Game 2: UAB Blazers @ Akron – 12 pm

[LoyalZIP]

7 hours ago, zipsoutsider said:

Let the Arth excuses commence...sorry, he's on the clock, now. The recruits had little to do with the lack of discipline and overall lack of gameplan. He seems in over his head.

 

???????

[LZIp]

At the end of the day, you all can keep your agendas or lose 'em. You can choose to support the guys and coaches out there busting their asses or you can choose to sit around and bitch behind the keyboard about a decision that has already been made. I know where I stand and I know what decision is going to make me less miserable of a person. I'm a Zips fan and I'm going to root for whoever is out there, hope for the best, and try to be rational in analysis.

[72 Roo]

As I sat in the stands watching this game I reflected that we are first and foremost an academic institution. So what grades would this game produce? Here's my opinion for what it's worth. BTW, I support coach Arth and will give him the time he needs. Additionally, I thought coach Bowden deserved to be let go. Here's my grades. I welcome your criticism.

• Coaching - D
• Special Teams - F
• O Line - F
• WR's - B/B+
• RB's - D-
•  QB - C
• D Line - D+
• LB's - B
• DB's - F
• Fans - F

[ZipsVoice]

1 hour ago, 72 Roo said:

As I sat in the stands watching this game I reflected that we are first and foremost an academic institution. So what grades would this game produce? Here's my opinion for what it's worth. BTW, I support coach Arth and will give him the time he needs. Additionally, I thought coach Bowden deserved to be let go. Here's my grades. I welcome your criticism.

• Coaching - D
• Special Teams - F
• O Line - F
• WR's - B/B+
• RB's - D-
•  QB - C
• D Line - D+
• LB's - B
• DB's - F
• Fans - F

Can't argue with any of these...Professor!

[Dr Z]

11 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Excellent article. 

I agree well done.

The article points out the two issues that left a lasting impression on me.

The Zips need to work hard to fix the punting game, and the running game. One should be easy, the other is not so easy. 

 

Go Zips!

[blueandgold]

I don't get a chance to get to too many Zips games. I was excited to get a chance to go on Saturday. With that being said, I couldn't even make it through the 3rd quarter. Sad.

[Ham]

I had 11 hours of drive time to reflect yesterday.  I don't think the game was a total disaster.  We held their run game in check.  Jest had a notable day.  Total lack of pressure on QB needs attention.  Riley got beat on a 75 yd TD pass.  Give some credit to their QB & WR, but he also had an INT and he closed fast to make a nice defend at our goal line.  He is a R/So with time to improve.  We showed some heart closing with 14 Q4 points.  I do think special teams lost this one for us.  On their K/O to our 2yd line; I think Boogie made the right decision.   That ball was either destined to go into the end zone or out of bounds; either of which would have been a good out come.  The Blazers just got there in time to force him to cover the ball.  When we finally did get a 50yd punt, their blind side block tacked on 15 more yds, but more notable to me was our coverage only allowed a 5yd return!  Past years we got 40 yd punts with 20yd returns.  Grade coaching a D?  Let's see how we mature through the season before we post any grades.  It's not even midterms yet!

[ewbrooman1]

I scoured my PD sports sections yesterday and couldn't find any story on the Akron or Kent games. Not even a paragraph wire report. Maybe the MAC coverage retired with Elton Alexander?

[Dr Z]

Dustin Burkhart has earned MAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the East Division. Burkhart had a career-best 217 receiving yards on the day. The last time an Akron receiver had more than 200 yards was in 2007 by Jabari Arthur, who had 223 yards. Burkhart’s 217 receiving yards rank second on UA’s all-time receiving yards for a game behind Arthur’s 223.

 

 

[Zipmeister]

On 9/7/2019 at 8:23 PM, akronzips71 said:

I'm with you brother.

There was no reason to sack Bowden. He brought us back from last in the NCAA.

 

I must disagree. Terry's Achilles heal was blind loyalty to an OC who didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

The sooner he would have shed that dullard from the staff the higher the probability that he would still be our head coach.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Zipmeister
.

[AKSportsFan]

Look guys we're famous!

