GP1

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/spor...es/12958812.htm Guys, This article was in the ABJ this morning. At no point in this article does this board member say, "We will have a new stadium on campus." This worries me. He talks about repairs to the Rubber Bowl. Why? The place is falling down. He gets the question about what if the Rubber Bowl has to be closed as a safety hazard and he says, "Let's not go there." No, let's go there. Answer the question. It is a real possibility. Maybe it is the only way to force the University into real action. How embarrassing would it be to have to play games in Canton or worse yet, Can't? Really, let's not go THERE. I've heard that getting the Rubber Bowl condemned is one of the strategies they are considering to force action. Maybe they should just do it. I've always told you guys we are a loooooong way off from getting a new stadium. This article reinforced my opinion. A MAC Championship will not be enough to move the idiots on the Board. We will not have a new stadium this decade. How sad......

In order to throw money around, one must first have money to throw around. MAC schools simply don't have the money to throw around. Low attendance is one reason for that. If a MAC school gets 20,000 for a game, it is a huge crowd. If Cincy gets 20,000 for a football game, it is a disappointment. Be thankful for what we have. We play in a good conference with good competitive players. We may not have the big crowds yet, but I could really care less how may people are there as long as I get to see a good game. I don't even think the MAC will ever draw good consistent crowds. It just is not in the culture of the people in the midwest to support MAC schools on a mass basis. I don't even mind Akron being a spring board for people to go to another program. I like people who want to do better in their lives. One question the candidates should be asked is, "Where do you see yourself in seven years?" If that person answers anything other than being at a large university with national recognition as an athletic director, Akron should not hire the person. Mike Thomas can leave this program with his head held high. Prior to him, we had a bunch of paper pushers in the position lacking any philosophy about what they wanted the program to look like. Anyone who thinks he did a poor job is just being foolish. Looking at the big picture, he rescued football and m basketball from the throws of mediocrity and the programs are moving forward in a positive direction. Look where the other "football" team is now....#1 nationally. Baseball now has a coach with a direction and with the old coach last season they made the playoffs for the first time in several years. In the classroom (even though I could care less about this issue), we compete with the rest of the conference for the top position from a position of last when he started. Cincinnati made a good hire. You can't sneak your way around a hiring board at a school like that. As far as how he fired Owens, I could give a how he did it, as long as it got done. I doubt he left a note for the guy. If I was the AD after the Can't game in 2003, I would have fired that guy walking off of the field. One question, and I've always been curious about this. What the Hell were the players praying about after that 2003 Can't game on the field? I can only imagine the following......"Dear Lord. Only through divine intervention could we have lost this game today. Thank you for showing yourself to us on this field of play. We praise your most holy name. Amen." If you think about it, it would have been the most fitting prayer.

Good for him! Mike is a real nice guy if you have ever had the chance to talk to him. I'm sure the money alone would be hard to turn down. They also need someone down there to turn around the basketball mess. He did a good job of that here. The good news is that the Dow was finally up yesterday 128 points. I'd rather lose an AD in lieu of money. We'll be OK. I don't think this will hurt the stadium plans. They have too much momentum already.

Good info. CK. I was worried about them until I looked at your post and some of the information made me confident. I really don't know much about them, but you did provide some telling information. First, CMU played them a week after they played us at Army. Back-to-back games on the road make it difficult to win and CMU still won. I would bet CMU would blow them out in Mt. Pleasant. It could be that they have a poor pass blocking offensive line. I would expect a team to have more yards passing with a losing record than 200. Passing to catch up should allow a team to drive up their passing yards. Army is loaded with upper classmen who were recruited to play an option offense. I'm not confident they can pass on us even with our recently poor defense. Even our defensive line will be able to get some pressure on the QB. The 150 yards per game rushing is the only part of their offense that scares me. They have the players to run the ball. If it rains Saturday, and it is going to, rush defense could hurt us. On both sides of the ball, I would bet they are less athletic than any team we have played thus far. Remember, good players win games and we may have better players. In the past, Akron has outmatched much better record military schools and won games with about the same talent we have now, if not less. Losing to UCONN badly is always a bad sign for a team's ability to win a lot. I know someone will bring up their discipline because it is their strongest trait...and it is. My only question would be: Where was the discipline the first six games? I doubt they are mistake prone, and if they are not and they still don't win, it looks good for us. Finally, I like to write about winners. 0-6 is 0-6 is 0-6. These guys don't win games. Period. The more you lose, the more you lose. I'm sure these guys already have their sights on Navy (Leaving out the tradition, Army vs. Navy is the worst nationally televised game of the year). We have at least shown an ability to win games. I understand all the concerns. I still have some concern as well. The Zips have played poorly the past three games and still have won one of the games. We lost to what is looking like a very good CMU team and a Miami team that is just better than us at almost every position. Just remember, the Zips do play well at the Rubber Bowl and I expect them to play well Saturday. Thanks to the Army team for their service.

