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The Rags Have Spoken


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I have not gotten my rags yet, but I look forward to their release every year. I always try to take their opinions on the MAC with a grain of salt, though. I would imagine for every hour of time the publications spend evaluating the AQ conferences, they spend at least 23 seconds on the MAC. :D The MAC section should have a disclaimer, "For entertainment purposes only". Still love 'em though, because I'm starved for football!

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We will be better, if we can find someone to catch the football.

A bunch of 18 and 19 year olds on the OL could also be a recipe for disaster.

QB - fine

RB - Fine

DL - Fine

LB - Fine

Special Teams - Oh no.

DB - Oh no.

Coaching - Still scares me.

One of the finest and most insightful analysis of our upcoming year I have seen in a long time. You win the award for saying the most with the fewest words.

I'll add this: our talent will be less than last year's altho' we will win more games, at least 2. Now there's a shocker. O-line, wide-outs and coaching still scare the hell out of me. Very little reason to have confidence in any of the three. Can't will be a better team than us again. That really sucks! :(

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Its funny that when these things come out everyone becomes an expert. And, the mags. that people say are 'the best' seem to be the ones that have the predictions they like. So read the ones that you like for whatever purpose you want. But most of us are in the same boat as the people who write the articles. They rarely see all of the teams that they are commenting on actually play. Although they most likely have access to better information than most of the rest of us. Just have fun with it.

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Not from one of the preview mags, but here is some Zips analysis: football study hall

I had to read it. And it does point out something pretty alarming that I hadn't thought too much about lately.

We scored over 22 points only TWICE in 2010, and one of them was against a I-AA school. And looking back, we only did that 3 tiimes in 2009, and that was against a I-AA school, Ken+, and EMU. In fact, it's hard to even identify the last time we had decent point production against any decent team, except possibly the Indiana and Central Michigan games (21 points each) at the beginning of the 09 season, and the Indiana game (20 points) last year.

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Athlon tabs us at #116

"The Zips have nowhere to go except up after winning only one game in Rob Ianello’s first season. The offense must take a major step forward, and that begins with better play from the quarterback position. On defense, improvement in the secondary is the biggest priority.

Akron should be better in 2011, but don’t expect this team to be a factor in the MAC East race. Another last-place finish is a possibility."

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Athlon tabs us at #116

"The Zips have nowhere to go except up after winning only one game in Rob Ianello’s first season. The offense must take a major step forward, and that begins with better play from the quarterback position. On defense, improvement in the secondary is the biggest priority.

Akron should be better in 2011, but don’t expect this team to be a factor in the MAC East race. Another last-place finish is a possibility."

Who would they beat? BG is not on the schedule. OK Can't? But they will win more than a couple of games.

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Who would they beat? BG is not on the schedule. OK Can't? But they will win more than a couple of games.

Wont know until they play the games, but I would hope to see the Zips competitive against Can't, Temple, EMU, FIU, VMI, CMU and Buffalo. Just to name 7. How many WILL they win? Maybe none. Maybe 7. Who knows. Give 'em a chance. There are a lot of newcomers that might just prove they can play. Maybe not. But as for me and my house, we are supporting the Zips.

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Wont know until they play the games, but I would hope to see the Zips competitive against Can't, Temple, EMU, FIU, VMI, CMU and Buffalo. Just to name 7. How many WILL they win? Maybe none. Maybe 7. Who knows. Give 'em a chance. There are a lot of newcomers that might just prove they can play. Maybe not. But as for me and my house, we are supporting the Zips.
I'm with you, iCoach either wins me, or loses me this year. I have to see improvement. I'll give him a chance.
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Wont know until they play the games, but I would hope to see the Zips competitive against Can't, Temple, EMU, FIU, VMI, CMU and Buffalo. Just to name 7. How many WILL they win? Maybe none. Maybe 7. Who knows. Give 'em a chance. There are a lot of newcomers that might just prove they can play. Maybe not. But as for me and my house, we are supporting the Zips.
I'm with you, iCoach either wins me, or loses me this year. I have to see improvement. I'll give him a chance.

+ 1

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The last place predictions may be accurate.

