Cowboys are with a guy like Tony R. They looked great yesterday against the NFL's best team.The second point I quoted is about Frye's performance in the fourth quarter. NFL pay checks are for a week of service, but the money is earned in the fourth quarter (some guy on the radio said that yesterday and I thought it was pretty good so I used it). Anyhow, Frye is a good QB, but teams just don't seem to win around him. I love statistics, but the "it" that some QBs have over others is difficult to measure. Ultimately, it all comes down to winning and losing. If you go to training camp or watch the warm ups before a game, every QB on both teams throws the ball perfectly...it's really fun to watch. It all comes down to what happens once the game starts and the pressure is really on. I just don't think Frye has the "it" that winning QBs have. Maybe he does, but none of us have ever seen it.....If the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, we probably never will.As far as Grossi's comments, I can't see them because of a problem with my computer but DrZ is usually good at picking out good information so I'll trust what he wrote. Grossi is only guessing. Most people have no idea of what is going on in meetings or locker rooms or inside of players' heads. I think Frye is around Cleveland for at least another season. There really is no other option and there really aren't very many good QBs not already signed to pick up. He'll be around a few more years after that and retire with a nice pile of cash. Can't argue with a pile of cash.

Thanks for the correction DrZ.

For the second time this season, a former UofA QB coach will be returning to Akron for a game against the Zips. The first was Gerald Carr who is now the offensive coordinator at Buffalo. The second will be the head coach at Western Michigan.Some of the QB coaches (and many of the other position coaches) at UofA during the Faust years have done well for themselves after Akron. The QB coach at Ohio State, Daniels, was the QB coach at Akron also after Carr. It's funny what happens to coaches after they get fired from one job and where they end up. Daniels was the QB coach for the NY Jets the year before coming to Akron. That's a strange profession. I have no idea why people would coach in college for a living.

Running the ball with a lead in the fourth quarter is a tried and true method of winning NFL games, and the Browns lost the game yesterday when they couldn't run the ball late. One thing about the Steelers during the Cowher years is that they can be beat, but they are not going to allow a team to run the ball on them when the other team has the ball in the fourth quarter with a lead. They did the same thing to Cleveland a few years ago in the playoffs. A couple of first downs late would have won the game for Cleveland and it should have never come down to a last second pass. It reminded me of the Can't vs. Akron game (The Divine Intervention Game) in 2003 when we couldn't get a first down in the final 6:30 to salt away a 14 point lead.In the end, that was a game of two bad teams going at it yesterday. The fourth quarter was exciting, but the rest was like watching a bad color paint dry.

I hate to use some of my year end material, but the reason it doesn't work is because it is a gimmick everyone has figured out how to have success against. The same thing happened with the run and shoot offense.Last night in the third quarter, OU lined up with two tight ends, slot back and I-formation, and we lined up with our base 3-3-5 with the LBs playing off quite a bit. The balance of the set forces our defense to balance out as well. Even a dummy like me can count. The tight ends, interior line and fullback add up to eight blockers against the Zips six defenders. That means they can double team twice at the point of attack up the middle. Given this situation, even an average offense can move the ball at least five yards. OU ran the ball up the middle and got 11 on the play. It puts the defenders in an impossible situation.

Agreed! Teams are absolutely killing us on first and second down. A team that is functioning out of second and five or four can win a lot of games. At the end of the year, I am going to do a post on why this was a good defense for us and why it is not now. I first started to complain about it late last season.I would disagree on the next defense. Think of football players in three sizes: small, medium and large. We need one more medium size player (LB) in the game and one less small guy (DB) so a move to a 3-4 is best. 4-3 is good for the NFL because everyone basically is trying to power everyone on first and second down so defenses need to stop power with power. College offenses vary too much and the medium size guy is needed to defend against the different types of offenses presented each week. That extra LB also needs to develop into a really good pass rusher."Bend but don't break" defenses give up too much field position.

Does anyone know the answer to my original question?

Could someone please look to see how many either blocked punts or missed snaps on the punt we have had in the six games the Zips have lost? I can think of PSU and last night for sure.

I ate there one night and drank some draft beer. The next day I could have shit through a screen door.

Week night ESPN games have become nothing but promotional items for ABC/ESPN weekend games. They aren't even trying to hide it at this point. They could care less about the game in progress.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cbpmc/cbpmc_2223.htmlEverything is OK for this year's (next year acutally). Just take a drivers license.

Thanks for the question. Two years ago, all the hand wringers came onto this board asking the same types of questions you are after the 2004 season. They are good questions. I will answer with a question again. Do you really think we can't improve upon what we currently have? I thought we could then and I think we can now. Remember the MAC Championship we won and the bowl game we went to without the seniors from the 2004 team? What did those guys ever win?Many of the young players that are not playing now are not ready to play on many levels. These players have a lot of natural talent and will be trained in the weight room and in spring practice and in fall practice to get ready for next year. They will develop both mentally and physically into good players. CJ is a good example of this. He is still kind of a skinny kid and doesn't carry himself like he is "the man". Next year he will be more confident and will have a bigger body. So will the other young kids. There is enough talent on the team and competition in spring and fall practices will improve the players greatly. Winning the starting position in spring practice and in the fall (assuming he will win it) will improve CJ's confidence and he WILL be "the man".Have some faith and think positive. Good things happen when you do so.

I'm not 100% certain. I can't find the e-mail my company sent out so I can't check. The best thing to do would be to check the government web page.

If any of you think we may go to Toronto and you would go, you MUST get your passport now!!!!!! My company sent around a notice about the changes in border security and the need for a passport after January 1.Google "United States State Department" and it will direct you to a location near you to obtain a passport. There is one right by UofA if you live in Akron. If you wait until the last minute, you may not get one in time.

Thank you for doing this CK. I'm sure it was time consuming. I'm with you in that the glass is half full with the talent we have. For example, we have a really good #2 running back (I love the way the kid runs) who would have been #3 if there was not an injury. That's really a good sign.With the talent they have, they should be able to either develop an extra linebacker or slim down a defensive lineman and move to a 3-4. We really need to add a larger player to our front seven and become a more physical team. A change in one player can really make a big difference.JD is doing a good job with the program. We are more competitive than we ever have been since moving to D-1A. I hate to talk about next year before the season is over and we are still technically still in the MAC East race, but there is enough talent for us to have a 9-10 win season next year. As the players and talent improve, the talk of a lack of leadership and discipline will mysteriously disappear.

Last year I predicted two would leave and three did. Three is A LOT. It's a strange profession and there will be some turnover.Here is something interesting to think about. If you were JD, would it be difficult to fire an assistant if you had a feeling they were not going to leave and you felt others would? If three assistants leave and another gets fired, it would be a huge task for JD to replace four assistants in recruiting season. This would really be a difficult decision.

If this is true, I'm happy. JD is a good coach and we needed to do something to keep him here. I had a strange feeling that he may be leaving.....glad I was wrong. He could still leave whenever he wanted to, but doing this helps recruiting. Now we need to come up with more money to help keep assistant coaches around. Three went to other schools after last season and that is a lot.