Hats off to the defense

[Captain Kangaroo]

Bowden is a great coach, and he's taking the long road with us to turn us into something great. Enjoy the ride everyone.

Yippe.

[GP1]

About this whole Bowden Ball thing: I don't know what that is. What I thought it was it obviously is not.

What you thought it was is exactly what it is. We aren't getting what it is because we don't have a QB on the current roster to give us Bowden Ball. So, we have to settle for plain old boring winning with Pohl or exciting losing with Woodson. Seems to be a tough spot for Bowden. Doesn't see to be that tough of a spot to me.

[GP1]

Yippe.

Almost 30 years of abuse hasn't been enough? 4-2 starts with a chance to have 8-9 wins means nothing if you can have 7 wins three years from now. Have you learned noting about the "building process"?

[Zips Win!]

Almost 30 years of abuse hasn't been enough? 4-2 starts with a chance to have 8-9 wins means nothing if you can have 7 wins three years from now. Have you learned noting about the "building process"?

I was about to post the same thing.

After 30 years of nothing, we are 4-2, going to be favored in 5 of our last 6 and we shit the bed twice.

Had a chance for 9 or 10 wins and a bowl- now look for 6-6....

It does't matter if we have Faust or Owens or Brookhart or Bowden...That elusive 9 or 10 win season may never be had..And this is with a pretty darn good defense and a schedule set-up for winning....NOW.

If someone where to post a poll on this board asking what the football program should look like in 10 years- and one option is to shut her down. That is what I would vote for after what has transpired over the last two weeks.

Just plain tired of the losing.

[GP1]

Just plain tired of the losing.

I've had just about enough as well. In all seriousness, I'm just about at the point of tuning out permanently. I really can't take much more of the utter stupidity that goes on around this football program.

Sometimes I feel like I'm in one of those psychological studies where you put a test subject in a room with 6 other people and the 6 other people are actors. The actors start to act like they smell smoke when there is none and over the course of time, the test subject will claim to smell smoke as well. A small percent of people never claim to smell smoke. I would be in the small percentage because I would tell the rest of the room they were full of crap and insane. Bowden is trying to tell us something right now that is just not true and I've had enough of that as well.

In the next coming weeks, I'm going to make a personal decision as to whether or not this football program is worth another second of discussion or even wasting time watching a second on another game. I sure as shit never going to spend a couple of thousand dollars flying and staying the weekend in Akron with Mrs. GP1 to go to a game in Akron again. I've really just about had it. I'm not even angry at this point. I'm just about defeated.

[K92]

I'm just about defeated.

As we were driving back from Muncie, I told my wife "I'm Zipped out". These 2 bad losses really took it out of me. I had planned on going to all 12 games this year, but Buffalo is officially scratched now.

[Balsy]

Wow. I'm shocked how unbelievable you guys are being right now. Are we really this delusional to think we could have had a 10 win year this season?

Folks, reality check. I know I caught myself a couple of times starring at the schedule saying "what if..." or "we can do it..."

But back to reality: This program has NEVER had even an 8-win season IN ITS HISTORY OF D-I FOOTBALL. That's the place to start. You don't go from 3-33, to 10-2. Yeah, I wish we could. I've was angry on Saturday after losing to Ball St saying to myself "why can't we be the team that goes from Zero to Hero in one year...why can't that be us for once?"

But then hearing all the doom-and-gloom from you guys has snapped me back to reality. I know I haven't suffered as long as you guys have, but My first year of supporting the Zips was the year Infocision opened and Brookheart was fired (aka the dark ages). It's a miracle I'm a Zips Football fan at all.

Many of us didn't even expect a 7-5 season this year, why on earth are we complaining about not going 10-2? Were we really that spoiled with the Pitt win? We lack Depth at many skill positions. We lack the athletes to execute on offense. This is a great season, it's not time to give up. We can still win 8 games. We can still win 7 games (and frankly should). If we were 7-5 at the end of the year, would you really be that upset?

Go back to that number I mentioned before: 8. Akron hasn't had an 8 win season in over three decades of football. Checking the numbers, the last time we had a season where we won 8 or more games was in 1985 folks, when Jim Dennison was the coach; 4 years before I was born!

Do you guys seriously think we're going to go from 28 years of less than 8-wins a year, and barely 2 seasons removed from 3-33, to winning 10 games a season? Really? So much so that you're going to doom-and-gloom/run and conspiracy-theory Bowden. Who would you rather have here? You have to be joking. Many of the comments being made now are absolutely ridiculous.

If the Zips win 7 games, I will consider that a success. That what I said at the begining of the year, and I will hold to it. 3/4 is within reach.

