Game #3 Marshall Thundering Herd

[LZIp]

Pretty disappointed. Game was very reminiscent of the OU game last year.

Let's give credit to Marshall though (something nobody seems to be doing). They are a damn good mid-major team.Probably the best in the country at our level. I expect either an undefeated/1 loss season from them. Granted a very easy schedule. Interesting that they avoided playing a power 5 conference team.

I just expected more from the team. Maybe they aren't as far along as we thought. Two weeks to prepare. Complete blah mood. Left before the half I was so disappointed.

In other news, Pitt lost to Iowa today. Definitely a game we can get next week, but tall order nonetheless.

[Big Zip]

Maybe this team can't be turned around. Maybe it is just that simple. Every year I am excited for football....every freaking year and outside of one year (which was so much fun) I am disappointed.

[LZIp]

Maybe this team can't be turned around. Maybe it is just that simple. Every year I am excited for football....every freaking year and outside of one year (which was so much fun) I am disappointed.

Still 3/4ths of a football season left.

[Buckzip]

And the entire conference season to go.

[Big Zip]

Glad to hear you're still positive and MAC Title is all you want. You are a perfect Akron fan that is all they are ever concerned with too. I was hoping we would get a marquee win someday but that appears to only be for other MAC teams.

[LZIp]

Or people are looking at it from a rational point of view and realize that you don't go from the worst team in D1 football to marquee wins over night. Building a program takes time, believe it or not. I want more than just the MAC. Im sure we all do, but you have to start somewhere and build off of it.

[Buckzip]

Glad to hear you're still positive and MAC Title is all you want. You are a perfect Akron fan that is all they are ever concerned with too. I was hoping we would get a marquee win someday but that appears to only be for other MAC teams.

I believe in one step at a time. You don't go from perennial sucktitude to marquee wins in 1-2 seasons. I am not happy only winning the Mac. But we have a large talent gap. Winning the conference and making a bowl appearance will do wonders for recruiting. Good recruits will help you become a better team. A better team will help you recruit more talent. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I get your point. But we are only a couple years removed from the worst coach in CFB history.

[Zip_ME87]

Or people are looking at it from a rational point of view and realize that you don't go from the worst team in D1 football to marquee wins over night. Building a program takes time, believe it or not. I want more than just the MAC. Im sure we all do, but you have to start somewhere and build off of it.

+1

Lose big, lose small, win small, win the MAC, win big.

[Balsy]

Maybe this team can't be turned around. Maybe it is just that simple. Every year I am excited for football....every freaking year and outside of one year (which was so much fun) I am disappointed.

Reality check: This team finished 1-11 just two seasons ago to finish a 3-33 run over three years.

I always dreamed we could be like UCF....a perennial loser who suddenly (almost over night) turns into a winner. But that's a dream for a reason...because it's not going to happen. We've got to look for improvement every season in the W department, and so far we've seen than.

Also another Reality Check: Did any of us really think we were going to win this game? I know I was excited about our chances and predicted an akron win (I always predict an akron win), but in all reality I didn't think we were going to win. I follow coach's advice: Take the schedule and circle all the games you expect that you should win. Though I wish the Zips would prove me wrong by beating a Michigan, a Penn State, an Undefeated Marshall (etc)...I look at my list now and see Marshall wasn't circled, neither was Penn State or Pitt. I thought the Zips stood a chance of proving me wrong in all three of those games, but I didn't expect a Win.

This team still has a 7-5 season in it, we need to learn from this experience. How many of us though the Zips would win 4 more games after getting annihilated by a not-really-that-good Bobkitten team?

I hate losing as much as anyone. I am absolutely sick about it. But I slept on it, and had to reality check myself. Rally the troops, and go beat Pitt.

[GP1]

Article on turnovers.

The above article was written about nfl turnovers. Not sure how close the similarities are between the nfl stats and ncaa stats, but my bet is they are pretty close. The major mistake he makes in the article is attributing turnovers to chance or luck. Turnovers happen because of hustle and concentration. There are few accidents in football.

Re-watching this game again isn't going to provide some great clue as to what the coaches did or did not do right. It wouldn't have mattered if they stood on their heads and signaled the plays in through mental telepathy, -3 in turnover margin = almost guaranteed loss.

The Zips were +4 turnover margin going into yesterdays game. They are still +1 on the season after yesterdays game. If the Zips can maintain a +1 turnover margin for each of the three quarters of the season remaining, they can win the MAC East.

