Game 7—Western Michigan Broncos (2016)

[MDZip]

2 hours ago, UAZippers said:

The good news is that OU lost to EMU today. While we are not taking a step forward in claiming the MAC East, we are at least not falling behind.

The East played four games against the West today. Lost all four. I think there is a chance that every West team is better than every East team. I guess we'll know next week when we play Ball State. That's looking like it might be critical for the East title. And congrats to EMU, they are only one win from Bowl eligibility.

[1981 grad]

I went to the game today.  I did not expect us to win but I expected us to compete.  We did not compete.  Dropped passes, missed tackles, costly penalties and poor throws.   We did not have a first down the first quarter.  Our defense was bad.  They spread out the receivers and kept throwing quick screen and they have 3 receivers to our 2 defenders and one of the defenders is 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.  Their running back had a career high as he ran over our defense.   It reminded me of Appalachian State where they spread the field and we cannot stop their offense.  I believe our defense will be weak all season against decent teams like Appalachian State and Western Michigan. 

 

   

[lance99]

1 minute ago, 1981 grad said:

I went to the game today.  I did not expect us to win but I expected us to compete.  We did not compete.  Dropped passes, missed tackles, costly penalties and poor throws.   We did not have a first down the first quarter.  Our defense was bad.  They spread out the receivers and kept throwing quick screen and they have 3 receivers to our 2 defenders and one of the defenders is 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.  Their running back had a career high as he ran over our defense.   It reminded me of Appalachian State where they spread the field and we cannot stop their offense.  I believe our defense will be weak all season against decent teams like Appalachian State and Western Michigan. 

 

   

 

 

The thing for me was during the first drive. I personally watched Lane Quit on a Pattern. There is NO excuse on that. Then the Very Late Garbage Flag did not help, it probably did more to hurt than anything.

 

As a Joe Akron, I see serious issues on the Defence Side(Due to injuries), Offence on the other hand, Chapman needs to stay 30 Yards, or less on Passes......

[3rd&twenty]

1 hour ago, K92 said:

All I heard was scuttlebutt.  Someone with some connections could get us some answers.  I certainly do not want to spread an untruth and I have absolutely no way to confirm or deny the veracity of what I heard.  I heard the rumor earlier this week and the same rumor was circulating at today's tailgate.  Where there's smoke, there's fire. . . Or it could all be baloney.

I haven't heard any of these rumors but I was told by several people that he does not have an injury. He has shoulder pain but as I heard, it's pretty much in his head. 

[Blue & Gold]

9 hours ago, 3rd&twenty said:

I haven't heard any of these rumors but I was told by several people that he does not have an injury. He has shoulder pain but as I heard, it's pretty much in his head. 

I really hope that's not the case because, while at the game today, I found my self a little frustrated with Woody for not playing.  Especially for such a big game, on such a beautiful fall afternoon & with a pretty decent crowd at The Info.

 

But it is a perplexing situation, that he was a last-second scratch at K.e.nt & then isn't ready to go even 3 weeks later?  Weird.

Edited October 16, 2016 by Blue & Gold

[ZippyRulz]

1 hour ago, MDZip said:

 And congrats to EMU, they are only one win from Bowl eligibility.

 

The media is going to have to find a new poster child for "football programs that have no right to exist"

 

[zipsoutsider]

Today as a nice game day atmosphere and unfortunately, the game went as I somewhat suspected it could go. With mounting injuries to key personnel, it becomes harder and harder. I knew going into this, our D was no match for their offense. My hope was that Woody would return and we could at least make it a game.

 

Chapman does not have the decision-making abilities that Tommy has and needs to learn to play his own game. He can't throw across the field, but he is strong enough to be a good MAC QB. You could tell, he was doing everything he could to make something happen and it just wasn't. HE probably tried to do too much himself. The longer he is in the backfield, it seems the more prone he is to poor decision-making.

