The Lone Ranger rides for Akron

[GP1]

It's disgusting....no matter what Rob does, people like Zach will try to tear it apart. I hope, just as a Zips fan, that Rob can get it done. But even more I want him to do well just so people like Zach can shut the hell up.

I love how the guy is the worst coach ever when he hasn't even been given a shot to be a coach with some of these people.

Good post.

Some people write about Coach I like he bites the heads off of newborn chickens. Philosophically, I don't agree with is style of football, but I only have a theory he is deploying the wrong style and my theory is up for being proven wrong over the coming years.

None of us really know him personally and I think the attacks have been way over the top. Other than going 1-11, what has the guy done wrong? You have to do a lot of things right to get over the 1-11 problem, but I'm sure you guys get the point. Not only that, I don't think any of us will get to know him personally....I don't think he is that kind of person, which is fine with me. As long as he wins, I don't really care what he is like or who likes him personally.

[skip-zip]

We're in a fight against time. I can't sit on my hands when someone is taking something I love and utterly destroying it. The more time we give Ianello, the more time he has to irreversibly damage the football program.

Time is an excuse. Everything is an excuse. You either win or you lose, no excuses can change that. I bet if we went 0-12 you'd still argue that he needs more time because he had a new QB and a new defensive coordinator.

An 0-12 season immediately following a 1-11 season would pretty much unite everyone in believing that Ianello had his fair chance and couldn't deliver, and that the time had come to find a new head coach.

Most reasonable people want to give Ianello a fair chance to prove himself, though we may differ on exactly how much time is fair and exactly how much progress we need to see in his second season.

Someone would have to be an even bigger extremist than you, Zach, to support bringing back a 1-23 coach for a third season, and I don't believe that's humanly possible.

Maybe I'm somewhere in the middle, although I clearly understand Zach's frustration. I desperately want to give the guy a chance. I just don't like what I'm seeing and hearing.

The Latest: Someone told me that a recruiting analysis reported that we didn't get any of the Top 100 high school players in Ohio this year? And several other MAC schools got several of them? Can anyone verify if this is true? If so, I'm not too excited about having this so-called "recruiting guru" on board.

[GP1]

The Latest: Someone told me that a recruiting analysis reported that we didn't get any of the Top 100 high school players in Ohio this year? And several other MAC schools got several of them? Can anyone verify if this is true? If so, I'm not too excited about having this so-called "recruiting guru" on board.

Maybe the top 100 players in Ohio aren't all they are cracked up to be. A lot of them go to Big Ten schools, but the Big Ten is what it is. Let's just say schools from the north go south to recruit and not many in the south go north to recruit. I can't find the graphic, but espn ran it last weekend and it showed the nuber of kids from various regions in the Top 150. It was shocking how many from the southeast and Texas there were. Ohio only has two kids in the ESPN Top 150 and neither of them are in the top 50. One of them is around 137. With that said, I'm a skeptic of all of the various player rating "things" on the internet. We need to be getting the best players possible regardless of where they are from.

[Captain Kangaroo]

What people need to remember is - If Zach posts anti-Ianello stuff 500 times, 500 people are not against Ianello. Only Zach is.

And all you people that respond ad nauseum to that crap need to stop it. Our site is getting clogged with a ton of absolute worthless petty garbage, and the person that starts it is just as equally as guilty and all those who respond.

I really do not know what to do about this, but I'll figure it out. Somehow this site needs to return to the quality is once possessed.

[Hilltopper]

What people need to remember is - If Zach posts anti-Ianello stuff 500 times, 500 people are not against Ianello. Only Zach is.

And all you people that respond ad nauseum to that crap need to stop it. Our site is getting clogged with a ton of absolute worthless petty garbage, and the person that starts it is just as equally as guilty and all those who respond.

I really do not know what to do about this, but I'll figure it out. Somehow this site needs to return to the quality is once possessed.

I am doing my best to help the situation. Someone finally made me use this;

How to "get rid" of a poster by yourself , Manage Ignored Users

[K92]

What people need to remember is - If Zach posts anti-Ianello stuff 500 times, 500 people are not against Ianello. Only Zach is.

And all you people that respond ad nauseum to that crap need to stop it. Our site is getting clogged with a ton of absolute worthless petty garbage, and the person that starts it is just as equally as guilty and all those who respond.

I really do not know what to do about this, but I'll figure it out. Somehow this site needs to return to the quality is once possessed.

I am doing my best to help the situation. Someone finally made me use this;

How to "get rid" of a poster by yourself , Manage Ignored Users

Guilty. Point taken. Believe me though, Cap'n. I try to bite my tongue as much as possible.

[skip-zip]

The Latest: Someone told me that a recruiting analysis reported that we didn't get any of the Top 100 high school players in Ohio this year? And several other MAC schools got several of them? Can anyone verify if this is true? If so, I'm not too excited about having this so-called "recruiting guru" on board.

