UC Game

[Zip Watcher]

No matter how you spin this ...today's was a BAD BAD loss .. the lack of focus and discipline is disappointing.

[RACER]

the personal foul on the punt killed us.instead we take 15 back from where a.jones fielded the punt.Can't is a must win next week.cannot afford to be 2-4,0-2 in the mac.hopefully the rest of the mac east will keep losing though.

[Zip Watcher]

I think there were 3 game changing personal fouls .. 2 by the same player. Just senseless stuff .. clipping a guy that was behind the runner on the play before Johnson got hurt REALLY hurts us. Generally I guess it's hard to expect the players to demonstrate self control when the head coach doesn't .. the team is a reflection of it's leader.Hopes and prayers for Andrew .. looked like bad hit in the pile .. guy just bent his neck back.I sure hope this game doesn't cost the Zips a bowl appearance heading into the Info.Go AJ .. Go Zips.

[Hilltopper]

Just got back home from the game. All I can say is wow, what a disappointment. This game was winable, but questionable calls ruled the day. I'm not just talking about the refs either. What was JD thinking when he ordered a punt block attempt when we had them buried near the goal line? Set up for the return and you get the ball at the 50 at worst. Why do we try to throw a 30 yd pass on 3rd down when all we need is 1yd? The kicking game cost us the game. Igor was awful and Stec wasn't much better. Jones needs to make more fair catches instead of letting the ball bounce off the turf. if 5 plays go our whay, we win.

[ZachTheZip]

Johnson got hit hard, but he was moving all his extremeties.There was bad penalties, bad playcalling, and bad attitudes.What is up with Igor? Does he want to get replaced on FG duties too?We have to win next game. Lose and JD has to be gone.

[skip-zip]

Actually, a number of things went bad for us that could have made a difference...I'll add....1) Roughing the punter in the end zone when we would have gotten the ball at mid field.2) Bruce's dropped pass in the back of the end zone.3) The missed extra point before halftime, which forced us to go for 2 when we scored in the 4th quarter. If we had successfully kicked both extra points, the game would have gone to overtime.4) The illegal block when we would have had a first and goal at the one or two yard line was HUGE. 5) A couple of plays later...should we have gone for the field goal? I'm not sure, but with Johnson getting hurt when we went on 4th down, it sure ended up being a really costly call. Racer...the personal foul penalty on the Jones fair catch was a wash. They interferred with Jones, so the penalties offset each other, and the ball was placed at the spot where he caught the punt. They did not back us up 15 yards back from where he made the fair catch. I have to say...I rarely blame refs for costing a team a game, but making such a poor intentional grounding call at such a critical juncture late in a game has to really be questioned. On a positive note, I think you could really tell today that we played fresher up front through 4 quarters than we have all year. Having two DLs back really helped a lot. Overall...I'm happy we played competitively for 4 quarters against a team that is decidedly better than us on paper. If this is a sign of our improvement this year, I hope it continues.

[zipseuph]

the missed FG by Igor was bad but I can't blame him for the PAT. he can't help it that the kick was blocked. the high snaps NEED TO STOP! I can't take much more of Jaq jumping out of his shoes just to catch a snap and further more jaq needs to learn how to connect on long passes. none of those bombs he threw were even close while bowser was wide open

[Buckzip]

the missed FG by Igor was bad but I can't blame him for the PAT. he can't help it that the kick was blocked. the high snaps NEED TO STOP! I can't take much more of Jaq jumping out of his shoes just to catch a snap and further more jaq needs to learn how to connect on long passes. none of those bombs he threw were even close while bowser was wide open

As usual when UA plays a bigger school, we get so close but still find a way to lose.

