Now that the bowls are over

[GP1]

I have to admit that I didn't see much college football this year because I went to 10 of 11 regular season Akron games and you miss out on the other teams when you go to games. The bowl season allowed me to see a lot of games and come to a personal conclusion about what Akron needs in its program. I know we had a topic similar to this, but now that the games are over, you may have a different opinion and I'm interested in what you guys think.The days of just saying "speed kills" are over. Only Lee Corso and SEC punch drinkers continue to come to that conclusion. In fact, Corso is probably still wondering why Florida State, Florida or Miami didn't win the Rose Bowl last night. Big, physical players at every position is now the trend in college football and as long as football is football and not a track meet, it should be the Zips trend. Memphis did it to Akron, Texas did it to USC, LSU did it to Miami, Penn State did it to FSU, Toledo did it to UTEP, Wisconsin did it to Auburn, etc.Akron needs bigger players at every position. I don't mean fat @$$es, just taller and more athletic players. In the Motor City Bowl, Reggie Corner played the halfback pass perfectly and lost out to a bigger and more athletic WR. If we don't get that type of recruit, we will always lose those battles and win around 6-7 games a year hoping to win a final game to make the MACC. That type of player is out there and we need to get some. Toledo gets them, Miami gets them, NIU gets them and Marshall used to get a ton of them. Why not us?I would like to know from someone like InTheZone who is around the team frequently if we have in fact recruited this type of player the past two seasons, or if we have just recruited a bunch of fast dwarfs. I haven't stood close enough to any player to know what we really have.On another note, I had an ugly flushback last night watching the Rose Bowl. Does anyone remember the days of......1. Poor time out management2. No defense3. Going for it on fourth down and not making it giving the other team good field position.4. Passing up easy field goals for no points later

[Kangaroo Craig]

I agree. It is also the reason why the Browns continue to lose to Pittsburgh and everyone else. Big physical teams that line up and smash their opponents in the mouth on every play are usually going to win the game barring turnovers and special teams miscues. This has been the model for the NFL. Run the ball effectively and shut down your opponents running game while physically wearing them out. Football is usually won and lost in the trenches.

[GP1]

The Browns are a great analogy. They are still suffering from a hangover from a speed kills guy, Butch Davis. Butch thought everything could be like Miami and completely forgot his days in Dallas when they were winning Super Bowls with a physical running back and full back, a great offensive line and a tough defense. It had little to do with speed.The Zips must be more physical if they want to continue to run that 3-3-5 defense.

[Quickzips]

I agree, I've always hated the "Speed kills" analogy. Yeah, it works for your skill guys to a certain extent but in the trenches the only thing speed is good for is killing you. Put a speed guy up against a big mauler and tell them to push and the mauler is gonna win just about every time. There is some benefit to having one or two speed guys at like DE or LB to help get a pash rush but overall speed in the trenches is not needed. Give me the big uglies any day.

[Buckzip]

That is the difference between the major schools, and the mid-majors. Mid majors have speed, or size. Majors have speed, and size.Agreed, on the lines speed isn't that big of a deal, except for d-end, and if you use pulling guards.However, linebacker, and db are where the speed, and size need to be.Look at OSU, Hawk is 240, and runs a 4.45-40/ Carpenter is 250, and runs a 4.5-40.Akron has fast corners, but they are small. Our safeties are decent sized, but lack great speed.

[zipboy]

Good points - to add in the past we had neither size or speed in the secondary. At least we have speed now. Our O Line is fairly big, short but big. Our D Line next year should be much bigger with Reid, Kiki, Robinson, Marshall, Pendleton and Hight. It would be great to have a 240LB LB who can run a 4.5 40. We had one guy about 10 years ago, Boyd maybe? who played middle LB. He was all everything for us. I think he quit to become a preacher and then came back. He was about 240 and ran a 4.9 40. I would take Jay Rohr any day of the week over that. Biggs was small but no one complained about him. I agree we need to add some size at WR and CB but let's not sacrifice speed. Second thought -great comment about the coaching last night. Amazing that when 2 teams are equal talentwise you see how "great" the gameday coaching is. Same crap that we used to see as well. Never mattered when we played Cal Poly just like it doesn't matter when USC outclasses 95% of the teams they play.

[RACER]

i guess this a related topic.i read on the mac board that omar jacobs is going pro early.i think this is a huge loss for there program.they can spin it any way they want,but without him bg is just an average mac team.

[Beanie 4 Heisman]

I agree with you racer that is a huge loss for BG. Yeah they have a QB that played a few games this year but he is definatly no omar jacobs.

[Quickzips]

I find it rather ironic that the same BG fans that scream up and down that BG would have beat us had they had Omar (and in the process won the MAC) are now screaming up and down that they will be fine without him.

[zipsbandman]

BG will be an average team at best next year no matter how much they try to sugarcoat it.