Game 5 - Miami (OH) at Akron

[lance99]

Miami wins and you got all the boobirds out in force

[akzipper]

There is no way you can blame the refs, you let Miami score on every possession you deserve to lose. A huge step backwards for this team. Yes, there were two 15 yard penalties on that drive. But how is that any different than the defense giving up 15+ yard passes on every play?

[lance99]

There is no way you can blame the refs, you let Miami score on every possession you deserve to lose. A huge step backwards for this team. Yes, there were two 15 yard penalties on that drive. But how is that any different than the defense giving up 15+ yard passes on every play?

From listening to the game, they can score, but they can't stop anyone.

[PB1719]

There is no way you can blame the refs, you let Miami score on every possession you deserve to lose. A huge step backwards for this team. Yes, there were two 15 yard penalties on that drive. But how is that any different than the defense giving up 15+ yard passes on every play?

I respectfully disagree.

Akron's defense had a few really good stands, only to have the wind taken out of their sails by a ridiculous penalty. When the QB tucks the ball and runs, he loses all of the special rules allotted to them. He didn't slide to protect himself, if it were a RB that was hit in those situations, no flag. Looking at the replays, most of the other personal fouls there was no leading with the helmet. It's heart wrenching to see all of those extra unearned yards handed away. I'm not saying that our boys should have won, but the game was handed to them on a silver platter. also, the one catch was certainly a drop.

That being said, clock management and poor defense didn't help. The defense makes a few stops and the tides are turned. I believe there are a number of things that you can accurately blame the loss on.

[Spin]

There is no way you can blame the refs, you let Miami score on every possession you deserve to lose. A huge step backwards for this team. Yes, there were two 15 yard penalties on that drive. But how is that any different than the defense giving up 15+ yard passes on every play?

Those penalties usually came on third down.

Give US 60 yards at key times and it's a whole different game.

[PB1719]

I'm wondering how we stand tall against a solid SEC receiving corps, augmented by a decent running game, but against Miami's non-factor running game (outside of the QB scramble), we let them throw all over us. That's no disrespect to Miami, I know that we wouldn't shut them down completely, but at least a few more punts would have been great.

[ditchrider1]

That was a very entertaining game, crowd was very animated! The 15 yard hits were terrible calls for the most part, I think one earlier in the game was warranted. There was no leading with the head on the last drive, it was his shoulder and when Miami runs those quick over the middle routes and they catch the ball 2 yards in front of you, I am not sure what the refs expect the defender to do other than run into the receiver. Most of them were "bang-bang" plays The refs saw a vicious hit and threw the flag that was bottom line. Really there is no other way to tackle when it happens that fast, they have no time to drop low and wrap up.

Field Judge missed a blatant hold in the 2nd quarter on a Dysert scramble coming my way down towards the "closed" end, he watched the hold for a good 15 yards and didn't throw the flag? Two guys on the sideline, don't know who they were, they were part of the guests or whoever is allowed to stand on the sidelines down around the 10 yard line were giving the Field judge an earful, so much that the APD had to grab them and pull them back...lol

Overall the refs made terrible calls but our secondary is atrocious. We just do not have the talent to defend a good passing team like that. My biggest complaint and this is rampant across all levels of football but especially with our secondary, is the defensive backs trying to play defense without even looking at the ball! I can't for the life of me figure out why they try to defend a receiver and just rely on watching the receivers eyes and waiting to react until the receiver makes a catching motion...If you are a DB...LOOK FOR THE DAMN BALL!!! Geez, it was horrible, bad technique IMO.

Overall fun day at the stadium. If we had a secondary, we are a potential Bowl team. Great game by Chisolm, hard running and really finished on each play. DW makes some really nice throws and our receivers makes some nice catches. Amazing this is essentially the same talent that Ianello had.

I for one am excited as ever for Zips football and cant wait until Bowden & co. assemble some more talent.

Extra thanks to the gentleman who gave my friends and I, four free tickets while we were standing in line to buy ours. Home side, section 106, row 15. Thank you sir! Guess that was karma for two years ago when I gave away to someone standing in line an extra ticket I had... just 3 times over!

[Spin]

It was a very exciting game, the most excited I have been at a Zips football game in years. I also have not been as frustrated at officials since the MAC basketball tourney a couple years ago. My god this conference needs to do something.

And the thing that struck me was, we had no business being in that game. Everybody picked us for 6th place and Miami 2nd. We had no rated recruits on probably the worst team in I-A. Joe Dunn said last year we threw the ball 35 times +/- and completed 7 passes and we lost 35-3 to Miami.

But there we were, trading shots with them. They knew we were there today.

[Lee Adams]

I respectfully disagree.

Akron's defense had a few really good stands, only to have the wind taken out of their sails by a ridiculous penalty. When the QB tucks the ball and runs, he loses all of the special rules allotted to them. He didn't slide to protect himself, if it were a RB that was hit in those situations, no flag. Looking at the replays, most of the other personal fouls there was no leading with the helmet. It's heart wrenching to see all of those extra unearned yards handed away. I'm not saying that our boys should have won, but the game was handed to them on a silver platter. also, the one catch was certainly a drop.

That being said, clock management and poor defense didn't help. The defense makes a few stops and the tides are turned. I believe there are a number of things that you can accurately blame the loss on.

It is a shame that a really bad Akron defense allowed a really bad official to essentially decide the outcome of the game in the 4th Qtr. There is little question that the calls by the official were bad. He was out of position to make the calls. And, a very telling thing was that NO OTHER OFFICIAL THREW A FLAG. Normally the officials 'cover' themselves. If one throws a flag,a second official will toss one in to give the call more 'weight'. That didn't happen.

