Better or Worse in 2012?

[johnnyzip84]

The internet sports equivalent of The National Enquirer (Bleacher Report) predicts whether each of all 120 FBS teams will be better or worse in 2012 than they were in 2011. Who needs an assigned head coach to make a prediction? They say the Zips will be "better" in 2012. I think you can take that to the bank

You have to love the old pic of Zippy from the Rubber Bowl.

[zestycoyote]

No matter who the head coach is, I think that we will win more than one game next year. With proper coaching, any amount of talent can squeeze out a couple upset wins in the MAC. Ianello was just that bad.

[InTheZone]

We really need to understand that we are rock bottom right now. We didn't just fail to win a game against a FBS team last year, 90% of those games weren't even close. When you are giving up almost 70 points to Western Michigan when they are taking their foot off the pedal in the second quarter, you have a long way to go as a program.

I could actually handle another one win season next year, so long as we are at least COMPETITIVE in the games and look like we have any semblance of a strategy and knowing what the hell we are doing. We have to be realistic... that would be significant progress for next season. If the new guy comes in and does a GREAT job, his tenure will look something like this:

Year ONE- 1-2 wins, but COMPETITIVE in all MAC games

Year TWO- 3-5 wins

Year THREE- 5-7 wins, starting to look like a football team

Year FOUR- 6-9 wins, challenge for MAC supremacy

Year FIVE- 8-11 wins, MAC Title

Again, I think we are going to have to measure "progress" next year in terms other than wins, as this team didn't just lose 11 games, they didn't come close to not losing 11 games. This thing will take time to build, but a great head coach can have this thing competitive by Year 2 and challenging for titles by Year 4.

[g-mann17]

We really need to understand that we are rock bottom right now. We didn't just fail to win a game against a FBS team last year, 90% of those games weren't even close. When you are giving up almost 70 points to Western Michigan when they are taking their foot off the pedal in the second quarter, you have a long way to go as a program.

I could actually handle another one win season next year, so long as we are at least COMPETITIVE in the games and look like we have any semblance of a strategy and knowing what the hell we are doing. We have to be realistic... that would be significant progress for next season. If the new guy comes in and does a GREAT job, his tenure will look something like this:

Year ONE- 1-2 wins, but COMPETITIVE in all MAC games

Year TWO- 3-5 wins

Year THREE- 5-7 wins, starting to look like a football team

Year FOUR- 6-9 wins, challenge for MAC supremacy

Year FIVE- 8-11 wins, MAC Title

Again, I think we are going to have to measure "progress" next year in terms other than wins, as this team didn't just lose 11 games, they didn't come close to not losing 11 games. This thing will take time to build, but a great head coach can have this thing competitive by Year 2 and challenging for titles by Year 4.

Great, we've already laid excuses down for 3 years of crappy football again.

[Dr Z]

Great, we've already laid excuses down for 3 years of crappy football again.

I agree. Hire me a coach that will win now. I don't care what anybody says about our cupboard. 1 win next year and 3 the following year will probably push me off this train. I'm going to have to get on another college football plan. My patience is not there anymore.

[g-mann17]

Great, we've already laid excuses down for 3 years of crappy football again.

I agree. Hire me a coach that will win now. I don't care what anybody says about our cupboard.

There is no reason that if we had an "awful coach" the last two seasons that we shouldn't expect a "good hire" to win us 4-5 games coming in. And it should take a maximum of 3 seasons to start competing for bowl eligibility. If we have a 1-2 win season next year I am done with this program.

[Blue & Gold]

Great, we've already laid excuses down for 3 years of crappy football again.

I agree. Hire me a coach that will win now. I don't care what anybody says about our cupboard.

There is no reason that if we had an "awful coach" the last two seasons that we shouldn't expect a "good hire" to win us 4-5 games coming in. And it should take a maximum of 3 seasons to start competing for bowl eligibility. If we have a 1-2 win season next year I am done with this program.

Come on guys, we're pretty awful. And we're losing most of our starting offensive and defensive linemen.

I'm with ITZ in that I just want to see us take the next step, which would mean being competitive in MAC games, next season.

I do agree w/ g-mann that we should be competing for bowl eligibility by the 3rd season. But being bowl eligible only means 6 wins, right? I think that curve (6 wins by year 3) is realistic.

[zipsfan33]

Back to the picture of Zippy... I agree with him and his gestures!

[ZachTheZip]

This season we were easily the youngest team in the country. Most of our contributing players are returning.

[skip-zip]

Is there a choice of "equal", for those who have been begging for us to be consistent?

I always felt that, personnel wise, 2011 was going to be a more difficult year than 2010.

I feel differently about next year. The new QB, RBs and WRs from this past year will all have a season under their belts working together. So will many of the defenders who played this past year, and they'll have Wagner in his senior year as the anchor. But, we still need major overhaul work on both lines.

I still think the experience we have coming back should be worth 2-4 wins.

[ZipRoo]

This season we were easily the youngest team in the country. Most of our contributing players are returning.

Scary. They were awful. Certainly hope a new coach can light a fire under them and motivate underachievers to actually "compete."

[johnnyzip84]

Back to the picture of Zippy... I agree with him and his gestures!

Yeah! He/she thinks we're #1!

[Captain Kangaroo]

I feel differently about next year. The new QB, RBs and WRs from this past year will all have a season under their belts working together.

