Game #4 Pittsburgh Panthers

[LZIp]

Amato has done a great job. Not only in in-game coaching, but also in accumulating and developing nice talent on that side of the ball.

Take it FWIW (and I hope im wrong), he is looking to be a head coach again. Preferably in Florida.

[Balsy]

Amato has done a great job. Not only in in-game coaching, but also in accumulating and developing nice talent on that side of the ball.

Take it FWIW (and I hope im wrong), he is looking to be a head coach again. Preferably in Florida.

Perhaps. I don't believe Bowden is though. I believe Akron is Bowden's last stand.

[zippy5]

Zippy ..... I'm serious when I say that I really feel something special coming together .... Coach Bowden and staff have been right on point thus far with everything they have told myself and my son and do seem to have a plan. They seem to realize the ups and downs of rebuilding and I was most impressed with the way they reacted to the Marshall drubbing.

There biggest point so far in recruiting my boy has been to find good kids that KNOW how to win and what it takes. From the weight room to the practice field to the classroom.

Just seems way more believable than comfortable than all the other schools that have been recruiting him

My dad coaches a big time baseball team for 16-18s.. About 12 D-1 players on last summer's roster. I asked how he gets all these players, his answer was honesty. Obviously a summer ball travel team is different than a D-1 football team but the point is that all these guys blow smoke up everyone's asses and it's refreshing to see a coach actually tell you what they actually think and see happening. If that's how Terry is recruiting, and more importantly following through with his plan, I'm pretty excited about where he could take this.

[lance99]

Perhaps. I don't believe Bowden is though. I believe Akron is Bowden's last stand.

Agreed. I honestly believe that he wants to prove to everyone that he is a Coach and with coming here and turning the Zips into a power, he can cement himself as that type of a person.

[GP1]

There is a name that has gone unmentioned, but is still important. Zach Paul seems to be doing a good job of punting this year. A fifty yard average is pretty darn good. Most average around 44. An extra 42 yards during the course of a game is a lot to make up.

EDIT: I listened to the game on the way down to Columbia on Saturday as it was on satellite radio and the Pitt crew said Paul was on the Ray Guy watch list.

The Pitt radio was both surprised and impressed with Akron's performance.

[Dr Z]

There is a name that has gone unmentioned, but is still important. Zach Paul seems to be doing a good job of punting this year.

Zach was awesome Saturday. On top of the length of his punts, more importantly was the height. I think Boyd had four fair catches. The coverage was excellent as well, the two that Boyd did catch, I think he ended up with negative yardage. Zach gave us excellent field position all day long.

[GP1]

Boyd

Nobody has discussed our efforts against this guy. Boyd is a future NFL player and the Zips held him for I think around 75 yards. I'm more impressed with that than the fact they held Pitt's top RB to under 100.

[Dr Z]

Nobody has discussed our efforts against this guy. Boyd is a future NFL player and the Zips held him for I think around 75 yards. I'm more impressed with that than the fact they held Pitt's top RB to under 100.

Pitt offensive coordinator was Boyd's worst enemy on Saturday.

[skip-zip]

I have a few takes on this game. Sorry I haven't had a chance to read anyone else's comments yet.

1) First and foremost, I think this was a Coaching Win. Recognizing at some point that Pitt was having difficulty defending the inside handoff in the shotgun in the spread formation was brilliant, and mixing it in without "going to the well too often" was even more brilliant. A great tactical win by the coaches.

2) Secondly, major kudos to the defense. If someone would have told me that we would hold Pitt's running back to under 4 yards per carry, I would have taken it. And we did take it. And it was enough to limit their points enough to win the game.

3) Our defense carried us through some late season victories last year. Looks like we are in for a repeat. I expect us to be able to contain "most" of the MAC offenses with this personnel.

4) Pitt's lack of an effective passing game made me feel very comfortable with an 11 point lead. I never got nervous again after that.

5) I'm growing tired of so many of Pohl's 5-yard passes ending up at the feet of receivers. It appears the coaching staff might be tired of it too.

6) Those running plays that were available to us negated the need for Chisholm. Don't you think Pitt would have been wise enough to take away the inside running game, knowing we had nobody healthy enough to run effectively to the outside?

[Dr Z]

Getting back from Pittsburgh late last night, I haven't had time to read the entire thread, so I apologize if this has been written already.

Saturday was my first time watching James Conner in live action. I came away very unimpressed. Half of the day, and most of my photos show this, he had pretty big holes to run through. The Zips linebackers were quick to fill. I'm not trying to take anything away from the Akron defense, because they played great, but I thought Conner looked slow to me. He left a lot of yards on the ground IMO. I didn't fear him carrying the ball at all. I can't remember what point and time it was in the game, they handed the ball to #29, he hit the same hole and run to the outside making the linebackers chase him down for a nice gain. I thought in my mind, ut oh, put Conner back in. They did.

On the other side, I thought Hundley looked quick. I would think the staff is going to have a hard time going away from that. He needs the ball twenty times a game. Nice job by AJ mixing the run and pass Saturday.

PS Boyd was as advertised. The combination between the guy throwing the ball, and the guy calling the plays has to be frustrating for him.

