Game 2—@Wisconsin Badgers

[UA1987]

17 minutes ago, morris buttermaker said:

This was a just a payday ... football's version of prostitution

Very surprised our offense could not move the ball. Whisky is good, but not that good. Lastly - they should cancel that jump around bullshit and just have a beer kase http://www.wacheese-gifts.com/P/118/BeerKase cheese tasting.       

Edited September 11, 2016 by UA1987

[Buckzip]

2 hours ago, Zipgrad01 said:

the problem is that some people live in Lala land and somehow believe since we get a few transfers that we are good. We aren't. Our recruiting classes suck. You can see this when you watch the games, but some people on here don't live in reality. 

I know. Recruiting is bad. I see all of these verbals and so many are all excited because so many are Akron kids. At this point, Akron is the best offer for most or all of them. I couldn't care less that they are Akron kids. If they can play I don't care where they are from. 

 

When akron starts getting the majority of their recruits that had REAL offers from legit D1 teams such as Cincy, Marshall, Toledo, bottom tier B1G, etc. then that will be impressive. Right now, we are the best offer for the majority of our recruits. 

 

Until that changes Akron will continue to get stomped by these teams. 

 

 

[Bucky]

Badger fans were saying the defense is one of the best in the country all week long. It's been a damn good defense for a few years now and even losing Aranda to LSU hasn't slowed them down. I'd even say the defense looks better this season than last year. 

[Blue & Gold]

I was only able to watch the first half, but it doesn't look like anything changed in the 2nd half.

 

We're going to be okay.  This was just a bad matchup.  We're not going to face another OL or DL like Wisky's the rest of the season... bowl game included.

Wisky's an elite-of-the-elite program.  I'd rather play Minnesota... Northwestern... Purdue... Illinois... Rutgers... Maryland... Penn State... Iowa...  almost any B1G school (save OSU & Mich.) than Wisky.

 

Going forward, we may not beat either Marshall or Appy St., but I'm betting they'll both be great games.

 

I still think we'll win the MAC East.  I think we'll get run in the MACC game (man, the west is stacked!), but we'll still go bowling.

 

Shake it off, Zips.  No shame in getting out-athleted by Wisky.

 

[Buckzip]

Wisci is not elite of the elite. They are a good top 20 team but they aren't elite of the elite. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Our six game winning streak ended at #10 Wisconsin.

 

Six game winning streak. When is the last time Akron Football had one of those?

 

I love our chances in the MAC.

[ZippyRulz]

1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

I was only able to watch the first half, but it doesn't look like anything changed in the 2nd half.

 

We're going to be okay.  This was just a bad matchup.  We're not going to face another OL or DL like Wisky's the rest of the season... bowl game included.

 

 

As Detwiler mentioned in the broadcast, App. St. has a top 5 OL

 

[LZIp]

Whew that was a rough one. Not going to go back and read the game discussion because all the Zips fans arguing with each other will just pee (edit: really, pee?) me off. Pretty disheartening to see, especially the ones shitting over this program for losing to one of the top teams in the country (It could have been 77-10, most of you would happily trade for BG's success, are they a joke too?). I was a little intoxicated so I may be off base, but both of Lane's OPI calls seemed quite weak to me. Almost never see those calls. I'm not ref blaming, I was just surprised by them.

 

Bottom line is that the interior D has a lot of work to do and to beat good teams you have to make big plays. Not drop multiple interceptions, drop balls that should be caught, not fumble after a huge run, not commit a penalty that they end up scoring a touchdown on when it would have only been 3, etc. I do like the way our schedule was set up this year. Cream puff to start off the year and then your pay day opponent who it'd take a near miracle to beat, followed by two tough G5 opponents who are beatable. The coaches should have a lot to work with after the first two games to help prepare us to beat similar caliber programs the remainder of the year in OOC and conference play.

Edited September 11, 2016 by LZIp

[UA1987]

I watched the Pitt game prior to the Zips. Narduzzi and his OC had an elegant game plan that took what Penn St. gave them. There is always something available on the field to take advantage of and we could not find it out and execute it, at least every now and then, against Wisconsin (we had only about 7 first downs when our starters left the game). Like I said the Badgers are good, but not that good. Our offense left our defense on the field all game long (they more than doubled our time of possession). We can do much better than that. On a bright note, our special teams played well. Nice job Jeff Bowden.     

Edited September 11, 2016 by UA1987

[ZippyRulz]

13 hours ago, Buckzip said:

Wisci is not elite of the elite. They are a good top 20 team but they aren't elite of the elite. 

