Week 5 (Buffalo) Thoughts

[catdaddyp]

Another tough one…
 

- I cannot wrap my mind around why Lingard is not utilized more in the run game. He’s a threat every time he touches the ball and we only gave him 8 rushing attempts. I know Irons chose to pull several times instead of give, so that is part of the issue. In any case, Lingard may be the offense’s best weapon and we hardly use him outside of a few pass targets and to block.

- Heavy emphasis on running Irons this game, which is somewhat understandable after last week, but he can’t be the only running option.

- If Undercuffler is next in line and he’s expected to be successful without a run game, it isn’t going to happen. He actually did give to Lingard one (maybe two?) time on the read.

- I thought Buffalo’s receivers made Snyder look much better than he was last year. This year, he is playing on another level. Impressive job by the defense holding the MAC’s leading passer to 142 yards.

- Special teams were solid all game except for the blocked OT FG.

- That’s already 3 losses by a combined 8 points. Defense has done more than their fair share and it’s past time this program turned the corner. There is not a talent deficiency on this year’s roster and the offense must figure it out. Coach Moorhead is a brilliant offensive mind, yet the offense has been incredibly inefficient scoring. This year’s offense (at least with the 3 QBs we’ve seen) needs to be more run heavy and the staff has to realize it.

- Notable DNPs were Adams, Cooper, Bullock, Blanchard, K. Thomas, Behm.

- Sophomores Kiawan Murphy and Jaharon Griffin saw their first significant action on defense.

- KJ Martin played every snap on defense, while Bryan McCoy only missed one. The starting OL went the distance with the exception of Georges subbing in for Tyler Williams a few times.

- Defense was credited with only 5 missed tackles for the game.

 

QB - Irons (Undercuffler)

RB - Lingard (D. Anderson)

WR - George (Norton)

WR- Gathings (C. Anderson)

WR - Walker (Golden)

TE - Banks (Newell)

LT - Chambers

LG - Frank

C - T. Williams (Georges)

RG - Davis

RT - N. Williams

 

DE - Adler (A. Smith)

DT - Lavea (Murphy)

DT - Jones (Robinson)

DE - Nunnally (Jackson)

LB - Fish (Griffin)

LB - McCoy (Harris)

NB - Lewis

CB - Durant (Hunter)

S - C. Thomas (N. Thompson)

S - KJ Martin

CB - Tallandier (Golden-Nelson)

Edited October 1, 2023 by catdaddyp

[Captain Kangaroo]

Behm was in a walking boot on the sideline. 

[catdaddyp]

12 hours ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Behm was in a walking boot on the sideline. 

Hate to hear that. Happen to notice Cooper or Blanchard?

[LZIp]

21 minutes ago, catdaddyp said:

Hate to hear that. Happen to notice Cooper or Blanchard?

Noticed them both on the sideline not dressed.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Alex Adams was I full uniform but I don’t think he ever saw the field. He’s the guy I really felt would dominate this season and he’s been almost invisible. 

[Jkobe03]

29 minutes ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Alex Adams was I full uniform but I don’t think he ever saw the field. He’s the guy I really felt would dominate this season and he’s been almost invisible. 

In the first half I noticed a knee brace and a limp, he must be dealing with a injury... possibly all year could be the cause of his low productivity 

[Zipmeister]

We may have a case of AOC. That is where the Akron air sucks all of the imagination out of the Offensive Coordinator.

Combine AOC and a QB with a penchant for poor decision making and an inability to fling an accurate long pass and you've got trouble.

 

[gozips19]

If Wassel or Taj are showing anything in practice it's time to move on from Irons. If they aren't showing anything I'm worried about the future of this program.  

You're only as good as your QB, especially in the MAC. Akron hasn't had a good one since Getsy. Coach needs to figure this out immediately.  

Very happy with the strides the D made this year. DL is passable.  You have an above average back half. 

 

The sky isn't falling but I am starting to get anxious.  

[ZippyRulz]

1 hour ago, gozips19 said:

If Wassel or Taj are showing anything in practice it's time to move on from Irons.

 

https://www.covers.com/sport/football/NCAAF/injuries

 

http://statfox.com/cfb/injuries.asp

 

Irons is injured and out indefinitely. We have to move on regardless.

[GP1]

1 hour ago, gozips19 said:

If they aren't showing anything I'm worried about the future of this program.  

You're only as good as your QB, especially in the MAC.

You are correct. The rules are designed to make teams pass. Therefore, you need a really good passer who "can make all the throws". We don't currently have one. 

 

I don't worry about the future because the QB problem can be solved with one good trip into transfer portal this off season. If not, worry.......

[Zippy87]

I was there and aside from it being a tough loss, the game was incredibly boring. I'm not sure what the answer is, but the gameday experience as a whole just isn't anything that is going to bring people out.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Over the past 5 or 6 years I can't tell you how many times I've been in Lot 9 and had people in suits and dresses come up to me asking "Is this Hummel Funeral Home"? 

 

I always reply - "First, I'm sorry for your loss. And, no, this is actually an Akron Zips football game. Hummel is across the street."