[Jrship35]

My dad coaches a big time baseball team for 16-18s.. About 12 D-1 players on last summer's roster. I asked how he gets all these players, his answer was honesty. Obviously a summer ball travel team is different than a D-1 football team but the point is that all these guys blow smoke up everyone's asses and it's refreshing to see a coach actually tell you what they actually think and see happening. If that's how Terry is recruiting, and more importantly following through with his plan, I'm pretty excited about where he could take this.

LOL ............. You have no idea the crap some of these guys spew (you may, I'm just using the phrase)

[Jrship35]

There is a name that has gone unmentioned, but is still important. Zach Paul seems to be doing a good job of punting this year. A fifty yard average is pretty darn good. Most average around 44. An extra 42 yards during the course of a game is a lot to make up.

EDIT: I listened to the game on the way down to Columbia on Saturday as it was on satellite radio and the Pitt crew said Paul was on the Ray Guy watch list.

The Pitt radio was both surprised and impressed with Akron's performance.

So correct ........... We dominated the field possession game, Distance and hang time !!!! Priceless and under appreciated

[Balsy]

Agreed. I honestly believe that he wants to prove to everyone that he is a Coach and with coming here and turning the Zips into a power, he can cement himself as that type of a person.

Bowden has really made me eat my words. I will gladly admit when I believe something is wrong: but I'm blasted all NCAA coaches who are considered "the top" or "great". IMO it's easy for any coach to go into an already BIG program and win. Winning at the perrenial super-powers such as Alabama, OSU, Florida...to me doesn't make you a great coach. You're expected to win, and win big at those places, and you have recruitability. To me (the battered Browns and Zips fan that I am) the true test of a "great" coach is one who can take a mediocre, average, or horrible team, and make it great.

The "great" coaches we know of have done that: the Bobby Bowdens of the world took Zeros and made them heroes. They started with absolutely nothing, and made something.

Bowden I believe (and hope) is one of those coaches. He uses what he has available to build a winner, not wishful thinking. Akron will never out recruit State Ohio University; he knows that, and he's going to build a winner anyways.

Absolutely love the guy. I don't think he thought it was going to be this rough of a ride, but we're slowly getting there, you can hear it when he speaks.

[K92]

You guys are so right about Zach Paul. So far, he is the most consistently outstanding player on our squad. I talked to his mom for a hot second after the game and told her how lucky we are to have him and she really appreciated that.

[tpsjugglerdude]

One thing that is amazing is that we were one bad ref call (blowing the play dead on the botched punt recovery) and one defensive player jumping off-sides (pick 6 called back) from fully throttling them on the scoreboard 35-10.

I sat right behind the Akron bench and the entire bench, didn't matter if we were on offense or defense was pumped up the entire game. In contrast, the Pitt players would slowly just walk off the field with their heads down, and go sit down.

If Zach Paul doesn't get player of the week honors from the MAC something is wrong, he was phenomenal. I missed the Marshall game due to other commitments, but did we play our second string QB at all then? I was surprised when we sent our second string out for two back to back possessions and don't remember that from the Penn State or Howard games.

[tboned]

Well, I don't know what to say! Great Game! I was surprised, but extremely pleased with a BIG time win. I was so dejected after that Marshall game, I didn't know what to think.

I hate to admit my wife was right. LOL! Her response after the Marshall game was “get over it. It’s just one loss in a long season. Let’s see where we’re at in a couple of weeks”.

Congratulations to the Coaches, and players for a great win. Let’s keep it going

[zippy5]

One thing that is amazing is that we were one bad ref call (blowing the play dead on the botched punt recovery) and one defensive player jumping off-sides (pick 6 called back) from fully throttling them on the scoreboard 35-10.

I sat right behind the Akron bench and the entire bench, didn't matter if we were on offense or defense was pumped up the entire game. In contrast, the Pitt players would slowly just walk off the field with their heads down, and go sit down.

If Zach Paul doesn't get player of the week honors from the MAC something is wrong, he was phenomenal. I missed the Marshall game due to other commitments, but did we play our second string QB at all then? I was surprised when we sent our second string out for two back to back possessions and don't remember that from the Penn State or Howard games.

That was the correct call.

[GP1]

Pitt Student Newspaper article

Pretty good job for a kid.

[Dr Z]

Pitt Student Newspaper article Pretty good job for a kid.

Not bad, but not the angle I would have taken.

“Offensively, we were stagnant,” Chryst said. More important were the seven penalties, for a combined 55 yards. “I thought we’d play cleaner,” Chryst said. Part of playing cleaner is avoiding penalties. Pitt didn’t do that.

They could have had an easy nine penalties. The holding call that took the touchdown away, was no different than most of the holds that were not getting called before that one. I like how they also reviewed all of Akron's big plays just to make sure they didn't miss anything.

[GP1]

They could have had an easy nine penalties. The holding call that took the touchdown away, was no different than most of the holds that were not getting called before that one. I like how they also reviewed all of Akron's big plays just to make sure they didn't miss anything.

Interesting. Bill Hillgrove said it was a MAC crew officiating the game.

The guy in me who hates the MAC leadership wants to say they put the word out that Akron was not to win. Helps in future employment opportunities....

