Game 7—BGSU Falcons

[Dr Z]

BG looked like a team that had a lot of reps together. They were smooth, and everybody appeared to be on the same page. The Zips offense does not have nearly as many reps together with their plays and/or personnel. Our starting QB just started playing with the ones 29 days ago. MJ11 has almost seven thousand yards passing in his carer. The Zips execution needs cleaned up. Practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute or magic. Really interested in BG's 11/17 matchup against UT.

Edited October 19, 2015 by Dr Z

[K92]

BG looked like a team that had a lot of reps together. They were smooth, and everybody appeared to be on the same page. The Zips offense does not have nearly as many reps together with their plays and personnel. Our starting QB just started playing with the ones 29 days ago. Execution needs cleaned up. Practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute or magic.

I don't buy that, Doc. In 2012, we went from a pro style offense to the Air Raid, jettisoned both former starting quarterbacks and had immediate success with a 1-AA QB who had never started before. In 2012 we were smooth and everybody appeared to be on the same page. As a matter of fact, I remember being amazed how well the offense ran that year.

[K92]

By pointing out that BG has put up 500+ yards in every game, including top 20 ranked teams?????? Get real.

To say that BG has a couple of more talented players is just plain ridiculous. Their QB is nothing short of incredible and they have receivers who consistently make catches.

Johnson is having incredible success but I definitely wouldn't go as far as to say he is incredible.

BG has better offensive talent than Akron does. I will give you that. You are absolutely correct. Why is that? Akron definitely has better defensive talent than BG does. Would you agree?

Offensive talent (although not incredible) with a dynamite scheme thrashed what was sold as THE BEST ZIPS DEFENSE OF ALL TIME.

[Dr Z]

a 1-AA QB who had never started before.

Tons of reps in the offense. Wasn't that why he was brought here?

Edited October 19, 2015 by Dr Z

[K92]

Tons of reps in the offense. Wasn't that why he was brought here?

So tons of reps in the offense (in practice) was the key? Not trying to fight with you Doc. I consider you to be a friend. Mediocrity is no substitute for success no matter how many excuses are offered. I can't swallow that. If our coach was named Harvey Finkelstein there would be more people than just me, ZG01 & Lee Adams raising concerns. Way more. Terry shouldn't be immune from criticism just because his last name is Bowden. Agree?

[Dr Z]

If our coach was named Harvey Finkelstein there would be more people than just me, ZG01 & Lee Adams raising concerns. Way more. Terry shouldn't be immune from criticism just because his last name is Bowden. Agree?

There is an entire thread dedicated for your specific concerns. I can't continually discuss the same thing in every game thread after every loss.

[zipsoutsider]

Johnson is having incredible success but I definitely wouldn't go as far as to say he is incredible.

BG has better offensive talent than Akron does. I will give you that. You are absolutely correct. Why is that? Akron definitely has better defensive talent than BG does. Would you agree?

Offensive talent (although not incredible) with a dynamite scheme thrashed what was sold as THE BEST ZIPS DEFENSE OF ALL TIME.

It must have really stunk before Chuck Amatto arrived, then.

There is no convincing you. Quite honestly, the way you people complain about coaches is like going to a high school football game. Get over it and get behind the players. You demand winning, but I see very little support for the kids.

[Zipgrad01]

There is an entire thread dedicated for your specific concerns. I can't continually discuss the same thing in every game thread after every loss.

When the loses are all because you are being out recruited and out coached it all sort of leads to the same conversation.... True? Not sure why this is surprising to anyone.

[LZIp]

When the loses are all because you are being out recruited and out coached it all sort of leads to the same conversation.... True? Not sure why this is surprising to anyone.

Look, losing by 49 is completely unacceptable no matter who we're playing, but the bottom line is a loss is a loss. Matt Johnson and Roger Lewis are the leaders in the nation in yardage at their positions for a reason; they're damn good.

So far this season, we've lost to a great OK team, a ranked Pitt team whose only loss this year is to an undefeated lowa team, a bowl bound OU team, and a probable MAC champ in BG. I think BG is the best team in the MAC since NIU's Orange bowl team. While it would have been nice to win those games, they aren't exactly slouches.