This isn't just a theory, it's a fact. Nice post. It cuts right to the heart of the Zips problems.

I'm not concerned as much about the coaching staffs ability to make adjustments as I am the teams ability to execute the game plan. Our talent level is so low that it drives down our margin for error. When we close an exposed weak spot, it just opens up another huge weak spot. I actually think our defensive coordinator is a good one doing what he does. My biggest complaint about the defense is the style we play. In a post Marshall MAC East, this type of defense is not needed. Our players are not good enough to play the 3-3-5 they want to play. Execution is killing the defense as well. I'm not certain this style of defense will succeed in the MAC. It's great if you can score 40 per game. We don't have that type of team. We need a 3-4 to stop the run. That one extra LB will give us the size we need to be successful. All an average offensive lineman needs to do is get in front of a DB and maintain some contact and he will at least win a draw (offense wins in a draw). This isn't so easy with a LB. Our offensive line was doing fine at the beginning when we were throwing short passes and getting the ball to multiple receivers on first down. Biggs had a huge first half. In the second half, we saw the trying to win the lottery nonsense. The next thing you know it was 51-23. I would be disappointed if we have four freshmen starting next season. These guys had better be damn good to start as freshmen. If not, it will be a wasted year. The topic is a summary of the first six games. I think we are right where we thought we would be this time of the season. Have we gone backward since the beginning? Of course, but some were predicting a 3-8 or 4-7 season. I'm confident the Zips will have at least three more wins. If they can get things together in a hurry (I have my doubts about this) they can win six. We should win this weekend, lose to BG, beat OU and Can't....maybe. Ball State will be a toss up. Beating Ball State could give us seven wins. Seven wins with this team would be better than last year and the talent level this year is much less than last year. It would be impressive if they won seven or even tied the total wins from last season.

I'm concerned with EVERYTHING right now.

Good use of statistics! The most disappointing thing for me is our defense did not do what it needed to do to get the offense the ball. The only purpose of the defense is to get the ball back and we can't seem to do that.

I know you guys hate it when I use statistics, but here it goes. The point that the defense was constantly on the field is simply not true. There was only a three minute difference in time of possession Saturday. Three minutes is roughly only five or six plays. To say we gave Miami great field position early is simply not true as well. Akron scored early and their kick offs were in the end zone. Even the interception in the end zone gave Miami the ball on the 20 and they marched right down on our defense, after a long rest, like they were the scout team. If the defense would hold the other team to three and out more than once or twice per game, they might get more rest. Akron's defense gave up 248 yards rushing and a 6.7 yard average. That's horrible at best. Akron's defense gave up 580 yards total and 7.7 yards per play. That's horrible at best. I'll say it again. With the exception of Biggs and Kiki, Miami has better players at every position. Akron lost because the talent level is not where it needs to be to win the MAC. It never has.

If the only point of reference is the Miami game, then nothing. However, we did see him play well early in the season and have limited mistakes. If a person does it once, he can do it again. Second, he did play better against Miami than against Buffalo or the second half of CMU. The ability is there, he just has to do it. Again, Miami scored 51 points. How is that on Getsy? The defense was just bad Saturday.

