Five Things to Improve Upon

[GP1]

After watching the game last week, below are the five areas of improvement I would like to see this week with the Zips. The first and second are in that order for a reason. The last three could be in any order.1. Our punter was good last week, but our special teams need to improve. It needs to improve so we can have better field position. There is less than a 20% chance of scoring any points with a drive starting inside of your own 20. Specifically, kickoff return needs to do a better job getting the front line blockers in position to make blocks. Maybe they were overwhelmed by the speed of osu's kickoff coverage, well know better about that this week. They need to get back faster though. Our punt blocking at the line was not sufficient enough to slow down the osu coverage so I want to see improvement in this area this week.2. Our QB needs to not look at the guy he is going to throw to the whole time. It makes for easy coverage. I'll write last week off to first game nervousness, but we need to see improvement in this area Saturday.3. Get the running game going. Our line is improved and we have a blazing fast RB, but we need to see the results on the field. The necessary deception in a pro style offense is play action pass. No running game, no play action pass. It's that simple. No play action pass, no big plays and an easy day for the defense.4. I liked our strategy of blitzing early last week. It didn't work for a couple of reasons. First, the osu QB completed some good passes against single coverage. Secondly, our DBs didn't tackle well when they were assigned back-side contain. The Zips had to stop blitzing or they would have lost by 80. It was a good move by the coaching staff.5. We had a total of zero tackles for losses last weekend. That number is unacceptable. Our defensive line looks better this year and we should have had at least one when we were run blitzing. We need the linebackers to do a better job of finding holes to make tackles behind the line and the linemen need to get off of blocks and make some tackles.6. I'll throw in a bonus point. Our LBs need to get off of blocks and make tackles. Wagner had 15 tackles last weekend and I can't remember a single one being within two yards of the line. He made a lot of tackles 8 yards downfield, but he and the rest of the LBs need to get off blocks and make them closer to the line. It can't be second and four every series or we'll get killed.

[Dr Z]

Nice list. Can I add?7. Game planning. Simply, we need to find what Temple's weakness is on defense and attack that with our play calling. This is not rocket science, but I need to see this to feel better about our offense. I think it was GP1 that brought up how nice it is not to complain about the gimmicky 3-3-5. I totally agree. I'm so gun shy to criticize anything defensively because we are playing the 4-3 now. I'll get to watch "units" better being at the game, the one unit I am excited to watch is the secondary. I believe they have improved from last season, but I need to evaluate from the game. It's too hard to judge from tv. I will also be watching to see what routes are run on offense to have a better understanding if the QB is being handcuffed, or is not making reads.

[johnnyzip84]

I'll throw my 2 cents in:8. If he's ready to go full bore, play Anthony Holmes more! He's the only corner we have who is a physical match-up for many opposing receivers. He's great on the corner blitz too.

[Doug Snyder]

After watching the game last week, below are the five areas of improvement I would like to see this week with the Zips. The first and second are in that order for a reason. The last three could be in any order.1. Our punter was good last week, but our special teams need to improve. It needs to improve so we can have better field position. There is less than a 20% chance of scoring any points with a drive starting inside of your own 20. Specifically, kickoff return needs to do a better job getting the front line blockers in position to make blocks. Maybe they were overwhelmed by the speed of osu's kickoff coverage, well know better about that this week. They need to get back faster though. Our punt blocking at the line was not sufficient enough to slow down the osu coverage so I want to see improvement in this area this week.2. Our QB needs to not look at the guy he is going to throw to the whole time. It makes for easy coverage. I'll write last week off to first game nervousness, but we need to see improvement in this area Saturday.3. Get the running game going. Our line is improved and we have a blazing fast RB, but we need to see the results on the field. The necessary deception in a pro style offense is play action pass. No running game, no play action pass. It's that simple. No play action pass, no big plays and an easy day for the defense.4. I liked our strategy of blitzing early last week. It didn't work for a couple of reasons. First, the osu QB completed some good passes against single coverage. Secondly, our DBs didn't tackle well when they were assigned back-side contain. The Zips had to stop blitzing or they would have lost by 80. It was a good move by the coaching staff.5. We had a total of zero tackles for losses last weekend. That number is unacceptable. Our defensive line looks better this year and we should have had at least one when we were run blitzing. We need the linebackers to do a better job of finding holes to make tackles behind the line and the linemen need to get off of blocks and make some tackles.6. I'll throw in a bonus point. Our LBs need to get off of blocks and make tackles. Wagner had 15 tackles last weekend and I can't remember a single one being within two yards of the line. He made a lot of tackles 8 yards downfield, but he and the rest of the LBs need to get off blocks and make them closer to the line. It can't be second and four every series or we'll get killed.