 

The defense was clearly outmatched. I noticed Brian Bell moved to DE and Lako was in at LB. Not a bad idea, with Marcus out. I think Bell might be a better fit at DE. Deandre Scott got robbed of an INT by the absolutely horrific PI call early in the game. Larry Hope played a good game and Kyron Brown made a heroic athletic play and almost came up with an INT towards the end of the game. Alvin Davis, again, had some impressive hits and I heard Featherstone's name several times, as well. We don't lose a lot to graduation on defense, so I expect better performance next year. Boxen was playing well until he went down with the ankle injury. That looked like a bad one and I could see him being out for an extended period. I thought they really adjusted well towards the second half of the second quarter, but the game had run away by then.

 

If Woody were in trouble, they wouldn't have him wearing the headset on the sidelines. Bowden said on Zips Live the shoulder injury is impacting his throwing accuracy. I love how people proclaim that it's all in his head. A bruised shoulder can be very painful and personally, I know how an injury like that can impact your ability. If he isn't throwing accurately, keep him out. I am sure if he was throwing decently at all, we would see him in the game. He is a true competitor and the accusations about him being a head case seem ridiculous, to me. This kid puts it all out on the field, every time he takes it.

 

I am concerned about our mounting injuries:

• Woodson
• Ball
• Marcus
• Hauser
• Guiser
• Boxen

Guiser has really been our defensive leader and it hurts to lose him.

 

Moment  is just further along than we are. We weren't poorly coached today. Our players were not lazy or undisciplined. We were beat soundly by a better team. A team that is ranked #24 and I think it is a legitimate ranking. They may be higher next week. I am not embarrassed by our team. They played hard, the entire game. Let's shake it off and go beat Ball State and ....come on, Woody!

[zipsoutsider]

Post game presser:

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

Left halfway through halftime. Had to stay and pay my respects to the military tribute. 

 

A few thoughts...

 

- Whatever Woodson's problem is, we need to figure it out, and fix it. I highly doubt it's his shoulder. 

- Injuries are killing my football teams (Browns and Zips). 

- There's a reason we beat NC State. The Chest is having a brutal defensive season. Now I understand he's dealing with injuries, and a relatively young crop of players, but there are still the fundamentals that we lack. 

- Milwee has to go. There is no creativity on offense, especially with Chapman in there. Everything is so predictable.

- Chapman blows. Put Hoyer in. Or just run the wildcat all game and never let Chapman throw. 

 

Pick ourselves up, dust off, and go get 'em next week. Thank goodness O-Who laid an egg today, too. 

 

P.S. Thank you to the University of Akron for showing the Indians game on some of the TVs on the concourse, and for giving updates throughout the game. By the crowd's reaction, I think that was much appreciated. Roll Tribe! Beat Canada!

Edited October 16, 2016 by lilroodude

[ZachTheZip]

Heard Woodson hurt his hand. No source, just scuttlebutt.

[tomzip]

1 hour ago, lilroodude said:

Left halfway through halftime. Had to stay and pay my respects to the military tribute. 

 

A few thoughts...

 

- Whatever Woodson's problem is, we need to figure it out, and fix it. I highly doubt it's his shoulder. 

- Injuries are killing my football teams (Browns and Zips). 

- There's a reason we beat NC State. The Chest is having a brutal defensive season. Now I understand he's dealing with injuries, and a relatively young crop of players, but there are still the fundamentals that we lack. 

- Milwee has to go. There is no creativity on offense, especially with Chapman in there. Everything is so predictable.

- Chapman blows. Put Hoyer in. Or just run the wildcat all game and never let Chapman throw. 

 

Pick ourselves up, dust off, and go get 'em next week. Thank goodness O-Who laid an egg today, too. 

 

P.S. Thank you to the University of Akron for showing the Indians game on some of the TVs on the concourse, and for giving updates throughout the game. By the crowd's reaction, I think that was much appreciated. Roll Tribe! Beat Canada!