I think Getsy will be fine as long as he can limit his mental mistakes. Remember, this guy is a first year starting QB. He sat the bench his entire career at Pitt. Turnovers and a lack of defense killed us yesterday. Let's assume Getsy throws the ball away in the first half which he should have done. It would have been third and long and probably a field goal try. Explain how we overcome 51 points. Getsy should not be blamed as much as he is, but he deserves some blame because, as I said before, the QB is the one person most able to impact the outcome of a game. Also, don't put much weight into what French says. If the 3-3-5 defense is designed to stop passing, how come Miami converted third and long at will yesterday? I'm sorry, but the defense played horrible yesterday. How many times did Miami have to punt yesterday? I can only remember 4 or 5 at the most. They missed two easy field goals, they should have had 57. The offense is only to blame? The bottom line is the Zips lack the athletic ability of the upper level MAC schools. This has been the case since the school entered the MAC. Getting our asses kicked by Miami did not start with Getsy. It has been going on for many years. Why would it stop yesterday with a young team. Also, there is not enough depth on this team,or any other MAC team, to start making wholesale changes. The Zips are what they are and if they want to win, they need to start getting the players to play better. One last thing. I saw a lot of crying from posters on this board about not going to games if they don't beat Army. What the Hell else do you have to do with your time that you can't go to a game?

Here is what I think is wrong with the program......right now anyhow. I certainly don't think the program is in serious trouble, but the season is in serious trouble. 1. History of losing is hard to break. One shared MAC east championship is the only thing the program has won since 1987. 2. We play with an undersized team. When speed is equal, size will win out. We need an offensive line at least as big as Miami's and NIU's. We need receivers as tall and lanky as Nance. Miami has several tall receivers, we have one. 3. We are playing with young players. Experience is a huge factor in college football. Just look how well the QB from Norte Dame plays when people were willing to leave him for dead early in his career. You can't coach experiece. It just happens and sadly enough we have to wait for that to take place. 4. I think we have a good defensive coordinator, I'm not certain I like this 3-3-5 defense after watching it for a year and a half. Too much guessing. I don't think we have the athletic talent to play that defense and I don't think those kids exist in the mid west where we get most of our talent. The defense does not allow us to stop the run well enough. I like to stuff first down and then go to five db's if necessary on second and third. These are just some general thoughs about the program. I'm sure we could go position by position, but who has the tiime. Question for ITZ and I've asked this before, but you don't respond. Maybe you know him personally and don't want to respond. If so, that cool. Why isn't Heim playing this year? I thought he would play for sure being a senior.

Just got back from Cincinnati this morning after staying the night and eating some ribs. Great feedback about the game zipboy and CK. The only thing I could add is you guys are downplaying how badly the Zips played after the interception the first half. I've never seen a program fall apart the way the Zips do after a bad play. This just isn't this season, it goes back years. With the exception of Biggs and Kiki, I can't think of another position where the Zips are better than Miami. Yesterday should be a awakening for the coaches and the players concerning how far they need to go to be a top level team in the MAC. I don't know if the team could have won the game, but the effort was there most of the time. I mentioned last week that they are calling too many plays to try to win the lottery. We saw it again this week in the second half. First play of the second half after a good return they called a long pass play and it ended in an incomplete pass. Second and ten for this team my as well be second and fifty the way they have played the past three games. Even if they complete the pass and score, they go up by one with about twenty nine minutes and thirty seconds to go in the second half. I was watching the second half of the ND/USC game, and if they can throw short pass after short pass and move the chains, why can't we? Even at the end of the ND/USC game when USC was driving, they were still throwing short timing patterns. Much better job of getting 81 the ball yesterday. The guy can play if given a chance. He can also make it easier for Hixson to get the ball. I think another thing that hurt us prior to the important first half interception was Biggs being hurt that drive. Kennedy is not ready to be a go to guy and they could have used Biggs in the red zone. I told everyone last week Biggs would have a huge game this week and he did not disappoint. he had some long runs, but they were not easy runs, thus showing why he has been the best player on the team the past two seasons. I'm sure he has that average up over four yards a carry for the season now. I just wish he was faster. I'm also losing patience with Getsy's stupidity. People can say whatever they want about football being a team sport, and it is, but let's not pretend every position has the same level of importance. The QB has the ball in his hands every play and is the one person most able to impact the outcome of a game. Getsy MUST start playing better. There is no excuse for that first half interception at that time of the game. Getsy is a good player, he just needs to stop being so stupid. As far as the defense, I thought they were a huge disappointment as well. You can't excuse away 51 points and with the exception of the first couple of drives, Miami moved the ball at will. The Zips scored 23 points and that is ALMOST enough to win a Division 1-A football game. I predicted a 42-10 game against Miami (32 point loss). We lost by 28. If the defense keeps Miami to fewer long drives, Akron has more chances to score and maybe push the score up around 30, which IS enought to win a Division I-A game. Most of you know my posts well enough to know I am not prone to hysteria, so take this in all seriousness. This team is teetering on the brink of disaster if they don't play better this week. Army is a horrible team and if they lost to them at home, they stand the chance of not winning another game. They are too emotionally fragile to bounce back from an Army loss. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.