Which RB are you referring to?? Chisolm is not blazing fast. Strong, lightening quick for his size, great reading blocking and with an incredible burst. But not blazing fast. If healthy...Alexander may give us a dynamic tandem and he may be who you are referring to. either way...I agree we need to get the ground game going if we are to win.

[GP1]

Chisolm is not blazing fast. lightening quick for his size, great reading blocking and with an incredible burst.

That's blazing fast enough for me.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Chisolm is not blazing fast. lightening quick for his size, great reading blocking and with an incredible burst.

That's blazing fast enough for me.

No Heisman's just yet for the kid with 13 carries for 26 yards.

[GP1]

Chisolm is not blazing fast. lightening quick for his size, great reading blocking and with an incredible burst.

That's blazing fast enough for me.

No Heisman's just yet for the kid with 13 carries for 26 yards.

I'm not interested as much about a Heisman. I'd just like a kid with some talent get to show what he has.

[Zipmeister]

Chisolm is not blazing fast. lightening quick for his size, great reading blocking and with an incredible burst.

That's blazing fast enough for me.

No Heisman's just yet for the kid with 13 carries for 26 yards.

He is, however, overqualified to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

[zips4ever2008]

How about score some points. Touchdown, field goal, safety. Just score some points.

[Blue & Gold]

I want to see Rossi get some carries this week. I want to see us take more shots downfield this week to stretch the D. I hope our OL can give LR8 & the WRs time to get down field.I love the 4-3 but I'm hoping Temple can't go 3-yards & a cloud of dust on us like Columbus did.Of course I'm also hoping to see us limit the big plays as well as we did vs Columbus.

[Aaron]

Temple had some issues tackling at first touch last week against Villanova. Nova's RBs didn't have the speed to make Temple pay for missing the tackles, but maybe Akron's do. If Temple's tackling woes continue this week, it seems to play well into Moore's strong points and we may be able to get some good gains on the ground with options plays or a strong FB lead.Temple's pass coverage seems strong, and with our young receivers, I wouldn't expect much in that dept. Could be a faster game than usual with both teams focusing on the ground.

[GP1]

After watching the game last week, below are the five areas of improvement I would like to see this week with the Zips. The first and second are in that order for a reason. The last three could be in any order.1. Our punter was good last week, but our special teams need to improve. It needs to improve so we can have better field position. There is less than a 20% chance of scoring any points with a drive starting inside of your own 20. Specifically, kickoff return needs to do a better job getting the front line blockers in position to make blocks. Maybe they were overwhelmed by the speed of osu's kickoff coverage, well know better about that this week. They need to get back faster though. Our punt blocking at the line was not sufficient enough to slow down the osu coverage so I want to see improvement in this area this week.2. Our QB needs to not look at the guy he is going to throw to the whole time. It makes for easy coverage. I'll write last week off to first game nervousness, but we need to see improvement in this area Saturday.3. Get the running game going. Our line is improved and we have a blazing fast RB, but we need to see the results on the field. The necessary deception in a pro style offense is play action pass. No running game, no play action pass. It's that simple. No play action pass, no big plays and an easy day for the defense.4. I liked our strategy of blitzing early last week. It didn't work for a couple of reasons. First, the osu QB completed some good passes against single coverage. Secondly, our DBs didn't tackle well when they were assigned back-side contain. The Zips had to stop blitzing or they would have lost by 80. It was a good move by the coaching staff.5. We had a total of zero tackles for losses last weekend. That number is unacceptable. Our defensive line looks better this year and we should have had at least one when we were run blitzing. We need the linebackers to do a better job of finding holes to make tackles behind the line and the linemen need to get off of blocks and make some tackles.6. I'll throw in a bonus point. Our LBs need to get off of blocks and make tackles. Wagner had 15 tackles last weekend and I can't remember a single one being within two yards of the line. He made a lot of tackles 8 yards downfield, but he and the rest of the LBs need to get off blocks and make them closer to the line. It can't be second and four every series or we'll get killed.

Didn't see the game, but I would like a report on these issues. Did we improve in these areas or other areas not mentioned?