Western is elite...13 and 0 possibly...great crowd lol...fire the d. Coordinator...injuries or not...no scheme even against lesser foes

[330Zip]

Ok, I have been a viewer of this page now for 2 years without having an account. However I feel the need to chip in. I was at the game and watched the coaching staff stick with Chapman for far to long. I know its hard to pull him from him from the QB when he''s won the past two games, however both those teams are probably some of the the worst teams in the country. Chapman is not a QB he is absolutely terrible at reading coverage, knowing when to throw the ball away, honestly I could go on about it for a long time but he literally just isn't good by all means. He is a bad QB but he isn't a bad football player and he's a good athlete and needs to switch positions. Hoyer can not be any worse than Chapman is. I do not understand why the coaches aren't using his athleticism elsewhere. He should be our H-back type of player. Get him open in space and let him run, he's tough and has good speed and size. I'd love to see him lineup in the backfield some plays then out in the slots against a linebacker, heck we are going to be dry at RB next year why not try him out there, it's not like it would be much different than what he does now, except he has a better opportunity of getting more yards because they won't expect a QB run every freaking play! Coaches need to be honest with him and he has to understand QB isn't his position. His best bet at having a successful senior year next year it's at a new position. 

 

(Sorry if there's bad grammar I am typing this on my phone)

[Blue & Gold]

ABJ post-game story.  

 

http://www.ohio.com/sports/zips/university-of-akron-football-undefeated-western-michigan-broncos-hammer-zips-41-0-1.719544

 

GT points to TC5 getting stuffed on 4th-and-1 from our own 45-yard line, w/ WMU already up 21-0, as when he knew the game was over.  I agree.  WMU took over on downs & marched 45-yards for the TD (missed extra point), but after that I wasn't hoping to win any longer, I was just hoping not to get further embarrassed.  (How'd that work out for me?)

Edited October 16, 2016 by Blue & Gold

[LZIp]

I didn't pay close attention as the game went on, but Bell at DE could end up being a good move with his talent/our lack of talent at DE in the future (and lack of impact play now)/the LBs we have becoming eligible next season.

 

This loss is embarrassing, but its time to worry about next week. 8-4 and going to get a second shot at WMU hopefully a lot healthier is still a legitimate possibility.

[Dr Z]

source 

 

Zach Guiser -- "Well, after dislocating my elbow, breaking my nose, and severely spraining my ankle in 2.5 quarters of play, the Man upstairs made it very clear that He wants me to sit out for awhile. I'll be back better than before. Maybe this year, maybe next year. Regardless, my team is gonna do big things the rest of the season."

 

Get well Zach.

 

 

[tboned]

The blown calls early in the game were intentional. The missed PI ,and the negated interception. The spot on that 4th n 1 was terrible. I wandered what the hell the refs were doing. I sit on the 50 and we clearly had a first down. The MAC wants nothing more than to have a team ranked. A win by Akron would certainly have dropped WMU out of the rankings. It was quite obvious to me. Maybe the outcome would have been the same.

[LZIp]

4 minutes ago, tboned said:

The blown calls early in the game were intentional. The missed PI ,and the negated interception. The spot on that 4th n 1 was terrible. I wandered what the hell the refs were doing. I sit on the 50 and we clearly had a first down. The MAC wants nothing more than to have a team ranked. A win by Akron would certainly have dropped WMU out of the rankings. It was quite obvious to me. Maybe the outcome would have been the same.

The PI may have been missed. It could have gone either way probably. The negated interception was the correct call and the 4th and 1 was clearly short from my view on tv.

 

If all of those calls somehow went our way, its not like it would have made a difference. I forget the exact stat that was released, but I believe it was the first time we've been shut out at the Info, where we've had 3 1-11 seasons. Please stop with the conspiracy theories.

[ZippyRulz]

16 hours ago, LZIp said:

At least I don't see anyway Fleck isn't gone after this season. LSU, USC, TX, among other programs should be looking.

 

I don't think one of those will reach to the MAC but probably a lesser P5 program or AAC will. Houston, maybe.

 

Obligatory denial with escape clause: http://footballscoop.com/news/pj-fleck-message-think-hes-looking-around-jobs/

 

 

Edited October 16, 2016 by ZippyRulz

[LZIp]

1 minute ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

I don't think one of those will reach to the MAC but probably a lesser P5 program or AAC will.

