Anyone else concerned....

[Captain Kangaroo]

"Junior Luke Getsy (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley/Pittsburgh), slated to start the season opener at Purdue on Sept.10, struggled in the early going, but rebounded to complete 11 of 26 passes after starting the day by hitting on 1-of-10."

For the past 8 years we've been in pretty solid shape at QB. I have no clue what to expect this season. I keep waiting for Getsy to do something that gives me hope, but thus far I haven't seen it.

The OL concerns me greatly...but I'm starting to think the QB position is an even larger concern.

[Z-Pouch]

I'm concerned !!!!

We all know (it's that gut feeling so dispute if you want but deep inside you know it's true) that Getsy transferred over from Pitt with some spoken/unspoken promises of the being the "QB in waiting". BUT, what if Ferguson is actually better, what if thru spring and camp drills he actually outperforms Getsy ? How long does JD stick with his chosen one ? I see tough decisions ahead for JD as all I read/hear says Luke's not all that was advertised and Ferguson may be more capable of leading us to more wins. When I read of a WEAK arm and shaking off the rust, it's unsettling to me -- A decent Qb has not been an issue for us in a long time. Does anyone actually feel Getsy won the job or was it handed to him ?

The boards been very nice to JD but maybe on this one it's time to start asking some tough questions......I know I'm rattling some homer cages here but JD's free pass just does not work for me. He rode the shoulders of Charlie last year to COY honors and an extremely lucky win over Marshall (Watch the tape guys, they gave the game to us, talk about bungling opportunities - it's why no bowls called and Marshall was chosen as the better team). Charlie's proving to be quite a talent in the higher ranks and may have done more himself alone then we realized leading to some wins, So will JD make the tough decisions ? or will he stick with the chosen one when the writing s on the wall ? Will Ferguson get a chance early in the season if Getsy fails ?

I also think Kennedy vs Biggs is an interesting developing situation -- and dont even go down the Kennedy or Biggs vs Ringer road. Every carry that Ringer gets over Kennedy or Biggs might as well be chalked up as a sympathy vote.,,.a wasted play....Ringer may be a great team player, a great guy but hey were not talking YMCA ball here where everyone plays.

Yours truly,

Mrs Ferguson and Mrs Kennedy.........

[Buckzip]

Pouch, very well said. I couldn't agree more.

[GP1]

BUT, what if Ferguson is actually better, what if thru spring and camp drills he actually outperforms Getsy ? How long does JD stick with his chosen one ?

I know I'm rattling some homer cages here but JD's free pass just does not work for me. He rode the shoulders of Charlie last year to COY honors and an extremely lucky win over Marshall (Watch the tape guys, they gave the game to us, talk about bungling opportunities - it's why no bowls called and Marshall was chosen as the better team). Charlie's proving to be quite a talent in the higher ranks and may have done more himself alone then we realized leading to some wins, So will JD make the tough decisions ?

This was an excellent post and I would like to just comment on a couple of things.

First, I think JD has the personality to pull the plug on any player who is not performing. Most college coaches know the importance winning and playing the best players. I am sure JD understands this as he not only has coached in college for eight years, but in the NFL for two. When it comes right down to it, these coaches are a bunch of pricks who will do anything to save their @$$e$.

I don't think JD has had a free pass at all. I remember last year on this site after the first two or three games people were calling for his head. Also, the Beacon Journal has done nothing since he received the job but mention Saint Lee Owens in every article they write about him and how it was Owens' players who are carrying the load for him. He certainly has not had a free pass.

Let's all take a trip back to last year again. What made the team turn their season around last year was the benching of Ringer and the starting of Biggs after a horrible start to the season. It had nothing to do with the QB play. Just to satisfy Zips Win! I will say this, Frye obviously played very good last year. Saying that though his play was not the key to turning around the season. The point being, it was the guts JD had to bench an underperforming player and take a chance with one of his own guys. Maybe he is taking a chance with one of "his guys" this year, but the first chance he took with one worked out very well. If I see Ringer on anything this season other than kickoff team, I will .

Guys, Z-Pouch has written the type of post that we should all be posting. There is nothing wrong with a little smack on this board...either serious or kidding. It is the stuff that make boards fun and popular.

[InTheZone]

From everything I've heard, Ferguson has outperformed Getsy in every aspect this entire camp. I know Getsy will still get the start at Purdue, but if he doesn't perform, Ferguson has every right to be in the game by the second half.

[Zips fan]

I think the biggest benefit JD has brought to the football team has been the recruiting. To insinuate that he has had a free pass on this board is not true. He is getting the job done.

Our potential quaterback controversy will be figured out within the first two games. JD has done a great job coaching in his first season and he will figure out the best quarterback for this program.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I think the biggest benefit JD has brought to the football team has been the recruiting.  To insinuate that he has had a free pass on this board is not true.  He is getting the job done.

