Week 1, Western Michigan

[John Ward]

23 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

Uh oh.  I noticed he tweaked what appeared to be his knee on a play.  But I didn't notice him leaving the game.  I noticed R-Fr. Shawn Naim getting quite a few reps in the 2nd half but thought it was because the coaches though the game was out of reach.

No offense to Mr Naim but wondering with the stable of WRs we have, why he was playing before some others.Am I missing something here. Is he that good. If so why didn't he play at all last yr?Nothing made sense to me last night personnel wise. 

[LZIp]

4 minutes ago, John Ward said:

No offense to Mr Naim but wondering with the stable of WRs we have, why he was playing before some others.Am I missing something here. Is he that good. If so why didn't he play at all last yr?Nothing made sense to me last night personnel wise. 

Also playing a lot was true freshman Tony Grimes, who is a walk on. Both him and Naim were getting playing time over Terry Bowden recruit Gavin Blunt, who is on scholly and did play, as well as scholly WR Kevin Walls, who I don't believe played. A lot the personnel didn't make much sense to me either. I have to assume it mostly wasn't out of choice.

Edited November 5, 2020 by LZIp

[Spin]

7 hours ago, bigjim said:

How are we going to win with 4 red shirt freshman on the line.  In 2 years, they should be dynamite, but not this year.  they did get pushed around a lot.

 

It's a complete build. We'll know in a couple years whether Tom Arth is the man to build a conference contender or not. Actually, with the economics of the university, we have him until his contract is up. The previous regime didn't leave him much to work with.

 

I understand in northeast Ohio "rebuild" is a four letter word. I've lived it too.

[dre22era]

Youngstown State would a ran circles around that team last-night 

COVID-19 saved us the embarrassment 

[ZippityDoDah]

New to the forum but I have to say last nights performance was embarrassing.  The play calling looked like mid level high school stuff.  They did not even try to use tight ends.  While Gibson might show promise, he will not last long injury free with those 1/2 basketball 1/2 football running and jumping passes he was throwing.  Not going to have any trouble stopping the run if you don't spread the field and throw a few long balls once in a while.  Western Michigan did a great job of mixing it up.  Very disappointed in the corners and watching them give up - horrible coverage.  Sorry but I expected a lot more from this team.

Edited November 5, 2020 by ZippityDoDah

[a-zip]

3 hours ago, LZIp said:

Perspective is important. If we still had UMASS, YSU, and NMSU on the schedule I'd expect a couple wins. Instead we get stuck with a MAC West contender and suddenly a pretty good MAC East. Many redshirt freshman, true freshman, and even walk-ons spent a lot of time on the field last night. If anyone expected this team to be around .500 this season, you haven't been paying attention. We will be lucky to win one game, and we really need to win one to get the stink off of us.

 

I updated the scholarship chart based on the most current roster. We have 65 players on scholly. TWENTY down from the max..so 20 down from the rest of our competition. Tough for anybody to win with that, but Arth does deserve some blame for not doing more to keep players here. I think he is too high on character, which is a good thing for the future, but not now. I think he has driven many players out because of that. On top of the numbers, there were many scholarship players who seemingly weren't available last night - whether it be from corona or injuries. Cole Gest, Kato, DeMarkus Glover, Demetrick Watts, and Eric Bentley are all players you'd expect to see out there, but they weren't at all. The program really was tore down to the studs and is in the process of being built back up. Just win a game this season, if he can't do that....we may be looking at starting back over, and I fear starting the "rebuilding" process yet again.

Zips Football Scholarship Chart.xlsx 13.28 kB · 1 download

"Rebuilding" implies we are trying to get to a desired place we were once at ?

[Blue & Gold]

Jordyn Riley made SportsCenter ?

[UA1987]

If there is 1 bright spot - Knight averaged 6.7 yards per carry. 

[Blue & Gold]

36 minutes ago, UA1987 said:

If there is 1 bright spot - Knight averaged 6.7 yards per carry. 

I thought both Boogie & Dollard looked legit.  Especially for how young the OL & QB are I thought the O played well.

 

 

[Spin]

2 hours ago, a-zip said:

"Rebuilding" implies we are trying to get to a desired place we were once at ?

 

When your ultimate goal is to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and maybe a non-Conference upset, it doesn't seem like we're exactly shooting for the stars. ?

[Zipmeister]

4 hours ago, ZippityDoDah said:

New to the forum but I have to say last nights performance was embarrassing.  The play calling looked like mid level high school stuff.  They did not even try to use tight ends.  While Gibson might show promise, he will not last long injury free with those 1/2 basketball 1/2 football running and jumping passes he was throwing.  Not going to have any trouble stopping the run if you don't spread the field and throw a few long balls once in a while.  Western Michigan did a great job of mixing it up.  Very disappointed in the corners and watching them give up - horrible coverage.  Sorry but I expected a lot more from this team.

 

I will forgive you because you are new here, but we have an extended history of not targeting what you call tight ends. Here we call them decoys.

[DannyHoke]

The inability to tackle, or even appear to give a damn on defense is a telling sign.

[Dr Z]

2 hours ago, UA1987 said:

If there is 1 bright spot - Knight averaged 6.7 yards per carry. 

I agree, I thought Boogie looked good at RB. I wouldn't have predicted that one. I'd like to hear how that went down. 

Two other bright spots, I thought Mathison exhibited some nice skills. The other would be Cory Smigel. He drilled both field goals. He's impressive for his size. 

