Hung over

[zipboy]

Still feel like I was kicked in the stomach. If I am this depressed, wonder what the team feels like. A couple of quick thoughts

1. Why did the team come out flat? This is what I got from the radio but it was clear that Stamms and French were disappointed in the play over the first quarter and a half.

2. Getsy may be the most streaky QB ever at Akron. How can he go from being so bad to so good in the same game over and over.

3. Why did we not QB sneak. Even Joe Dunn who never criticizes said about 5 times we should have QB sneaked it.

4. Why do we have so many penalties this year?

5. I always thought Jason Montgomery has been underappreciated throughout his Akron career.

6. With Jabari's injury, a nice coming out party for Johnny Long

7. Defense played a good game. If we had scored to go up 24-23, I felt confident that the D would have held on. This is the first year that I ever felt that way.

8. Zips are a mediocre team as is the rest of the league this year. ITZ is right, we still have a chance to win the East. If BG wins next week which we needed anyway, BG, Miami, and Akron could all tie with 3 loses. I hope the team does not lose faith.

9. Heard the Jermaine Reid and Luke Getsy interview post game. They sounded sick. I can't rip on these guys. They laid it out yesterday. Our problem is that we don't play smart at times and don't execute a lot of times, but the effort has been there all year. I don't see that letting up with 2 national TV games against 2 big rivals.

10. Thank goodness for Jay Rohr.

[bigzipguy]

Very good points Zipboy!!!! I am still upset!!!!

[zip37]

Leadership & desire on the field--Ball St. just wanted to keep us out more than we wanted the TD-- all the O line has to do is get pads lower & more square than the defense, then it's a simple leverage thing controlled by the laws of Physics.

WBALAL

[msopher]

Zips just lost a shot at the MAC East but still a .500 record would be a success for this team.

[InTheZone]

Zips just lost a shot at the MAC East but still a .500 record would be a success for this team.

Not so. If BG beats Miami, and then loses to Toledo, it's a 3 way tie to end the season at the top of the East. Head to head matchups with Akron, BG, and Miami just goes in a big circle, so I'm not sure how the tie would be broken. If Miami loses to BG AND Ohio, and BG loses to Toledo, Akron wins the East and goes to the Championship game. There's still hope. They aren't eliminated yet.

[Roudebush Rocket]

I know that "kicked in the stomach" feel. I felt that after the UT-CMU game. What a horrible, horrible feeling.

[Quickzips]

Zips just lost a shot at the MAC East but still a .500 record would be a success for this team.

Not so. If BG beats Miami, and then loses to Toledo, it's a 3 way tie to end the season at the top of the East. Head to head matchups with Akron, BG, and Miami just goes in a big circle, so I'm not sure how the tie would be broken. If Miami loses to BG AND Ohio, and BG loses to Toledo, Akron wins the East and goes to the Championship game. There's still hope. They aren't eliminated yet.

This is all assuming we win out. Can't should still be a win but I'm not convinced we can take it to Ohio, praticularly with how we have played this season.

[GP1]

Wow! I was out of state all weekend and I only saw the score on the television ticker. The hangover I had from the rehearsal dinner I attended left me rather incapacitated Saturday so I watched TV and recovered prior to the wedding. I'm glad I really couldn't see the game. Had I known what happened, my head would have exploded along with the other parts of my body that were exploding from all of the Mexican food I ate Friday.

It sounds from everything I am reading that we did not play four solid quarters. That's too bad, the team still has some growing to do. Three points in the first half of a game is disaster waiting to happen. It's too hard to come from behind and win games.

Any chance the two road games in a row had something to do with the slow start? Only 34% of the time do NFL teams playing a second road game in a row win. Again, I didn't see or hear the game so I really can't give much of an opinion.

If you are looking for anything positive, it would be that they were at least in position to win at the end event though they fell short. In years past, the team would have given up at half.

I'm pretty concerned about the OU game. My brother lives in central Ohio and goes to almost every OU game. He has coached in college in the past and at the D-1 level. My undertanding is that Coach Frank has OU playing way over their heads through hard work on every play. If Akron does not decide to play until the third quarter this week, they will certainly lose. If losers think they can win, there is a chance they can win. Akron must score on OU early and make them think they can't win.

