Captain's Blog #2

[Captain Kangaroo]

Here's 11 observations for what looks to be another 11-loss season --1.) Nice tailgate weather. Great to see so many ZN.o members in the lot. The fragmented parking situation does make me pine a bit for the Rubber Bowl lot, however. I miss the mix of students and old farts partying along the fence, music blasting and all that jazz. It will never happen, but until the Zips can draw more than 10k consistently, filling Lot 9 should be a focus for UA athletics. Spreading out 7k people all across campus is a shame.2.) Were there even 7k at the game last night? By far, the saddest Opening Day crowd I've witnessed in my 28 year history in the Akron area.3.) I used the word "sad" a lot last night. I don't know that there's a more-appropriate word to describe how I feel watching the Zips play football. Jesus...we aren't even remotely competitive anymore. Week #2 is complete and I don't think the Zips offense has been in the Red Zone, let alone scored a TD. That is beyond pathetic.4.) 2.8 more years of Clayton Moore? Yippee. Did he look adequate at times? Sure. But give any D-1 QB 28 throws and there'll be a couple keepers. Overall, he's not dazzling anyone. And we need a dazzling QB.5.) Our OL is terrible. Run blocking, pass blocking...all bad. The only thing we seem to be good at are untimely penalties. Most of our OL is really young, so I didn't expect much this season. But that doesn't mean they aren't really bad. Conversely, man was Temple's OL good. They fired off the ball like a bunch of steamrollers. 6.) For the 2nd consecutive Saturday, our football Zips were outscored by our soccer Zips. The UA football staff should really be embarassed.7.) Suel is a player. He's the one offensive player on our team that can play D-1 football today. He needs to get the football in his hands 12-15 times per game. There's no excuse for him only having 4 catches...IF the Zips want to win some football games. If Ianello simply wants to make progress, get everyone some work, stay-the-course....then give Suel his 4 catches, and hand the ball off to Chisholm on every 1st down.8.) Temple Special Teams were awesome. They made multiple, absolutely vicious hits on kick coverage. And had several fantastic run-backs. The Zips special teams are no where near Temple's level. We stunk.9.) Several years ago, I was friends with a Zips OL (Owens era). He told me about the rift between offense and defense, where the O would ask the D "How many points do we have to put up this week to win? 50? Can you guys force more than 1 punt per game?" Now its the opposite. The defense never even gets to sit down before the O completes another 3-and-out.10.) Temple is really good. The Zips are really bad. Thus 41-3 was expected. But that doesn't mean it doesn't totally suck. Ianello is now 1-13. 1-14 after next week. And getting beat like a drum. Wonder if he had any angry post-game words for the Temple coach, who classlessly ran up the score calling a fake punt, up 28-3. 11.) I didn't like Ianello trotting Nicely out for 2 minutes of garbage time. BS move. PN7 did make some nice throws. Nice deep tosses...of course without #15 underneath them, there's no chance our other WR's would catch them. It appears we're going to be seeing a lot of LR8 until 2014. Yippee.Bonus: Hated the long line to enter the stadium. Longest line ever, for such a small crowd. We can't do anything right with InfoCision. We're still The Beverly Hillbillies. Massive beautiful mansion, with a handful of Hillbillies inside.Great to connect with all you Lot 9'ers. I'll update the beer list soon. As hoped, we took a big leap forward! Advancing the Beer List may be our only positive memory from the 2011 football season.

[bobbyake]

Great post. Your first observation really hits home with me. Tailgating at the Info can't compete with the Rubber Bowl experience because the University lacks the initiative to make it so.you can park anywhere for the soccer games, which would allow a new tailgating scene for us Zips faithful

[ZachTheZip]

6.) For the 2nd consecutive Saturday, our football Zips were outscored by our soccer Zips. The UA football staff should really be embarassed.

Not just the men's team. The Lady Zips just put up 4 goals at FAU today.

[bobbyake]

6.) For the 2nd consecutive Saturday, our football Zips were outscored by our soccer Zips. The UA football staff should really be embarassed.

Season Scoring ComparisonAkron Soccer: 11 goalsAkron Football: 3 pointsThe soccer team is averaging around 3 goals a game, doesn't look good for Akron Football.

[Buckzip]

CK, looking at the depth chart, our o-line doesn't look young to me. That makes it even worse. These are the best guys..

[zipdiehard]

I think #5 has a good deal to do with some of #4. Every time I turned the game on Moore was under pressure. Add to that no running game because of the O line. I'm not giving up on Moore quite yet.

