Game 4—Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns

[Lee Adams]

I said after last week that if they could go to La and win I would start to 'believe'. For what its worth I now have hope. They still have a lot to cleanup. Too many 'empty' plays,too many penalties. Woodson is still raw but he gives them the running threat from the QB that should help him improve in the passing game. One would think these last two weeks should build his confidence in running the offense. It looks like they have finally figured out that Hundley can be as much of a threat out of the backfield as he can be running the ball. He dropped weight and is obviously much quicker.

As long as the coaches allow Woodson to play within himself and not put him in situations he is not ready for they can continue to put up enough points to be competitive. Its funny that Bowden pulled the plug so quickly on Woodson last season and had him buried on the depth chart this season behind Chapman and Pohl. Necessity is the mother of (fill in the blank).

OU is an entirely different animal this week. Have a feeling the points will be harder to come by. More plays on offense will have to be 'positive' and the penalties will have to be near zero.

This week could be a statement game for this team in the MAC.

[Balsy]

We'll forgive you Keener ? I want to apologize too for being, abrasive, sometimes. But oi hearts are all in the right place. We want the Zips to win. Period. Hopefully they can keep some momentum going so we don't have to go at this again ?

[Buckzip]

We are so desperate for a QB that we are excited over a QB that connected on less than 50% of his passes. Yes, I am happy also. Just pointing out how bad the QB play has been the last couple of years.

Hopefully with some confidence and experience Woodson will keep improving.

[ZippyRulz]

His complete stats can be found here:

Dude ran a good bit

http://www.ncaa.com/game/football/fbs/2015/09/26/akron-la-lafayette/boxscore

Incidentally, it was good to see KP16 was healthy.

[UAZipster0305]

Overall, one of my favorite experiences as a Zips football fan happened last night (Pitt last year too). Great stadium and atmosphere against a good opponent and we were ready to play; you could see the energy in the players. The only glaring areas for improvement was more discipline in cleaning up the penalties and more consistency with makeable FG's.

Great effort from Hundley and the defense in particular. I didn't even recognize this offense (thankfully). Great 4th down stop on the goal line. IMO, that was the play of the game.

If we continue to play like that the rest of the way, I see at least 7-5 on the horizon.

I was still upset about the Pitt game, but not any more. I just hope we add them to future schedules. The opportunities for fan travel and recruiting advantage make an ongoing series worthwhile. I think moving forward it could be very competitive as well.

[UAZipster0305]

We are so desperate for a QB that we are excited over a QB that connected on less than 50% of his passes. Yes, I am happy also. Just pointing out how bad the QB play has been the last couple of years.

Hopefully with some confidence and experience Woodson will keep improving.

Buckzip, yes, the passing percentage wasn't great, but we had a fully functioning offense for the first time in forever. I'll take that; especially considering a lot of those misses were long balls that helped stretch the defense thus opening up the run. We hit on a few of those deep balls too. If that's what <50% looks like, I'll take it the rest of the season.

[LoyalZIP]

We are so desperate for a QB that we are excited over a QB that connected on less than 50% of his passes. Yes, I am happy also. Just pointing out how bad the QB play has been the last couple of years.

Hopefully with some confidence and experience Woodson will keep improving.

You must not have watched the game

[LZIp]

We are so desperate for a QB that we are excited over a QB that connected on less than 50% of his passes. Yes, I am happy also. Just pointing out how bad the QB play has been the last couple of years.

Hopefully with some confidence and experience Woodson will keep improving.

I noticed that too, but from watching the game, many of the incompletions were catchable balls. I don't remember very many bad throws. Even his interception was a result of it bouncing off of a WRs hands. Speaking of the WRs, I was encouraged by their ability to get open so much last night. I would still like them to show the ability to make anything other than any easy catch. Wolfe did have a few nice grabs if my memory is correct. I like Means and Davis in the screen game as well. I think the group is improving and will hopefully continue to improve.

[Jrship35]

the statement Woodson made about being number 3 thru spring camp and the first three weeks of the season and spending minimal time with the first team receivers gives even more hope (IMO) ...... With another full week of work with the number one WR's, timing should be even

Better. And if the WR's can make the catches on those 4-6 straight up drops and tipped INT, things will continue to build.

Great win, confidence boosted, still work to be done !!! Nice job Zips !!

[a-zip]

Holy mobile quarterback!!! Very impressed with TW last night. One thing in particular I liked is the ball was passed all over the field, not just those stupid long throws to the sideline. He recognized blitzes and threw some nice touch throws, throws to the back shoulder and on target slants. Oh yea, one of the best QB running games by a Zip in a while. He seems to have a "gunslinger" mentality....which I like. To me that means he will throw some silly INTS but also make some spectacular plays......I WILL GLADLY LIVE WITH IT. Much more fun to watch, a hell of a lot harder to defend AND give our beast defense a break. Oh BTW - I like the all white uniforms, the white helmet with glowing gold Z looks cool (sorry A-Roo fans).