Our potential quaterback controversy will be figured out within the first two games.  JD has done a great job coaching in his first season and he will figure out the best quarterback for this program.

I agree. Look at the Marshall. What would you have done differently than JD? Can you point to any coaching decisions that put us in a hole during that game? How about Miami? Yeah we lost...but the better team won. In no way shape or form were we out-coached. We we're out-depthed and out-athleted.

Compare that to Owens and his maddening draw plays on 3rd and 8. His abandonment of the run during Frye's junior year. His "Let's-just-try-to-keep-the-score-close" mentality of the last BG home game (remember 5' 4" Junior McCray's 20 carries?) or the Pitt game. Remember how Owens stuck with Jesse Smith on the corner for four years despite the guy playing 10 yards off the line every play. The atrocious clock management at the end of the UConn game, leaving the game in the hands of the world's worst defense.

I didn't see any of that stuff with JD. Once he had a few games under his belt he seems to consistently play the best hand with the cards he was dealt. Over the next few years JD's "hands" will be progressively stronger and our wins will rise accordingly.

[Z-P]

Now that's a better board!

Yea, I'm concerned too. I'm concerned our staff got famous before they got good.

I heard it from VERY CREDIBLE INSIDE GUYS that the veteran players "almost took over" after the 4th game last year. Could be BS, I know that, but maybe not.......

Go board!

ILFSITF

[a-zip]

I have not had an opportunity to see the team first hand but reading between the lines of posts and releases on the UA website it appears as though Ferguson is scoring more and is statistically better. JD has to play the better player and there has got to be loyalty to Hixon having a QB that can get him the ball.

We can't afford to lose the momentum that has been built in the last 2 years. This is the highest point sports has been in since 85-86 when the football team went to the 1aa playoffs, soccer played for the national championship vs Duke, and BBall lost the the Fab4 in March Madness.

Many players are gamers, lets hope that is the case with Getsy. If not, the staff is going to play the player that will provide the best opportunity to win.

Let me stir the pot a little more...........I believe Carlton Jackson came to Akron to play QB. He is one of the more heralded recruits we have ever had. I heard Jacquemain looks better. How will this situation unfold?

[GP1]

There are way too many good comments to quote, so I'll just jump in again.

I don't know what the seniors did or did not do last year after a bad start, but if they provided leadership to the remainder of the team, that is what seniors are supposed to do. My only question would be, what took so long? Maybe they were sick of years of losing and pouting about a new staff. I really don't know. I would guess that getting passed Virginia, NIU and PSU helped the outlook of the team and prospects for victory as well as leadership. Any spark to the team had to be the loss to MTSU. I can't imagine how sick they all felt after that game losing to an inferior team at the Rubber Bowl.

Maybe beating Marshall was lucky. The bottom line is that the Zips were presented with opportunities to take advantage of and they did. That's the sign of a good team. The sign of a bad team is one that allows those opportunities to happen and we all see the condition of the Marshall program now. They are a mid level MAC program now going into a conference where those schools are going to want to kick their ass every week just to make a statement.

I would say something bad about Owens here, but I've said enough bad things about him in my life that I'm sure the good Lord will need me to answer a few questions about them before he makes his decision. With my luck, God will look like Terry Pluto. No wonder Pluto thinks he is God.

If Getsy is a gamer, the only way to find out is during a real game. Within a month we will all know. My biggest concern is his not playing in a game for a few years now. I'm not willing to make any changes right now though. If we are getting our asses kicked at Purdue at halftime in a couple of weeks, I would let Ferguson play some in the second half regardless of how Getsy plays. I think that would be a prudent thing to do.

Thanks for everyone for elevating this board today.

[Z-Pouch]

A lot of good points that I agree on. JD's got the program moving in the right direction but lets just say I'm chasing the bandwagon not on it yet.

Recruiting -- Awesome, obviously his strength to date.

Biggs adjustment and play last year - Best coaching move but did it take too long ? I remember a lot of people on the board on the Biggs bandwagon in early August.......ala Ferguson ? My point earlier -- Big difference, Ringer was not JD's guy.

Frye -- Please give a man his props for last year. Biggs was Big but my point is that Charlie may have done a lot of little things throughout last year that we will just start to miss this year when they are gone. I hope everyone seen/heard that Green Bay's wishing they would have taken Frye in the 1st rather then Rodgers -- Let's just say Rodgers is struggling a little (a lot, if you can piss off Favre already). I'm not sure Frye could be more impressive at the Browns camp. Did anyone see the comment by a veteran (Northcut) about the respect he's already earned from new teammates and coaches ?

Owens -- Glad he's gone but I do give the guy credit for offensive schemes and talented recruits (QB's, WR's, RB's). I never doubted that we could score against the likes of OSU, Wisc, PSU and others. Granted we never stopped anyone but we could score.