 

You could be right. I know Tom Herman is the hottest name out there right now though and he is a G5 coach. Fleck isn't too far behind him and will have a good shot at a New Years Day bowl assuming he can get by Toledo. I haven't seen any hot P5 coordinator candidates being talked about. You'd hope one of these days that these MAC coaches would get smart and stop taking jobs at lesser P5 programs. What Hazell did at KSU was amazing, but he jumped ship too soon and has probably committed career suicide at Purdon't.

[zipsoutsider]

We had no legitimate choice but to stick with Chapman. Hoyer doesn't take reps with the 1st team and is no where near as good as Chapman. It would be a mistake to mortgage the future by burning Nelson's red shirt at this point of the season. It's hard to sit and watch a QB struggle but that doesn't mean we have viable options.

 

1 hour ago, tboned said:

The blown calls early in the game were intentional. The missed PI ,and the negated interception. The spot on that 4th n 1 was terrible. I wandered what the hell the refs were doing. I sit on the 50 and we clearly had a first down. The MAC wants nothing more than to have a team ranked. A win by Akron would certainly have dropped WMU out of the rankings. It was quite obvious to me. Maybe the outcome would have been the same.

I agree with this and when I saw the tweet from the MAC earlier in the week about WMU playing on New Year Day I was concerned. Horrible calls and no calls in Q1 broke any chance of momentum we had. As a result, Chapman tried to force the game. In the end thought, we got handled by a superior team.

 

We were not effective running the ball, except for ta couple of scrambles by Chapman, until WMU put in their second team. Our short pass game was not a lot more effective than our long pass game, yesterday. It's hard to be creative when the bread and butter isn't working. We did throw to MTB a couple of times yesterday and that did not work, either. I think if we found some early success, maybe you go to a couple of trick plays if you are in it with a chance to win, but why show your hand when you might need it when you have a chance of winning a game down the road.

 

Punts and kicks were good, especially punts, but we had a hard time bringing down their big guys. It's the same problem other teas would have had bringing down Warren Ball. Gasser nailed his punts and ought to get Special Teams player of the week.

 

One note: I appreciate the military tribute and thought they did a great job. The band sounded great, the swearing in ceremony was pretty cool, and the WW II vet stories were amazing. I appreciated how all of our fans responded to the vets and the tribute. Here's my however....in all of the years where we have honored vets, I can't recall, and my memory might be incorrect here, but I don't remember a single time where we have honored as vet that was not white. I think we must do a better here. NE Ohio is a diverse area, our military has been diverse for decades, our players and fans are diverse. I think the vets we honor should reflect that diversity.

 

 

[ZippyRulz]

2 hours ago, LZIp said:

You could be right. I know Tom Herman is the hottest name out there right now though and he is a G5 coach. Fleck isn't too far behind him and will have a good shot at a New Years Day bowl assuming he can get by Toledo. I haven't seen any hot P5 coordinator candidates being talked about. You'd hope one of these days that these MAC coaches would get smart and stop taking jobs at lesser P5 programs. What Hazell did at KSU was amazing, but he jumped ship too soon and has probably committed career suicide at Purdon't.

 

I thought about Purdue also but politically it may be best if they don't go for the hot MAC HC this time around, just in case.

 

 

[ziptageous]

This game was totally predictable.  Western Michigan is a quality opponent and we have a lot of injuries.  Many comments here about QB play and for the record, Tra'von Chapman was the best available there today.  Not sure what is wrong with Woodson.   Chapman is better suited to be an H back or inside receiver because he's good in space but he is the second best QB on the team for now.  Is he the guy to put in to make decisions on running the team, not really.  Hoyer is a good kid but a non scholarship number on the roster.  He can't compete as a QB at this level and went 1/12last year in the spring game against reserve players.   We've see three or four better QB's leave our program the past 2 years because the HC and OC are so locked in on one kind of QB.  Nobody else is going to get a chance with such offensive tunnel vision.  Going back to the initial game at Oklahoma last year and their total craziness in Starting Chapman and not Kyle Pohl in that game the die was cast for the mediocrity in offensive production.   The defense won the games last year, the offense just did enough to get by.   They were inconsistent at best.  They over performed against tough competition in the 5 game win streak and underperformed against the weak teams we played.   As for me, I don't think we win a lot more games this year.  BG is down and a pretty for sure win.  Buffalo is a probable.  Ball state, maybe.  Forget Toledo and Ohio.  Get your 7 wins and go to another bowl, that still is better than the past.  Mediocrity is better than just plain poor.  Respectable program is better than a doormat.  But, we can do much better offensively and it has a lot to do with coaching and player decision making.  