[Sloopy]

The lack of an offensive line is the reason why this offense sputters and fails to produce, especially early in games. It is amazing how many of you still thing that changing the quarterback is going to lift the offense from this obvious facts. Is Getsy Charlie Frye, Butchie Washington or Marty B for t hat matter - NO. He is actually more like one of the Zips track stars the way he has to run for his life on almost every play.

Why no QB sneak? Well, when the other team has 9 men in the box and your OL has had their ass handed to them on almost every play from scrimmage during the afternoon you try to create some space and extend the play. NIU beat Akron badly up front on first down which forced passes from a short field on the next three downs. Passing from the 5 yard line is touch because the cboundary becomes like another 4 defenders for the offense.

Penalites come from youth and lack of discipline up front. See all of the above per the offensive and defensive lines.

The defense could not stop BSU during some crucial points in the game. Overall they did hold the BSU offense to FG and not TDs. On two of those occasions BSU should not have even gotten FG. This unit is bad up front and is beat up in the back. Add in undersized and young LB and you get the C- performance on Saturday.

Akron special teams are the worst part of this team. Sullivan is in the tank and the coverage teams are the worst in the league. No speed and no aggressiveness. The person in charge of these units should not be kept on staff.

After no open date the first 9 weeks of the season Akron finally gets some time off. Lets hope that some of the flatness came from just being pooped. If Akron loses either of the final two games of the season at home the 2005 slate will be considered a massive failure.

[bigzipguy]

Sloopy,

AS far as Getsy having to run for his life on pass plays, there were more than just

a couple times when he had plenty of time to throw and just flat out missed a wide

open receiver.

[Zips Win!]

After witnessing my 5th roadie of the season, I'm here to say "Bring on Zips basketball".

To describe the game in a word.....Embarrassing. Sorry folks, BSU sucks so I'm not real sure where that leaves the Zips. Only the Zips could lose a game to a team where man for man they had one better player....the punter. This guy dictated the game for 60 minutes as he left us in bad field position all day. We had 4 good drives in the game...all other times the offense could not even gain two or three first downs to move field position the other way. When they are booming it for 50 plus and we are lucky to get 35 on a punt, it made for a long day.

I posted after the PU game how superb Getsy looked and I was reamed because we lost by 25. Well, Luke went from as CK put it a "capable replacement" to a QB that we are stuck with for another year. Combine this with an offensive staff that needs 52 minutes to make the necessary adjustments, (no huddle) and you have a 4-5 team. Getsy couldn't hit the broad side of a barn in the first half. When my 7 year old comments three passes into the game 'What kind of throw was that", I knew it was going to be a long day. Sure he did throw a nice bomb to Hixson before the half, but he followed it up on a third and goal pass with his low flying fling into the official. Kasparek didn't have a defender within 10 yards of him in the front of the endzone.

The second half was better, but that isn't saying much. Yes he made several nice throws on the TD drives, but he missed at least 4 guys on up and out routes that would have gone for big yards. Add in the other drives where we couldn't even muster a first down, this continued to give us bad field position.

QB/Coaching/Offense:

With a BSU team that consistently had 8 guys in the box to stop Biggs, why it took 52 minutes to adust to the no-huddle in puzzling. Once in the no-huddle, Getsy had all day to throw and did OK dinky and dunking down the field, then mixing in the long pass.

I understand that with bad field position, you cannot be throwing the ball all over the field. But Getsy is far more accurate when we throws on first down and we run on second, than waiting for 3rd and 11 before he gets to throw.

Final two drives:

Again, Getsy looked ok and the no-huddle was working to perfection. The pass to Hixson down to the goal line was nice and I thought the spot was correct. Inside the One. But why we didn't stay in the no-huddle and sneak it in is puzzling as well. To all of a sudden huddle up when BSU had no idea how to stop us and were totally confused on defense is brutal coaching. Follow this up with a great defensive stop of Biggs and now you are looking at 2nd and 5. Gee, I wonder who was getting the ball versus that now somewhat organized 11 man front?

Three horrible passes later in the endzone, when he had all day and then some to throw it, sealed our fate. Question? Was Getsy trying to throw the ball away on second and third down? Both passes were near the cross bar of the field goal posts. Receivers were open in the back of the endzone. Not sure if he was trying to hit the them or did his passes jut sail on him. And I thought throwing high in the middle of the field is a no-no. Then, the fourth down pass was thrown late and picked. I believe it was Hixson who was wide open.

Furthermore, I noticed that in all three pass plays, the receivers were bunched up in the middle of the field. At no time did a receiver float to either side of the endzone as Getsy had more than enough time for this to develop.