Now would be a really nice opportunity for the ABJ to write about and PUBLICIZE this win and try to generate some excitement for homecoming against OHIO

[LZIp]

http://www.ohio.com/

articles on the front page about the marshall/Can&#39;t game and the firestone/buchtel game, but nothing mentioned UA. What a f*()*% joke.

[a-zip]

http://www.ohio.com/

articles on the front page about the marshall/Can't game and the firestone/buchtel game, but nothing mentioned UA. What a f*()*% joke.

I think it is abundantly clear the ABJoke is trying to destroy UA. I'm not joking....it is obvious.

[Dave in Green]

The good news about the ABJ's inadequate coverage of Zips athletics is that it directly resulted in the Porky's Seven getting together and creating ZipsNation. Thanks, ABJ, for the inspiration you provided for the creation of this forum.

[roopride]

The ABJ coverage is hard to understand. They have twice as many weekly articles on the bucks. Did not even have a Sunday article on the Zips/OU game. It really is a paper in decline. Todays article was nof even worth reading. I am biased on the Zips but there overall coverage is poor.

[RowdyZip]

As I mentioned in a previous thread, when there's a big permanent banner ad from a special section called "UA Budget Fallout" on ohio.com, that's all I need to know about how the local "news" feels about the biggest economic driver in greater Summit County. You know,

write as much inflammatory bullshit possible, rooting for UA to fail. Can you imagine Akron if that ever happened? The ABJ needs to start with a beat writer with a tie to UA and the area. George Thomas is a suckeye alum that periodically gets a wild hair up his ass and does some research/digs for a story regarding his beat. He should stick to watching every movie ever and then write half-assed reviews on Twitter.

[uhgrad2002]

http://www.ohio.com/

articles on the front page about the marshall/Can't game and the firestone/buchtel game, but nothing mentioned UA. What a f*()*% joke.

Zips score received equal billing on page A1. It was a night game in another time zone, verses day games at home. The paper has to be printed and distributed in the early morning hours. Logistics come in to play.

I didn't see much praise for the paper last week when the UA story was bigger than OSU on the front page, equal overall and bigger than the other schools's article. Or the other day when the major sports front page story was the UA soccer match.

[Dave in Green]

Zips score received equal billing on page A1. It was a night game in another time zone, verses day games at home. The paper has to be printed and distributed in the early morning hours. Logistics come in to play. ...

That's a valid point. It would have been close to midnight local time before post-game quotes were even available. Not sure what the deadline is for a major sports story to make the Sunday edition. Let's see how they catch up with Monday's coverage.

[Balsy]

I didn't see much praise for the paper last week when the UA story was bigger than OSU on the front page, equal overall and bigger than the other schools's article. Or the other day when the major sports front page story was the UA soccer match.

That's the way it should be, to be honest. The AKRON Beacon Journal should be the authority on everything Akron sports, College, HS etc...

[skip-zip]

And the story came from a "staff reporter".

2/3 of the front of the sports page dedicated to OSwho, and 2/3 of an inside page, and tons of pictures. Akron has a small, upper right corner story on that inside page, and no pictures.

That's beyond ridiculous.

[zipsoutsider]

We won't see as many long balls in the future and the long ball focus was definitely a game plan to exploit the LA secondary that had given up numerous long plays already this year. Long balls also co tributed to a skewed completion percentage for Woodson. That being said, what a great opportunity to work on those plays with little risk of interceptions.

[Captain Kangaroo]

The reason Louisiana lost - Practice facility is too nice.

Just like it crippled the Zips program to move to nice facilities, it's killing Louisiana.

[Dr Z]

[Blue & Gold]

It's remarkable the difference a QB makes. The Zips offense looked ingenious under Dalton Williams. Then, mmmm... under Kyle Pohl and downright awful under Tra'Von Chapman & we thought Milwe's job should be on the line.

Insert Tommy Woodson and all of a sudden it looks like Milwe really knows what he's doing again and the Zips are finally putting the ball in the end zone.

If Tommy would have started against OU it would have been a much more competitive game and if Tommy would have started against Pitt we would have won that game again this year.

One concern, last year didn't Tommy look great against man-to-man coverage, but melted when teams switched to a zone?

[K92]

One concern, last year didn't Tommy look great against man-to-man coverage, but melted when teams switched to a zone?

Yes. Ball State was a tale of two halves. Hopefully, he will be more prepared for the defensive adjustments he will face this year.

[Dr Z]

One concern, last year didn't Tommy look great against man-to-man coverage, but melted when teams switched to a zone?

Very good point. That would also help in defending a QB that is having great success with his legs. IMO TW13 has all the physical tools to light up a zone. The proper WR routes also need to be installed if you are facing a zone, if you continue to run the same routes and expect the same results, you are putting a QB in a position to turn the ball over. Keeping Hudley's carries closer to 20 like in Lafayette, instead of 10 (average of other three games) will also go a long way into moving the defense into winning situations for the QB.