Captain's Log #12 -The Final Voyage

[Captain Kangaroo]

My home internet has been down for a week. Here are my thoughts regarding the final game. * Beautiful night for a football game...wish I saw one.* Our offense was absolutely pathetic. It was the worst offensive line performance I have seen at the Rubber Bowl in 20 years. Worse than Army. Say what you want regarding Luke's mobility...and you are probably correct...but no QB on the face of the earth would have had a snowball's chance in hell behind that line last Friday. WMU has a good defense...we made them look like OSU. How an offensive line consisting of 80% seniors...mostly 5th year seniors, could be so thoroughly dominated on senior day...at home...just makes me shake my head...Why?* When we were inside the 10 yard line...how predictable was it: A sack, followed by a Crouch holding penalty...followed by a missed FG. That's how we roll, I guess...* WMU's defensive complexity dwarfed our 3-3-5. You never knew where the WMU defenders were coming from. That said...our defense played a solid game. We still couldn't get pressure on the QB to save our lives...but played well enough to win if the O could have helped.* For all his competitive fire, for all his size (he dwarfs any MAC DB) Jabari still plays like a converted QB. He still has his head on a swivel awaiting a DB's hit. His fumble was a killer.* If Dennis Kennedy gets 90% of the RB carries next season, we are in a heap of trouble. In my perfect world he's a Marcus Allen or Moe Williams...someone that is primarily reserved for redzone situations. He can't carry the load for a full season. He was manhandled by the WMU defense. Yes the OL's invisibility had a lot to do with it, but he had ample opportunities to break a tackle...throw a stiff arm...spin...twist...fight...and he just goes down like a house of cards if someone sneezes on his shoelace.* John Mackey played his usual hard hitting game.* Our FG kicking was again atrocious. The call to use Domonokos on those two long FG's was correct...McClain would have been short on either of them. But Domonokos' fungoes were awful.* WMU is a solid team. Unlike the Zips, they beat an ACC team (Virginia) and didn't blow out their shoulders by patting themselves on the back afterwards. They scored a TD to go 26-28 on Florida State last week...only to have it called back on a phantom penalty. Funny how local scribes bemoaned the fact that the Zips played "big boys" and would get beaten up, while WMU plays an ACC school at year's end...narrowly loses to them...them follows it up with a 17-0 shut out of the defending MAC champs, on the road, the following week. Some teams "sack up" and other don't.* WMU will represent the MAC well in a Bowl this year. Had the Zips somehow eeeked into a Bowl, as a MAC fan I shudder to think how things would have panned-out.* BTW...WMU was 1-10 only two years ago.* In 20 years of attending Zips games, I can't remember a game I left early. I had to leave the WMU game with about 4 minutes left. It was too much to bear.* What a different feeling than last season. I can just hear Chris Berman: "Your soccer team didn't make the NCAA tourney...your senior-laden football team underachieved, going 5-7...Yes, It's a shitty time to be a Zips fan."I'll save any other comments for a season wrap-up column.

[blueandgold]

I agree CK. I was debating whether or not to go to the game. I figured since it was so nice out, why not go enjoy a good football game. What a waste of time and money. A few minutes into the 3rd quarter I was ready to go. There was no effort and no attempt to win the game. I was hoping to see CJ in at the start of the 4th quarter to get him some valuable experience, but that didn't happen. Getsy had no time since our line didn't block, but you could easily see that as soon as there was any pressure he looked scared. He threw the ball at the feet of the WMU D Line several times and when he did get the ball near one of our receivers it was short or too high or by the knees. If all the defenses we played against this year would have blitzed like WMU we may have gone 0-12. This was the worst I've seen in a long time!

[Balki Bartokomous]

Captain, saw you had the binoculars out. wouldn't the damage to your eyes caused by watching magnified crappy zips football be about the same as staring at the sun for two hours through a telescope? Now how are you supposed to watch (f)Luke Getsy towel off footballs for the referee crews in the CFL?

[Hilltopper]

It was obvious that CJ was not going to play unless Gesty was injured. I was watching him on the sidelines and he spent time practicing holding for place kicks, walking around while the first team O was getting coached between series and calling in the plays when we had the ball. The game was Getsy's to win or lose on senior day.

[TXZipFan]

As it should've been... Senior Day was not the time to get CJ snaps (that should've happened earlier).

[74ZIP]

hey TXZipFan..that Texas?(smile when you say that pardner)where?if your in this for the long haul hope they find a back who can run between the tackles..haven't seen one this year...hope Jackson uses some of that energy on the field instead of thumping himself to his friends and relatives...hope they find some size at linebacker..can't play that damn D with runts back there...hope they find a safety who can tackle and punish people...happy holidays

[skip-zip]

74...you make a couple of good points.Our linebackers are a bit undersized. This could explain why we had some games this year where we were worn down by a good running attack, especially from the quarterbacks we faced.We don't have a hard hitting safety. John Mackey is the closest thing, but he plays more of a rover-small linebacker position.Ironically, we complained all year about the kicking game, and I don't really think that ever cost us a game that we were not going to lose anyway.