Captain's Blog #3

[Captain Kangaroo]

Thoughts on the game are as follows --

* Met some absolutely great people out-and-about in Lexington. The guy who runs the WildcatNation board even met us for a couple beers at 1am Saturday morning. Fantastic hospitality.

* Hard to believe 60k+ would turn out to see the Zips in Lexington, but they did. Fantastic home team support from the Wildcat fans. Great tailgating environment too. Tents and parties for as far as the eye could see.

* I agree the play calling was excellent in the first half. The coaching staff did all they could to get us in a position to be successful. In stark contrast to JD's Penn State game last season...where we basically laid down and took a paycheck, Ianello tried to win this game. I give him a lot of credit for devising a game plan that had the Wildcats worried for the better part of the 1st half.

* In the first game of the season where the wide receivers got some separation, and where he actually had a little time, Nicely didn't take advantage of it. He has a small margin for error on offense, and when the OL and WR's do their jobs, he has to convert. It will be interesting to see what he does at Indiana.

* Can Rodgers see time next week? Sure, I guess. But to take Nicely's job away after the OOC portion of the schedule would be bush-league. He deserves the chance to get better and make some mistakes without constantly looking over his shoulder.

* Other than the Zips punting game, there are no hosanna's to be tossed about anywhere. Every other position graded-out poorly on Saturday. If the offense could have sustained ANY drives, maybe the defense could have caught their wind and played better. But overall...we were over-matched. Everywhere. 540 - 172 is as big a domination as it gets. And until the last garbage-time drive, we had an unbelievable 99 yards of total offense.

* Antoine Russell made a nice play on his TD catch. Great to see one of our receivers go up and fight for a ball. I hope he gets some confidence from it.

* LaFrance is a huge disappointment so far this year.

* From my seat, Jalil Carter gave up on his deep route early in the game. Then he realized he had a chance at the ball... but it was too late. It would not have been an easy catch, but I would have loved to see him stretch out and dive for the ball.

* Who is this Igor kid? He looks to be our answer at kicker?

* The Zips #27 got absolutely killed on a kick off return. I thought he would be knocked out cold. Helmet flew off... bone-crushing shot. To his credit he shook it off and jogged to the sideline unassisted.

* How many penalties did we have on Saturday? Very few, considering it was a road game in a packed SEC stadium. Despite Nicely's anemic yardage and TD totals, he has thrown only 1 interception in 3 games. And the Zips have lost only 1 fumble in 3 games. Small victories...but terrible MAC teams usually have a cavalcade of turnovers and penalties over 3-game stretches. We're just flat-out not moving the football.

If we are to win 3-4 games, as GP1 prognosticates, the offense needs to execute a lot better. If LaFrance can catch a football, and PN7 can throw it, we at least have a chance. But Nicely is no Getsy...and LaFrance is no David Harvey. And Getsy & Harvey only won 5. We're going to need others to step it up if we're to beat anyone, let alone win 4.

No regrets on the trip to Ken.tucky. It was an absolute blast. I get the feeling the coaching staff will have this team prepared for Indiana. It seems like they are getting a better read on everyone's capabilities... and the players are getting better at knowing their assignments.

Baby steps, unfortunately.

[xu9697]

Again= did not see the game.

But what I do like to see is some of the younger players are slowly trickling into the games: Russell, Bowers, Dillard, etc.

[Buckzip]

Again= did not see the game.

But what I do like to see is some of the younger players are slowly trickling into the games: Russell, Bowers, Dillard, etc.

Bowers looked pretty good. Much quicker to the hole than AA.

[ctmjbowes@sbcglobal.net]

Watched the game on ESPN3.com and LaFrance is the Mo Williams of this receiving corps. Well, actually that's giving him too much credit. Mo Williams shrinks in the playoffs but typically plays well during the regular season. LaFrance doesn't play well in D-1 college football games. I still have not forgotten last year when the team was getting killed week after week LaFrance could often be seen prancing around having a great time on the sideline. I don't know whether he is taking his role more seriously this year but he shrinks every time he has the chance to shine. He has yet to convince me that he is a genuine D-1 player.