[zipsoutsider]

1 hour ago, ziptageous said:

This game was totally predictable.  Western Michigan is a quality opponent and we have a lot of injuries.  Many comments here about QB play and for the record, Tra'von Chapman was the best available there today.  Not sure what is wrong with Woodson.   Chapman is better suited to be an H back or inside receiver because he's good in space but he is the second best QB on the team for now.  Is he the guy to put in to make decisions on running the team, not really.  Hoyer is a good kid but a non scholarship number on the roster.  He can't compete as a QB at this level and went 1/12last year in the spring game against reserve players.   We've see three or four better QB's leave our program the past 2 years because the HC and OC are so locked in on one kind of QB.  Nobody else is going to get a chance with such offensive tunnel vision.  Going back to the initial game at Oklahoma last year and their total craziness in Starting Chapman and not Kyle Pohl in that game the die was cast for the mediocrity in offensive production.   The defense won the games last year, the offense just did enough to get by.   They were inconsistent at best.  They over performed against tough competition in the 5 game win streak and underperformed against the weak teams we played.   As for me, I don't think we win a lot more games this year.  BG is down and a pretty for sure win.  Buffalo is a probable.  Ball state, maybe.  Forget Toledo and Ohio.  Get your 7 wins and go to another bowl, that still is better than the past.  Mediocrity is better than just plain poor.  Respectable program is better than a doormat.  But, we can do much better offensively and it has a lot to do with coaching and player decision making.  

The kids who left were not better than Woodson or Chapman. They were not good fits. An offense can't be all things to all people. Yes, if you have a chance with a special kid you might change your offensive mindset to accommodate, but we did not have an offensive threat that fit into that. We are building into an offensive program with speed that takes advantage of big play threats. Kato Nelson will likely be the best QB to do that, but probably not until 2018. When Pohl was behind center we were terrible at red zone conversions. KP was a nice kid, but their was zero chemistry with receivers and the offense played without any sense of inspiration. We could not move forward as a program with him as the starter. I don't blame the coaches for going for a change. Woodson's weight gain took him out of the running and he responded, earned his spot and here we are, at 4-3, disappointed that we were soundly beat by top 25 team.

 

BGSU has improved throughout this season and Ball State will compete. We should be able to win out, except for Toledo, but all of the teams on our schedule are capable of beating us. The MAC has a ton of parity and almost any team can beat any other team on any given day, except Toledo and WMU.

 

We would be a different team if we had some more help on defense. It's hard to say what transfers we tried to get and were unable to secure. The young defensive players are gaining a ton of experience this year and maybe we have to suffer through a year like this to transition form a defense that relied on transfers to one that builds on our own developed talent. There is a lot to forward to as these kids develop. Players I am watching: Davis (Fr), Guiser (Jr), Kryon Brown (R-Jr), Deon'Tae Moore (Jr), Boxen (So), Hauser (R-Jr), Jordan George (So), Featherstone (R-So), Lako (R-FR), and Jest (Fr.)

 

I haven't seen John Rachal on the field in a couple of games - is he injured or benched?

[akronzips71]

Chapman waited for the defense to line up instead of taking the snap when the center was uncovered. No football sense. Not opportunistic.

 

We need Woody or another QB in there, PERIOD.

[LZIp]

3 minutes ago, akronzips71 said:

Chapman waited for the defense to line up instead of taking the snap when the center was uncovered. No football sense. Not opportunistic.

 

We need Woody or another QB in there, PERIOD.

Step off the ledge. He is the back up QB and it wouldn't have made a difference to burn Nelson's redshirt and put him in. I doubt that Nelson is better than Chapman right now anyways as a true freshman.