I don't know why I'm going this far but I am. This was sent to me today. For whatever reason, it seems to fit the topic: http://www.miamihawktalk.com/discussion/vi...pic.php?t=24613

It is "Fall Break" this week at Miami so a lot of students will go home. What the Hell is with all the breaks the students get now? We had a fall break at Akron U., it was called "The Day After Thanksgiving".

SHOCKING! But in the spirit of accuracy, it was actually 0-4. If we don't get things right on this page, we are counting on the Beacon Journal to get it right. I think JB and the boys would be upset about our inaccuracy during their game against UCF Saturday. 2001 (30-27) was the famous Big Ben play where they managed to throw a pass to the 15 yard line and have a guy run the rest of the way . 2002 (48-31), 2003 (45-20) and 2004 (37-27). Ouch! With the exception of 2001, those were some real ass kickings. I have a horrible feeling about Saturday. A second road game in a row spells disaster for NFL teams, I don't see us coming out any better. The team really did not respond well to a bad game against CMU. Poor execution. I don't think they regroup. This team is not ready for prime time yet. Marcel Weems couldn't even pull this game off. Miami wins 38-10. Butchie was the last QB to beat Miami in 2000 (37-20). Prior to that, Jason Taylor and the boys beat them in 1996 (10-7). WOW, I thought we had more wins against them than this.

Too much information is never a bad thing with these controversial and philosophical debates. I made my visit "official" after breakfast at Country Kitchen near U of A compus, a couple of beers and a trip to the Alumni basketball arena at UB.

There is an interesting internet debate going on and I would like to pose this question to the members of Zipsnation.org. What constitutes actually being in a state? Some say just driving through a state is enough to be there. I am of this opinion. Others say you have to eat a meal. Some say get out of the car. Some say stay the night. There are even some who say taking a dump is required. Any thoughts?

I understand completely. It is called not being as good as you think you are. If you look at MAC powers from years past, let's just use a Limpwich Marshall team as an example, they would have beaten Buffalo 52-0 last weekend and had 42 at halftime. Those teams just didn't win, they beat the crap out of bad teams. We need to get to that point. We need to get to the point where the Zips are so good the crowd leaves at the end of the third quarter because the Zips are putting a beat down on someone so bad they can't ever recover in 15 minutes.

I think his rushing average was seriously hurt last weekend. The quick answer to your question is no, but for a couple of reasons. First, the offensive line has been horrible the last game and a half. Don't forget his head injury. He has the ability to average much more per game, but not much more. If the Zips can get back to the style of offense they played the first two games, we should see his average go back up. Secondly, Biggs does not have the break away speed necessary for long runs. Two of my favorite things about him are his ability to run between the tackles (toughness) and find holes with little room (football smarts). He is actually the perfect back for this ball control offense. There have been almost no holes recently, but there have been some. Five or six yards on a first down pass allow a back getting 4.5 yards per carry, as he did the first two games, and to get a lot of first downs. Moving the chains is the most important thing to do because of the change in field position and rarely do you score every time you have the ball. I hate to make excuses for him though because he has been my favorite player the past two seasons. We have been listening to excuses for years and I'm sick of hearing them. If he is having trouble running, he needs to try harder. If he thinks he is trying as hard as he can, he needs to think again and try harder. Everyone needs to try harder than what we have seen the past game and a half. That game last weekend was an abomination. We are a much better team than what we saw Saturday and we almost handed a smelly, steaming, burning sack of crap a win. I would hope we could expose a very bad Miami defensive line this weekend. We'll see though if they show up to play.