I don't know about you all, but I didn't go into this season expecting a MAC championship. If you did, you need to temper your expectations. Most predicted 7-5ish, which is still certainly attainable. No matter what happens this season, I am still in favor of giving Bowden one more season to get us over that hump with a Winning record/bowl bid. At that point if he doesn't get the job done, the program will be at 4 years of stagnation and its time to move on. JMO. If we end the season 2-2 against those 4 slouches, you'll start to see my patience wear. We should beat the teams we are better than at this point in the process.

[zipsoutsider]

He didn't mention names but TB said on the MAC head coaches call that we lost our LT before half time and that is why we were ineffective with the run in the second half. We were down both starting tackles.

Kyle Ritz hasn't been doing a bad job but his inexperience shows up at times. Woodson's blindside was left completely exposed in one play on Saturday.

[Z.I.P.]

So far this season, we've lost to a great OK team, a ranked Pitt team whose only loss this year is to an undefeated lowa team, a bowl bound OU team, and a probable MAC champ in BG. I think BG is the best team in the MAC since NIU's Orange bowl team.

So what you are saying is...You haven't seen Toledo play yet?! No question in my mind and eyes, and apparently the poll voters, that the Rockets are more balanced across both sides of the ball. I would take BeeGee's coach first (and I wish Dino Baber's alma mater, the University of Hawaii could afford him but he should be at a P-5 next year), but overall Toledo has the talent advantage.

FWIW, I hear that there will be far too few teams with 6+ wins to fill all 80 bowl spots, so Akron could slip in with a 6-6 finish. Would that be a good thing? Not sure, as we'd surely be heavy underdogs.

[LZIp]

So what you are saying is...You haven't seen Toledo play yet?! No question in my mind and eyes, and apparently the poll voters, that the Rockets are more balanced across both sides of the ball. I would take BeeGee's coach first (and I wish Dino Baber's alma mater, the University of Hawaii could afford him but he should be at a P-5 next year), but overall Toledo has the talent advantage.

FWIW, I hear that there will be far too few teams with 6+ wins to fill all 80 bowl spots, so Akron could slip in with a 6-6 finish. Would that be a good thing? Not sure, as we'd surely be heavy underdogs.

I'm well aware of Toledo, I'm just that big of a believer in BG. As for your second paragraph, without a doubt 6-6 and a bowl bid would be a good thing. Anything to keep momentum going forward is a plus, even if it resulted in a loss.

[Balsy]

Any Bowl game with an Akron team in it should be seen as a success. That would be one step closer to getting out of the cellar. 1-11, 5-7, 5-7, 6-6 with bowl is certainly trending in the right direction...albeit not as fast as any of us would like.

[Dr Z]

I hear that there will be far too few teams with 6+ wins to fill all 80 bowl spots, so Akron could slip in with a 6-6 finish. Would that be a good thing? Not sure, as we'd surely be heavy underdogs.

The extra practices would be invaluable for the progrum.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Dr Z

[skip-zip]

One side of me says that we should not be getting destroyed by 50 points against any MAC team at this point.

The other side of me is grateful that it still only counts as one loss.

Going to a bowl would be a huge lift for this program. Again, those last 4 games will determine that, and will set a course in either the right or the wrong direction for Terry.

[Zipgrad01]

One side of me says that we should not be getting destroyed by 50 points against any MAC team at this point.

The other side of me is grateful that it still only counts as one loss.

Going to a bowl would be a huge lift for this program. Again, those last 4 games will determine that, and will set a course in either the right or the wrong direction for Terry.

The last 4 teams on our schedule currently have a combined 3 wins against D1 opponents, two of which is against one another. I don't know if it sets any direction for Terry other than we are a complete train wreck if we lose any of them.

[Dr Z]

Monday Teleconference

http://www.mac-sports.com/custompages/teleconferences/101915FB/Bowden101915.mp3

Notes from above:

• Two offensive lineman hurt hindered what we wanted to do running the ball

• Taking a week off

• I studied Baylor's offense a lot

Edited October 20, 2015 by Dr Z

[LZIp]

The last 4 teams on our schedule currently have a combined 3 wins against D1 opponents, two of which is against one another. I don't know if it sets any direction for Terry other than we are a complete train wreck if we lose any of them.

