Vote on fans expectations from the beginning of the season

[Dr Z]

Please give a reason why you voted the way you did.

[g-mann17]

"The team is what we thought it was!!!!" Dennis GreenThere is talent, and youth. The O-line can be solid, the defense is week in the middle. I thought we would beat Syracuse, I knew Ball State would be tough and prayed for bad weather conditions. Unfortunately my worst fear (that Moorehead could not adjust the offense to run the f-ing ball in wet conditions) was realized. I wish we could have seen Bain play already. And I also knew that as people ran up the middle on a week defensive line that does not require more than one person to block each lineman people would say the 3-3-5 is the fault. No guys, week d-lineman, the reason we only use 3 to begin with is the fault. You add a fourth week d lineman, you take away speed and now instead of getting blasted for a 5-9 yard gain between the guard and center, you are getting blasted for a 5-9 yard gain between the guard and tackle. The D-line has to make itself known, it has to make opponents assign multiple blockers to individuals. Otherwise, a team can run. It doesn't matter if you have 3 D-lineman or 6 if you can block them one on one and move them where you want a team will run on you for huge numbers.I think if the D-line get's healthy, and Bain plays, we could be bowl eligible. I think if we continue to get the same play from the D-line we end up with another 5-7 year.

[RowdyZip]

Please give a reason why you voted the way you did.

Better: *No one expected solid QB play (2 out of 3?) or the WR transfers to step up like the have. Bowser and Bruce seem to be the real deal, although Bruce tends to break out with a case of stone hands periodically. *B Will, could be considered "Same" as well. This guy is an absolute BEAST. My heart skipped a beat when he went down at 'Cuse, luckily I happened to be sitting by his mother and got word that it was a minor thing. If there was one guy we can't afford to lose, this is him. *O-line is solid...so far. Do we have the depth there to maintain a full season?Same: *Poor defense. We miss our 4 year CBs, and the 3-3-5 just sucks altogether. *RB stable is as good or better than expected. I sure hope Allen will be able return sooner than later. Worse: *DL...where are these guys? Are they coming back soon? I suppose this could be an "incomplete."*TE position. Talk about stone hands. I got excited after Poindexter made that catch in 'Cuse. This one could also go under "Same." We need production from that position, especially with Jac's inability to accurately throw the deep ball (am I the only one to notice the exceptional amount of 5 yard post plays?).I voted better...by a slim margin. My expectations were middle-of-the-pack MAC East, and so far it looks like we'll be in the top 1/3...better if we could get that D-Line together to form some semblance of a pass rush. Sewell's a beast, but he can't do squat by himself.

[johnnyzip84]

Excellent assessment RowdyZip. I voted "the same" on balance, because I thought we'd finish 5-7 or 6-6 and it looks like these remain the most likely outcomes. In a nutshell, the D is quite a bit worse than I expected, but this has been (so far) offset by better than expected output from the O. BTW, I am also of the opinion that a 6-6 record with this schedule is pretty good. Of course, I'd take a 7-5 mark in a second Go Zips!

[Captain Kangaroo]

I voted "better." The difference in offense between now, and last season is unreal. OL is solid. We have three solid WR's for the first time since Sparks, Irvin and Cherry. RB is 3-deep. Jacq has exceeded expectations. Hell...go back two years...our offense was basically Getsy-to-Harvey. We had no running game of note, and if opponents took Harvey away, they shut us down.Defense is below expectations. Is it because of the 3-3-5? Or because four DL's who should be in our 6-man 2-deep have a combined one game played (Bain - 0, Lively - 0, Odefin - 0, Stewart - 1). How would Lee Owens swiss cheese defenses have fared if he lost Gargaz, Shultz, Hayes and Lefall simultaneously? Consider that horror story for a few minutes.If SOMEHOW we can find a way to stop the run and get even a little pressure on the opposing QB, this team will win 7 games. Oh yeah...CJ11 needs to play within himself too. When he tries to do too much, it kills our offense. And we need to score 28/game if we're to overcome our defensive deficiencies.

[Blue & Gold]

I voted, "Better than I thought." Jac has really surprised me! He really has been playing much, much better than last season. Also, the new batch of WR's are what I had my fingers crossed they would be. I know, Jeremy Bruce didn't have a good game against Ball State, but he remains a very real threat and one of the best players on the team. Dashawn (sp?) Miller also had an unfortunate drop against BSU, but he's an excellent receiver as well. In fact, this is the best group of receivers I can ever remember seeing: Bowser, Jones, Bruce & Miller! Wow! Owen's not bad either!Also, the OL is playing much better than they did last season.And, like our group of WR's, I also believe this is the best stable of RB's I can ever remember. We're stacked on O.D? I do love watching B-Will out there though!!!

[johnnyzip84]

It looks like Joe Dunn must have finally voted

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

I voted "better", because of the sometimes very exciting offensive play we've seen, along with Jac having made me question whether he was actually the same player from last year. BUT, I'm worried about the defense like everyone else. How good does an offense need to be to overcome an awful defense, week after week? In the context of entire seasons, great offenses can be destroyed by terrible defenses, and I worry about what effect we may see if week after week the offense is (1) playing from behind, (2) playing with poor field position, and (3) playing generally demoralized by weak defensive play.I'm also kind of surprised that there aren't true insiders connected to the program who might be able to offer more insight into whether Bain and other D players are going to make it onto the field. GO ZIPS!SeeTeeZip

[Captain Kangaroo]

I'm also kind of surprised that there aren't true insiders connected to the program who might be able to offer more insight into whether Bain and other D players are going to make it onto the field.