COY honors -- It seemed a little early for this based on field/game performance. Throw in recruiting and maybe you've got something......

Jackson versus Jacquemain -- Conflicting reports on this -- not sure who/what to believe BUT what a great problem to have !!!!!!

Hope the board picks up now that the season is here -- tought to post in the summer on so much speculation.

Anyone want to fire up the "Can, will and why didn't Dambrot win the big games last year ? " ---Let's wait till atleast Halloween Hoops for that one.

[GP1]

Biggs adjustment and play last year - Best coaching move but did it take too long ? I remember a lot of people on the board on the Biggs bandwagon in early August.......ala Ferguson ? My point earlier -- Big difference, Ringer was not JD's guy.

I don't know if it took too long to replace Ringer because his faults were not fully realized until after the MTSU game. I think what really did Ringer in were the fumbles against MTSU. Turnovers will lose a game faster than anything and especally when you fumble near the other team's end zone. Not only that, Biggs completely out performed Ringer when he had the chance to play. I think he won MAC Offensive Player of the Week two or three times last year. That my friends is a difference maker.

I know there is a lot of paranoia everytime I mention Frye's name, so let me clarify my comments above. I think Frye had a VERY good season last year (though he had a much better one his junior year). As good as he played, the team still needed some spark to get them winning. That spark was Biggs. Biggs provided consistency (runs hard every play) and dependability (doesn't fumble) to the running attack. JD wants to run the ball, and when we ran more and passed less the team won games. I love to win!

[Z-P]

"With my luck, God will look like Terry Pluto. No wonder Pluto thinks he is God."

GP............an all time classic board rant............."rack it ZW"

[Zipsrifle]

We've been VERY fortunate in the last 8 years with QB's. I don't think Butchie got enough credit (though I don't think a board existed back then to get anyone elses thoughts). I think JD has seen what Getsy can do and is going to give him his shot. I agree, when we are getting our A$$e$ handed to us at Purdue, we put Fergie in for the 2nd half.

I don't worry too much about JD playing the right player. If I remember correctly, we were all moaning about why Ringer didn't get more playing time late in '03. Biggs was coming on strong in fall ball last year and he was already hyped up before the season started. Biggs got the nod even before most of us had any idea Ringer wasn't what we thought he would be. From what I've read, I have a feeling Ringer is now just a blocking back for Biggs and Kennedy. Though JD always talks about putting the best 11 players on the field, I have to believe we keep a couple guys redshirted (Jackson, Jacquemain). A LOT can be learned from taking a year off!

Another thing that everyone has forgotten was how much we used to whine in the LO days about losing the games we had won. I think this was one of the BIGGEST complaints. Whether the Marshall game was luck or not, Can't and Marshall has changed the attitude from "I hope we don't lose this one" to "We're going to find a way to win this one". We battled Miami last year, they were the better team and they won. I think they got more of a fight than they expected. That attitude and the smart play calling of JD is what makes him a step above LO. We aren't supposed to burn up the MAC this year, not even supposed to contend for the East. Attitude is everything and IMHO, will be the difference against MTSU, Ball State, Buffalo, OU, and Can't this year.

[Buckzip]

This is nice finally reading about some football...

[zipsfan38]

One of the best posting sessions in a long time.

Look for Getsy to play all of the first half and into the third, but I would not be surprised to see Feguson out there for a few series. A real game is a lot different from preseason scrimmages, like someone else said: Getsy could be a gamer.

I am just glad sports are back. This summer seems like it has taken forever.

Go Zips! (insert the steam whistle here)

[InTheZone]

A couple of people said some things about the offense under Owens, I'm not going to try to quote them all, but it needs to be known that Owens had very little to do with the offense in the later years. That 6th place nationally ranked offense we had in '03 was Paul Winters brainchild. Owens was a very hands off head coach, and basically let his assistants do all the work. All he really ran was the special teams.

That being said, I'm not a big fan at all of JD's ball control offense, especially when we play big teams. Our biggest advantage in the Owens/Winters era against larger schools was our wide open attack and the fact that we could score with anyone in the country. I think ball control gives us success in the MAC and helps our defense, but it's not going to let us play with the big boys until we have better players.

[RACER]

im concerned,but i dont why everyone's main focus is the qb. if the o-line don't block it doesnt matter who's behind center. i think we have some great players at wr and rb.

if we can find a way to get them the ball in the open field we can score.with four new starters in the o-line im alott more worried about that than qb.you can say what you want aboust last years line,but against the weaker mac teams we were able to run the ball. go zips.

[zipboy]

The focus is still to win the conference. JD will use the first couple of games to get ready for NIU. No one really remembered Penn State and Virginia last year during week 11 with the MAC East crown on the line. I look for us to be competitive, and I would kill to finally win a big OOC game. We are still a year away from having enough firepower. With that said, I look for Getsy to start and Ferguson to get some playing time against Purdue. Getsy probably gets the first 2 games to show that he can get it done.

