Buffalo Report

[Zipsrifle]

Well, made my first trip to Buffalo, and unless the Zips and the Bulls are battling for the MAC East in the future, I don't really have a burning desire to go back.The gameWell, I hope you guys who watched the game on TV were happy with the number of media timeouts, because we were freezing our butts off! Starting with Nicely. The guy is the future of the Zips...but he is a True Freshman and we saw a few reasons why yesterday. 2 TO to avoid a delay of game and there were a few times, on short, quick passes, where he just unloaded the ball to his receiver regardless of the coverage. I don't know if it is designed that way, but that is why he tossed the INT in the endzone. Did it a couple times and they very easily could have had 2-3 more pics. He also had what appeared to be a tendency to throw the ball low on short passes to the right. He threw quite a few high balls...ones that would/should have been caught if they were lower....the game killed included. Also, he consistently underthrew his receivers on long balls. I think this is technique and adjusting to the speed of the game at the college level. Other than that, the kid appears to be a great get. He goes through is progressions, isn't phased by the pocket collapsing around him, and makes very good decisions! For example, he took a few sacks but he knew where he was and didn't chuck it away if he thought he would get penalized. Also, he had threw some passes in the right spot, where only his receiver could get them, which I can't remember CJ or MR doing. I'm convinced that he is definately better than Rogers, but maybe ever so slightly worse than CJ at this point. He will be a Star in the MAC in 2 years.As for the running game, Torrence may have butter fingers, but man is he quick to the line and man can he make things happen. I can't remember a player an Akron who gets the ball and pops through a hole in the line so fast! Tuzze is a hard worker, but DeVoe has talent. On one play, I was 100% absolutely sure that DeVoe would be tackled for a loss but he somehow, I don't know how, but somehow skirted around the guy and gained a boatload of yards. If he can keep the ball under control, he will be awesome! As for Tuzze, I love the guy, he is the hammer, doesn't shy away from taking a hit but I think he is paying the price....got up slow a few times yesterday.Too bad to hear about Bowser...I didn't know what happened. In general, not impressed with our receivers. They seem...ehh. I saw a few decent plays, LaFrance seemed pretty good, but also some dropped passes (Bowser) I think the coaching kept the reigns on Nicely but at least they were trying to throw over the middle. I can remember when we did that what, once in a year. It would be nice if we could cultivate a possession receiver and a big play guy. I thought that Bruce would be our posession receiver but I think he had a drop or two yesterday too.....just like last year. What's the deal with the bad snaps? We had what 10 yesterday where it impacted the play either delaying the handoff or reducing Nicely's time to pass the ball. UH!In the first half, our D shut down their run, but they figured out they could pass on us. They obviously made adjustments in the 2nd half because they could pretty much do what they wanted on the ground or through the air. Wagner is a Stud...I love that guy! He is one of the best in the MAC, though he won't be recognized for it. Our DB are short and, as usual, don't appear to look for the ball on deep passes. They just blindly throw their hands up and hope to distract their guy. They will get burned all day on jump balls to the corner of the endzone. I don't know how many 3rd and long conversions they got yesterday....10??? I think our run D is good enough to stop teams in the East, but our pass D is horrible....as least we were able to flush the QB out of the pocket a few times and come up with some big stops! Please tell me why you would run your Freshman QB, who is a great pocket passer, and open him up for some major licks? Didn't we already lose a QB that way this year! If we keep this up, Nicely WILL go down with an injury this year! What is the deal with the rugby punts? The only thing I can think of is they are so short they reduce the chance the other team will break one for a TD. There is NO way we win the field position battle with that strategy. What is the deal with benching our best guys for so long if they make a mistake? It is going to happen, but how long was Torrence out after the fumbled??? I am just underwhelmed with the level of preparation these guys seem to have or their focus on the game. Though I couldn't see it yesterday, during our previous 2 losses at ICS I saw players laughing it up on the sideline as we were losing. Why am I up in the stands pissed as hell that we are losing and focued on every play and the players are on the sidelines horsing around??? Finally, to comment on the facilities. I think they have a great setup for pre-game tailgating. Lots of parking lots and a direct shot to the stadium. Loved that! Oh, and BTW, thanks to Zips Win! for showing us how he works at away games and honestly, CK makes the best home brew I have ever had! Their stadium is bad...I can only compare it to EMU's Ryerson Stadium. I will give them credit that the place is loud....much louder than I expected but it is not a good place to watch a football game. The field is inside a running track and seriously, you could almost fit the entire Infocision Stadium INSIDE of their stadium the seats are so far back. There is NOTHING to see outside the stadium (Like the view at Yeager) and they have large openings between the stands in the endzone. It is very utilitarian in architecture as well. Concrete stands along the sidelines, aluminum and steel in the endzones. Fans were OK, not the best in the MAC and I wouldn't say that we felt welcomed. I do have to say the Wings at Duff's were the best I have had, but not quite what I expected. CK said that is because we got them to go......I'll take his word on that.