Maybe the top 100 players in Ohio aren't all they are cracked up to be. A lot of them go to Big Ten schools, but the Big Ten is what it is. Let's just say schools from the north go south to recruit and not many in the south go north to recruit. I can't find the graphic, but espn ran it last weekend and it showed the nuber of kids from various regions in the Top 150. It was shocking how many from the southeast and Texas there were. Ohio only has two kids in the ESPN Top 150 and neither of them are in the top 50. One of them is around 137. With that said, I'm a skeptic of all of the various player rating "things" on the internet. We need to be getting the best players possible regardless of where they are from.

Let me clarify. It wasn't an analysis about how many kids from Ohio were in the nation's top 100. It was the top 100 kids from Ohio, and where they landed. I was told that quite a few of them ended up at MAC schools, but NONE went to Akron. Did anyone else see this, or know about this? If it's true, that would be pretty disappointing.

[MDZip]

What people need to remember is - If Zach posts anti-Ianello stuff 500 times, 500 people are not against Ianello. Only Zach is.

And all you people that respond ad nauseum to that crap need to stop it. Our site is getting clogged with a ton of absolute worthless petty garbage, and the person that starts it is just as equally as guilty and all those who respond.

I really do not know what to do about this, but I'll figure it out. Somehow this site needs to return to the quality is once possessed.

Disagree with this a bit, CK. I am actually glad we have fans like Zach, who are younger, very passionate and have a high level of expectations. Being younger, however, there is also sometimes a lack of perspective on things. His posts were on football and he has a right to voice an opinion. There is a line bewteen voicing that opinion and doing it in a vengeful manner but that might be another topic. I agree that baiting him doesn't help but a reasonable discourse for a short time to try to provide that other perspective is not a bad thing. Hilltopper already figured out his solution and maybe Dave's suggestion to start another thread might also reasonable. So all of you people who are doing it wrong, stop it.

In any case, the thread was about Clayton Moore so to keep it on topic - over or under double digits in completion Saturday?

[Dave in Green]

I don't think my concept of dealing with OT discussion is going to work every time. Same with trying to engage in reasonable discourse or trying to ignore it. Sometimes none of these work.

Some people are so fanatical that they simply never will consider it off topic to bring up their personal crusades in the middle of any other topic.

And when someone makes hundreds of repetitious posts with exactly the same theme over an extended period of time on a discussion forum like ZN.O, at some point it ceases to be contributing to open discussion and becomes a personal crusade.

It really belongs in a personal blog and not an open discussion forum.

[Lee Adams]

I dont think NICELY can transfer, NOW that school has started. Im sure IANELLO waited till class started to announce the decision just so he could prevent PN from transferring this semester. Also on the boards, I had ready about some altercation between Russell and Nicely on a bad pass Nicely thru to him. That was D'Orazio who through the bad pass.. NOT PN. As Anderson Cooper says... JUST KEEPING THEM HONEST

Not unless D'Orazio was wearing #7.

[Lee Adams]

How do you deserve the right the start when you played for two years and played very poorly????

If you want to toss some blame to the OL, I will listen for a little bit. They didn't create the best pockets in the world, but PN7 wasn't running many plays that needed 5 seconds. The guy couldn't throw an accurate pass to save his life, that is not on the WR. We had a decent corps of WRs last year, not earth shattering but they couldve got the job done.....had the QB been able to give them a decent ball.

Ive seen all I need to see out of Nicely. I can def buy that he isn't a good leader...I sit right in front of the sidelines and after a poor start, the entire offense just looked finished. He wasn't (nor anybody else besides maybe Alex Allen) tried to ever fire the guys up.

I think anybody that really disagrees with the switch at QB is hell bent on not liking anything CoachI does, and just wants to rebel.

Nicely played pretty well as a freshman as I recall. Had to step in when the other 2 QB's got hurt or suspended. Last year was bad. The entire TEAM was bad. A gentleman who is extremely close to the program,like on the sidelines close at times,seemed to think that Moore got the call mainly becuase of his perceived leadership abilities and because he plays the position differently than Nicely. It was not necessarily because Moore showed significantly better in practices. We will see if its the right coaching decision.