[Zipsrifle]

A few things stuck out for me. First, we are young. I don't know all the players, but every time I looked at the scoreboard, our guys were freshman and sophomores whereas most of the Temple guys was on the board, they were a Junior or Senior. There is usually a big difference between an 18 yr old and a 21 year old physically. Second, their guys were very physical. Not only was their D-Line pushing our line back, but they were using moves I didn't see our D-Line use to break down the protection. Of course, maybe this is just my untrained eye interpreting things wrong. They also could HIT! Rossi (Solid dude) caught one pass, turned around and was just decked by one of their guys who just stood there and looked down on him. Rossi had to have the weight advantage. Third, their guys were just plain more athletic. Our guys were just a step behind theirs. This was apparent last week at one point when one Zip had a clear shot at Bauserman and it took FOREVER for him to close. I don't blame the Temple coach for the fake punt, I blame our coach for not having our guys prepared for the situation. I have to think Temple is looking to break into the top 25, and what better way than to try and beat the Zips by more than OSU. They had no respect for us and why should they? That said, I THINK I saw some bright spots when compared to last year. How many passes did we drop last night? I'm not saying Moore is awesome, but at least our guys had a chance to catch them. The team seemed to be involved in the game, even when on the sideline and I don't think they lost hope even when they got down. I also didn't give us ANY chance at making that field goal. We hung with those guys for a while before they just pulled away. Yea, my standards are low, but I'm looking for SOMETHING! Very well might be a one win season. I want to see how this team responds in a close game, and I'll have to wait two weeks to see that.

[ZipperRoo44]

6.) For the 2nd consecutive Saturday, our football Zips were outscored by our soccer Zips. The UA football staff should really be embarassed.

Season Scoring ComparisonAkron Soccer: 11 goalsAkron Football: 3 pointsThe soccer team is averaging around 3 goals a game, doesn't look good for Akron Football.

This is the most pathetic thing I've ever read. Fold the football program as soon as possible and make this an MLS stadium.

[MaxZIP]

A few things stuck out for me. First, we are young. I don't know all the players, but every time I looked at the scoreboard, our guys were freshman and sophomores whereas most of the Temple guys was on the board, they were a Junior or Senior. There is usually a big difference between an 18 yr old and a 21 year old physically. Second, their guys were very physical. Not only was their D-Line pushing our line back, but they were using moves I didn't see our D-Line use to break down the protection. Of course, maybe this is just my untrained eye interpreting things wrong. They also could HIT! Rossi (Solid dude) caught one pass, turned around and was just decked by one of their guys who just stood there and looked down on him. Rossi had to have the weight advantage. Third, their guys were just plain more athletic. Our guys were just a step behind theirs. This was apparent last week at one point when one Zip had a clear shot at Bauserman and it took FOREVER for him to close. I don't blame the Temple coach for the fake punt, I blame our coach for not having our guys prepared for the situation. I have to think Temple is looking to break into the top 25, and what better way than to try and beat the Zips by more than OSU. They had no respect for us and why should they? That said, I THINK I saw some bright spots when compared to last year. How many passes did we drop last night? I'm not saying Moore is awesome, but at least our guys had a chance to catch them. The team seemed to be involved in the game, even when on the sideline and I don't think they lost hope even when they got down. I also didn't give us ANY chance at making that field goal. We hung with those guys for a while before they just pulled away. Yea, my standards are low, but I'm looking for SOMETHING! Very well might be a one win season. I want to see how this team responds in a close game, and I'll have to wait two weeks to see that.

There were many drops last year as well. Didn't see much difference in the passing game. The bench was in the game for exactly 6 min. I was 8 rows back and they were all sleeping. At least they were not joking around this year while down big. The D coordinator was taking care of making sure the defense was at least paying attention. The kicking game is better at what 50%? That is sad. Penalties were out of control and the play calling stil suspect and lame.

[GP1]

The Zips are really bad.

How would you rate our building process and project those thoughts into post 2012?

[Captain Kangaroo]

The Zips are really bad.

How would you rate our building process and project those thoughts into post 2012?

We have torn whatever structure previously existed to the ground, but there is no visible evidence of any building yet. We're still sitting at rock bottom.

[plowerman78]

You forgot about my great dancing on the scoreboard. That got a louder ovation then the team did all day

[johnnyzip84]

You forgot about my great dancing on the scoreboard. That got a louder ovation then the team did all day

I must admit, that was pretty awesome

[MaxZIP]

The Zips are really bad.

How would you rate our building process and project those thoughts into post 2012?

We have torn whatever structure previously existed to the ground, but there is no visible evidence of any building yet. We're still sitting at rock bottom.

According to Icoach he is laying the foundation extra special with no cracks. When will we get out of the subbasement? Seems like we have years to go until we can be on the ground floor.

[gozips19]