Defense:

I thought the defense played very well. Not dominant, but solid. If you give up ten points, you should win a MAC game. The first FG of BSU is on the offense and special teams. Boy the games the Zips would have won over the last decade with this defense. Bend quite a bit, but didn't break much.

Special Teams:

Heads need to roll here. We were brutal and their special teams dictated the game. Not only in the punting game, but most kickoffs went inside the 5. We were lucky to get it to the 30.

Final Thoughts: Going in I predicted 5 or 6 wins, lets see how we finish. The league was down all year and we wasted an overall good defensive performance in conference play and a warrior in Biggs. No, we still have trouble with the high octance offenses, but I thought we made huge strides. I cannot say I'm looking forward to '06 with Getsy at QB, and then we have to start over again in '07 at the QB position. Here's hoping that the D continues to improve into a dominant force for '06, because I do not see it happening on offense.

[bigzipguy]

Great post Zips Win !!!!!!

[Z-Pouch]

Finally -- Someone not wearing the rose colored glasses on the board.

I second the "Great post Zips Win". Thank you.

Getsy for another year of mediocrity !!!!!!!!!

[Captain Kangaroo]

Great post Zips Win !!!!!!

I agree. That pretty much sums up what most of us feel at this point in the season.

At the beginning of the season, 6-wins seemed like a great campaign. In hindsight, we could easily be 7-2 going into this week's game. Even 8-1 is reasonable to believe, if you discount the worst 60 seconds in the 100 years of Division 1-A football @ Miami.

The progress of this defense is unreal. Many of the fans posting on this board have sat in the Rubber Bowl for 15+ years. This young defensive group, with only a handful of games under their collective belt, is the best defense we've seen wearing Blue and Gold in memory. How good can they be next season? The only impact guy we lose is Rohr. Elie and White, while capable, should more than adequately be replaced by the new generation.

Offensively, Zips Win hit the nail on the head. While the O-line is inexperienced and hasn't been dominating, they have given Getsy numerous opportunities to sit in the pocket and pick out his WR's. The frequency at which Luke either zings the ball over their heads or at their feet is maddening. They say Vince Carter is "Half Man Half Amazing." Getsy is "Half Average Half Horrible." He runs the gamut in every game, teasing you with a couple decent drives, only to have the accuracy of a lawn sprinkler for the next 2 quarters.

We have two games remaining this season. Both are at home and both are against bad teams. Yes, compared to K-ent, OU is awesome, but in the big picture they're a bad football team. A two game win streak to finish the season would be a nice way for the seniors to go out. The staff can sell the 4-consecutive winning seasons to recruits...maybe they can even sell the "co-MAC East champs" thing if we end up in a 3-way tie? Note: If there is a 3-way tie, does the MAC office hand out co-champ rings to all the teams involved? They gave us rings a few years ago even though we lost to Miami straight up.

Man, it is really tough to buy into the "wait until next year" mentality again, when you've been doing that for 21+ years. The specter of Getsy at the helm for the 2006 season makes it all the more depressing. But, it isn't fair to the staff to hold them responsible for Owens' sorry recruiting and retention.

We held back a lot of quality Fr.'s this season in order to build for the future. I wonder if, in hindsight, the staff would do the same thing knowing that the MAC East was there for the taking this year?

What will it take for us to take that step forward next year to believe and compete? We need leadership on offense. We need a dependable QB. Can Jabari (injury-prone?) and Long replace Hixson and Montgomery? Who replaces Biggs? Kennedy hasn't wowed me in his limited opportunities and Alex Allen has seen a snap in the backfield this year.

Can we get a fullback that can clear a hole for an RB?

Lots of questions on offense next season. Not too many on defense. Special teams? I think Swiger and Sullivan will be adequately replaced.

BG and Miami are at home next year. I know the staff had a 4 year plan to compete for a MAC championship. Based upon the performance of the rest of the MAC teams this year, if we can muster a decent offense, there's no reason we can't accellerate the plan by one year.

Beat OU. Beat Can't. Recruit like hell. Win the MAC East in 2006. It's there for the taking.

[Zips4life]

I'm telling you guys, don't start talking about '06 just yet!! By a series of events that aren't too far fetched, the MAC East can still fall in our laps this year if we win these last two. Keep cheering and keep showing up. At the very least we can have a winning season for the the 3rd year in a row, something we've never accomplished at the 1-A level.