[Dr Z]

Finally seeing LR8 play in person for the first time, here is my evaluation on his second Div I game:• He needs to have better pocket presence. He abandons a pocket too quick when he feels a little pressure. This may be due to the fact he has issues seeing over his lineman.• He needs to get his feet set. Many of his throws seem to sail high because he doesn't have his feet set.• He needs to find the open man. There are receivers open and he is not going through progressions. This is probably due to the fact he is not comfortable with the offense so far. He needs to work harder in practice.• He needs to realize he has a receiver that is a real player with good hands, Marquelo Suel. When this guy is one on one, which he was most of the night, get the ball to him, he will help you be a better QB. He also knows what to do with the ball once he gets it.• I believe his size is an issue. I saw it affect more than a few plays last night. Some QB's that are his size have so many good things going for them, they can overcome this. I hope he gets to that point.• Keep Rossi on the field for LR8, he seems to like to check down to him. This might get him comfortable enough to get through some reads eventually.• IMO, he doesn't have the strongest arm on the team at his position.With all this said, I don't mean to turn this into a Couch vs Holcomb debate. I hope LR8 works hard and improves throughout the season.PS I thought it was classless of Rob bringing PN7 in to do mop-up last night. What does that prove? What do you accomplish? Was that supposed to be PN7's reward?

[Hilltopper]

Moore looks like a fish out of water in our offense. His mobility is one of his best assets, but we are asking him to stand in the pocket and deliver his passes. I hate this offense and it does'nt seem to be a fit with the players we have on the roster.

[Lee Adams]

See the posts in the 'Real Indicator' topic. I think most are of similar opinions.

[Dave in Green]

Now that I've actually seen Moore play, I have mixed feelings.On the positive side, he can scramble pretty well, certainly better than Nicely. He showed some nice moves on a couple of runs. He also appears to be at least slightly more accurate than Nicely. His passes appear to have a little less velocity than Nicely's, but he doesn't throw floaters, either.On the neutral side, he's fearless when he takes off running. As his HS coach once said, when Moore runs he thinks he's a full back. While impressive to watch, it makes him potentially more vulnerable to injury.On the not so good side, I was disappointed that he seemed too many times to lock onto his primary receiver. This telegraphed where he was going to throw, and the defenses read him well. Less often his head moved around scanning the field, and this helped deceive the defense. He needs to do that more.Moore looks to me as if he would benefit from an unpredictable offensive scheme. He seems to do better when he has to improvise, so why not tilt the offense toward more improvisation and fewer fixed plays? The Zips offense blocking is not good enough at protecting a pocket passer to allow him to operate that way. The classic example was when Moore was blindsided from behind near his goal line and fumbled, giving Temple the ball in scoring position.I can see the potential for him to do better in an offense designed around him, but not so much potential for him to adapt to an offense that doesn't play to his strong points.

[zip403]

Now that I've actually seen Moore play, I have mixed feelings.On the positive side, he can scramble pretty well, certainly better than Nicely. He showed some nice moves on a couple of runs. He also appears to be at least slightly more accurate than Nicely. His passes appear to have a little less velocity than Nicely's, but he doesn't throw floaters, either.On the neutral side, he's fearless when he takes off running. As his HS coach once said, when Moore runs he thinks he's a full back. While impressive to watch, it makes him potentially more vulnerable to injury.On the not so good side, I was disappointed that he seemed too many times to lock onto his primary receiver. This telegraphed where he was going to throw, and the defenses read him well. Less often his head moved around scanning the field, and this helped deceive the defense. He needs to do that more.Moore looks to me as if he would benefit from an unpredictable offensive scheme. He seems to do better when he has to improvise, so why not tilt the offense toward more improvisation and fewer fixed plays? The Zips offense blocking is not good enough at protecting a pocket passer to allow him to operate that way. The classic example was when Moore was blindsided from behind near his goal line and fumbled, giving Temple the ball in scoring position.I can see the potential for him to do better in an offense designed around him, but not so much potential for him to adapt to an offense that doesn't play to his strong points.

I was at the game last night,, Saw Moore laughing and smiling on the sidelines..NOT SO SURE what was so enjoyable for him yesterday. I sure didnt enjoy it. #44 cant catch a cold,,thats all I will say on that. Poor play calling. Putting Nicely in the last few minutes..what are you thinking. That was just an insult and shows how RI and RP have NO CLASS. What , PN8 couldnt bring the zips back with 6 TDs in a few minutes..wow

[skip-zip]

Now that I've actually seen Moore play, I have mixed feelings.On the positive side, he can scramble pretty well, certainly better than Nicely. He showed some nice moves on a couple of runs. He also appears to be at least slightly more accurate than Nicely. His passes appear to have a little less velocity than Nicely's, but he doesn't throw floaters, either.On the neutral side, he's fearless when he takes off running. As his HS coach once said, when Moore runs he thinks he's a full back. While impressive to watch, it makes him potentially more vulnerable to injury.On the not so good side, I was disappointed that he seemed too many times to lock onto his primary receiver. This telegraphed where he was going to throw, and the defenses read him well. Less often his head moved around scanning the field, and this helped deceive the defense. He needs to do that more.Moore looks to me as if he would benefit from an unpredictable offensive scheme. He seems to do better when he has to improvise, so why not tilt the offense toward more improvisation and fewer fixed plays? The Zips offense blocking is not good enough at protecting a pocket passer to allow him to operate that way. The classic example was when Moore was blindsided from behind near his goal line and fumbled, giving Temple the ball in scoring position.I can see the potential for him to do better in an offense designed around him, but not so much potential for him to adapt to an offense that doesn't play to his strong points.