I'll save my negative comments for later in the season if we don't progress. Come on Zips, put it together! 

 

I have never been passionate one way or the other about junior college, or upperclassmen transfers. You can be successful with or without, but this team looks like it could sure use more than a few.  

[94zipgrad]

1 hour ago, Dr Z said:

I agree, I thought Boogie looked good at RB. I wouldn't have predicted that one. I'd like to hear how that went down. 

Two other bright spots, I thought Mathison exhibited some nice skills. The other would be Cory Smigel. He drilled both field goals. He's impressive for his size. 

I'll save my negative comments for later in the season if we don't progress. Come on Zips, put it together! 

 

I have never been passionate one way or the other about junior college, or upperclassmen transfers. You can be successful with or without, but this team looks like it could sure use more than a few.  

I was on this board last year saying they should move him to running back.  He was a running back in high school and at Ohio State until he tore his ACL & transitioned to WR but he wasn’t a good WR, was good with ball in hand but wasn’t explosive enough to create separation 

[Blue & Gold]

 

[clarkwgriswold]

Called the ticket office today.  Immediately dumped to voice mail.  No call back.  They must be really busy.

[72 Roo]

7 hours ago, Zipmeister said:

 

I will forgive you because you are new here, but we have an extended history of not targeting what you call tight ends. Here we call them decoys.

Wrong my old soccer friend! Decoys are only useful if there is an outside chance they will actually be the target of a pass. Opposing defenses, and Zip  fans, have long ago given up on the idea that our TE's could one day be thrown a pass.

[UAZipster0305]

1 hour ago, 72 Roo said:

Wrong my old soccer friend! Decoys are only useful if there is an outside chance they will actually be the target of a pass. Opposing defenses, and Zip  fans, have long ago given up on the idea that our TE's could one day be thrown a pass.

 

Our TE's are more likely to throw a pass than receive one.

[LZIp]

Our TE did actually catch a pass. However, staying true to form throughout their career thus far, actually got hurt on the play.

[clarkwgriswold]

The name of this ZipsNation thread shall be changed to "Misery Loves Company."

[zipsoutsider]

On 11/5/2020 at 9:17 AM, Spin said:

 

It's a complete build. We'll know in a couple years whether Tom Arth is the man to build a conference contender or not. Actually, with the economics of the university, we have him until his contract is up. The previous regime didn't leave him much to work with.

 

I understand in northeast Ohio "rebuild" is a four letter word. I've lived it too.

This is year 2....I would hope we don't wait until year 4 for results. Also, there is zero reason for optimism. 

 

Larry Williams' ego has already cost the program, dearly.

 

On 11/5/2020 at 1:51 PM, Spin said:

 

When your ultimate goal is to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, and maybe a non-Conference upset, it doesn't seem like we're exactly shooting for the stars. ?

Well, there you go. Someone choosing to ignore the number of accomplishments in terms of wins as a D 1 program, bowl game appearances, and MaC championship appearances.

 

Arth appears to be exactly what I thought he would be: a nothingburger.

Edited November 6, 2020 by zipsoutsider

[UA1987]

Earlier in this thread I mentioned about the lack of playing time for Bowden recruit Logan Hawkins in this game. I thought I saw him in for only 1 play, I beleive. He was dressed - I saw him standing on the edge of the team on the sideline. At 6'2" 294 lbs and now a sophomore I would think they would be running him in on every third play or so to keep the line from getting tired, if not starting. He was a very good recuit (offers from Eastern Mich, Army and Navy - good grades too) and I would hope this coaching staff is not ignoring him as he is not one of their's. The DL needs help - play Hawkins! If I were him, I would consider transferring to EMU if he does not get a chance here (just qualifying the risk to Akron not making a recommendation).           

Edited November 6, 2020 by UA1987

[LZIp]

1 hour ago, UA1987 said:

Earlier in this thread I mentioned about the lack of playing time for Bowden recruit Logan Hawkins in this game. I thought I saw him in for only 1 play, I beleive. He was dressed - I saw him standing on the edge of the team on the sideline. At 6'2" 294 lbs and now a sophomore I would think they would be running him in on every third play or so to keep the line from getting tired, if not starting. He was a very good recuit (offers from Eastern Mich, Army and Navy - good grades too) and I would hope this coaching staff is not ignoring him as he is not one of their's. The DL needs help - play Hawkins! If I were him, I would consider transferring to EMU if he does not get a chance here (just qualifying the risk to Akron not making a recommendation).           

He played quite a bit last year and I believe quite a bit last week..at least much more than a play. I don’t remember him making a play his entire career thus far.

[UA1987]

20 minutes ago, LZIp said:

He played quite a bit last year and I believe quite a bit last week..at least much more than a play. I don’t remember him making a play his entire career thus far.

I was watching for his number #67 on the DL for most of the game. Did not see him but once. He reminds me of a Brock Boxen type player. I will focus on the DL in the Ohio game too. Hopefully they don't spend the whole game on their backs again.    

[bigjim]

3 hours ago, UA1987 said:

I was watching for his number #67 on the DL for most of the game. Did not see him but once. He reminds me of a Brock Boxen type player. I will focus on the DL in the Ohio game too. Hopefully they don't spend the whole game on their backs again.    

I agree that Hawkins should be playing.  From a big picture, the Zips have more DL depth than ever, although they are young.  I would recommend going to a 4 man front and rotating in the DL men.  With a 3 man front, you need good line backers, and we are very weak at this position.  Let's utilize the DL depth that exists.