Game 5—@Kent State Golden Flashes

[LosAngelesZipFan]

Just watched the ending... I withdraw all my doubts on Chapman....that pass to Natson was perfect.   Wow, what a crazy ending.  MTB has got to get more touches...

 

We have a crazy amount of playmakers on this team... they have to find a way to chew up clock, keep the defense off the field and as fresh as possible.

Edited October 2, 2016 by LosAngelesZipFan

[Section210Zip]

During Kent's band at halftime I got on here and seen everyone was about to commit suicide. We came back and won so I hope all of you are alright.

[skip-zip]

10 minutes ago, Section210Zip said:

I hope all of you are alright.

 

Barely.  I think I just finally stopped shaking.  

 

[zipsoutsider]

33 minutes ago, Section210Zip said:

During Kent's band at halftime I got on here and seen everyone was about to commit suicide. We came back and won so I hope all of you are alright.

Emotionally spent.  What a game. 

[roopride]

What an emotional roster coaster.  I mixed between frustrated an ecstatic. Going with ecstatic. 

[zipsoutsider]

Marla Ridenour: Trip to Kent revives old pain, but UA backup quarterback Tra’Von Chapman finds redemption

Quote

After pregame warm-ups, Chapman found out that starter Thomas Woodson had decided his bruised right shoulder suffered in last week’s loss to Appalachian State wouldn’t allow him to throw effectively. Chapman, who lost the starting job to Woodson after the first three games last season, would be behind center against the rival Golden Flashes.

 

University of Akron 31, Kent State 27: Backup quarterback Tra’Von Chapman overcomes early struggles, makes big play to help Zips keep Wagon Wheel

[zipsoutsider]

Great win, lots of emotion and character shown today. Defense still has me anxious as we look ahead to more challenging games. Glad to see Brown and Moore getting reps on D as they both play with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. This game was more about moments than stats and I hope that is the most our offense struggles all year.

 

As has been noted, the character demonstrated by Chapman today was something amazing. What a tremendous young man. From Marla's article, linked above, this tells you a lot about this kid:

 

Quote

 

“Tommy deserves to be the starter — he led the team. If I go around saying I should be the starter, this team is going to fall apart,” Chapman said. “You can’t have that. If I would have done that, I would have come into this situation today and played the second half like I did the first half.

“I had to know that I’m here to not take over anything, just keep the wagon going.”

 

 

Positive Take-Aways:

• Penalties were, again, lower (6-64)
• Kicker and punter played well
• Tra'von Chapman 2nd half turn-around
• Guiser, Jones, Gilbert played well
• JoJo, being JoJo
• Wolf, making ridiculous catches, again
• MTB with clutch plays
• Defensive stops at the end of Q2, and middle of Q4
• Wagon Wheel stays home
• 3 wins towards bowl eligibility, 1-0 in the Mac, 3-2 overall
• More defensive penetration into the backfield, sacks

 

Not so great:

• Defense - tackling was atrocious, overall teams can run on us, almost at will
• 1st half Tra'von Chapman mistakes
• No defensive take-aways

 

 

[ZachTheZip]

So Chapman had exactly zero time to prepare as starter. No snaps with the 1st team, no time to get in the right state of mind. Not even during warm-ups for the actual game. No surprise that it took him some time to settle in.

Edited October 2, 2016 by ZachTheZip

[lance99]

20 minutes ago, zipsoutsider said:

Not so great:

• Defense - tackling was atrocious, overall teams can run on us, almost at will
• 1st half Tra'von Chapman mistakes
• No defensive take-aways

 

 

^This

Tackling in College Football in general is poor, but in the Zips case, is very poor.

 

Second, this team built the house on Defense and did it just fall apart this Season? I am very worried in a Couple week's because it could become a track meet.....

[zipsoutsider]

18 minutes ago, lance99 said:

^This

Tackling in College Football in general is poor, but in the Zips case, is very poor.

 

Second, this team built the house on Defense and did it just fall apart this Season? I am very worried in a Couple week's because it could become a track meet.....

We rode on the backs of an exceptional front 7 for the last 2 years. They graduated and we didn't get the transfers to fill those shoes and the younger talent is not there, yet, and it remains to be seen whether they can get there. Hard to say what transfers we tried to get and didn't. My guess is that we will see more, again next year. I think last year's Zips D will be hard to ever match. But, we must get better. You don't build championship programs with a defense like we have this year.

[skip-zip]

10 hours ago, ZachTheZip said:

So Chapman had exactly zero time to prepare as starter. No snaps with the 1st team, no time to get in the right state of mind. Not even during warm-ups for the actual game. No surprise that it took him some time to settle in.

 

I think that we don't know.  Was it lack of preparation?  Was the first half a repeat of his ineffectiveness at the beginning of last season?  Did he just have a good half?  Or....has he simply gotten better over the last year?  A lot of possibilities here.  