Turnover Pencil

[I love Zippy]

 

https://sportsnaut.com/2019/09/15-most-jaw-dropping-performances-from-cfb-week-2/

[Captain Kangaroo]

The positives out of the day -

 

• Beautiful weather! How often does that happen at a Zips home football game? 
• Burkhart was great. To be honest, he had the type of game I'd have predicted from Boogie.  It will be interesting to see if he's a 1-hit wonder, or he can back it up. He played well at Illinois, so I'm guessing he's going to have a nice season.
• While UAB isn't bucking for a New Year's Day bowl this year, they're not bad. Their QB was accurate. Their o-line gave him pocket time that Kato could only dream of having, It's amazing how good your passing game can be if you have all day to throw. 
• UAB's D-line had good size.
• UAB drew 39,000 fans for their hope opener, and is building a $175 million dollar stadium. While Joe Akron isn't too familiar with them, they're a solid program. Even in what might be considered a down year.
• Kato never had all day to throw. He barely had 2 seconds from the snap to get rid of the ball. It's unbelievable that he could throw for over 300 yards under those circumstances.
• The Zips running game again disappointed. But the backs never had a gap to hit. Last season you could chalk up the Zips running issues to an unimaginative scheme. We tried a variety of different looks against UAB and nothing worked. 
• Ineffective pass and run blocking gives you what we saw on Saturday. The Blazer D-line just pushed the Zips back and collapsed the pocket every time. Conversely, our D-line was easily fended off.
• Hope Council isn't hurt too bad. He returned to the sideline sans any air cast or crutches, so it seems like a minor ding.
• Keyondre White was on the sideline. Must be injured?
• Is the solution to Kato buying time to throw rolling him out? Seems like the obvious choice. It's either that, or the o-line needs to make some huge strides over the next couple weeks.
• Does Andre Williams get a chance to return some kicks? Hopefully the staff is just being cautious in bringing him back from his long layoff. His snap count needs to increase.
• Alvin Davis' name is not being called enough on the PA system. I realize the numbers game somewhat forces the staff's hand to play him at the corner (we have a little depth at safety, but none at CB), but we can't continue to get burnt deep. I would love to see Davis back at safety where he can make a bigger impact on the game.
• Tutu sat out 2018 as a gray shirt, so he deserves some patience as he acclimates to the college game. Hope he's a quick learner. 
• I saw Wieland punt in HS and he was awesome. I don't know whether it's jitters...the 2 year layoff from playing...problems adjusting to the punt-on-the-run rugby-style kick...but he's gotta get it together. I never saw Fitchen kick in HS, but he's gotta get it together too. I've never seen such problems as the Zips have kicking the ball...or on special teams in general.
• There were bright spots Saturday - Lako and Bubba played well. Riley showed some resilience after getting off to a rough start. Jest had a great game. Scippio found the endzone for his first college TD. I thought we tackled well, and fought hard to the end. Kato is a gamer.
• Arth seems to me to be first and foremost a teacher. A very hands-on teacher. He now has 8 quarters of game film to start addressing our shortcomings. We'll see what he can do.
• To paraphrase Rick Pitino..."Andy Alleman ain't walking through that door...Brent Biggs ain't walking through that door...Rodney Coe and Jatavis Brown aren't walking through that door...".  We are who we are...a team coming off a 4-8 season that lost 90% of it's defense from 2018. The final two 2017 games prior to the 4-8 season, we were down 35-0 to Toledo, and lost 50 - 3 to FAU. So anyone writing off Arth after losing to teams that were flat-out better than these rebuilding Zips...and funded beyond the Zips wildest imagination...should keep "I told you so's" to themselves. It just clutters the board.

Go Zips. Beat the Chipps!

[ZippyRulz]

3 hours ago, Dr Z said:

Dustin Burkhart has earned MAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for the East Division. Burkhart had a career-best 217 receiving yards on the day. The last time an Akron receiver had more than 200 yards was in 2007 by Jabari Arthur, who had 223 yards. Burkhart’s 217 receiving yards rank second on UA’s all-time receiving yards for a game behind Arthur’s 223.

 

 

 

If Burkhart emerges as a first string WR I wonder if one of the other receivers could help us on defense(?)

 

[Dr Z]

43 minutes ago, ZippyRulz said:

If Burkhart emerges as a first string WR I wonder if one of the other receivers could help us on defense(?)

 

I think some sort of pass rush would help our secondary most. 