For the last time...F-O-R-G-E-T about Bain! Maybe by some miracle he finishes the season, but asking about him this week or next week...or the week after is a waste of your time. He's O-U-T. Ryan Bain...the DaVon Moore of 2008.

[UA1987]

Please give a reason why you voted the way you did.

Better: *No one expected solid QB play (2 out of 3?) or the WR transfers to step up like the have. Bowser and Bruce seem to be the real deal, although Bruce tends to break out with a case of stone hands periodically. *B Will, could be considered "Same" as well. This guy is an absolute BEAST. My heart skipped a beat when he went down at 'Cuse, luckily I happened to be sitting by his mother and got word that it was a minor thing. If there was one guy we can't afford to lose, this is him. *O-line is solid...so far. Do we have the depth there to maintain a full season?Same: *Poor defense. We miss our 4 year CBs, and the 3-3-5 just sucks altogether. *RB stable is as good or better than expected. I sure hope Allen will be able return sooner than later. Worse: *DL...where are these guys? Are they coming back soon? I suppose this could be an "incomplete."*TE position. Talk about stone hands. I got excited after Poindexter made that catch in 'Cuse. This one could also go under "Same." We need production from that position, especially with Jac's inability to accurately throw the deep ball (am I the only one to notice the exceptional amount of 5 yard post plays?).I voted better...by a slim margin. My expectations were middle-of-the-pack MAC East, and so far it looks like we'll be in the top 1/3...better if we could get that D-Line together to form some semblance of a pass rush. Sewell's a beast, but he can't do squat by himself.

I voted about the same (not exactly the same, but in this category).I would hope that I'm considered the one of the 'one out of three' that had some confidence in Jacq (please check my previous posts if you like). I could see the problems we had at receiver last year (except for Jabari), the new offense and our predictability, and the injuries on the line. These all could be fixed and it appears we are on our way to having a decent Offense. The whinning about our QB situation during the offseason drove me to the beer pub. As we all know, this year the story is injuries. Our Defense has had a hole blown out of the middle. Some young guys are bravely trying to shore it up, but it has been too much for them so far. The unofficial news brought to us by CK of loss of Bain for the year is a huge disappointment. I really wanted to see this guy play for us. My hopes for a decent defense centered around his frame scaring the sh-t out of opposing offenses on our schedule. Maybe the return of Lively will make a difference.All in all I think we have had a good start. Army will be a good test. Long ago they beat us in their house in about an hour and thirty minutes with their wishbone offense. They ate up the clock and we rarely got the ball. I know they want to do the same thing in 2008, but I think Akron will be too much for them to handle.

[Wally B]

Voted better, i was like many people totally unsure of how #11 would play.

[GP1]

How would Lee Owens swiss cheese defenses have fared if he lost Gargaz, Shultz, Hayes and Lefall simultaneously? Consider that horror story for a few minutes.

Excellent points. I would just like to say that if all of those guys went down at the same time, it would not have been a swiss cheese defense......it would have been the "no cheese" defense.With that said, there have been many, many college and NFL seasons lost because of injuries. I don't worry about this week, but I do worry about the remainder of the season and the impact a season long battle can be on a young, physically immature player. I have not even seen the Zips play this year, but I know how over-matched an 18 year old freshman DLineman can be when facing a 23 year old upper class player, especially in the MAC. The coaches have to be concerned. Remember, these young DLineman were going to be used to rest the starters and maybe some special teams. Now they are being asked to shoulder the load. It is a huge thing to ask and they need to really improve their performance each week. I'm voting better than expected by a slim margin because of the injuries. If we win this week, 2-2 is a good start with a floundering Cincinnati and Can't around the corner. Without the injuries, this is a bowl season.I am looking forward to seeing the Zips for the first time this weekend. Go Zips!

[gozips19]

i voted better.the secondary has been better than i thought. the play of anderson and graham has been very good. the offense as a whole has been very good too! you can't fault the d line since they are so banged up. the only area i've been disaponted in is the linebackers. grant has played better but can do more. someone posted this in another thread about d will and i completely agree. i'll will send the search team to find him. the youngsters have played well. i was thinking 7-8 wins and (baring no more voodoo injuries) should get there. this team will be ready to contend for a mac title next year as almost everyone will be back! i think the team is in good shape.while i don't have a question about bain coming back in the next two weeks i have to wonder why they haven't given any detail to his injury. i know they don't have to in college but with coles, harvey, and lively you got a time table. this would lead me to believe they are holding out that he can give the team a few games towards the end of the year. lets just hope lively is back for the cincy game and get healthy from there!akron covers this week

[Let'sGoZips94]

i chose better than I thought because we're scoring! and we're in basically every game so far. If our defense could step it up a bit, we'd be a pretty darn tough MAC team.

[johnnyzip84]

i voted better.the secondary has been better than i thought. the play of anderson and graham has been very good. the offense as a whole has been very good too! you can't fault the d line since they are so banged up. the only area i've been disaponted in is the linebackers. grant has played better but can do more. someone posted this in another thread about d will and i completely agree. i'll will send the search team to find him. the youngsters have played well. i was thinking 7-8 wins and (baring no more voodoo injuries) should get there. this team will be ready to contend for a mac title next year as almost everyone will be back! i think the team is in good shape.while i don't have a question about bain coming back in the next two weeks i have to wonder why they haven't given any detail to his injury. i know they don't have to in college but with coles, harvey, and lively you got a time table. this would lead me to believe they are holding out that he can give the team a few games towards the end of the year. lets just hope lively is back for the cincy game and get healthy from there!akron covers this week

That was me gz19. Maybe Doug gets it going this week at West Point? Go Zips!!