It was about us getting screwed by the referees. I hate when people blame games or problems on bad calls, but it was just silly yesterday. At the same time though, they players can't put themselves in a bad position in a close game.

Thanks for asking. I don't think it is too much to ask these young adults, once the proper plays are called, to block, tackle, catch the ball and not make mistakes that cost the team yardage.

I was just now able to stop my eye bleeding from watching the game yesterday so I want to write a post about what the Zips need to do. Capt. Kang. already provided a nice summary of the game and there is really nothing more to add, other than thanking the defense for saving our asses yesterday. I don't think the Zips need to panic, they just need to get back to the basics. First, Akron needs to get back to what they were doing early in the season on offense. Short passes on first down helped the Zips move the ball well against Purdue and MTSU. The short passes were giving us second short yardage and kept defenses off balance because we could run or pass on second down. We are not seeing a lot of that right now and I would like to see more of it. The offense really lacks rythm and this may be the pill they need to find their dancing shoes again. More than anyone, I think a better rythm will help Getsy and right now he is not playing well because it appears as if they are pulling plays out of a hat. Second, JD needs to stop trying to overthink the game. They seem to be trying for the big play too often and they really don't need to do so. I'm not a big fan of going for fourth down if it is still early in the game, and yesterday reminded me of the failure to succeed on fourth down in the Owens years. We did it yesterday in the third quarter when we were down 7-0 and there was no need for it. The kicker did have a bad day yesterday, but we did not know that at that point. In the kickers defense, the wind did blow right to left from the Zips bench, but there seemed to be a crosswind once the ball got close to where the sideline stands stop and the opening is created. No excuses though, we need to hit our fieldgoals. Let's find ways to get the ball into the hands of 81. We can't always throw to 23 regardless of how good he is and I believe 81 would perform well if given more of a chance. Fourth, this team really needs to refocus. Largely what I mentioned above had to do with the coaches, but the players are adults and I'm a big fan of results. These kids need to produce results. Enough dumb penalties, enough with the dropped passes, enough with the swiss cheese offensive line, let's get some results. I noticed yesterday that the players' names were not on the back of their uniforms. Good start, but largely symbolic. These kids need to understand they are getting a scholarship to play football, and people are paying money to go watch them play football and be entertained. Yesterday was anything but entertaining. They need to start producing. One other thing and then I'll stop. JD put Kennedy in at fullback in an I formation yesterday on a third down and tried to sneak him up the middle on a pass play and it worked, only the ball was overthrown. How about a little more Biggs and Kennedy in the game in a split backfield on second and long or third and 2-5 yards? It could open up space for medium range 10-15 yard passes by forcing defenders to be more aware of the short pass threat. Kennedy is way too fast not to have on the field as much as possible. I'd go on, but I'm more interested to see if you guys agree or disagree or have other things to add. By the way, it looks as if the hotel rooms I bough off of Priceline in Cincinnati next weekend will be wasted as I thought the Zips were going to play Miami. I read on this site via the ABJ that they are in Florida. Too bad for me.

I don't think he has been on the field yet though I did see him dressed on the sideline. If he has not been on the field yet, they should not play him this season unless there is an emergency. He doesn't look as big as everyone described him being. Hard to tell from the stands though.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/standings Check out the Conference DOA standings. The team we bitch slapped out of the league on national TV is circling the drain of this bad conference. Good thing they left for better bowl exposure.........Wait a minute, don't you have to beat six D-1 schools to go to a bowl? I crack myself up! Oh well, if it doesn't work out, they can always go to the Sunbelt Conference. I've been to Huntington though and by the looks of their women, they need to join a conference called the Ugly Belt.