[ZippyRulz]

59 minutes ago, Dr Z said:

 

I think some sort of pass rush would help our secondary most. 

 

I agree. Maybe one of our speedy receivers would be good at blitzing ?

[LZIp]

I feel like Sampson would be a pretty elite pass rusher ?‍♂️ Doesn't seem to be getting many snaps though.

[Spin]

On the other hand, at least we're not the Browns...

 

We might have beaten them yesterday.

[ZipsVoice]

8 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

I've never seen such problems as the Zips have kicking the ball...

Not to get off topic too far but during the last 2 seasons and the first two weeks of this season watching NCAA D1 football, it amazes me how bad the punting and kicking game os for lots of schools, including top 25 teams.  Michigan may have won a national championship a few seasons ago if they even had a mediocre kicker.  USC lost three games the last two seasons because of none of their top 3 kickers could hit anything over 30 yards as far as FGs go.  There's a lot more, just pend a Saturday watching 3 to 5 games.  I know lots of us has said if we had a child starting football we'd get him trained up to be a kicker, there's a sure-thing scholly waiting for them out there if they're just competent.   Why do you (anyone out there in ZNO-land) think this is?   With how much our kids get single sport specific training, how come there aren't more decent kickers?

[kreed5120]

18 hours ago, ZipsVoice said:

Not to get off topic too far but during the last 2 seasons and the first two weeks of this season watching NCAA D1 football, it amazes me how bad the punting and kicking game os for lots of schools, including top 25 teams.  Michigan may have won a national championship a few seasons ago if they even had a mediocre kicker.  USC lost three games the last two seasons because of none of their top 3 kickers could hit anything over 30 yards as far as FGs go.  There's a lot more, just pend a Saturday watching 3 to 5 games.  I know lots of us has said if we had a child starting football we'd get him trained up to be a kicker, there's a sure-thing scholly waiting for them out there if they're just competent.   Why do you (anyone out there in ZNO-land) think this is?   With how much our kids get single sport specific training, how come there aren't more decent kickers?

 

If I had to guess I'd say it's because that's not a glory position so the best athletes aren't "wasting" their time with it. I'm getting even a little more off topic here, but just want to answer your question with an example. I'm not a huge soccer fan, but am a casual follower. Those that have followed the game more closely told me the one position that the US consistently produces elite talent at is goalkeeper. The reason they said we're able to do that is because kids here growing up view that position more highly than other countries where they treat it like being a catcher in baseball so US goalkeepers typically attract a higher caliber of athlete than other countries to the position.

[Lee Adams]

On 9/9/2019 at 1:13 PM, Captain Kangaroo said:

The positives out of the day -

 