 

They play Ga. State this week and then it's @MSU, @Mich, Tosu, and @Iowa so as good as they are they could be 3-4 by Oct. 22.

 

[72 Roo]

1987, I agree that there is always something the D gives you. We all know our O had trouble with execution but what they were being asked to do was boring, predictable play calling. There is no creativity to Milwee's play calling. For instance, have we forgotten the TE? What about slants or quick hitters? For as good as T. Bowden manages a game, it seems little has rubbed off on Milwee. The world will not collapse and our problems will get solved. Bowden is too good of a coach. We just have to accept that we got pounded by a superior opponent, that is was nothing more than a fun dream to think of upsetting. There is much more ahead of us to create a great season. Keep the faith. It's a long road back from the depths we were in.

[LZIp]

1 hour ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

They play Ga. State this week and then it's @MSU, @Mich, Tosu, and @Iowa so as good as they are they could be 3-4 by Oct. 22.

 

Honestly 2-2 in that stretch would be damn impressive to me. You can't find a tougher 4 week schedule than that in the nation. I don't recall us thinking Oklahoma was a playoff contender last season when they beat us, but you know how that went. Hard to tell really how good teams are so early.

[ZippyRulz]

19 hours ago, BigAppleBucky said:

Has 71 at the half.  Good running back.  

 

His fumble was the kind of thing Wisconsin players routinely did back when I was in school in 70's.  

 

Watching the replay....lest anyone think WB carelessly dropped the ball after the long run, it was a textbook roundhouse knockout punch to the pigskin by #25 Tindal before any real contact that knocked it loose. Of course you want to always protect the ball but Warren was clearly trying to take it all the way (which we would have needed him to do).

 

[roopride]

Never got the offense going. Play selection still hard me to understand.  I just don't see how the offense play selection fits or how plays are being set up.

When will Woodson run the ball?

Like Ball.

Defense better. Offense did not help them at all.

Did not make plays presented to us.

OL look OK.

Offense needs to step up. Is Woodson accurate enough to keep the plays as called moving?

We all have to be more diciplined. 

 

[zipsoutsider]

Special teams:  pleasantly surprised by delivering a solid performance. Nice punts by Gasser, one would have gone another 10 but our guy picked it up. O'Leary seems to have adequately exercised his demons. Good coverage on punts and kick offs and finally one to the house...the first one since 2004.

 

Offense: Natson has come to play. I watched his catch in the end zone a couple of times that was ruled out of bounds. Pretty darn close and nice catch. He has lived up to expectations. Lane has such potential, but it seems like he slips into lazy football play. The penalties on Lane seemed a little ridiculous and he was held on plays that were not called. Last week might not be the best week to evaluate him. I thought the OL was OK - and that is probably a compliment considering the match-up. I am not worried about them. Ball looked good when he had opportunities. As previously mentioned, he wasn't sloppy with the ball, it was an excellent strip. BTW, did anyone watch Ritz take out the WI player on that play? Wow. I would like to have seen us try a jet bubble sweep or QB draw. I think Woodson has taken his game to the next level. I am not worried about his accuracy. The interception he threw was not inaccurate, it was that Lane was held. It looked like we were lined up for a little trickery when we had the ball around the 5 and WI called a TO. The announcers missed it, but there was something different about our line up. I will have to catch it on the replay. It was also nice to see Anthony Young come up with a tough catch.

 

Defense: Brock Boxen is likely to small to be great at DL. He plays hard, but not sure that will be enough. We did a better job stopping the run when Hamilton was in the game, but it looked like he saw limited action. The announcer said he had been injured. Marcus was not impressive. I really don't understand that NFL prospect is still lining up in the NZ. The LBs were not impressive. Gilbert seems to be the only one aggressively pursuing the ball. I would be OK if we sat Bell. He doesn't seem all that motivated. Pittman played OK, but he wastes too much time flexing after plays that are not all that impressive. The secondary dropped some balls that could have really had an impact, early on in the game. Larry Hope played hard and seemed to be playing hurt. Scott doesn't seem as good as we has last year. Bryce Jones is working his tail off.

 

I liked the new road game uniforms. They looked very sharp.

 

I think we will win at least one of the next 2 games, which has us coming out of OOC play at 2-2, right where I thought we would be entering into conference play. I think we will be competitive in the MAC but I don't expect that we will have any cakewalks. The teams we blew out last year have mostly improved. If we stay healthy and if we can improve our Defense, we can compete for the MAC East.

[Blue & Gold]

45 minutes ago, zipsoutsider said:

O'Leary seems to have adequately exercised his demons. Good coverage on punts and kick offs and finally one to the house...the first one since 2004.

