Game 10 - EMU

[roopride]

Turnovers and not enough D

[scottditzen]

3 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

1. Awful spot on Undercuffler run, but Jeff was a (insert Jeff Undercuffler getting ejected clip here) for going down so soon. 

 

2. BUBBA!

 

3. Can someone fix the audio issues? The dog whistle sound needs to go. 

 

Holy cow I thought I was going crazy....I had no idea where that was coming from lol. 

[scottditzen]

Morehead looked catatonic after seeing that perfectly drawn up dropped pass to Wiley.  Should have been at TD.

 

We just aren't good enough to overcome those kinds of mistakes. 

 

[LoyalZIP]

I just….ugh. This team. They play their hearts out. That’s all I can really say. There’s such a lack of depth, playmaking, physicality all over the field. It’s getting better and will improve in the coming seasons, but I just can’t believe they haven’t gotten lucky in a single one of these one-score MAC games. Like I’ve said a few times, even the worst of teams have usually gotten lucky enough once or twice. We’re kind of like the bizarro 2021 NIU—can’t win a close game and you just come to expect to lose close. 
 

How many times this year has Joe had something beautiful drawn up and the ball has just fallen to the turf? Or in an important game situation, the single worst Murphy’s Law event takes place? I guess you create your own luck, and with skill comes more luck. It’s just beyond frustrating at this point. You just kind of have to laugh it off sometimes. 
 

You really take yourself out of it when you throw 2 picks inside your own 20. Also, the EMU RB dropping the football, it bouncing right back into his hands and runs it for 20 more, along with another EMU fumble that bounced right back to him. Saw a couple picks go right throw the hands of Akron defenders (aside from Bubba’s ELECTRIFYING pick). 2 missed wide open deep balls. George dropped one in his hands on the sideline, JU underthrew Shocky a bit on the sideline once wide open, Wiley dropped wide open potential go-ahead TD. It’s just crazy to me. It really is. All this crap to lose by just 6. 
 

Shoutout to Wiley and the run blocking though. The 55-yarder was Dollard-esque. I wish I knew football better to understand why we weren’t able to do just half of what we did today on the ground all year. Oh well. On to Buffalo. But first, beat Mississippi State!

[GP1]

3 hours ago, LoyalZIP said:

I just….ugh. This team. They play their hearts out. That’s all I can really say. There’s such a lack of depth, playmaking, physicality all over the field. It’s getting better and will improve in the coming seasons, but I just can’t believe they haven’t gotten lucky in a single one of these one-score MAC games. Like I’ve said a few times, even the worst of teams have usually gotten lucky enough once or twice. We’re kind of like the bizarro 2021 NIU—can’t win a close game and you just come to expect to lose close. 
 

How many times this year has Joe had something beautiful drawn up and the ball has just fallen to the turf? Or in an important game situation, the single worst Murphy’s Law event takes place? I guess you create your own luck, and with skill comes more luck. It’s just beyond frustrating at this point. You just kind of have to laugh it off sometimes. 
 

You really take yourself out of it when you throw 2 picks inside your own 20. Also, the EMU RB dropping the football, it bouncing right back into his hands and runs it for 20 more, along with another EMU fumble that bounced right back to him. Saw a couple picks go right throw the hands of Akron defenders (aside from Bubba’s ELECTRIFYING pick). 2 missed wide open deep balls. George dropped one in his hands on the sideline, JU underthrew Shocky a bit on the sideline once wide open, Wiley dropped wide open potential go-ahead TD. It’s just crazy to me. It really is. All this crap to lose by just 6. 
 

Shoutout to Wiley and the run blocking though. The 55-yarder was Dollard-esque. I wish I knew football better to understand why we weren’t able to do just half of what we did today on the ground all year. Oh well. On to Buffalo. But first, beat Mississippi State!

You're using the word luck too much. The Zips don't need luck. They need to execute on the things they can control. I'm sure they don't practice dropping passes and punts, and under throwing passes.. I'd go as far as to say they probably practice catching and throwing. They need to apply those lessons in games.... Every time. It's a gazillion little things they do wrong. Losing culture is extremely difficult to change. 

[94zipgrad]

8 hours ago, roopride said:

Turnovers and not enough D

19 fumbles this season, 11 of them lost, -9 turnover ratio, can’t win like that, every skilled position player would be given a football to walk campus to & from classes & everyone on campus told to try & knock ball loose until they truly understand ball security, I’ve actually done this

[Blue & Gold]

So, to those with more analytical skill than me, why were we able to run the ball so effectively tonight?