[GP1]

Great posts by ZipsWin! and CK. I bet ZipsWin!'s wife had to run the air conditioner all the way home to keep him from boiling over.

CK asked the most important question of all. Can we replace Biggs next year? Unfortunately, the answer is...NO. I think many overlook how important this player has been to this program the past two seasons. Guys like Biggs don't come around very often. Without him, the team does not turn around the 2004 season. Without him, this team is looking at two wins this season (even though I can't really prove it). Biggs has been the combination of strength, heart, mental toughness and hard work this school has not seen since Mike Clark. Yes, I just said it, Biggs is the second best RB in school history. Too bad he only had two seasons here.

What does this mean? Unless there is a complete let down around the MAC East next season, Getsy is probably not going to be enough to win the MAC East. Kennedy is not nearly the player he needs to be yet to be the difference maker Biggs is. I think Getsy is as good as he is going to ever get (average to below average with flushes of being good), but that does not mean he still can't win. Without a running game, this offense is screwed. I know it's a team game, but the QB has the ball in his hands every play and MUST make plays and is the one player to most impact winning and losing.

I just used that word again...winning, which is a close relative to winner. Looking at the QB triangle, there are three separate and mutually exclusive groups consisting of winners, losers and those with a chance to be either a winner or a loser. The QB must be a winner. Since 1987 (the first year of D-1), in the winners corner is the only player to win anything...Butchie Washington (MAC East Co-Championship). In the losers corner is every other QB since 1987. In the waiting to find out corner is Luke Getsy. He has one more year to become a winner. I hope he does not allow the density created from the volume of losers and the concrete at the Rubber Bowl to suck him into the black hole of losers. Luke, get Han Solo to fix your hyperdrive and speed over to the winners corner before you become just another bad memory.

As far as defense, one of the biggest tales told is that defense wins championships. Defense is just the mechanism to get the ball to the offense who must win games.

It was fun posting this note. I'm on a conference call, and it gave me something else to do while my phone is on mute and I'm not paying attention.

[Sloopy]

I think the team is right about where I thought they would be. You can be the coulda woulda shoulda game all day and night but this is just not that good a team and has no leadership from t he player side, which is where it counts.

The team should have beaten Army, Ball State and CMU but should have lost to NIU, Bowling Green and MTSU.

6-5 would be a great accomplishment.

[RACER]

i thought the team would be 6-5. i thought our offense would put up more points after the the results of the purdue and niu games. the defense has been a good surprise.

if we our going to compete for a mac championship they are going to have to get even better ;though because i just don't see the offense improving next year. we lose our two best recievers, and a great rb.unless the improvement can come from the o-line with some younger players. the only thing in our favor is bg, and miami are not the teams of the past few years. Can't and buffalo are terrible. still three year plus 500.00 seasons would not be bad.

[zipboy]

Best thread that we have had in a while. I hope that we pull a stud QB out of the incoming FR for next year. The more I see, the more convinced I am that Getsy is not the answer. And I wish that he were. He seems like a stand up guy.

Another question, is there a chance that Kiki gets a year back and will be able to play next year?

[InTheZone]

Best thread that we have had in a while. I hope that we pull a stud QB out of the incoming FR for next year. The more I see, the more convinced I am that Getsy is not the answer. And I wish that he were. He seems like a stand up guy.

Another question, is there a chance that Kiki gets a year back and will be able to play next year?

He can get a year back and return but the word is he doesn't want to.

[GP1]

Another question, is there a chance that Kiki gets a year back and will be able to play next year?

Kiki was a Prop 48, so if he graduates this spring, and he will, he is able to have one more year.

The question then becomes, why would a guy who graduated with no shot of the NFL come back for one year? If I'm in his shoes, I use my degree and start my life.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The question then becomes, why would a guy who graduated with no shot of the NFL come back for one year? If I'm in his shoes, I use my degree and start my life.

If I'm him I say "Damn, I got the next 45 years of my life to work...or I can postpone that for one more semester and..."

a.) Play football in front of 100,000+ in Happy Valley

b.) Try to give the Zips their first ever win vs. an ACC team @ NC State

c.) Try to win a MAC championship in a season where we have Miami and BG at home

d.) Be a college student for 4 more months...for free

The kid can work the rest of his life beginning December 2006. If I'm him I say "Screw the office cubicle, I want to play football."

If he chooses otherwise, I wish him well. He's a good kid.