[bearcatfan]

Good game by the Zips. They outplayed UC today. UC was very lucky to win. Can UC borrow your QB for the rest of this year?As far as the grounding call goes, according to a UC blogger:"I don’t understand the furor over the intentional grounding call on Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain. Yes, there was a receiver within a few feet of him when he threw the ball into the ground with about 2 minutes to play. But he was about eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. The pass must cross the line of scrimmage in order for you to avoid the penalty. I don’t know why TV announcers always seem to forget this. As upset as Zips coach J.D. Brookhart looked, it was the correct call. It was intentional grounding all the way."http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/blog/spe.../092708aaa.html

[zipsbandman]

Our run defense is IMPROVED. I feel much better going up against run-happy Can't state next week. Also, I DO NOT blame JD for going for it on fourth and one in the red zone. I think that was absolutely the correct call when you are an underdog against a BCS team and your kicker cannot make a field goal as it is. I am disappointed at the execution.Bad:We snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory today. Cincy tried to give us this game but we gave it right back. The refs were not very good of course, but we should not have let this game come down to officiating. We missed so many opportunities. I'm sure I am missing some. Not being able to get a freaking half yard to convert that fourth down in the end zone would have put us over the top right there. Kicking game was awful. We're back to missing extra points again? Defense gave up an easy touchdown in the third and went through our typical third quarter lapse. Watcher is right. This team is undisciplined. The penalties (while some were questionable) were a back breaker and helped keep us out of the endzone even though we moved the ball on them.There is something that I've noticed. Injuries are part of the game. But we're losing guys every single game? Is there a trend here? Maybe our luck is that bad. We also have trouble converting on 3rd and fourth down at the goal line in those power formations. It's like we never get a good push. Are we conditioned??Not too much good to take from this game other than our improved defensive performance. This is a very mediocre football team. So far, we've beaten crap but cannot get over the top when playing decent football teams. A win today would have convinced me that maybe things are looking up for JD's team and we can win the tougher game. Lucky for JD, fans are fickle and coming back with the Wagon Wheel would come a long way in appeasing the fan base. We loose next week I say get Akron a seat on the coaching carousel.

[billcro69]

after being out at the 'bowl today.....i feel good. our guys went out there, played thier A$$es off, and came away almost upsetting a team that came in here expecting a cake walk. do i think we could have had this one? absolutely. but we didn't. $hit happens. it's nothing to hang our heads and pout about.

[MDZip]

Good game by the Zips. They outplayed UC today. UC was very lucky to win. Can UC borrow your QB for the rest of this year?As far as the grounding call goes, according to a UC blogger:"I don’t understand the furor over the intentional grounding call on Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain. Yes, there was a receiver within a few feet of him when he threw the ball into the ground with about 2 minutes to play. But he was about eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. The pass must cross the line of scrimmage in order for you to avoid the penalty. I don’t know why TV announcers always seem to forget this. As upset as Zips coach J.D. Brookhart looked, it was the correct call. It was intentional grounding all the way."http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/blog/spe.../092708aaa.html

I just saw almost exactly the same play in the Illinois-Penn State game (QB under pressure flipped the ball at the feet of his RB and both were behind the LOS). There was no flag. But regardless, big picture, winning the MAC East is the only goal now and that is still possible.

[Zip Watcher]

Good game by the Zips. They outplayed UC today. UC was very lucky to win. Can UC borrow your QB for the rest of this year?As far as the grounding call goes, according to a UC blogger:"I don’t understand the furor over the intentional grounding call on Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain. Yes, there was a receiver within a few feet of him when he threw the ball into the ground with about 2 minutes to play. But he was about eight yards behind the line of scrimmage. The pass must cross the line of scrimmage in order for you to avoid the penalty. I don’t know why TV announcers always seem to forget this. As upset as Zips coach J.D. Brookhart looked, it was the correct call. It was intentional grounding all the way."http://gobearcats.cstv.com/sports/blog/spe.../092708aaa.html

This sounds good, but I think it's not factually accurate. There are a few ways to avoid the grounding call:- Throw to a receiver (which JD will debate that Jacq did)- Get outside the pocket and throw it past the line of scrimmage ..You don't need to have both of these conditions for it to be a fair play. This one was certainly debatable .. not as clean as you'd like to believe it was.

[w00t]

"The pass must cross the line of scrimmage in order for you to avoid the penalty."That's only when you're outside the pocket with no receiver in the area of the thrown ball. It was a lousy call.