 

I'm just glad he played well enough to win against a bad team.  Hopefully it's the only time we'll need him.  But at the very least, he got some real game work if we ever need him again.  

[UA1987]

I have to say that their Nick Holley was almost heroic in his effort. but we retained the Wheel and we now have a back up QB.    

Edited October 2, 2016 by UA1987

[LZIp]

Want to start to say how proud I am of Chapman. By all accounts, he seems like a great teammate. It's impressive due to his story. A lot of other players wouldn't handle his circumstances as well as he has. That first half couldn't have been worse and he knew it. He had zero time to prepare as the starter this week, no or very little time with the first team offense, but once he got his timing down some he actually played a pretty decent half. I am happy for him. Especially since it was over our biggest rival and his hometown team.

 

Our LB corp at this point is the biggest weakness on our team, IMO. Gilbert is awesome. He reminds me so much of Jatavis. If I had one complaint it would be that he needs to finish plays better. I'm confident he will get there. Bell and Rachal don't do anything for me. No plays made at or behind the line of scrimmage and are huge liabilities in the passing game. Bell disappoints a little more as he is the highest caliber recruit in the whole unit. I haven't seen any development at all and we are near the midpoint of the season. I'd like to see some other guys getting worked in there to see if they show anything. I noticed Lloyd some more in the second half. Junius was listed as the starter over Bell earlier in the year, but I have not noticed him on the field at all, not even special teams. Lako has made a few plays this year.

 

Lastly, have to say that Holley played one hell of a game for Kent. I wasn't around during the Cribbs/Edelman days, but that performance yesterday had to be pretty reminiscent if I had to guess.

Edited October 2, 2016 by LZIp

[LZIp]

Something else that caught my eye...I heard them say yesterday that Kyron Brown was a Redshirt Freshman. I swear he played last season. Sure enough, he is listed the same on GoZips.com. I guess that's good news that he will have an extra year of eligibility than I think we thought?

[Dr Z]

Miscellaneous thoughts:

Watching the Zips without Woodson is like watching the Steelers without Ben. 

Byrce Jones had an incredible game.

Nick Holley probably made for some intense defensive practices this week, and that's probably a good thing.

It was fun watching Chapman's second half of football. 

The short yardage package with MTB is way better/effective than it was with Grice. I want more. Will he ever throw?

I'm starting to gain confidence in the ball going through the uprights.

I wish Dustin Fox did the game solo. 

The offensive line is becoming a strength. Who is coaching them again?

This defense is going to start getting some turnovers soon. Coach Amato's defenses are always better at the end of the year.

I will miss JoJo next year, he is special. 

 

[kreed5120]

I'm beginning to lose faith that this defense will ever turn their season around. It's a shame because if we had last years defense with this years offense, we could be having a very special season. 

[Balsy]

21 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I'm beginning to lose faith that this defense will ever turn their season around. It's a shame because if we had last years defense with this years offense, we could be having a very special season. 

 

We are already having a special season.  3-2 (1-0) and the MAC east is weaker than ever.  We don't have to win by 20 to have a special season, all we have to do is win. 

[LZIp]

11 minutes ago, Balsy said:

 

We are already having a special season.  3-2 (1-0) and the MAC east is weaker than ever.  We don't have to win by 20 to have a special season, all we have to do is win. 

Good point. Important for us Zips fans to keep perspective. Going to go bowling for the 2nd straight season (3rd time in school history), probably play in the MAC championship game, and have a real chance to break the record for most wins in a season for the 2nd straight year.

[skip-zip]

55 minutes ago, Balsy said:

 

We are already having a special season.  3-2 (1-0) and the MAC east is weaker than ever.  We don't have to win by 20 to have a special season, all we have to do is win. 

 

One thing is certain.  We'll be more exciting to watch this year.   If we win more than we won last year because of it, that's an additional bonus, of course.  

 

I think we have a lot more games in the 40s, rather than games in the 20s from here on out.  

[kreed5120]

2 hours ago, Balsy said:

 

We are already having a special season.  3-2 (1-0) and the MAC east is weaker than ever.  We don't have to win by 20 to have a special season, all we have to do is win. 

 

By special I meant 10+ win team that receives some national recognition a la WMU. Potentially getting another 8 win season, which won't be an easy task, is great for Akron standards (which are incredible low) but I still wonder what could have been.

 

The MAC West probable has the 3 best teams in the MAC this season. If we had last years defense to go with this years offense, I'm confident that we would be as good, if not better, than WMU and UT.

 

Edit: Winning games close isn't what concerns me. Our defense getting shredded week after week while showing no signs of improvement is my concern. What does it matter if we make it out of perhaps the weakest division in all of FBS if we go to Detroit just to get run out of the stadium?

Edited October 2, 2016 by kreed5120

[zipsoutsider]

I think the fact that TC5 seemed to have no problem. Throwing completions to Kwadarius Smith might be an indicator that his issues are reps with the 1st team. With such speedy receivers, timing is pretty important. I remember reading that Tommy spent extra time in the off season working on timing with receivers. That being said, he did a much better job in the second half and I think it was more about his choices than anything.

