Impressed, but cautious

[Sloopy]

Was in Columbus for the Texas game last night but caught the Akron game on the ESPN 360 computer video. Have to say I was much impressed by the performance. Save a few personnel letdowns with penalities (at least 14 points given to Purdue) and one substitution miscue early in the game and this was a gutty performance. Getsy ain't Charlie but he gets the job done. Hixon is an animal and Gonzalez and Tate both played well defensively. Team speed is way, way up and the Zippers have a nice problem with two great runningbacks. Hard to remember a more well-rounded Akron performance, meaning defense and offense both coming to play consistently. Big 10 stripes did not help Akron much either, but what do you expect, the Big 12 refs in the Shoe did not help us either.

Akron should fare well against MTSU and should have a shot in the MAC. Neither BG or Miami seem like worldbeaters based on their MAC openers and the MU's are already one down in the loss column to CMU. Akron is on the way up and MU is on the way down. Ohio had their fun on Friday night but Pittsburgh is just plain awful. BG is the class of the east but they got pushed at Ball State. Buffalo is bad and so is Can't State, struggling against a BAD 1-AA team is not the performance I expected from the flushes but think that they could beat Miami this week at home.

5-7 wins is in reach if the penalties and now and then letdowns get corrected.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Was in Columbus for the Texas game last night but caught the Akron game on the ESPN 360 computer video. Have to say I was much impressed by the performance. Save a few personnel letdowns with penalities (at least 14 points given to Purdue) and one substitution miscue early in the game and this was a gutty performance. Getsy ain't Charlie but he gets the job done. Hixon is an animal and Gonzalez and Tate both played well defensively. Team speed is way, way up and the Zippers have a nice problem with two great runningbacks. Hard to remember a more well-rounded Akron performance, meaning defense and offense both coming to play consistently. Big 10 stripes did not help Akron much either, but what do you expect, the Big 12 refs in the Shoe did not help us either.

Akron should fare well against MTSU and should have a shot in the MAC. Neither BG or Miami seem like worldbeaters based on their MAC openers and the MU's are already one down in the loss column to CMU. Akron is on the way up and MU is on the way down. Ohio had their fun on Friday night but Pittsburgh is just plain awful. BG is the class of the east but they got pushed at Ball State. Buffalo is bad and so is Can't State, struggling against a BAD 1-AA team is not the performance I expected from the flushes but think that they could beat Miami this week at home.

5-7 wins is in reach if the penalties and now and then letdowns get corrected.

I'm cautiously optimistic now too.

Remember the game at the 'shoe in 2001? We lost 28-14. Played a whale of a game. We finished 4-7 that year.

I will be very interesting to see how the Zips fare in Murfreesboro next week. I watched MTSU lose at home to Noth Texas last night (YES Network). MTSU isn't very good.

[InTheZone]

Was in Columbus for the Texas game last night but caught the Akron game on the ESPN 360 computer video.  Have to say I was much impressed by the performance.  Save a few personnel letdowns with penalities (at least 14 points given to Purdue) and one substitution miscue early in the game and this was a gutty performance.  Getsy ain't Charlie but he gets the job done.  Hixon is an animal and Gonzalez and Tate both played well defensively.  Team speed is way, way up and the Zippers have a nice problem with two great runningbacks.  Hard to remember a more well-rounded Akron performance, meaning defense and offense both coming to play consistently.  Big 10 stripes did not help Akron much either, but what do you expect, the Big 12 refs in the Shoe did not help us either.

Akron should fare well against MTSU and should have a shot in the MAC.  Neither BG or Miami seem like worldbeaters based on their MAC openers and the MU's are already one down in the loss column to CMU.  Akron is on the way up and MU is on the way down.  Ohio had their fun on Friday night but Pittsburgh is just plain awful.  BG is the class of the east but they got pushed at Ball State.  Buffalo is bad and so is Can't State, struggling against a BAD 1-AA team is not the performance I expected from the flushes but think that they could beat Miami this week at home.

5-7 wins is in reach if the penalties and now and then letdowns get corrected.

I'm cautiously optimistic now too.

Remember the game at the 'shoe in 2001? We lost 28-14. Played a whale of a game. We finished 4-7 that year.

I will be very interesting to see how the Zips fare in Murfreesboro next week. I watched MTSU lose at home to Noth Texas last night (YES Network). MTSU isn't very good.