the three biggest things that stood out to me were the o line, poor tackling by the back 7, and kick coverage.O Line: They are just flat out bad right now and that's the most disappointing part of this team. I understand they are a little thin due to injuries but they get blown off the line a lot. Their pass protection is even worse as Moore had little time to throw. I think there was 8 or 9 sacks? A few were Moore's fault but there were a ton ton of times when he was running for his life. He was lit up on the interception he threw. Moore and Jawon have shown flashes but need the line to gel to get consistently better.Poor tackling: I don't think this has been talked about enough. GP1 has mentioned on the board that Wagner makes a lot of plays but are 5 yards past the line. You can say the same for the other linebackers as well. They are not flowing to the ball well at all. Then you have the secondary. I hate to pick on a specific player but Richmond may have to be the softest strong safety I've ever seen. Very athletic and can help in coverage but he's not a run stopper. This shows up time and time again as he blows tackles that lead to long runs or short passes that turn into a big gain. I know Ford is a true freshmen but I'd like to see him get some more reps. The hit he made to force a fumble is what this team needs. Would also like to see Seth Cunningham get some more reps if the D plays nickle. This way you can move Waller on the slot and you have 2 bigger db's on the edge. Every time Waller is matched up on a bigger receiver he has to play off and the bigger wide outs eat him up. He has ball skills but doesn't get a chance to use them. The slot would be a better spot for him. Kick coverage: This is on the coaching. You can't have your coverage teams consistently start behind the 20 and expect your offense to bail you out. On the flip side the lane discipline on covering kicks is junior varsity. This needs to change for when Akron plays lessor competition and is in closer games if they expect to win any games this year.I didn't expect Akron to win the game but I didn't expect the final score either. I'll echo some of the statements on the board that most people in the stands were just sad. I saw some people trying to fire the team up and some people pissed. Simkovich comes to mind. Nobody would have been shocked if Akron starts 0-3 before the season started. I just hope we see improvement on Saturday and then get their first win against VMI.Was in in lot 9 for the first time this year and had a good time. Miss the younger crowd but the food was an improvement. Cap if you can add the following beers:Great Lakes NosferatuLeininkugel OktoberfestLabatt Blue and Light Heading down to Cincy to watch bad football and participate in an awesome Oktoberfest! Anyone heading down feel free to IM

[Dr Z]

the three biggest things that stood out to me were the o line, poor tackling by the back 7, and kick coverage. Heading down to Cincy to watch bad football and participate in an awesome Oktoberfest! Anyone heading down feel free to IM

How could you miss the play of the QB? That had a MUCH bigger impact than the kick coverage (which is bad). Have fun in Cincy. I was originally going to make the trip, but it's no fun watching a team that can't score. Please do me a favor, watch LR8 for multiple series, just focus on him. Then report next week what you saw. It's too hard to tell on tv, but since you will be there you will get a better look. I'm looking for improvement in multiple areas. See if he stays in the pocket or abandons into pressure. He needs to help his offensive line create space for him. IMO he puts the ball down to quick. Also, watch MS15 run his routes, and see how many times he comes open, and how many targets he gets. I was surprised last week how many three receiver sets we ran. I couldn't tell if we did that in Columbus or not. I remember a lot of two tight end sets last season with a roll out to one side where the QB had a one receiver "option." Glad to see those plays buried in the playbook.

[ZachTheZip]

[Dave in Green]

Dr Z, just for clarification here, do you believe that LR8 is getting adequate protection that he should be staying in the pocket longer than he is? The other possibility, of course, is that he has a good sense when the pocket is collapsing, and is bailing out at the appropriate time. Obviously, the one time he clearly stayed in the pocket too long is when he was blindsided from behind near the Zips goal line and the ball was recovered by Temple, resulting in a quick touchdown. That doesn't exactly instill pocket confidence in a QB.It takes some time for a QB to gain confidence in his teammates' ability to protect him in the pocket. It doesn't help that the Zips' first two games were against teams that were clearly way superior to the Zips. So it was almost a given that the opposing defenses would be pouring in on him.By all accounts, Cincinnati's defense is not at tOSU's level, and perhaps not even up to Temple's level. But I don't think you'd find many people who'd wager that Cincinatti's defense is inferior to UA's offense. So, again, it's fair to expect that LR8 will be under a lot of pressure in a pocket that may collapse faster than your average QB would prefer.I think it's best to be open-minded on this issue and not go into a game with preconceptions. We often have a tendency to see things that support our theories if we don't even acknowledge other possibilities.

[Doug Snyder]

Dr Z, just for clarification here, do you believe that LR8 is getting adequate protection that he should be staying in the pocket longer than he is? The other possibility, of course, is that he has a good sense when the pocket is collapsing, and is bailing out at the appropriate time. Obviously, the one time he clearly stayed in the pocket too long is when he was blindsided from behind near the Zips goal line and the ball was recovered by Temple, resulting in a quick touchdown. That doesn't exactly instill pocket confidence in a QB.It takes some time for a QB to gain confidence in his teammates' ability to protect him in the pocket. It doesn't help that the Zips' first two games were against teams that were clearly way superior to the Zips. So it was almost a given that the opposing defenses would be pouring in on him.By all accounts, Cincinnati's defense is not at tOSU's level, and perhaps not even up to Temple's level. But I don't think you'd find many people who'd wager that Cincinatti's defense is inferior to UA's offense. So, again, it's fair to expect that LR8 will be under a lot of pressure in a pocket that may collapse faster than your average QB would prefer.I think it's best to be open-minded on this issue and not go into a game with preconceptions. We often have a tendency to see things that support our theories if we don't even acknowledge other possibilities.

Man... I wrote something almost word for word and had to trash it because you beat me to it. The only thing written so far that is concerning is that he may be locking onto recievers. I want to see the next game in person before I make any definitve opinions.