[Captain Kangaroo]

Who do you believe?

"I wouldn't say [they did] things I didn't see on film, but they did more of things I saw less on film," Pitt safety Ray Vinopal said. "I felt they made good halftime adjustments and got away from the identity that I tagged to them all week."

Or

Head coach Paul Chryst said after the game that Akron didn’t surprise his team. “There wasn’t much that they showed us that we hadn’t prepared for,” Chryst said.

[ZachTheZip]

Interesting. Bill Hillgrove said it was a MAC crew officiating the game.

The guy in me who hates the MAC leadership wants to say they put the word out that Akron was not to win. Helps in future employment opportunities....

Not so much the MAC leadership as the referees themselves. They were auditioning for the ACC and Big Ten, who pay refs several times more per game than the MAC.

[Dr Z]

If you wanted to party on the other side of the river, and like Belgian beer, stop at Sharp Edge. If you stop there, Tenpenny is close, and worth the stop. Both are still walking distance (20 min) to game.

I have to apologize to Keener and Co. who tried my recommendation. Even though I linked to the Sharp Edge on Penn, I should have made it very clear that there are multiple Sharp Edges. Sorry guys. I had lunch there before the game.

The Beer Market next to PNC is a fun place as well. BYO-Food Sienna Mercato downtown is a new, awesome place. Next to Dr. Z's recommendation of Tenpenny.

Thanks Zippy5 for both recommendations. My group attended both on Saturday. We got to Sienna Mercato around 7 pm. Big mistake. 2 hour wait for a table. Place was shoulder to shoulder. We went to the rooftop and had a few and got appetizers. We are going back in January after a Pens game. Beer Market had AWESOME beer selection.

[zippy5]

I have to apologize to Keener and Co. who tried my recommendation. Even though I linked to the Sharp Edge on Penn, I should have made it very clear that there are multiple Sharp Edges. Sorry guys. I had lunch there before the game.

Thanks Zippy5 for both recommendations. My group attended both on Saturday. We got to Sienna Mercato around 7 pm. Big mistake. 2 hour wait for a table. Place was shoulder to shoulder. We went to the rooftop and had a few and got appetizers. We are going back in January after a Pens game. Beer Market had AWESOME beer selection.

Sorry, I should have warned, it's a popular place. Perfect day for the rooftop though. Awesome view up there.. The food menu upstairs is a bit eccentric but hopefully you found something you liked. Yeah any beer lover would love the Beer Market. We usually grab a beer there before pirates games.. I'll probably be back Wednesday before the wild card game.

Let me know how Sienna Mercato is during the winter, if you wouldn't mind. Curious if the rooftop stays open or not.

[johnnyzip84]

I finally have a chance to throw some comments in regarding the game. This is rehashing for some of you, but I grew up in greater Pittsburgh and, in fact, it was through listening to (and attending a few) Pitt games during their mid-‘70s ascendance that I began my life-long affinity for college football. So a Zip victory over Pitt has always been a dream for me. Consequently, I couldn’t have been happier leaving Heinz Field on Saturday with DZ84 and several other Lot 9’ers in attendance. Thank you to the coaches and players for a game I’ll never forget.

Now for some random thoughts:

1. It sure made up for that 35-0 shellacking in the rain over there in the LO regime during Pitt Stadium’s last season.
2. I’ve defended JC7 numerous times (and I still give him credit for playing when the staff preferred he let the ankle get stronger), but it’s hard to see CH34 not getting as much PT as he can handle from here on out.
3. The fumble recovery (was it Isaiah Williams or Tyrell Goodman?) was HUGE. That could have easily turned the game around.
4. I agree with Dr Z on Pitt wasting Boyd’s talent. I disagree on Conner, though. I think the Zip defense simply swarmed him, for the most part, because they didn’t fear Vojtek. From my end zone angle, I don’t recall too many big holes for him. That could have all changed had Pitt simply dumped the ball to Boyd in space a few more times. The one BIG mistake Boyd made was fielding that TREMENDOUS boot from Paul in the 4^th quarter. He gave up 15 yards of field position on that one.
5. The one side advantage of making Conner work so hard to yards was he wasn’t available (apparently) for spot duty as DE on 3^rd down.
6. It sure seemed like the 500 or so Zip fans there were making a decent amount of noise on Pitt 3^rd downs. I wonder if anyone listening can comment as to whether the Zip fans were audible over the radio (or whether Frenchy or Joe took note).
7. As MTB1’s confidence grows, I look for him to have a fantastic MAC season. If the inside running game keeps progressing, those 1-on-1 opportunities should present themselves even more. Nice job by KP16 to recognize it and make the throw.
8. Kudos to the O-line for playing a remarkable game without Brumbaugh once again. I give special credit to KP16 and TW67 for having absolutely NO issues when KP16 was under center. Making a change like that partly through the season can sometimes cause problems, but they obviously worked on it enough in practice.
9. I’ll say this about Nick Rossi once again. Nobody gives more than that guy, and now he’s playing some DE – in fact he played a LOT of DE on Saturday.

Go Zips!!! Can’t wait for Saturday!