[Zipsrifle]

Oh, and one more thing for anyone who was traveling back last night. I'm pretty sure I faintly saw the Northern Lights as we neared Pennsylvania. I've nosed around and they were seen as far south an Harland Michigan (near where I used to live) last night, so I don't think it is out of the question. Anyone else see them?

[RootforRoo44]

Oh, and one more thing for anyone who was traveling back last night. I'm pretty sure I faintly saw the Northern Lights as we neared Pennsylvania. I've nosed around and they were seen as far south an Harland Michigan (near where I used to live) last night, so I don't think it is out of the question. Anyone else see them?

http://www.spaceweather.com has updates on if auroras were seen in certain areas and has pictures of them submitted by users. I haven't seen any that far south recently on there but i've seen them as far south as tennessee on there before (actually a few pictures last year were submitted from someone who took them at Silvercreek Metropark in Norton, Ohio.In terms of the bad snaps, if i heard correctly on the radio, was someone besides Elliot Bates playing center as well? Because he was serving up some bad snaps yesterday too. I swear we cannot find a center who is consistent.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Adding to Zipsrifle's comments -I learned long ago that simply traveling to a Zips away game to watch football is a bad idea. Thus we got a nice hotel with a pool, took the kid to see the falls, brought a nice propane heater to the tailgate...tried to create as many guaranteed positives to offset the very cold game day and highly probable loss.Had a nice tailgate, with the ZipsWin's, Rifles and Z's all joining the fray. Corey Woods parents were also near by. Quality beer including Brooklyn Brewing Octoberfest and Roo-Topia helped make the weather more tolerable.There really is no cheaper event in the world than a Buffalo football game. The on-campus parking is free, and it took me all of 5 minutes to score 6 free tickets from a Buffalo fan. Free parking and game tickets...that's the best thing about MAC football.Buffalo's stadium is nice enough. But the stands in the endzones are a mile away from the action. That track absolutely sucks from a football fan's perspective. That said, the 6k in attendance easily fit within the confines of the side stands. Since the two disputed pass interference calls happened directly in front of me, and in front of the Buffalo bench, I can say without hesitation that both were BS. To call-off the first flag because "there was no contact" is boarderline criminal. To call offensive pass interference when the defender, with his back to the ball, physically impeded the WR's path to the ball, is criminal. I am guessing two referees made their way to a Niagra Falls sports book to pick up a pile of money after the game.Andre Jones looked great at WR...but his absence in the secondary killed the Zips. The deep-middle was wide open all day. #27 and #23 ain't no #21. But with Bowser out, Jones has to finish the season at WR. Torrence had a great day. Too bad he only had 13 carries. JD needs to live with Torrence's ball security issues and run him 20 times.The "jumbo package" the Zips ran to get Allen into the endzone was heartening. At least it showed me the staff was capable of coming up with some fresh, effective stuff to get us into the endzone. I'd like to see that package on 3rd and 1 too. It beats the hell out of the shotgun.As Zipsrifle said, Nicely was short on several of the long routes. But I think he will get a lot better over time. I agree with the assessment that The Kid is almost as good as a 5th year senior Jacquemain should have been...and light years ahead of where Rodgers was before his injury. Buffalo's QB made some nice tosses, and Roosevelt made some nice grabs. Buffalo had plenty of excuses...loss of an NFL-caliber QB...loss of Starks...loss of a starting OL...but they persevered. In the end, it came down to who would execute, and who would make the mistake." Buffalo drove the length of the field and scored. We drove 3/4 of the length of the field...and made the mistake.Buffalo has now beaten the Zips 3 consecutive times. Here's hoping The Kid learns from the mistakes of this week and has a big game vs. Syracuse.Here's hoping our special team's coach ditches that sh!tty rugby-style kick and lets Stec boot the ball. To paraphrase Dr. Z "Why the hell give a scholarship to a punter if you're going to relegate him to kicking 20 yard line-drives? Anyone on the team can do that."God Bless any of you making the trek to Syracuse. I've seen enough. I'll be at the Vikings / Steelers game Sunday. Go Vikings...my Pigskin Prozac this football season! McDonald HS update: 7-0 on the season. No truth to the rumor they're applying for entry in the MAC next season.