Should we be happy? No. Should we be angry over losing 2 games we could have won? Yes. Should we accept mediocrity? No. But we can't throw Bowden under the bus in year 3after 2 games. What an absolute joke. No wonder Akron has had mediocrity in the past, what kind of "big name" coach would commit to turning this awful program around.

We're throwing around the "building process" as a negative thing. Yes it can be, but just how in the hell did you think we were going to turn around a 3-33 team? IT IS A BUILDING PROCESS FOR PETE SAKE!

Sorry about the rant, but I'm really disappointed in some of you old-timers on this forum.

[K92]

Bowden said, even as far as interviews this year, that last year they realized that it was defense that was going to win games for them.

Except it doesn't. See last two games. Ohio & Ball State ain't exactly Oregon & Baylor.

[Buckzip]

It's amazing that some are talking about jumping off the bandwagon. Talk about fair weather fans.

I get it that this team has sucked forever. However, we are certainly making progress. It may not be fast enough, but seeing where we came from, progress is progress.

The thing that is amazing to me is that some that are jumping off are the same ones that criticize others for not supporting this team through the years and complaining about attendance. Sooooo, the true fans, those of us on this board, are giving up, how in the hell do you expect the Akron community to get on board if the loyal fans are leaving?

The Browns have sucked forever and they still sell out games. True fans are fans whether you win or lose.

[Buckzip]

Blaming the defense for this loss is simply unfair. They were put in horrible positions by the offense all day and held for the most part.

[zippy5]

This is still the best season we've had in 9 years, so far. If you made it through the Ianello years, why jump now?

[Aaron]

My current frustration is not that the Zips are losing, but rather the new ways they are finding to lose.

At the beginning of the season, if you were to tell me that the Zips would struggle as a road team, and only win two on the road all season, but only lose one at home, I would be happy. That's 7-5!

If you were to tell me that the Zips started to turn the corner, but will have a mid-season slump, losing against teams with crappy records, I would have been as upset at the beginning of the season as I am now. I have come to expect a more consistent effort from Bowden and Amato.

Buckzip, I don't think the title of this thread is intended as sarcasm. Our defense is FANTASTIC - giving their all every game, not making many mistakes, and I couldn't be happier with their level of play right now. This is one of the best Zips' defenses that I can remember.

Our offense and offensive coaching on the other hand is making me sick to my stomach with all the turnovers, inconsistent play, limited play-calling, and puzzling personnel decisions.

It is easy to think that I know better than the coach - if our winningest QB in years is healthy enough to play, he should play right? If he can't play, we know that his backup is turnover prone, so we should be running the ball more and more short passes right? Connor Hundley ran roughshod over a P5 school - he can handle the MAC right?

We as fans get justifiably upset when we believe the coach has problems, and Ianello has made most of us twice-shy when dealing with coaching incompetence. The next 10 days, I just keep repeating to myself 'Bowden is not Ianello' and hope and pray for a convincing win over BG. This one game puts us in 1st place in the MAC east, and in charge of our own destiny for winning the division.

This would be much easier to take if Bowden gave convincing explanations about Woodson, Pohl, and run vs pass playcalling.

[Dr Z]

Blaming the defense for this loss is simply unfair.

But evaluating their play is not. The D was far from perfect Saturday. They allowed 380 yards on a well balanced attack. The BSU offense line won a lot of battles on early downs. Ball State's offensive coordinator kept their young quarterback in winnable down and distance situations most of the afternoon. Jahwan Edwards was the real deal, and the most effective I have seen a running back against our defense. I'm sure coach Amato's game plan was focused on stopping him and putting a young QB in tough situations. We did not stop him enough. The QB could have called off-tackle right at the line, and Edwards was going to get five yards most of the time...except for the hit CJ put on him, that was awesome. Anyone have video of that hit? I can't explain why our defense can't cover a back catching the ball out of the backfield. Way too many first downs given up on that on play Saturday. I think BSU did a good job taking advantage of Cody's aggressive play on run downs. Best I have seen him blocked. He seemed to draw a lot of attention. Good game plan by them. When our defense was able to get them in third an obvious passing downs, we brought the pressure and disrupted their QB. Difference was he didn't make any big mistakes...well one, but we couldn't seem to take advantage of that either. Our D has done a great job this year of creating turnovers, but that didn't take place Saturday either.

[Jrship35]

SMH ................... Fickle we are !!

Victory is an addicting drug !!! Let the process run it's course folks .

A five year plan is exactly that ................ A five year plan. Consistent progress is being shown, the last two weeks have been a let down, but that is part of rebuilding.

[K92]

It's amazing that some are talking about jumping off the bandwagon. Talk about fair weather fans.