Lastly, "The most dangerous team is a team with confidence and momentum". - Bill Cowher...... When you have as many turnovers as the Zips did yesterday, you are never going to capture either. Turnovers doomed the Zips to a horrible afternoon. Yesterday was really a lesson on how quickly a game can spiral out of control and why they spiral out of control. Turnovers equal easy points. Easy points puts pressure on teams to respond to those points in ways that forces a team out of their game plan. Once you are out of your game plan, you have huge problems.

The good news? The Zips are still a team that has forced more turnovers than give up. When they stay within their game plan, they are an effective team and in the top third of MAC schools. Bowden is still a good coach and one bad day doesn't make someone a bad coach Browns fans. They still have some really good players who just happened to have a horrible day yesterday. The MAC is not a good league. Pitt is a beatable team, but early season upsets are more difficult as teams close out the OOC schedule.

I didn't think the Zips would win yesterday and I didn't expect them to be any better than 1-2 at this point in the season (I don't expect them to be any better than 1-3 after next week either). I did expect them to play better. I still expect them to win 6-7 games. Yesterday is over.

[Balsy]

I'm surprised no one has brought this up yet: Jawon Chisholm didn't appear at all yesterday. Not one play. WTF?

I know he's been playing horribly...but he used to make a huge play every once and a awhile. What happened?

[Blue & Gold]

I'm surprised no one has brought this up yet: Jawon Chisholm didn't appear at all yesterday. Not one play. WTF?

I know he's been playing horribly...but he used to make a huge play every once and a awhile. What happened?

He was out yesterday with a high-ankle sprain.

[Zipsrifle]

Reality check: This team finished 1-11 just two seasons ago to finish a 3-33 run over three years.

I always dreamed we could be like UCF....a perennial loser who suddenly (almost over night) turns into a winner. But that's a dream for a reason...because it's not going to happen. We've got to look for improvement every season in the W department, and so far we've seen than.

Also another Reality Check: Did any of us really think we were going to win this game? I know I was excited about our chances and predicted an akron win (I always predict an akron win), but in all reality I didn't think we were going to win. I follow coach's advice: Take the schedule and circle all the games you expect that you should win. Though I wish the Zips would prove me wrong by beating a Michigan, a Penn State, an Undefeated Marshall (etc)...I look at my list now and see Marshall wasn't circled, neither was Penn State or Pitt. I thought the Zips stood a chance of proving me wrong in all three of those games, but I didn't expect a Win.

This team still has a 7-5 season in it, we need to learn from this experience. How many of us though the Zips would win 4 more games after getting annihilated by a not-really-that-good Bobkitten team?

I hate losing as much as anyone. I am absolutely sick about it. But I slept on it, and had to reality check myself. Rally the troops, and go beat Pitt.

My feelings exactly. A year ago at this time we were right on track for our fourth 1-11 season. Somehow we recovered at the end of the year and had a surprising win against UT. Lots of fooball to go, I've got my eye on that BG game! I hope there is a TON riding on that game!

[LZIp]

Last comment on this game. Thanks for bringing up the turnovers GP1. Lawrence shouldn't see the field again this season if he can't hold on to the ball. His fumbles were killer. Jones didn't impress me much. I have zero issue with playing Hundley all the time. The big play won't be there, but I'd rather take an almost guaranteed 3-4 yards than a -4 yard loss of turnover.

Also, we need March back. While we have good depth at LB, he is a key player on our team and probably the best pass coverage LB.

[Balsy]

He was out yesterday with a high-ankle sprain.

Thanks for letting me know I had no idea. Hope he gets better soon, we could use him in the backfield.

[GP1]

Lawrence shouldn't see the field again this season if he can't hold on to the ball.

He has to see the field again in order to determine if this was a one time event or a chronic problem. I'm willing to look at it as I look at the entire disaster from yesterday, a one time event. Lawrence needs to prove me right.

[Hilltopper]

Yesterday we didn't have March, Brumbaugh, Hundley or Chisholm. None of them played a down due to injury. We don't have enough depth yet to overcome the loss of so many starters. It was a game of opposites, Marshall played as good as they possibly could and the Zips played as bad as they possibly could. If I was TB, I wouldn't even look at the tape of this game.

[Balsy]

Yesterday we didn't have March, Brumbaugh, Hundley or Chisholm.