So you're already discounting a possible .500 (or greater) season and bowl bid (both of which are rare to the program) because of who the opponents are? If your stance wasn't made clear before...

[Zipgrad01]

So you're already discounting a possible .500 (or greater) season and bowl bid (both of which are rare to the program) because of who the opponents are? If your stance wasn't made clear before...

I was commenting on the "course" of the program under Bowden. I would obviously like it if we made a bowl game, however, I wouldn't be all warm and fuzzy with the direction of the program just because we won 6 games when 5 of them were against the absolute toilet bowl of college football and our signature win is against a bad Louisiana team. We need to start beating decent teams on a consistent basis before I even remotely think we are going in the right direction. Getting blessed with 6 of the crappiest teams in college football tells me nothing. It just means we aren't one of the 10 worst teams.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I was commenting on the "course" of the program under Bowden. I would obviously like it if we made a bowl game, however, I wouldn't be all warm and fuzzy with the direction of the program just because we won 6 games when 5 of them were against the absolute toilet bowl of college football and our signature win is against a bad Louisiana team. We need to start beating decent teams on a consistent basis before I even remotely think we are going in the right direction. Getting blessed with 6 of the crappiest teams in college football tells me nothing. It just means we aren't one of the 10 worst teams.

It wasn't more than 2 years ago that those crappy teams beat the Zips. Often by embarrassing margins. Now we are beating them by embarrassing margins.

[Zipgrad01]

It wasn't more than 2 years ago that those crappy teams beat the Zips. Often by embarrassing margins. Now we are beating them by embarrassing margins.

And 4 years later the same middle of the road to good MAC teams that were beating us by sometimes embarrassing margins are still doing so. Maybe some of us are happy just not being one of the 20 worst teams in the country. Maybe some of us expect more.

[Dr Z]

Updated today, CBS ranks all the worst teams in the country.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Dr Z

[skip-zip]

ZipGrad....Why in the world would you call it a Train Wreck if we don't win ALL of those last 4 games?

Yes, they are bad teams. But winning 4 games in a row against any D-1A opponents is not an easy thing to do. We'll probably be favored in all of them, but you still need to have pretty consistent play to win 4 in a row in the MAC.

You're entitled to your opinion, but I really think you're trying way too hard to try to justify why we need to change the direction of our program. The change is not always good. We've been there. Remember?

[a-zip]

While I am as disappointed as everyone else, the reality is we have lost to some really good teams (and teams that have beaten some really good teams and had narrow losses against really good teams).

• Oklahoma #17 ranked – beat Tennessee, Tulsa, West Virginia, pounded Kansas State, choked against Texas
• Pitt #25 ranked – Virginia, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech (lost to undefeated # 12 ranked Iowa by 3)
• Ohio beat – Marshall, lost to Minnesota by 3 - only loss Marshall has is to Ohio
• Bowling Green – beat Maryland pretty bad and also beat Purdue

At the beginning of the season I had all of these as challenges to get a W. Oklahoma was a payday, hoped for no injuries and don't get embarrassed. Expectations on Pitt were high because of last year but by the #25 ranking, they are a different team (I would also add that I would like to replay that game with TW at QB ;-) Ohio, we should have won but they are still good. Bowling Green is a really good team but I'm really disappointed we took such a beatdown.

Sooooo, the barometer to me is how are we faring against the MAC. Currently, we are 1-2. My expectation is we we run the table although CMU is going to be another REALLY tough one. A-Zip remainder of schedule visual;

• Run the table - we would be 6-2 in the MAC, 8-4 overall.....bowl eligible. I say
• If we lose to CMU and then run the table (which is likely) - we would be 5-3 in the MAC, 7-5 overall....bowl eligible. I say
• Anything outside of that......I say
• A loss to Can't

Toledo is ranked #19....dayum, I didn't know that.

[a-zip]

Updated today, CBS ranks all the worst teams in the country.

Once we get on a roll, I wish they would change it to the Z like everyone else ;-)