But,like Detwiler said after the game,you can't allow a bad call at the end to decide the outcome.

The defense was confused and out of position all day. They were letting receivers run free. They got called for substitution penalties. That should never happen on D. Thats on the coaching staff.

Give some credit to Miami. They took advantage. This looked a some previous Miami/Akron games. Dysert was starting to look eerily like Rothlisberger.

Its a shame to waste a great effort by the offense. But,they won't score 40 pts every game.

Until the D gets 'fixed'we may end up watching a lot of high scoring losses.

Get BGSU!

[GP1]

There is no way you can blame the refs, you let Miami score on every possession you deserve to lose. A huge step backwards for this team. Yes, there were two 15 yard penalties on that drive. But how is that any different than the defense giving up 15+ yard passes on every play?

It's 2012. Teams now put up a ton of points. The team didn't take a step back. Akron may have played against the best quarterback they will play against all year. He is a future NFL prospect and the fact that he lit the Zips up shouldn't surprise anyone.

[K92]

It's 2012. Teams now put up a ton of points. The team didn't take a step back. Akron may have played against the best quarterback they will play against all year. He is a future NFL prospect and the fact that he lit the Zips up shouldn't surprise anyone.

Thanks for the reality check.

I am disappointed the Zips didn't find a way to win, but I can't get down on them. I guess I am a little puzzled what some people are expecting in this team. Some of the negative comments are laughable.

[akronzips71]

We lost on the goal line as the clock ran out. Compared to the last two years, I'll take an entire season of this. It sucks to lose, but it is great to be in the game until the last second. We are competitive. Repeat after me. We are competitive. Which we have not been in three years.

[akzipper]

Competitiveness doesn't get fans to come to the games. There were plenty of games over the past few years that we only lost by a touchdown or two. Just because the offense is scoring more points, it doesn't make up for a terrible defensive performance.

[g-mann17]

Competitiveness doesn't get fans to come to the games. There were plenty of games over the past few years that we only lost by a touchdown or two. Just because the offense is scoring more points, it doesn't make up for a terrible defensive performance.

Find a new hobby.

[Hilltopper]

Find a new hobby.

[Wally B]

Competitiveness doesn't get fans to come to the games. There were plenty of games over the past few years that we only lost by a touchdown or two. Just because the offense is scoring more points, it doesn't make up for a terrible defensive performance.

Absolutey... there's no question our vaunted defense let us down......

wait... what?????

Are you insane? Have you been living under a rock? We KNOW this is our weakness, and as far as I'm concerned they did a great job making do with what they have.

Will this hold true in 2013 or 2014? No..... but this is 2012 and we have to be realistic here...

[GP1]

Competitiveness doesn't get fans to come to the games. There were plenty of games over the past few years that we only lost by a touchdown or two. Just because the offense is scoring more points, it doesn't make up for a terrible defensive performance.

Attendance was the least of the problems this program had coming into this season. The mess TW created and Ianello left behind was complete. To pretend the future of the program can be defined by what happened is silly. If the defense is this bad two years from now I will worry. I don't see any future NFL prospects in the MAC so I doubt we get lit up like we did yesterday in the near future.

[MontrealExposloveZippy]

We lost on the goal line as the clock ran out. Compared to the last two years, I'll take an entire season of this. It sucks to lose, but it is great to be in the game until the last second. We are competitive. Repeat after me. We are competitive. Which we have not been in three years.

Agreed! At least we can watch all 4 quarters of a Zips game now

[PB1719]

Mark my word, we win next weekend. I'd bet the house on this.

[NewZipsFan]

Mark my word, we win next weekend. I'd bet the house on this.

+1

[Lee Adams]

Find a new hobby.

[akzipper]

Mark my word, we win next weekend. I'd bet the house on this.

Bowling Green? Do we know if the game is on TV yet?

[LZIp]

Bowling Green? Do we know if the game is on TV yet?

yeah, Bowling Green. Considering that is who we play next week, Im pretty sure that is who he is talking about.

[skip-zip]

It's 2012. Teams now put up a ton of points. The team didn't take a step back. Akron may have played against the best quarterback they will play against all year. He is a future NFL prospect and the fact that he lit the Zips up shouldn't surprise anyone.[/quote]

You sound like you are in denial about what 3 previous D-1A teams have done to us already this year too. Our ability to tackle and cover is really a disaster, even against teams that probably will not be sending QBs to the NFL. And unfortunately, a few tongue lashings from coach Amato probably isn't going to change the pattern very much. Time, and some serious recruiting on the defensive side of the ball is the only thing likely to fix it.

[johnnyzip84]

Miami post-game thoughts

1. I haven’t questioned the tactics of this staff once in 2012, but I definitely think there were errors in clock management towards the end of the game. And as Lee Corso used to say on the NCAA video game “I’m not second guessing, I’m FIRST guessing” because I told a few people up in my section that I thought the Zips should install the olé defense with about 2 minutes left and one timeout remaining (instead of 1:04 with no timeouts). By the way, I also thought Miami should have simply centered the ball and worked the clock down to nothing before kicking a FG to win it. But maybe they don’t have much faith in the FG kicker since he missed an extra point earlier.

2. I didn’t hear Frenchie’s call, but where was Keith Sconiers?

3. Is Presley out for the year? If so, I’m not sure who steps up at end. That was a real shame, since he had just sacked Dysert a few plays earlier for a big loss.

4. Is Gilmer really the best matchup for covering a receiver spread out wide? Are we that short of DBs where we don’t use nickel or dime coverage very much?

5. I’m now getting VERY concerned about the need for a win (soon) to boost this year’s recruiting class. I really thought the Zips could take Miami, so this makes the BG game fairly high stakes from UA’s perspective.