Game 3—@Northwestern

[kreed5120]

17 hours ago, zippy5 said:

All the talk about the last play and no one has mentioned that we had a WR near that sideline without a defender within twenty yards of him. If Kato saw him and just threw it up inbounds, that would have been a fun little end to the game

I have to believe he saw the receiver. He may have very well believed air mailing it would eat up the full 7 seconds, meanwhile attempting to complete a pass with less hang time only for the pass to not get caught wouldn't.

Edited September 18, 2018 by kreed5120

[CDMac]

3 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

I have to believe he saw the receiver. He may have very well believed air mailing it would eat up the full seconds, meanwhile attempting to complete a pass with less hang time only for the pass to not get caught wouldn't.

TB stated in his post-game presser that they had specifically worked on this type of end-of-game scenario and that it had "always gotten us 7 seconds".

 

He went on to state that the reason it didn't in this case was because the D, having seen several rollouts from Kato already in our burn-the-clock sequence, was collapsing on him at a faster rate than planned for and he had to get rid of the ball sooner than he wanted lest he risk getting hit/tackled, etc.

 

I agree with TB's assessment there but I have to disagree with several of the clock/game/point management decisions they made prior to that penultimate play.

 

Coaches are often unduly criticized for good decision that have bad outcomes so I think it's only fair to not criticize them too harshly for poor decisions that ended up with a good result. 

[kreed5120]

8 minutes ago, CDMac said:

TB stated in his post-game presser that they had specifically worked on this type of end-of-game scenario and that it had "always gotten us 7 seconds".

 

He went on to state that the reason it didn't in this case was because the D, having seen several rollouts from Kato already in our burn-the-clock sequence, was collapsing on him at a faster rate than planned for and he had to get rid of the ball sooner than he wanted lest he risk getting hit/tackled, etc.

 

I agree with TB's assessment there but I have to disagree with several of the clock/game/point management decisions they made prior to that penultimate play.

 

Coaches are often unduly criticized for good decision that have bad outcomes so I think it's only fair to not criticize them too harshly for poor decisions that ended up with a good result. 

You can go through my post history. I've probably been one of the more critical Bowden posters on this forum. There were certainly things that I felt were mismanaged up until that last play, but I felt at the time sailing the ball out of bounds was the right call on that particular play. It's easy to second guess it now since it didn't run off the full 7 seconds. Hindsight is 20/20. Either way I'm glad to see the Zips won.

[zipsoutsider]

14 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

You can go through my post history. I've probably been one of the more critical Bowden posters on this forum. There were certainly things that I felt were mismanaged up until that last play, but I felt at the time sailing the ball out of bounds was the right call on that particular play. It's easy to second guess it now since it didn't run off the full 7 seconds. Hindsight is 20/20. Either way I'm glad to see the Zips won.

Overall, I liked the way they ran out the clock. That last play did not go as anyone expected and it did work out. I was a little surprised with the play call but the explanation made sense. 

 

The other option would have been Nelson doing a quick kick, but that seems far too risky.

[Captain Kangaroo]

27 minutes ago, CDMac said:

TB stated in his post-game presser that they had specifically worked on this type of end-of-game scenario and that it had "always gotten us 7 seconds".

7 seconds is about the absolute maximum time you could hope to burn off under a best case scenario. That play could never have used 8 seconds.

 

Punt. Even though we had a bad snap earlier in the game. Or, teach Kato the pooch punt. 

 

Regardless - we won. 

[NWAkron]

21 minutes ago, zipsoutsider said:

Overall, I liked the way they ran out the clock. That last play did not go as anyone expected and it did work out. I was a little surprised with the play call but the explanation made sense. 

 

The other option would have been Nelson doing a quick kick, but that seems far too risky.

I saw about 6 Wildcats running hard at him.   He risked injury or fumble.

[kreed5120]

27 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

7 seconds is about the absolute maximum time you could hope to burn off under a best case scenario. That play could never have used 8 seconds.

 

Punt. Even though we had a bad snap earlier in the game. Or, teach Kato the pooch punt. 

 

Regardless - we won. 

The thing is a blocked punt is almost a guaranteed lost and you know they'd be sending all 11 guys to do just that. Even if the pass doesn't run all the full 7 seconds they would still need to complete a 30 yard hail mary to the endzone. Personally, I think there was a greater chance of them blocking a punt and returning it for a TD compared to them having to both force a <7 second play & complete a 30 yard heave to the endzone. I suppose you may feel the opposite is true.

Edited September 18, 2018 by kreed5120

[Captain Kangaroo]

21 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

they would still need to complete a 30 yard hail mary to the endzone

I think your definition of a Hail Mary differs from mine by about 20 yards.

[Ham]

I can't believe that Kato couldn't have reversed field and out ran them even if all the way to a safety for 7 secs.  With any time left on the clock after a safety, kicking from the 20 would have truly put them in a hail mary situation.

[kreed5120]

37 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I think your definition of a Hail Mary differs from mine by about 20 yards.

 

The QB lobbed the ball into the endzone in an area 13 players were standing (8 of them Zips). The ball barely crossed the endzone. If there is another name for such a play it's news to me.