[LoyalZIP]

3 hours ago, GP1 said:

You're using the word luck too much. The Zips don't need luck. They need to execute on the things they can control. I'm sure they don't practice dropping passes and punts, and under throwing passes.. I'd go as far as to say they probably practice catching and throwing. They need to apply those lessons in games.... Every time. It's a gazillion little things they do wrong. Losing culture is extremely difficult to change. 

The luck I am referring to is from things like a fumble on a strip-sack against CMU rolling OB, the EMU RB dropping the ball behind the LOS and bouncing perfectly back into his hands, 2 weeks in a row a punt hits a blocker running backwards square in the head. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m referring to some higher power, it’s just that the Zips have been so far behind in every facet that they cannot overcome these things or take advantage when the opportunities present themselves. 
 

And when I talk about bad teams lucking into a win, I like to emphasize the game against Bowling Green last year. Akron had no business winning that game and was by far the inferior team, but even they on the right day could pull one out of their behind. Just a tough year for Joe, I genuinely feel bad because he’s set guys up for so much success, constantly. 

[GP1]

5 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

The luck I am referring to is from things like a fumble on a strip-sack against CMU rolling OB, the EMU RB dropping the ball behind the LOS and bouncing perfectly back into his hands, 2 weeks in a row a punt hits a blocker running backwards square in the head. Of course, this doesn’t mean I’m referring to some higher power, it’s just that the Zips have been so far behind in every facet that they cannot overcome these things or take advantage when the opportunities present themselves. 
 

And when I talk about bad teams lucking into a win, I like to emphasize the game against Bowling Green last year. Akron had no business winning that game and was by far the inferior team, but even they on the right day could pull one out of their behind. Just a tough year for Joe, I genuinely feel bad because he’s set guys up for so much success, constantly. 

Better pursuit gets more guys around the ball so a team has a better chance of recovering a fumble. This is something the players can control. There is no such thing as luck. 

[LZIp]

7 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

Just a tough year for Joe, I genuinely feel bad because he’s set guys up for so much success, constantly. 

The pass out of the backfield to Wiley in the 4th is the epitome of this. Catch the pass/get the ball to the wide open guy and we just may win. Excellent play call that has zero excuse not to be executed.

[LoyalZIP]

25 minutes ago, GP1 said:

Better pursuit gets more guys around the ball so a team has a better chance of recovering a fumble. This is something the players can control. There is no such thing as luck. 

Tell me you haven’t seen the play without telling me you haven’t seen the play. As I have said all year, this team isn’t good enough to overcome missing out on the 50/50 bounces, and that’s perfectly okay right now. That is just the way things are. 

[LoyalZIP]

25 minutes ago, LZIp said:

The pass out of the backfield to Wiley in the 4th is the epitome of this. Catch the pass/get the ball to the wide open guy and we just may win. Excellent play call that has zero excuse not to be executed.

It’s truly unbelievable. So many obvious blunders this year, bad drops, muffed punts, botched exchanges. Just not meant to be. 

[catdaddyp]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

So, to those with more analytical skill than me, why were we able to run the ball so effectively tonight?

I’d have to go back and rewatch, but on a number of those plays we trapped the DT and gave the DE free release. The entire OL would block down, while the OG and OT would work up to the LBs. The TE would pull across and chip the DT. The edge players were usually lined out so far they could only make it to where the QB originally was by handoff. *Editing and adding* that often due to their alignment so far out, the DEs essentially took themselves out of the play. So our OL & TE only had 5 guys to block in the box.
 

We also had Whigan pulling on a number of plays and had some success there. That’s nothing new, but on first watch, it seemed we pulled him more than usual last night.

 

Wiley breaking a few tackles helped too. He’s been brought down by first contact the majority of the year, but he kicked it into another gear in the second half.

 

I was not impressed by EMU’s front. However, I was impressed with the talent they had in the secondary. I know they have the nation’s leading sacker, but I wouldn’t have even known it had it not been brought up before the game.

Edited November 9, 2022 by catdaddyp

[Zipped Up]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

So, to those with more analytical skill than me, why were we able to run the ball so effectively tonight?

Could it be that they committed to it (out of necessity) rather than relying on DJI to be all of the offense, all of the time?

[Lee Adams]

11 minutes ago, Zipped Up said:

Could it be that they committed to it (out of necessity) rather than relying on DJI to be all of the offense, all of the time?

Thank you! I realize that the offense Coach Moorehead prefers to run may not emphasize the run. But, as we saw tonight they can at least run effectively when they do commit to it more. Not only does that take some pressure off of Irons, it helps keep a really weak defense off the field. The O-line can get better at run blocking when they rep the run game. Not rocket science.

But, again neither side of the ball, offense but especially defense has enough playmakers to overcome all the picks and fumbles. What is frustrating is that we are still seeing play in November that we saw in August, September and October.