 

45 minutes ago, zipsoutsider said:

Offense: Natson has come to play. I watched his catch in the end zone a couple of times that was ruled out of bounds. Pretty darn close and nice catch. 

In watching the replay, I believe Natson caught the ball cleanly & got a foot down in the end zone, but his knee touched out of bounds before his toes touched in bounds.  I thought it was a TD so I guess that's a good call by the ref.

 

Defense: Brock Boxen is likely to small to be great at DL.

Agree.  And Boxen is bigger than Copeland.  We definitely need more beef @ the DT's.  Hopefully they look better against MAC-level competition than they did against Wisky.  But I didn't think they looked very good against even VMI.  We really miss Cody & Coe.  God bless Boxen & Copeland, but that may be the team's Achille's heal right there.  If we can't stop the power running game it's gonna be a long season.

 

Pittman played OK, but he wastes too much time flexing after plays that are not all that impressive.

Agreed.  He's a local product so automatically one of my favorites, but even against VMI he was flexing even when the VMI RB got tripped up by the Turf Monster & Pittman didn't even touch him.  But I won't complain.  I'm going to enjoy watching Pittman & Marcus this season, as we're gonna have quite a drop off at DE next year.

 

I liked the new road game uniforms. They looked very sharp.

We've got the best uniforms in all of football.  

 

I think we will win at least one of the next 2 games, which has us coming out of OOC play at 2-2, right where I thought we would be entering into conference play.

I'm predicting we drop our next two & head into MAC play at 1-3.  But, like last year, I still think we go bowling with wins over K.e.nt, Miami, Buffalo (those should be gimme's) and finally getting over the hump of both BUGS & Ohio this year to sweep the (pretty weak) MAC East & go to Detroit.

 

 

[Buckzip]

Not sure what's up with our S&C program but Boxen hasn't gotten any bigger since last season and Copeland is smaller. The only guy that got bigger is Williams whom went from LB size to DL size. Odd. 

[Blue & Gold]

Pittman played some interior DL last season IIRC.  Maybe move him back inside? (Let him flex his muscles & prove his manhood on the interior DL )  

 

We've got more depth at DE than DT.  

 

DE - Marcus

DT - Hamilton

DT - Pittman

DE - Venckus

 

There you go, coach.  Just solved the problem.  Now I wish we could play Wisky again 

[UA1987]

13 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Pittman played some interior DL last season IIRC.  Maybe move him back inside? (Let him flex his muscles & prove his manhood on the interior DL )  

 

We've got more depth at DE than DT.  

 

DE - Marcus

DT - Hamilton

DT - Pittman

DE - Venckus

 

There you go, coach.  Just solved the problem.  Now I wish we could play Wisky again 

Ya know, I thought of this same lineup. I'm not a Boxen distractor, however, and I'd like to see him playing next to Hamilton. Boxen reminds me of Nico Caponi for those that have followed the Zips for a few years. Copeland is very serviceable too and seems to play his heart out. I think the DL will be OK (now that Hamilton is in the mix), it's the offense that needs to get it together. I thought the offense would be the strength of this team this year, but they can't seem to find what works for them (hint - it may be more Warren Ball).          

Edited September 12, 2016 by UA1987

[K92]

We got into Madison Friday morning and took a tool around the stadium first thing and saw Barry Alvarez at the main gate doing a photo session.  The campus is a true city campus and parking is at a premium.  We ended parking on a residential side street a couple of blocks off Regent Street and walked over to Lucky's to grab a couple of beers and something to eat.  Awesome bar.  It is an old automotive repair shop with a pretty wide open floor plan.  A spot like this would be so awesome on Exchange Street.  They serve up a mean soft pretzel.  It's equivalent to about 2 loaves of bread, I think.

We ventured across the street to the Big Ten but we're a little disappointed there.  It is pretty much a restaurant.  After spending a couple of hours off campus, we drove downtown and hit The Great Dane Brewery.  We are spoiled by the breweries we have in NE Ohio.  I'll leave it at that.

Just down the street was the Tipsy Cow and we sat on the street there and drank a couple of Surly beers.  Finally got to try "Todd the Axe Man" while gazing at the beauty of the Capitol Building.  A couple of doors down was the Maduro cigar bar that ate up a couple of hours where we met a nice couple that led us over to The Old Fashioned where we ordered the official drink of Wisconsin, the Brandy Old Fashioned.  Great place.  This basically wrapped up day one.  We drove back to the hotel, ate pizza and hit the sack.