[Zipmlady]

6 hours ago, zip81 said:

Northwestern continues to struggle for an identity after Akron Loss

 

 

He’s an idiot.

[ZippyRulz]

5 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

 

The QB lobbed the ball into the endzone in an area 13 players were standing (8 of them Zips). The ball barely crossed the endzone. If there is another name for such a play it's news to me.

 

You'd think they would have had a Getsy-to-Hixon type of routed pass play instead of rolling out and heaving it up.

 

[Blue & Gold]

ABJ (Marla Ridenour): Program-defining football victory affirms belief, fuels Zips' climb to next level

[Blue & Gold]

ABJ (George Thomas): Captain Kyron Brown provided Zips lift needed to overcome Northwestern

 

This is a great article.  GT collected quotes from Bowden, Kyle Ritz, Ulysees Gilbert III, Kato & even Gerry Faust.

 

GT addressed the QB-OL problems in the first half & gives injury updates on DeMarcus Lloyd (out for season) and Shawn Featherstone (TBD).

Edited September 19, 2018 by Blue & Gold

[LZIp]

http://www.wksu.org/post/view-pluto-akron-football-channels-buchtel-college-win-ages#stream/0

[Dr Z]

58 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

GT addressed the QB-OL problems in the first half & gives injury updates on DeMarcus Lloyd (out for season) and Shawn Featherstone (TBD).

Shawn broke his fibula, and had a cast and was on crutches at the end of the game. He was supposed to have surgery this week. He will miss the remainder of the season, but wants to try to come back next season if possible. 

[LZIp]

 

[Blue & Gold]

Terry Pluto simply oozes condescension.

[Captain Kangaroo]

2.1 million? InfoCision will be paid off in no time flat!

 

Looks like the ABJ editors are moonlighting for WKSU? Can't read, can't write, can't add.

 

Quote

"So, Northwestern just paid $2.1 million to get beat by Akron in Evanston," Pluto said. The Zips were also supposed get $2.1 million to play at Nebraska to open the season, but the game was postponed due to weather. 

 

 

[ZippyRulz]

2 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Looks like the ABJ editors are moonlighting for WKSU? Can't read, can't write, can't add.

 

 

 

What would you estimate the actual attendance was for the game? It seems maybe NW would be better off going on the road for a payday themselves.

 

[94zipgrad]

29 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

What would you estimate the actual attendance was for the game? It seems maybe NW would be better off going on the road for a payday themselves.

 

I don’t have a number but school hadn’t started yet & I’m sure that didn’t help the numbers 

[Captain Kangaroo]

Marla Jumping on the Bandwagon

[Let'sGoZips94]

7 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Marla Jumping on the Bandwagon

 

Pretty powerful article. 

[UA1987]

Well, I can say I was there. The tailgate atmosphere was very good. Not many questions about our nickname, but one baited comment on Zippy. I thought of using the story that our University founder Buchtel was from Australia and he tried to start a kangaroo ranch here in 1870's, but the darn things kept knocking out the ranch hands. Instead I deferred to the lamer story that our mascot is a carnivorous marsupial native to Ohio and that is why we adopted the critter. Thankfully, no one knew Zippy is a girl. My nephew had a good idea in that we should wear kangaroo pouches to the tailgate, but I thought maybe we should just hand out zippers.

 

Anyhow, their stadium was nice. It did remind me a bit of the Rubber Bowl or Cleveland's Municipal stadium as it was ancient, but the field was top notch and there were about 30-35,000 fans there and they were loud. On the way up in the elevator some NU fan said aloud 'are we going to kick their ass or what' and I leaned into the group with my Zips hat and said 'no Akron will win'. They backed off. Then the same NU fan commented something like 'who was that a coach or something' as I exited and the elevator doors closed. Weather an hour before the game - perfect.

 

As Akron lined up early on, an NU fan I was with commented that Akron looked big on the lines. I said - 300 lbs at the tackles on defense and 300 lbs across the O-line. I had to endure all sorts of crap in the first half with comments like 'that's quite a well oiled machine you got there', as we committed an ungodly amount of penalties. Then the NU fan group near me started acting like they were at a craps table with screams of joy as our center #53 kept coming up with penalties. Despite the outcome so far this was a hard hitting game in the first half.

 

Then all crap shook loose. You know the story by now. Many stars on the Akron side, but Brian Bell physically dominated for Akron. Lako was good too and of course so was Davis. I actually heard an NU fan say they liked our QB better than Thorson. At the end, our D was tired and I knew they were vulnerable. Many NU fans were exiting and I said 'there's 5 minutes left where are you going?'. I grabbed one loud mouth's arm and said 'if it makes you feel any better this could be our first Big 10 win ever'. Most of their fans were great though.

 

To me, the greatest single Zips DIv I A play of all time was Hixon's catch against NIU in 2005, but this NU Zips contest was the best game of all time and I was there.                                         

Edited September 19, 2018 by UA1987

[zipsoutsider]

15 minutes ago, UA1987 said:

To me, the greatest single Zips DIv I A play of all time was Hixon's catch against NIU in 2005, but this NU Zips contest was the best game of all time and I was there.                                         

Loved every word of your write-up UA1987.