[Lee Adams]

:blink: well,where does one start...it was a very entertaining game...i yelled myself hoarse...BUT, once again at the crucial points in the game when good decisions and good plays HAD to be made on our side they weren't...that includes ONCE AGAIN, JD and his staff, CHRIS JACQUEMIAN( he is no longer CJ here), IGOR....when you play a physically superior team, which CINCY obviously was...JD, you don't get do overs, you have to make the RIGHT call for the moment AND your QB has to make the RIGHT play for the moment...i was sitting in the stands yelling at my GF that the ZIPS needed to KICK THE DAMN FG instead of going for it...i would have thrown the damn flag on Jacquemain too...throw the damn ball into the freeking seats...the penalties,the opportunities Cincy gave them...i don't care how entertianing the game was...ya gotta win it when you're that close...now the big problem for JD is, what if you lose to can't? season pretty much over , again...and as beaten up physically as the Zips are...11 months to INFOany word on JOHNSON?

[johnnyzip84]

The grounding call was a tough one, but the bottom line is the Zips just didn't take advantage of the opportunities that were presented. The D played with as much passion as I've seen under JD. I see SO much to be hopeful for, BUT in the end we NEED to beat Can't this week or the season will get away from us I am afraid. I think the Zips are definitely the better team, but anything can happen in this rivalry (as we all know) game and I just hope Ball St. hit Can't as hard as Cincy hit us today. This week of practice could very well make or break things as far as JD is concerned. It's a real shame, too, because it's not hard to imagine this bunch turning the corner if they can just get over this hump.

[ZachTheZip]

A big question is now at our RB spot. It used to be the surest thing we had going for us. Will we see Gary Pride? Does Devoe burn his redshirt?

[ZippyRulz]

after being out at the 'bowl today.....i feel good. our guys went out there, played thier A$es off, and came away almost upsetting a team that came in here expecting a cake walk. do i think we could have had this one? absolutely. but we didn't. $hit happens. it's nothing to hang our heads and pout about.

If we don't hang our heads about missing PAT's while 'playing our a$e$ off' then I guess we don't care about winning. I'm sure JD will be a good position coach somewhere when his current contract is up, maybe not special teams though.

[skip-zip]

Apparently, the Cincinnati fan who jumped on here commented without knowing the rule. You can indeed throw towards a receiver behind the line of scrimmage without getting a grounding call. I think what irks me the worst is not that it was called...bad judgement calls happen frequently during a football game....but this one was called in a situation where a referee was going to essentially decide the final outcome of a game by making the call. And referees should not decide football games.Like they said in the post game report on the radio. that play happens every day in football, at every level, and QBs get the luxury of being able to avoid a loss by throwing at the feet of a nearby receiver. In fact, they are TAUGHT to do that. On another note, I don't understand why a couple of you are criticizing those who feel good about our showing today. We were a couple of points away from beating two BCS schools in the same season....which would have been another accomplishment for the program. Irregardless of the chances we had to win the game, it was surely still much closer than anyone expected. I take Akron losses pretty hard, but I'm certainly more hopeful today that this team will grow as the season progresses.

[Z.I.P.]

Aloha from O'ahu. Zips in Paradise showed up in droves at Eastside Grill to watch ESPN Pay-per-Vu.Notes: Crowd looked pretty small -- what was attendance, under 15k? Crowd across from press box covered very little space. Cincinnati student section got a lot of camera looks though. More than Rowdies I'm afraid.Akron is a physical team again. This is something that was not true until now under JD, and is a very good sign for the program. Jacquemain looks decent when throwing no more than 10-15 yards downfield. More than that and its either overthrown or a dying quail.Who's left to play running back at Dix next week?Bowser is a human vacuum sweeper. Only problem is sometimes he catches balls he should drop -- like behind the LOS with defenders bearing down on him. I'm glad we have him for another year.

[ZipAlumn]

Aloha from O'ahu. Zips in Paradise showed up in droves at Eastside Grill to watch ESPN Pay-per-Vu.Notes: Crowd looked pretty small -- what was attendance, under 15k? Crowd across from press box covered very little space. Cincinnati student section got a lot of camera looks though. More than Rowdies I'm afraid..................

I would not attempt to estimate the size of the crowd, but I thought it was decent. Cincinnati brought tons of fans, the general admissions side of the Rubber Bowl was probably filled with 2/3 or more of those in attendance being for the Bearcats.