Saturday we Ubered down to campus and left the truck at the hotel.  Parking is so limited we thought that would be best.  We did not see a whole lot of traditional tailgating going on.  It is very much a bar scene for pregaming.  Literally thousands and thousands of people were partying in not only the bars but the parking lots as well.  People were great. Very friendly and cordial.  There were a few random assholes that felt the need to say something inflammatory but they were outnumbered 100 to 1.  Only place I have ever been with a more welcoming fan base was Tennessee and I think the Vol fans set a pretty high bar there.  I hope we can schedule the Badgers again in the future.  Much more enjoyable trip than Penn State. 

The game was a big disappointment because we didn't show up.  I did not expect to win, but I was hoping we would give them a game.  Bright spots were few and far between.  For the first time in years we have someone to return punts.  That was great.  I am looking forward to seeing Ball in the conference schedule.  Offensive play calling and flow was awful again.  I don't forsee that getting any better.  Those who were hoping to see the TE involved in the passing game have to be disappointed. 2 games 0 catches for the TE's.

Defense is in trouble.  The replacements for Grice, Coe, Monroe, Evans & Brown are not remotely close in talent level.  I was very worried before the season started about the front end and now I know why.  Hopefully Amato can do some scheming to help compensate for the defiencies but I think it will just have to play itself out as these guys get more experience.

If the Zips get a victory against Marshall or Appalachian State, it will be a pretty big upset.  The offense really needs to make some great strides very quickly to have a shot, I think.  The defense is not going to win many games this year.  We will just to have to wait and see what happens because sometimes good things happen from out of the blue.  It's happened before and it can happen again.

One more thing.  Sorry I get so worked up sometimes.  I have a lot of Akron in me.  Go Zips.

[zzx]

8 hours ago, zipsoutsider said:

Special teams:  pleasantly surprised by delivering a solid performance. Nice punts by Gasser, one would have gone another 10 but our guy picked it up. O'Leary seems to have adequately exercised his demons. Good coverage on punts and kick offs and finally one to the house...the first one since 2004.

 

Maybe they should let Natson return kickoffs sometimes.

[zipsoutsider]

7 hours ago, zzx said:

 

Maybe they should let Natson return kickoffs sometimes.

Yeah, I wish we would. Edwards does a decent job, but would love to see us use Natson to the max. On the other hand, it does give Edward's a chance to develop.

[ZippyRulz]

On 9/10/2016 at 8:40 PM, Bucky said:

Badger fans were saying the defense is one of the best in the country all week long. It's been a damn good defense for a few years now and even losing Aranda to LSU hasn't slowed them down. I'd even say the defense looks better this season than last year. 

 

The Badgers will have plenty of opportunities to prove how good their defense is very soon. To their credit, they moved up another spot in the AP by holding down the Zips.

 

[ZippyRulz]

On 9/11/2016 at 1:14 PM, roopride said:

When will Woodson run the ball?

 

Good question but it probably wasn't going to happen in the paycheck game since there is no pressure/expectation to win at Wisconsin and they don't want TW4 to get banged up before the winnable/conference games.

 

On 9/11/2016 at 1:14 PM, roopride said:

Offense needs to step up. Is Woodson accurate enough to keep the plays as called moving?

 

Yes.

 

On 9/11/2016 at 1:14 PM, roopride said:

We all have to be more diciplined. 

 

Yes. I turned the game off when we were still lining up offsides in the 3rd quarter. 

[skip-zip]

Just got back from the long weekend trip, which turned into a mini-vacation.  

 

Here's my thoughts on Madison:

1) Loved the layout of the town.  Very unique.  It sits on a rolling "isthmus" (as the locals call it) between two bodies of water, and a rich history as a former Civil War camp (thus the name "Camp Randall").  If it was warmer, we would have seen more beach activity, but we did get to see the sailboats and windsufers.  Makes me wish our campus was on water. 

2) Came home with tons of cheese curds in the cooler.  We had to do it. 

3) Their gameday atmosphere was among the best of the dozens of road games we've attended over the years.  The rally on campus made me jealous.  So did all of the traditional things that they did during and after the games, which got nearly 100% participation....students and old people.  Unbelievable.  

 

The game:

I talked all week about "big plays" (or lack of).  And here's what buried us early.

1) Two interception chances that dropped through our hands.

2) Fumble by Ball following our only big early running play, which could have helped put us back in the game with the JoJo punt return TD that soon followed.

3) Lane getting called for offensive pass interference on a push off.....and then inexplicably cannot get a call after being spun around by his waist by a DB on a play that resulted in an interception.  

GAME OVER....if we couldn't get those opportunities to go our way early, we were doomed playing a solid team that was disciplined, and overmatched us physically.  

 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2016 by skip-zip
edit