• Beautiful weather! How often does that happen at a Zips home football game? 
• Burkhart was great. To be honest, he had the type of game I'd have predicted from Boogie.  It will be interesting to see if he's a 1-hit wonder, or he can back it up. He played well at Illinois, so I'm guessing he's going to have a nice season.
• While UAB isn't bucking for a New Year's Day bowl this year, they're not bad. Their QB was accurate. Their o-line gave him pocket time that Kato could only dream of having, It's amazing how good your passing game can be if you have all day to throw. 
• UAB's D-line had good size.
• UAB drew 39,000 fans for their hope opener, and is building a $175 million dollar stadium. While Joe Akron isn't too familiar with them, they're a solid program. Even in what might be considered a down year.
• Kato never had all day to throw. He barely had 2 seconds from the snap to get rid of the ball. It's unbelievable that he could throw for over 300 yards under those circumstances.
• The Zips running game again disappointed. But the backs never had a gap to hit. Last season you could chalk up the Zips running issues to an unimaginative scheme. We tried a variety of different looks against UAB and nothing worked. 
• Ineffective pass and run blocking gives you what we saw on Saturday. The Blazer D-line just pushed the Zips back and collapsed the pocket every time. Conversely, our D-line was easily fended off.
• Hope Council isn't hurt too bad. He returned to the sideline sans any air cast or crutches, so it seems like a minor ding.
• Keyondre White was on the sideline. Must be injured?
• Is the solution to Kato buying time to throw rolling him out? Seems like the obvious choice. It's either that, or the o-line needs to make some huge strides over the next couple weeks.
• Does Andre Williams get a chance to return some kicks? Hopefully the staff is just being cautious in bringing him back from his long layoff. His snap count needs to increase.
• Alvin Davis' name is not being called enough on the PA system. I realize the numbers game somewhat forces the staff's hand to play him at the corner (we have a little depth at safety, but none at CB), but we can't continue to get burnt deep. I would love to see Davis back at safety where he can make a bigger impact on the game.
• Tutu sat out 2018 as a gray shirt, so he deserves some patience as he acclimates to the college game. Hope he's a quick learner. 
• I saw Wieland punt in HS and he was awesome. I don't know whether it's jitters...the 2 year layoff from playing...problems adjusting to the punt-on-the-run rugby-style kick...but he's gotta get it together. I never saw Fitchen kick in HS, but he's gotta get it together too. I've never seen such problems as the Zips have kicking the ball...or on special teams in general.
• There were bright spots Saturday - Lako and Bubba played well. Riley showed some resilience after getting off to a rough start. Jest had a great game. Scippio found the endzone for his first college TD. I thought we tackled well, and fought hard to the end. Kato is a gamer.
• Arth seems to me to be first and foremost a teacher. A very hands-on teacher. He now has 8 quarters of game film to start addressing our shortcomings. We'll see what he can do.
• To paraphrase Rick Pitino..."Andy Alleman ain't walking through that door...Brent Biggs ain't walking through that door...Rodney Coe and Jatavis Brown aren't walking through that door...".  We are who we are...a team coming off a 4-8 season that lost 90% of it's defense from 2018. The final two 2017 games prior to the 4-8 season, we were down 35-0 to Toledo, and lost 50 - 3 to FAU. So anyone writing off Arth after losing to teams that were flat-out better than these rebuilding Zips...and funded beyond the Zips wildest imagination...should keep "I told you so's" to themselves. It just clutters the board.

Go Zips. Beat the Chipps!

Fully agree that Davis should move back to the back end. He is a 'security blanket' when he is back there. He knows how to play back there. And, yes Illinois and UAB had far superior athletes at almost every position. Bigger,faster. Thats the difference between Conference USA and most of the MAC. Concentrate on the MAC! Arth gets the same amount of time as the others before him. (I'll assume it won't be as bad as Ianello). CMU game is really important.

[Captain Kangaroo]

2 hours ago, Lee Adams said:

I'll assume it won't be as bad as Ianello

After 1...maybe 2 games, I was done with I-and-ll-o. It was a combination of what I saw on the field, and how he treated people as a human being. He was a first class jerkwad. There was no way he succeeded as a HC.

 

Arth has so many positives...he's a great person (Ianello wasn't), he's a tireless, energetic hands-on teacher (Bowden was much more into delegating). 

 

I haven't seen anything from Arth that makes be believe he won't be highly successful at Akron in a few short years. It sucks that turning around 30 years of, at-best, mediocre football, takes time. But he seems to have the acumen, tools, and energy to do it. Barring injuries, which always screw up any predictions. I expect the Zips will continue to improve as the 2019 season progresses. They definitely won't tank, and finger-point. 

 

Heck, they could be 2-2 at the end of September?

 

Go Zips! 

[Balsy]

On 9/8/2019 at 7:54 AM, LZIp said:

1) Arth had I believe the #1 and #2 recruiting classes in his conference in his two years at UT-C.

2) Per 247, last year Arth, in 2 months with early signing day working against him, literally put together the 2nd best recruiting class compared to everybody since 2012 (the year Bowden started). In Bowden's best class, which ranked #113 (compared to Arth's #114), his class averaged 2 points lower per recruit than Arth's did and many of those players didn't even end up making it to campus.

 

Just facts man.

 

Are we seriously talking about the #1 and #2 recruiting classes at an FCS school right now?  Please...stop.

[Balsy]

On 9/8/2019 at 11:07 AM, kreed5120 said:

You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

I'm sorry you think that.  Believe it or not...apples and oranges are quite similar. (I know it's a cliche, but I felt like being an overly pedantic asshole).

Edited September 13, 2019 by Balsy

[Balsy]

On 9/8/2019 at 11:31 AM, Lee Adams said:

I guess we will find out in a couple of years won't we?

 

Yes, I suppose we will won't we.