[bearcatfan]

Apparently, the Cincinnati fan who jumped on here commented without knowing the rule. You can indeed throw towards a receiver behind the line of scrimmage without getting a grounding call. I think what irks me the worst is not that it was called...bad judgement calls happen frequently during a football game....but this one was called in a situation where a referee was going to essentially decide the final outcome of a game by making the call. And referees should not decide football games.Like they said in the post game report on the radio. that play happens every day in football, at every level, and QBs get the luxury of being able to avoid a loss by throwing at the feet of a nearby receiver. In fact, they are TAUGHT to do that. On another note, I don't understand why a couple of you are criticizing those who feel good about our showing today. We were a couple of points away from beating two BCS schools in the same season....which would have been another accomplishment for the program. Irregardless of the chances we had to win the game, it was surely still much closer than anyone expected. I take Akron losses pretty hard, but I'm certainly more hopeful today that this team will grow as the season progresses.

I clearly stated the response was by a UC blogger and also provided a link. The Akron QB threw it into the ground. I did not see a RB anywhere near the ball. And the QB was not out of the pocket. I'll never understand the comment "referees should not decide football games". Should they just ignore the rules in the last few minutes of a close game? Allow holding, offsides, and everything else?Good luck to Akron the rest of the season.

[GoZips88]

Jacq's ball should have been thrown towards JD on the sideline ... I thought he deliberately threw it into the ground and not as close to the feet of Kennedy as it should have been. He LOOKED like he was trying to get rid of the ball instead of making it LOOK like he was throwing it to Kennedy (gotta 'sell it' a little bit). Water under the bridge at this point but I'd have my QBs chuck that thing to the sidelines whenever possible ('oops, it sailed high over the receivers head - so sorry about that ... musta slipped.').It appeared to me that Pride is the next guy in line. Torrence was dressed but didn't stretch, put his helmet on or do ANYTHING else that would make me believe JD is thinking of calling his number at all this year. Pride had his helmet on and started to stretch fairly soon after Johnson went down. I like our fullback Tuzze but I hope Kennedy and Pride can carry the load the rest of the long road (7 MAC games plus 1 or 2 more?) we have left this year.Sure wish we had Cincy's kicker. He sure looked the part ... walked out there confidently, struck the ball well, end-over-end in flight, and sailed through the uprights with plenty of distance to spare. Those (game-winning) are ideally where FGs are to be used ... we failed, they didn't.Loved the effort on the defensive side of the ball. Encouraged but disappointed once again by all of the mistakes. So many opportunities to bag another win over a BCS-level team and we didn't get it done. 4th-and-the-length-of-a-football ... No way we should lose to Can't but all bets are off when it comes to rivalry games. Going against my better judgment and making the trek to Dix Stadium next Saturday. I'd better not be leaving at half-time again like I did two years ago. Cincy's 3rd-string QB reminded me of Can't State QB Edelman and it gave me shivers. Sure hope Eugene Jarvis is still in street clothes ... Go Zips!

[subflea]

Sure wish we had Cincy's kicker. He sure looked the part ... walked out there confidently, struck the ball well, end-over-end in flight, and sailed through the uprights with plenty of distance to spare. Those (game-winning) are ideally where FGs are to be used ... we failed, they didn't.

That is something I never thought I would hear. Making that kick yesterday was huge for him. He has been very inconsistent all last year and early this year. He lost his job after the first game because he was missing EP's.

[johnnyzip84]

Sure wish we had Cincy's kicker. He sure looked the part ... walked out there confidently, struck the ball well, end-over-end in flight, and sailed through the uprights with plenty of distance to spare. Those (game-winning) are ideally where FGs are to be used ... we failed, they didn't.

That is something I never thought I would hear. Making that kick yesterday was huge for him. He has been very inconsistent all last year and early this year. He lost his job after the first game because he was missing EP's.

Now this is ironic. Earlier one of UC's fans said something to the same effect about Zip QB Chris Jacquemain. Now if last year ight about this time a statement like that would have drawn laughter and raised eyesbrows to just about all Zip fans. It just goes to show, these guys are still young men and they mature as FB players at different paces. BTW, your PK's big advantage IMHO is that his balls seem to shoot at a 45 degree angle just about every time he strikes it....great distance AND height. We don't see that from our PK's, particularly the height (although the blocked PK wasn't Igor's fault). Good luck to UC the rest of the year.