[MaxZIP]

Didn't see the game, but I would like a report on these issues. Did we improve in these areas or other areas not mentioned?

no, I think they played even worse tonight. More flags at bad times, dropped passes and general crap play. Clayton never looks off and seems to see rushers even when they are coming at him directyl in his line of sight. He also holds the ball to long. Temple could have scored 60 but took the air out of the ball early. The D couldn't tackle and out DB's are no better than last year.

[Lee Adams]

After watching the game last week, below are the five areas of improvement I would like to see this week with the Zips. The first and second are in that order for a reason. The last three could be in any order.1. Our punter was good last week, but our special teams need to improve. It needs to improve so we can have better field position. There is less than a 20% chance of scoring any points with a drive starting inside of your own 20. Specifically, kickoff return needs to do a better job getting the front line blockers in position to make blocks. Maybe they were overwhelmed by the speed of osu's kickoff coverage, well know better about that this week. They need to get back faster though. Our punt blocking at the line was not sufficient enough to slow down the osu coverage so I want to see improvement in this area this week.2. Our QB needs to not look at the guy he is going to throw to the whole time. It makes for easy coverage. I'll write last week off to first game nervousness, but we need to see improvement in this area Saturday.3. Get the running game going. Our line is improved and we have a blazing fast RB, but we need to see the results on the field. The necessary deception in a pro style offense is play action pass. No running game, no play action pass. It's that simple. No play action pass, no big plays and an easy day for the defense.4. I liked our strategy of blitzing early last week. It didn't work for a couple of reasons. First, the osu QB completed some good passes against single coverage. Secondly, our DBs didn't tackle well when they were assigned back-side contain. The Zips had to stop blitzing or they would have lost by 80. It was a good move by the coaching staff.5. We had a total of zero tackles for losses last weekend. That number is unacceptable. Our defensive line looks better this year and we should have had at least one when we were run blitzing. We need the linebackers to do a better job of finding holes to make tackles behind the line and the linemen need to get off of blocks and make some tackles.6. I'll throw in a bonus point. Our LBs need to get off of blocks and make tackles. Wagner had 15 tackles last weekend and I can't remember a single one being within two yards of the line. He made a lot of tackles 8 yards downfield, but he and the rest of the LBs need to get off blocks and make them closer to the line. It can't be second and four every series or we'll get killed.

Wagner is becoming the D'qwell Jackson of Akron. I specifically watched the LB's at the game tonite. There were a lot of missed tackles at the line. Temple's RB's were much to fast for them to get angles on. The D-line wasn't getting many 'draws' at the line either. They were getting pushed around most of the night.

[Dr Z]

Didn't see the game, but I would like a report on these issues. Did we improve in these areas or other areas not mentioned?

Not on your #2. Might have taken a step back this week. Needs improvement in multiple areas. See my thoughts here.

[GoZips88]

For the second year in a row, iCoach trots out the "You improve the most between games 1 and 2." and, for the second year in a row, we look WORSE in game 2. What a pathetic state our football program is in. Where do we need to improve? Where don't we?

[UAZipster0305]

For the second year in a row, iCoach trots out the "You improve the most between games 1 and 2." and, for the second year in a row, we look WORSE in game 2. What a pathetic state our football program is in. Where do we need to improve? Where don't we?

"Who cares, it's a rat with wings!"

[GP1]

Wagner is becoming the D'qwell Jackson of Akron. I specifically watched the LB's at the game tonite. There were a lot of missed tackles at the line. Temple's RB's were much to fast for them to get angles on. The D-line wasn't getting many 'draws' at the line either. They were getting pushed around most of the night.

Thanks for the response.I think you might be right about Wagner. He only had seven tackles. As the primary LB in our defense, he easily should have double digit tackles every game. It goes back to a discussion on the recruiting thread about the nature of small school kids vs. big school kids. We'll see how the season plays out for him, but I have a feeling teams know something about him from watching film that isn't playing to the Zips advantage.We did have three tackles for losses so that is an improvement. We also did not have a sack yesterday. I was hoping the four man line might lend itself to more negative yardage plays. If we can't get teams off rhythm with their play calling, it will be hard to beat many teams.I'm really curious as to whether or not our blocking on kickoff return was better. KO return is a good way to swing momentum your direction after the other team goes on a scoring drive. Wake did it yesterday late in the game. NC State went on a scoring drive complete with big plays and got close to Wake. Wake answered with a KO return to the 50 and scored three plays later. They totally neutralized the momentum of NC State with the KO return. BTW, NC State is worse this year than the year the Zips beat them.