I get it that this team has sucked forever. However, we are certainly making progress. It may not be fast enough, but seeing where we came from, progress is progress.

The thing that is amazing to me is that some that are jumping off are the same ones that criticize others for not supporting this team through the years and complaining about attendance. Sooooo, the true fans, those of us on this board, are giving up, how in the hell do you expect the Akron community to get on board if the loyal fans are leaving?

The Browns have sucked forever and they still sell out games. True fans are fans whether you win or lose.

I was never on any bandwagon and I'm not jumping anywhere. I will attend 11 of 12 games this year. I'm just not going to make the trip to Buffalo.

[K92]

Blaming the defense for this loss is simply unfair. They were put in horrible positions by the offense all day and held for the most part.

I don't know if you are talking to me or not, but I am not blaming the defense for this loss. I just understand that in college football it is completely unrealistic to think your defense is going to win games for you. If the defense could do that, we'd be 6-2 right now. The best way the offense can help the defense is by scoring points, not by milking clock and playing not to lose.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Wow. I'm shocked how unbelievable you guys are being right now. Are we really this delusional to think we could have had a 10 win year this season?

Folks, reality check. I know I caught myself a couple of times starring at the schedule saying "what if..." or "we can do it..."

But back to reality: This program has NEVER had even an 8-win season IN ITS HISTORY OF D-I FOOTBALL. That's the place to start. You don't go from 3-33, to 10-2. Yeah, I wish we could. I've was angry on Saturday after losing to Ball St saying to myself "why can't we be the team that goes from Zero to Hero in one year...why can't that be us for once?"

But then hearing all the doom-and-gloom from you guys has snapped me back to reality. I know I haven't suffered as long as you guys have, but My first year of supporting the Zips was the year Infocision opened and Brookheart was fired (aka the dark ages). It's a miracle I'm a Zips Football fan at all.

Many of us didn't even expect a 7-5 season this year, why on earth are we complaining about not going 10-2? Were we really that spoiled with the Pitt win? We lack Depth at many skill positions. We lack the athletes to execute on offense. This is a great season, it's not time to give up. We can still win 8 games. We can still win 7 games (and frankly should). If we were 7-5 at the end of the year, would you really be that upset?

Go back to that number I mentioned before: 8. Akron hasn't had an 8 win season in over three decades of football. Checking the numbers, the last time we had a season where we won 8 or more games was in 1985 folks, when Jim Dennison was the coach; 4 years before I was born!

Do you guys seriously think we're going to go from 28 years of less than 8-wins a year, and barely 2 seasons removed from 3-33, to winning 10 games a season? Really? So much so that you're going to doom-and-gloom/run and conspiracy-theory Bowden. Who would you rather have here? You have to be joking. Many of the comments being made now are absolutely ridiculous.

If the Zips win 7 games, I will consider that a success. That what I said at the begining of the year, and I will hold to it. 3/4 is within reach.

Should we be happy? No. Should we be angry over losing 2 games we could have won? Yes. Should we accept mediocrity? No. But we can't throw Bowden under the bus in year 3after 2 games. What an absolute joke. No wonder Akron has had mediocrity in the past, what kind of "big name" coach would commit to turning this awful program around.

We're throwing around the "building process" as a negative thing. Yes it can be, but just how in the hell did you think we were going to turn around a 3-33 team? IT IS A BUILDING PROCESS FOR PETE SAKE!

Sorry about the rant, but I'm really disappointed in some of you old-timers on this forum.

You type too much.

[K92]

I have been concerned with the offense for the last 20 games not just the last 2. I am extremely pissed right now because a golden opportunity just slipped through the Zips fingers. The team should be 6-2. Period. I just can't believe that it is on the kids that the offense can't perform like they should. I don't want to believe it. I think if the coaching staff stopped pulling back on the reins we could consistently score over 30 a game. Perhaps GP1 is correct and that's what the staff wants to do but they don't have a QB to run "Bowden Ball". But again, I don't want to believe that. The staff watched Kyle Pohl in practice through 11 games in 2012 before the handed the team to him after the first series in Toledo. If the staff had their reservations about Kyle's ability or that the offense would have to be dumbed down for him and still took Dalton out of the game. . .Well that's unconscionable to me. First of all because that was a winnable game and second of all that kept Dalton's name off the top of the heap for single season passing yards. (Yes, I love Dalton Williams.) Again, I don't want to believe that scenario is true.

What I do believe, and I have no solid proof of this, is that we have fallen victim to the old "Defense Wins Championships" bullshit. Three yards and a cloud of dust is out the window. Back when teams lined up against each other and decided who could kick whose ass in tight formations, defense could win you the game. Not now. Offenses are way too sophisticated and they can not be shut down very often unless it's a total mismatch.