We got curb-stomped by Mount Union in a 7-on-7 last night. I know some of you will say that those are useless and should be indicative of anything, but just on talent alone MU shouldn't be able to compete. And while I do still believe that our players have more natural talent, I just don't think they know how to put in the effort it takes to be a winner. The coaches can only do so much and if the players aren't willing to do the work in the offseason then what can be done about it? Shades of Brookhart's coaching?

Maybe the players really do think that the amount of effort they've been putting out the last couple of years is enough. Maybe they think that having talent is enough to skate by. But hard work and playing with a passion can beat talent head to head and it can take the talent you have and make it that much better. From what I've heard, the players here really do think they're working hard, but I just don't think they understand just what kind of level of dedication it takes to be great at what you do.

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Who would they beat? BG is not on the schedule. OK Can't? But they will win more than a couple of games.

Wont know until they play the games, but I would hope to see the Zips competitive against Can't, Temple, EMU, FIU, VMI, CMU and Buffalo. Just to name 7. How many WILL they win? Maybe none. Maybe 7. Who knows. Give 'em a chance. There are a lot of newcomers that might just prove they can play. Maybe not. But as for me and my house, we are supporting the Zips.

Well good for you. Nobody said anybody wasn't 'supporting the Zips'. 'Competetive'? Thats pretty minimal. One would hope they could be 'competetive' in ALL the MAC games and against VMI. And we have all been giving them a chance for a long time now. What defines 'progress'at the end of this season?

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Who would they beat? BG is not on the schedule. OK Can't? But they will win more than a couple of games.

Wont know until they play the games, but I would hope to see the Zips competitive against Can't, Temple, EMU, FIU, VMI, CMU and Buffalo. Just to name 7. How many WILL they win? Maybe none. Maybe 7. Who knows. Give 'em a chance. There are a lot of newcomers that might just prove they can play. Maybe not. But as for me and my house, we are supporting the Zips.

Well good for you. Nobody said anybody wasn't 'supporting the Zips'. 'Competetive'? Thats pretty minimal. One would hope they could be 'competetive' in ALL the MAC games and against VMI. And we have all been giving them a chance for a long time now. What defines 'progress'at the end of this season?

I don't know, there was progress at the end of last season. Except for a fumble we would have beaten eventual MAC Champs Miami, except for an interception we would have beaten Ball State. And then there was GW.

So to me progress is winning those 3 game situations (Closing out a team instead of getting closed out) plus the current 1 win we had, and ideally finding another win. That would be 4 games of "progress" and 5-7.

I think as much as we all want to win them, we have to throw out OSU and Cinci as highly probable losses. So that means 5-5 through the rest of the season. Though for me I would much rather see a winning record in the MAC considering we are playing a series of 1st year coaches (Temple, Miami, Can't) and are level with Buffalo and EMU.

So progress is 5-7, a turn around is 7-5.

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My definition of competitive means legitimate shot at winning the ball game. Last year we were competitive in 5 games and that is not good enough. I am considering GW, Can't State, BSU, MU, and UB the 5 "competitive" games. The one in five success ratio is not good enough either. You need to win half of the games you are competitive in to get to wear the "respectable" tag. If things are going in the right direction, you win all these games and steal a game or two that you should have lost. Clearly, the 2010 season was a disaster. It was unacceptable. Volumes have been written about it and the criticism was wholly deserved.

Projecting the failures of last year's team onto 2011 team is undeserved. A different roster of players with a different dynamics deserves a chance to get out on the field and prove their worth. If they fail, I feel it is fair game for any Zips fan to comment as they see fit. My opinion. I am entitled to mine. You are most certainly entitled to yours.

If the coaching staff doesn't win 4 or more games this year, they are treading on dangerous ground. Winning 3 games got JD fired. Ianello was hired to turn the program around and he used his mulligan last year. If the Zips win 4 games this year with one of those being Can't, I think that is "progress". That being said, they need to display competence on the field. They need to show that things ARE going in the right direction with no embarrassing blowout losses to mediocre teams. Winning 4 games by virtue of our opponent's incompetence ain't a gonna cut it.

And Lee, I wasn't taking a pot shot at you. See me for some food and beverages at the Temple game.

Go Zips!

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