No way Ole Miss wins any QB battle where Ianello isn't involved. It's like thinking Bryan Hipsher would start at any basketball program where his dad wasn't the head coach.

Either Nicely is the QB in 2012, and we run the spread. Or some new JUCO is our QB.

[johnnyzip84]

Morgan St is probably the only realistic OOC win. So 2 to 4 total wins likely means 1 to 3 MAC wins. That sounds about right unless the HC hire is a home run.

[Blue & Gold]

Morgan St is probably the only realistic OOC win. So 2 to 4 total wins likely means 1 to 3 MAC wins. That sounds about right unless the HC hire is a home run.

Is there any way we can get out of our game w/ Tennessee?

[Dr Z]

... unless the HC hire is a home run.

Why shouldn't it be? I'm on the edge with this program. I just can't waste college football Saturday's anymore. It SHOULD be a home run.

[johnnyzip84]

... unless the HC hire is a home run.

Why shouldn't it be? I'm on the edge with this program. I just can't waste college football Saturday's anymore. It SHOULD be a home run.

Everybody wants a "sure home run". A school with the athletic budget of Akron can't afford one of those, however. So if they want a home run, they're forced to take a risk on someone like a Matt Campbell, for instance. Sometimes this approach takes you over the wall, and sometimes it's three big swings and three big misses.

BTW, I have no trouble going after Matt Campbell, assuming Toledo hasn't bumped him up once Beckman leaves for Illinos.

[K92]

Next year will definitely be better. However, I also said the same before the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

[skip-zip]

I feel differently about next year. The new QB, RBs and WRs from this past year will all have a season under their belts working together.

No way Ole Miss wins any QB battle where Ianello isn't involved. It's like thinking Bryan Hipsher would start at any basketball program where his dad wasn't the head coach.

Either Nicely is the QB in 2012, and we run the spread. Or some new JUCO is our QB.

Here we go again.

What are the chances that a new coach, with a new system, who is trying to rebuild a program, would invest any time in a QB who has only a handful of games left in his career, and has posted an 85 and 75 QB rating during the last two seasons ?

And don't say I am bashing anyone. I said the same thing about Rodgers, on several occassions, as he was approaching the end of his Junior year.

[Doug Snyder]

Morgan St is probably the only realistic OOC win. So 2 to 4 total wins likely means 1 to 3 MAC wins. That sounds about right unless the HC hire is a home run.

Is there any way we can get out of our game w/ Tennessee?

We need the "beat down" cash. Hopefully no one is injured

[Zipmeister]

This season we were easily the youngest team in the country. Most of our contributing players are returning.

We were also the most right-handed team in the country.

[Doug Snyder]

I feel sorry for Nicely. He probably thinks he has a chance to start next year with a new HC. But from what I saw and what coaches I know have told me...there is no way Nicely starts at any serious D1 program. Strong arm, nice guy are his positive qualities. No huddle presence, quiet and lacks leadership and has no accuracy and little feel/touch on his throws. He seems like a good kid...I was hoping he would transfer and get a chance to play. Now I think he stays and sits again. It may be good of the Zips though...he is a capable back-up and good guy to have on the team.

[skip-zip]

Morgan St is probably the only realistic OOC win. So 2 to 4 total wins likely means 1 to 3 MAC wins. That sounds about right unless the HC hire is a home run.

Is there any way we can get out of our game w/ Tennessee?

We need the "beat down" cash. Hopefully no one is injured

Tennessee is one of the top couple of venues in the country to experience a college football game. Regardless of the outcome, you'll thoroughly enjoy the atmosphere.

[Dave in Green]

I think that ITZ has a good grasp of the overall situation with this team and the difficulty of turning it around quickly. I agree with his point that losing some close games will be an improvement over getting consistently blown out.

However, I'd argue that having more close games would increase the odds of winning more than just 1 or 2 on the season. For example, better coaching would likely have made the difference in the CMU game this season.

So I think that 2-4 wins rather than 1-2 is not unreasonable to expect from a well-coached team next season. But even if it ends up at the low end with only 2 wins, playing respectably and having a good chance to win many of the MAC games would still be a big improvement over this past season.

We won't need to see the win-loss record or final scores to know whether or not we're seeing a better-performing Zips team on the field that doesn't cause us to cringe in embarassment.

[xu9697]

Just looking over what we DO have (and this assumes they stay...and assumes they have not left already and I don't know about it!!)

Chisholm is a nice back, and I am pretty confident he could work in any system. Our WRs are young and have some promise. If we bring in a spread offense...Rossi would look nice at the OLB next to Wagner. He is just a football player!

QB= don't count out D'Orazio, especially if we go with a spread that is more like RichRod (run) vs. Mike Leach (pass). Or, and I have thought this from the couple times I watched him in HS..he could be moved to S and with him, Wagner and Rossi we begin to have a nice mix there.

The lines are the concern..I think we lose 5 of our top 10 on Oline and 5 of 8 on Dline. We are going to need JUCOs there if we expect to have any chance to win more than 1-2 games.

I don't think we can make a really informed win prediction until we see the coaching staff, the recruiting class (and by that, I mostly mean any 1 year transfers and JUCOs we might get that can help immediately), and who is left on the roster come spring. I think 1 to 5 wins is a reasonable range for predicting..if one were to predict.