Biggs is a no brainer to start. He was all MAC last year. If Kennedy is as good as we all hope, he should work his way into the rotation. Biggs with 15-18 carries every week is a lot better than Biggs with 25-30 carries every week. There is definitely enough carries for both of those guys.

On JD, he has said a couple of times that players win games. He is an outstanding recruiter. While I think he downplays his game day coaching, I thought that it was excellent last year. He also instilled pretty quickly the can do rather than what else is going to wrong mindset. I could not be happier with the guy. When the time comes, he will play the best guys. Eric Wedge has taken a lot of heat this year for sticking with Blake and Boone. I heard a comment the other day that he has shown so much confidence in everyone that guys are starting to play over their heads. Giving a guy a few weeks to show what he can do does not worry me at all. Playing Jessie Smith for 4 years at starting CB is what I call waiting too long.

Good posts everyone. Also, fyi I saw that Butchie is the new QB coach at Ashland replacing Tom Stacey. Good luck to Butchie.

[GP1]

Also, fyi I saw that Butchie is the new QB coach at Ashland replacing Tom Stacey. Good luck to Butchie.

Great for Butchie!

The most exciting years of the Owens era were when Butchie was playing. They had a much better offensive line and receiver group. Not to mention the defense was much better then also. My favorite part of Butchie's game was his ability to throw long passes. He was the best long passer I have seen at Akron.

Former Zips coaching seems to be somewhat of a trend. Mike Johnson is still coaching Ron Mexico in Atlanta. Most of you probably will not remember Mike, but he was a very good qb and was the MVP of the World League (now NFL Europe) in San Antonio when they still had teams in the United States.

[Sloopy]

Wide Open Offenses that could score with anyone in the country netted NO WINS against any of the big teams and NO MAC TITLES = See ya Coach Owens.

Hey Zone, what was your point?

[Z-Pouch]

Did anyone see this in person ? Thoughts ?

Scrimmage GoZips Recap

I read the short recap in the Beacon and was pretty encouraged as it mentioned Getsy got on track and had a nice scrimmage - 13-19, 136yds, several nice tD drives -- and solidified his hold on the starting job. Nice. Good.

Then I read GoZips and get the rest of the story.....Ferguson 8-10, 100 yds...and led the team on several TD drives. Good.

Sounds like the offense is starting to click a little and JD has two solid QB's to chose from. Glad to see Getsy living up to some of the hype.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight/opinions to these QBs play and who is actually better - now and long term.

[Zipsrifle]

I read the article and I'm starting to feel worse about the way things are going. JD seems a little disappointed in where the Zips stand right now and reading into that a little makes me think we need to make a lot of progress in the next 2 weeks.

The other thing that has me conerned is that the D appears to be so much better than the offence. Does anyone have any idea how this years Defence stacks up against the Defence at the end of last season? If we are taking a step backwards with the D, and they are mowing over the Offence, then we are in for a LONG season. If the D is at about the same level or better than the D at the end of last season, we are probably going to be OK by the time MAC play starts.

Go Zips!

[zipboy]

A few thoughts on the scrimmage -

No mention of Henry or Tate all fall. How is the battle going? Has Anderson moved into the starting line up?

No mention of Jay Rohr this Fall. A few guys are banged up at LB per gozips.com and I have not seen his name in the stats. Any worries?

Who has stepped up on the O line?

JD tells it like it is. He mentioned at Meet the Team Day that he wished they had a few more weeks to get ready. Sounds like everyone is working hard. Hopefully this is somewaht of a smoke screen.

[Zips Win!]

Just to satisfy Zips Win! I will say this, Frye obviously played very good last year. Saying that though his play was not the key to turning around the season.

GP1- Now Frye played "very good".....Please, no comments to satisfy me. It's a ton more fun when you beliitle Charlie. Then I get to respond. I thought this was an open forum to exchange ideas...... and to disagree.

Look, I have never disagreed that getting Biggs into the line-up turned the season around. He was outstanding. And I believe he became a better pass-catcher than runner which in turn helped out Charlie. But when you have a solid QB, of course a running game will help out immensely. Let's see how Biggs responds with Luke under center.

Watch the tape guys, they gave the game to us, talk about bungling opportunities - it's why no bowls called and Marshall was chosen as the better team)

Z-Pounch-Again, not disagreeing here. You make it sound like the victory dosen't count.

I have witnessed more than a dozen games in which we gave the game away, yet those teams did not stand-up and give us back the victory.

Going bowling has as much to do with team support as it does with winning/losing. If more of the 80 plus thousand alumni in northeast Ohio supported the team and we had some that would travel, maybe we would have received a bid.

Finally, I spoke with an assistant coach yesterday, Luke has won the job.....there is no controversy here.