North Texas has two unbelievable running backs (both have led the nation in rushing during their career) and has been to a bowl game something like the past five years in a row. The fact that MTSU played them that close and held them to 14 points seems pretty impressive to me, though I didn't watch the game like you did.

[BlueRaiderPride]

Was in Columbus for the Texas game last night but caught the Akron game on the ESPN 360 computer video.  Have to say I was much impressed by the performance.  Save a few personnel letdowns with penalities (at least 14 points given to Purdue) and one substitution miscue early in the game and this was a gutty performance.  Getsy ain't Charlie but he gets the job done.  Hixon is an animal and Gonzalez and Tate both played well defensively.  Team speed is way, way up and the Zippers have a nice problem with two great runningbacks.  Hard to remember a more well-rounded Akron performance, meaning defense and offense both coming to play consistently.  Big 10 stripes did not help Akron much either, but what do you expect, the Big 12 refs in the Shoe did not help us either.

Akron should fare well against MTSU and should have a shot in the MAC.  Neither BG or Miami seem like worldbeaters based on their MAC openers and the MU's are already one down in the loss column to CMU.  Akron is on the way up and MU is on the way down.  Ohio had their fun on Friday night but Pittsburgh is just plain awful.  BG is the class of the east but they got pushed at Ball State.  Buffalo is bad and so is Can't State, struggling against a BAD 1-AA team is not the performance I expected from the flushes but think that they could beat Miami this week at home.

5-7 wins is in reach if the penalties and now and then letdowns get corrected.

I'm cautiously optimistic now too.

Remember the game at the 'shoe in 2001? We lost 28-14. Played a whale of a game. We finished 4-7 that year.

I will be very interesting to see how the Zips fare in Murfreesboro next week. I watched MTSU lose at home to Noth Texas last night (YES Network). MTSU isn't very good.

Middle Tennessee committed five turnovers. You don't win football games like that.

MTSU's defensive line is awesome and held UNT's nation's leading rushers Patrick Cobbs and Jamario Thomas to 103 and 58 yards respectively, and the net 152 total rushing yards will tell you that anyone else that got the ball handed to them was dropped for a loss.

When our offense gets it clickin' we will be a force to be reckoned with. We have to get points when we get into the redzone and cut down on the turnovers.

Against Alabama we had nearly 300 total yards of offense. Southern Miss didn't even get to 200. And we held Alabama's offense to 345 yards total offense and they got 470 yards against Southern Miss. The reason why their score was closer than Alabama was with ours was because they knew how to take care of the ball on offense.

I'd say Akron will have a very tough time scoring on us next weekend, but if we don't score enough, we won't win. I won't say that we aren't good, because we are good. We just aren't playing to our potential.

[zipboy]

If the Zips played a perfect game, they would have won. They didn't play perfect, and Purdue was about 2 tds better. This team will only get better. After the first 2 weeks of the season, MAC East is for the taking. If we get by NIU, I think that we are playing BG for the title Oct 29th. Conditioning was good, a lot of guys played, not much drop off in depth, Getsy and the O Line exceeded expectations, Purdue was not running for 8 yards every carry, it was a very good football game for 3 1/2 quarters. I still thought that we had a chance to win early in the 4th which is where you want to be on the road.

Next week is key, winnable game vs a solid opponent. If the team eliminates their mistakes, they have a good shot to win. The talent is there, next week will tell if we have the mental toughness and consistency needed for a successful season.

Good times are ahead. Go Zips!

[Zipsrifle]

If the Zips played a perfect game, they would have won.

I have to disagree. If we played a perfect game and Purdue totally dropped the ball, we would have won. IMO, Purdue didn't bring all they had and we don't have any depth. MTSU will be a real challenge, but it is a winnable game for the Zips. Though I haven't read ANYTHING about MTSU yet, if we play like we did yesterday, MTSU will have to play a great game.

[zipboy]

I will defer to you since you were at the game, and I was probably feeling better than expected. My thought was there were several plays that if they had gone our way, we could have pulled it out. We didn't and they did, and Purdue was the better team. But I go back to Penn State last year or Iowa before that and there was no good that came out of those games.

I look at this game and think if we did not have the blocked punt (missed assignment), score a TD on 1st and goal from the 5, holding gets called when Purdue scores their 5th TD and we hold them to a FG, then it is a different game.

Good announcing job by French, Stamms, and Dunn. You can always tell when French thinks we still have a chance. He talks faster, gets excited quicker, and is generally more enthusiastic. He was like that until Purdue went up 35-17.

Anyway, thanks for the summary of the game!