Now I don't feel so bad. I'm worried about these guys getting better, if this is how bad we play. But without Chisholm or Hundley, we become MORE one-dimensional than we were before.

March is the General of our defense. I don't think if we have all of these guys the result would change, however I do believe it would not be as much of a beat down as it was.

[Dr Z]

Better betting trend: Marshall is 1-9 ATS as road favorites under Doc Holliday.

2-9

[Dr Z]

My source tells me the offense has been practicing a lot of 0 backfield blocking schemes. Read into that what ever you want.

No 0x personnel packages yesterday, both teams run 10 almost exclusively.

[Big Zip]

All of a sudden everyone is back to reality after just a week ago bitching about coverage in local newspapers butchering the guys who write but aren't given the ability to cover Akron like they are OSU. Now you all understand why they don't get the coverage but a week ago you didn't. Anyone see the PD this week? Guess what kind of coverage we got after this stinker? John Carroll above the fold in Sports with a OSU article on the side. Winning is how you get coverage not the other way around....oh yeah and no where in that plan did it say year 3 get your head kicked in by a decent team. My glasses aren't as rosé colored as everyone else's after yesterday.

[ohiofan1954]

don't worry zip fans, you have a 3 game with eastern, Miami and Ohio coming up. Those are all wins. After the last two games everyone knows the only thing you have to do to score on Ohio is throw deep against bass. It will get you 3 touchdowns at least a game.

[Balsy]

don't worry zip fans, you have a 3 game with eastern, Miami and Ohio coming up. Those are all wins. After the last two games everyone knows the only thing you have to do to score on Ohio is throw deep against bass. It will get you 3 touchdowns at least a game.

Thanks for dropping by For some reason, no one in the MAC could stop the TURD this year.

All of a sudden everyone is back to reality after just a week ago bitching about coverage in local newspapers butchering the guys who write but aren't given the ability to cover Akron like they are OSU. Now you all understand why they don't get the coverage but a week ago you didn't. Anyone see the PD this week? Guess what kind of coverage we got after this stinker? John Carroll above the fold in Sports with a OSU article on the side. Winning is how you get coverage not the other way around....oh yeah and no where in that plan did it say year 3 get your head kicked in by a decent team. My glasses aren't as rosé colored as everyone else's after yesterday.

I'm still going to bitch about coverage in local newspapers, because they're coverage is absolutely terrible.

[Hilltopper]

No 0x personnel packages yesterday, both teams run 10 almost exclusively.

I saw a couple, but overall you are right.

[johnnyzip84]

Here are some random thoughts after giving myself the "sleep on it before posting" rule:

1. The analogy to last year's OU game seems accurate to me. Let's just hope this is the bottom for 2014.
2. That's the last time I put any credence into these NCAA football injury report web sites. Not only were Chisholm, Brumbaugh, Hundley, and March out, but so were Goodman (out since Howard) and Bullard (and perhaps 1 or 2 more).
3. The most disheartening part of the game for me was the complete inability to stop the run. The Herd had 284 yards rushing on 38 attempts for a 7.5 YPC average AFTER your DC says his focus will be to stop the run. I was worried about being able to stop Pitt's power running game, based on the Zips smaller DL, but I did not expect this against MU. I think part of it, per my eyes, is the Herd is a much better ALL-AROUND football team than I thought going into yesterday. MU > PSU if you ask me. Cato is pretty good, but I think the rest of the team is as well. I don't think they'll be much worse next year (post-Cato), unless Doc Holliday takes his practice to Morgantown,
4. Zip WRs had a tough time getting much separation against PSU - many catches were the result of a ball thrown into a tight space. Zip WRs had an even MORE difficult time getting separation against MU. Pitt and most of the MAC do not appear to have strong secondaries at this point. Hopefully that will make all the difference - otherwise every game could be a struggle.
5. We still seem to be a little conservative in game planning, particularly against a "solid favorite". I'd like to see a few more blitzes early in the game, because we have had success hurrying poor throws in the 2nd half of the last two games.
6. I was glad to see Woodson get some time, because we've been in situations in year's past where we didn't have an adequately experienced backup QB. I thought he looked decent against the MU 2nd team.
7. My understanding is a couple of the injured, March being one of them, might have been able to play if the game had been critical (say, for MAC East crown).
8. EMU still looks like a win to me, but all other games are in play from my perspective after the 1st three games.