 

Looks like Kent found a new QB but the model they used yesterday isn't sustainable. I am not sure when I have seen such a single handed effort on the gridiron. Even from our rival, it's nice to watch that kind of football.

 

 

[Balsy]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

By special I meant 10+ win team that receives some national recognition a la WMU. Potentially getting another 8 win season, which won't be an easy task, is great for Akron standards (which are incredible low) but I still wonder what could have been.

 

The MAC West probable has the 3 best teams in the MAC this season. If we had last years defense to go with this years offense, I'm confident that we would be as good, if not better, than WMU and UT.

 

Edit: Winning games close isn't what concerns me. Our defense getting shredded week after week while showing no signs of improvement is my concern. What does it matter if we make it out of perhaps the weakest division in all of FBS if we go to Detroit just to get run out of the stadium?

 

Because we haven't been to Detroit in over a decade.  It's a special season if you're doing things you've either never done, or haven't done in a very long time.  This team stands a very good chance of going 8-4 in the regular season, which has NEVER happened in school history.  Going to Detroit would be icing on the cake.  Hell, this team still stands a chance of getting a 10 or 9 win season.  

 

The thing is, we don't have last year's defense and we have a lot of young players.

Instead of wondering what "could have been" enjoy the reality that we are 3-2 (1-0) and tied for first in the MAC East.  

[LosAngelesZipFan]

I guess one sure sign of TB's progress is that we are now able to knit pick wins... 

 

Mine:  

1)  As all have noted, the defense got torched by a single guy, a non-qb, on team that has been terrible offensively.  Our D just got manhandled and run over much of the game.    Again.    Against Appy, they did get that last stop and the offense just couldn't get it done, but what has to happen/can happen to get the D to play more effectively?  (Tackling being one thing, as has been noted...)   One thought is that we need to chew up much more clock on offense... Kent had huge ToP advantage at half and it persisted through the game.   Need to keep the D off the field and as fresh legs as possible.  This should have been a blow out given their QB sitch, but ended up a nail biter.

 

2)  If Woody's shoulder was dicey enough to not play, how could Chapman not have been getting some reps w the first team?  He shouldn't have been so unprepared to start-- not really his fault.   Probably a real benefit to all that this happened, but seems like there should have been some gameplanning around this scenario during last week.

 

3)  MTB!  Wow...I'd love to see him, Natson and Lane get more touches in innovative ways.   Let's mix in that wildcat more often and not just in short yardage.   There was a reverse to Natson but I'd like to see more with him getting the ball and a chance to fly.   And also Lane.... there has got to be more ways to enable him to be a factor.    And when Woody is back, how about figuring out ways to work Chapman in-- obviously a great athlete.   Over the last few years we've progressed from a very conservative offensive (by necessity given the personnel) to one that now has the personnel to be much more wide open, but we are doing it in a somewhat "old fashioned" way-- throwing down field more.   Given the talent on the offense and the gelling of the o-line, I really wish we had more innovative sets and plays.    Seems like we should be able to pull that off...

 

A win's a win, especially against Kent but man it was way closer than it should have been...

Edited October 2, 2016 by LosAngelesZipFan

[zipsoutsider]

1 hour ago, LosAngelesZipFan said:

 

2)  If Woody's shoulder was dicey enough to not play, how could Chapman not have been getting some reps w the first team?  He shouldn't have been so unprepared to start-- not really his fault.   Probably a real benefit to all that this happened, but seems like there should have been some gameplanning around this scenario during last week.

It got banged up at Marshall (end of Q2). It appears to be a nagging injuring that turned out worse than anticipated and all expected him to be a go on Saturday until warm-ups.

 

1 hour ago, LosAngelesZipFan said:

And also Lane.... there has got to be more ways to enable him to be a factor.    And when Woody is back, how about figuring out ways to work Chapman in-- obviously a great athlete.  

Personally, I'd like to see Lane help his sown cause a little more. elite receivers find ways to get open, even with double coverage. If he wants to be in that realm, he is going to have to work a little harder to get open. I think lining up more wide-outs, including Smith, more frequently, can help him, but he also has to do some things on hos own.

Edited October 2, 2016 by zipsoutsider

[AyYo]

1 hour ago, zipsoutsider said:

It got banged up at Marshall (end of Q2). It appears to be a nagging injuring that turned out worse than anticipated and all expected him to be a go on Saturday until warm-ups.

 

Personally, I'd like to see Lane help his sown cause a little more. elite receivers find ways to get open, even with double coverage. If he wants to be in that realm, he is going to have to work a little harder to get open. I think lining up more wide-outs, including Smith, more frequently, can help him, but he also has to do some things on hos own.

So should we expect Woodson to play against Miami? Because that would make me feel much better.