In today's game, your defense needs to be good enough to get off the field so the offense can score again. Akron's defense is good enough to do this multiple times a game. You can have a good defense and still give up 30 points these days. Scoring is the name of the game. We are fooling ourselves if we think we can leave it in the hands of the defense, but it seems like that is what the staff is content to do.

Another thing. Just because guys are getting on here and blowing off steam doesn't mean they are fair weather fans. Losing sucks. Show me someone who thinks losing is acceptable and I will show you a loser. It ain't all sunshine and lollipops after 2 bitter losses for me. Wish it were so. It's also not an unforgivable sin to question the coaching staff. I realize local media gives our coaches a free pass on everything, but if the Zips were in a power conference the talking heads would be all over the implosion of the last 2 weeks. It's not a bad thing to question the coaching decisions. That's what happens in big-boy athletics.

No one here is calling for Bowden's head other than one tongue-in-cheek reference. Why is it that we turn on each other so much? there aren't enough of us to be at each other's throats all the time. I am sorry if I pissed anyone off. Just trying to get some points across.

[Balsy]

You type too much.

It was a necessary rant. We'll all feel pretty stupid when the Zips cream BGSU.

[GP1]

You don't go from 3-33, to 10-2.

IT IS A BUILDING PROCESS FOR PETE SAKE!

Why not? Would it have been too much to have gone from 5-7 with a QB that had won 8 of his last 11 games to 10-2?

With six games to go, Zips fans should have expected a 9 win season minimum. A win over BG would have given 10.

The funny thing about the "building process" I have had to listen to about for almost 30 years now is that those who believe in it use it as a way to excuse away failure or not reaching your full potential....that, somehow, we shouldn't expect much because it is a process that provides slow improvement that will lead to great things down the road somewhere, but not in the current season of course because things have been so bad for so long that is too much to ask. We were on our way to a great season this year...not three years from now, but THIS YEAR!

Akron was in the midst of what I like to call a "winning process" six games in. The had a QB that the team had won 8 of 11 games around, they limited turnovers, they had a good defense, they had some good running days, they blocked, they tackled, they were OK at catching passes and in general showed they knew how to play football. The "building process" is about ideas that may or may never happen. The "winning process" is about executing in a way that makes you better than the other team today. That's the difference. It's about competition, not plans and any other pile of horse poop the "building process" people want us to believe.

[Buckzip]

Aaron,

The title of the thread was certainly not sarcasm. I thought they played very well and have for most of the season.

People look at points given up without realizing how the points were scored. The defense was given crap field position because of an inept offense and turnovers. The defense held most of that to FG's.

I am not saying the defense is 1985 Chicago Bears, but anyone that can't see the massive improvement is not watching closely.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I have been concerned with the offense for the last 20 games not just the last 2. I am extremely pissed right now because a golden opportunity just slipped through the Zips fingers. ....

Another thing. Just because guys are getting on here and blowing off steam doesn't mean they are fair weather fans. Losing sucks. Show me someone who thinks losing is acceptable and I will show you a loser. It ain't all sunshine and lollipops after 2 bitter losses for me. Wish it were so. It's also not an unforgivable sin to question the coaching staff. I realize local media gives our coaches a free pass on everything, but if the Zips were in a power conference the talking heads would be all over the implosion of the last 2 weeks. It's not a bad thing to question the coaching decisions. That's what happens in big-boy athletics.

Keener - you need to listen to Dave in Green's advice on following college athletics.

[Dave in Green]

Keener - you need to listen to Dave in Green's advice on following college athletics.

It's great advice to find something else to do if what you're doing is making you miserable. Sometimes stepping away from something for even a day or two can help reset the panic button.

Let me try to help everyone bogged down in the misguided theory that Coach Bowden is looking for any reason not to play KP the rest of the season. I'm confident that the theory I've had all along about the QB situation will prove to be correct. I believe that KP may have received medical clearance just prior to the OU game but was held out due to coaching concerns over the lingering effects of a head injury and lack of practice. I think there were continuing concerns from the coaching staff about KP's performance in practice that kept him out of the BSU game. I believe that KP will return to action as soon as he completes a solid week of practice where the coaching staff believes he's back to 100% of what he showed prior to the head injury.

[ZippyRulz]

If that's the case then Hirschman should have gone in when Woodson went into meltdown mode. I don't think anyone's demanding a championship this year, but at least try to win. That's what you're being paid a lot of money to do.

[Jrship35]

If that's the case then Hirschman should have gone in when Woodson went into meltdown mode. I don't think anyone's demanding a championship this year, but at least try to win. That's what you're being paid a lot of money to do.

Thank You ....... +1