Pretty close to what a lot of my group was thinking. Except for the word "slightly". Most of us felt that the only really bad, off-target pass he threw all night was the one time he stepped up in the pocket in the 3rd quarter and inexplicably threw a pass way behind and over the head of a receiver running a crossing route right in front of him. I don't expect a new QB to solve all of our problems, but the only thing we've all been clamoring for is someone who can at least put the ball in position to be caught with a relatively good amount of consistency. That isn't asking much, and I think we might have someone who can do that now. Hopefully, at the very least, the days of so many short passes landing at the feet of receivers, or 10 feet over their head, is over.Something else that hasn't been mentioned a lot yet is his poise. I see pretty good composure in this guy, which surprises me a bit for a guy in his 2nd career start....and also surprising considering the pressure he was under all night. I hated seeing him taking those sacks, but it appeared that they were good decisions in most of those cases, considering the alternatives. I could be wrong, but I don't see him being a guy who would likely throw a pass right to a DL while being sacked in the end zone (WMU game last year) or try to shovel the ball out of the end zone while being sacked (Ken+ game last year). So, I think we appear better off in this respect as well. The OL and WRs are what they are. But as all of you know, I don't think that's an excuse for at least hitting the 50%-60% threshold every game, no matter what the circumstances. So, I need to see his productivity increase. But, the increased accuracy and decision making ability is certainly a refreshing change. So is a near-200 yard passing game against one of the best teams that we'll play all year, in his 2nd start. I hope he can grow from here. By the way, that fumble should have been an incomplete pass, from what we were seeing on replay in our secction. What did everyone else think they saw? That ended up being a HUGE call that broke the game open for Temple.

[K92]

It was pretty much game over after the interception. Looked like an incomplete pass to me, but they reviewed it and the call stood. Dunno. The Zips definitely folded like a Dollar General™ tent in a gale force windstorm after that, though.

[Captain Kangaroo]

So is a near-200 yard passing game against one of the best teams that we'll play all year, in his 2nd start.

Boy, has the bar been lowered.For a 3rd-year soph, a sub-200 yard. zero TD performance doesn't wow me.

[K92]

Boy, has the bar been lowered.

So sad and so true. Zips fans are trying to find any bright spot they can, but this is a program in disarray. It's worse than I thought. I was really hoping to see the Zips be competitive this season. Now I am reduced to the hope of seeing them look competent at some point.

[skip-zip]

So is a near-200 yard passing game against one of the best teams that we'll play all year, in his 2nd start.

Boy, has the bar been lowered.For a 3rd-year soph, a sub-200 yard. zero TD performance doesn't wow me.

The bar is justifiably lowered when you've been watching one of the worst rated QBs in D-1A for the past two years.Please note how my post was not cluttered with "bad OL...bad WR" excuses, even though many feel as if that problem was worse than ever last night. And maybe the biggest point to note is that the drops were on very well-thrown balls. Regardless of who won the starting job this year, I will stick to my consistent point that a QB should be at a minimum of 50%-60% in completions. And I have already indicated that we need to see more production from Moore, and that the numbers don't meet my expectations for a Zips QB. But, I'll take a 200 yard passing game (which easily could have been 250+), improved poise and decision making, and some scrambling and running ablility against a good opponent in his 2nd start as a somewhat positive sign in an otherwise ugly start to the season. How many games over the last two years have we struggled to just reach 100 passing yards? Moore's performance also carried a QB rating over 100, when we spent last season with a 95 average efficiency rating against ALL opponents, good or bad. So, yes, the bar certainly has been lowered. I also want to comment on what a few others have said about changing the offensive sets for a not-so-tall QB. I'm watching Gradkowski and McCoy on TV today. Both guys are 6'-1" tall. I seem to see a lot of rollouts, and quick drops. When both have those huge NFL DLs in their face, it's difficult. So, although I have never coached football, I sure hope someone on our staff is paying attention to this game.

[Dave in Green]

Obviously a year at a junior college did not prepare Moore to carry the whole Zips offense on his back against two clearly superior D1A teams.Everything I've read and seen about Moore suggests that he's intensely competitive. If so, these two smashings by clearly superior teams will really be grinding on him.I don't believe he will fold for the season as some other QBs might do after similar smashings. I'm hoping he has the kind of intensity that he'll really go for the kill against any team the Zips come close to matching up to as a team. I wouldn't be surprised if he produces one or more games this season of 300+ yard passing.Just a hunch.