[GoZips86]

Any word on Irons and his injury?

 

Hell, regardless, I guess at this point let's see what Jennings can do at QB and give him some reps. Keep Irons healthy as we head into offseason. 

[zipsrule]

2 hours ago, Lee Adams said:

But, as we saw tonight they can at least run effectively when they do commit to it more. Not only does that take some pressure off of Irons, it helps keep a really weak defense off the field.

I was thinking of this last night.  One of the drives in the second half was something like 17 plays.  Not only did it result in a TD, but kept the ball away from Eastern for a while.

[Cliff]

What do you think? Looks like a fumble to me. It was ruled a fumble and Akron touchdown on the field but overturned to incomplete pass. 

[LZIp]

8 minutes ago, Cliff said:

What do you think? Looks like a fumble to me. It was ruled a fumble and Akron touchdown on the field but overturned to incomplete pass. 

IMG_1217.MOV

I concur...looked like he was trying to tuck and not throw it.

[Let'sGoZips94]

23 minutes ago, Cliff said:

What do you think? Looks like a fumble to me. It was ruled a fumble and Akron touchdown on the field but overturned to incomplete pass. 

IMG_1217.MOV

 

Passer Tucks Ball.

If the player loses possession of the ball during an attempt to bring it back toward his body, or if the player loses possession after he has tucked the ball into his body, it is a fumble.

 

Tuck rule (American football) - Wikipedia

 

 

No idea how this was ruled an incomplete pass. His arm was coming forward initially until it quite obviously stopped before the end of the throwing motion and was starting to make its way back into the body of the passer. 

[catdaddyp]

47 minutes ago, Cliff said:

What do you think? Looks like a fumble to me. It was ruled a fumble and Akron touchdown on the field but overturned to incomplete pass. 

Should have been ruled a fumble. Terrible miss by the officiating crew. 
 

Not only did it swing points on the score board, but the long run caused Terry to be taken out of the game. That led to poor edge contain the next play and a TD for EMU.

Edited November 9, 2022 by catdaddyp

[LoyalZIP]

I’m 50/50 on that one. I can see how it could go either way, I’m not an expert but I was definitely surprised in real time that they let it go. I’d be curious to hear other replay officials’ opinion.  
 

I think a little before that, EMU was ruled down on the field but the ball came out, and it was reviewed and it stood. On that one, you could see the ball moving before the knee hit, and by the time it did hit, he wasn’t possessing the ball, it was just sitting on his arm loose. If they hadn’t blown their whistles and let it play out, that one would have stood as a fumble at midfield, Zips ball. It may have even been the same drive. 
 

I use the L word so much, so I’ll call EMU fortunate to have had those game-changing calls go their way. 

[Dr Z]

10 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

So, to those with more analytical skill than me, why were we able to run the ball so effectively tonight?

Effective run blocking (at times). The unit is progressing.

[bigjim]

I rewatched the game last night and have these comments:

-Hester had a couple of nice returns

-Bubba was again sensational

-Although he threw two picks (the second was in desperation at the end). I think the offense was much more productive with Undercuffler.  There were some big drops and some near misses, but the running game was much better.  I believe that the defense was focusing more on passing and this opened up the run.  

-Wiley did a nice job at RB

-Adams was clutch, as were the other 2 WR transfers.  

As I stated in another post, I think we have a chance in the last two games.

Go Zips!!!

[LZIp]

I know somebody said Bubba wasn't announced on senior night, but it also looks like Ravontae Holt wasn't either. Good news for us.

 

"AKRON HONORS 17 SENIORS
Akron will honor 17 players competing in their final home game in pregame ceremonies before the squad's showdown with Eastern Michigan on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Among those being honored are redshirt junior LS Kyle Bauman (North Royalton, Ohio), redshirt junior DB Sean Conroy (North Olmsted, Ohio), redshirt senior DB Logan Day (Cincinnati, Ohio), senior P Noah Gettman (Daytona Beach, Fla.), DL Curtis Harper, redshirt junior DL Logan Hawkins (Harrison City, Pa.), senior DB Jalen Hooks (Warren, Ohio), redshirt senior DL Angelo Howze (Fishers, Ind.), WR Shocky Jacques-Louis, redshirt senior DL Victor Jones (Sacramento, Calif.), redshirt senior DB Jaylen Kelly-Powell (Detroit, Mich.), redshirt sophomore WR Jalen Knight (Akron, Ohio), redshirt senior DL Zach Morton (Detroit, Mich.), redshirt sophomore TE Jacob Shaffer (Portersville, Pa.), K Cory Smigel, redshirt senior LB Tim Terry (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and redshirt senior OL Anthony Whigan (Lexington Park, Md.)."