 

[LoyalZIP]

This week's advanced box score: https://collegefootballdata.com/boxscore/401532412 (Postgame win expectancy based on box score and results: Akron-89%)

 

As with most of the regulars on this board, I'm an Akron football die-hard. This team is my favorite team in sports (MBB a close second, basically 1B). I have proudly said that for most of my life at this point. I can take these losses with the best of them. But Saturday took more out of me than just about any loss I can ever remember. I still haven't been able to bounce back and I don't really have any interest in reading or watching any content this week. All of the national rankings/MAC rankings/Bottom 10s will have Akron at the very bottom once again, and I just don't think I can stomach that anymore.

 

In 2021, Ohio came in at 0-4 with a home loss to Duquesne on their record, and they rolled over Akron as a 10-point favorite. This year, a Buffalo team that gives up 1.5 Million points per game came to InfoCision Stadium as an underdog, and handed Akron a nasty, ugly, embarrassing loss. Even as someone who wasn't that confident coming into the game, I was appalled. The blowout losses over the years are what have kept Joe Akron away, but repeated losses like this one are what could potentially drive me away. 

 

Along with that OU loss in 2021, I would put the BG and Miami losses of 2018, the BG loss of 2016, the OU loss of 13. Now, we have a new entry. There is no excuse for the display of ineptitude our poor souls witnessed on Saturday. Buffalo didn't look half as good as Morgan State, and Akron's defense put up one of its best performances of the last decade vs. an FBS team. Granted, they failed to force a TO, which led to losing the turnover battle 1-0, plenty enough to be the difference in the game. And I don't even want to get started on the late hit penalty that led to UB's only TD. I just can't even comprehend why a player would do that. You could give that young man from now until the rest of eternity to write a paragraph explaining his reasoning to do that, and he would never be able to come up with anything. Now, maybe they don't call that a penalty 10-15 years ago, but still. What in the name of our Lord and savior are you thinking?! 

 

While this team could fairly easily be 3-2 or 4-1, they have looked every bit of 1-4, or worse, between the boneheaded mistakes and utter incompetence offensively. 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, Zippy87 said:

I was there and aside from it being a tough loss, the game was incredibly boring. I'm not sure what the answer is, but the gameday experience as a whole just isn't anything that is going to bring people out.

 

This is so damn true. The combination of the Catalina Wine Mixer atmosphere (suits walking around shaking hands, kissing babies) combined with a Rick Pitino recruiting trip (night club music constantly played) is not a good mix for a college football gameday. The stadium announcer continues to be awful. The marketing is stale. And the football is awful. 

 

I've been quite complimentary of Guthrie up to this point, but he is missing some key details to elevate the Akron experience. 

[72 Roo]

23 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

This is so damn true. The combination of the Catalina Wine Mixer atmosphere (suits walking around shaking hands, kissing babies) combined with a Rick Pitino recruiting trip (night club music constantly played) is not a good mix for a college football gameday. The stadium announcer continues to be awful. The marketing is stale. And the football is awful. 

 

I've been quite complimentary of Guthrie up to this point, but he is missing some key details to elevate the Akron experience. 

Game day atmosphere and event management at Akron has always been an issue. I used to think that they (athletic administration/Marketing) didn't get it. Now I believe they don't want to get it. There is no one in the stadium and they still play the music incredibly loud. So loud that a friend sitting two seats away couldn't hear me and vice-versa. Just go to the freaking control board and turn it down. Why is no one doing that? The damn music even plays over the band. That tells me no one is even monitoring the game during timeouts.

 

No college atmosphere exists. No excitement. No fun traditions. Whoever in athletics is responsible for the game, as an event, needs to be replaced. MBA marketing students would do a better job. Be shameless, borrow what works from other schools. It is no wonder attendance is less than 3,000 butts in the stands.

[LZIp]

No atmosphere exists because the program stinks and nobody shows up. Winning games leads to fans in seats which leads to a fun atmosphere. Not sure what all we're expecting admin to do here.

[catdaddyp]

 

Not much said here. Not much more to say at this point.
 

Team needs to find some offense, get a win, and turn the corner. He’s right in that NIU is in a very similar situation - strong defense and inconsistent QB play. Biggest difference is NIU will forcefully run the ball, regardless if it’s working.

[KangarooJake]

I may be a late comer to this question, but is there any particular reason we decided to part with Bowden?

No, he didn't turn Akron into a juggernaut. But he made us and the CFB world at least somewhat interested in what's going on at U of A. Wins over P5 schools like Pitt and Northwestern, multiple bowl trips, an 8-5 season (might as well be 12-0 for Akron standards), and a MAC East title.

 

We sacrificed that for Arth, and to be honest, I can't even tell the difference as Arth also was losing in close fashion. Akron extended Moorhead to 2027 after his amazing 2-10 start (??????????) 

 

Is there any reason we can have perennial powerhouses in Men's soccer and basketball and manage to do literally everything wrong in football.

 

We all I'm sure had the same feeling, as soon as I saw it go to OT - I knew, welp, 1-4 on to NIU

 

I had hope to beat BGSU, KSU, and NIU. Now, I'd consider it a miracle if we managed to go 3-9

 

I started attending Akron in 2017 as a freshman, these past 6 years have felt like 30 for me so I can't imagine how some of you are doing out there lol

[Let'sGoZips94]

54 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

Game day atmosphere and event management at Akron has always been an issue. I used to think that they (athletic administration/Marketing) didn't get it. Now I believe they don't want to get it. There is no one in the stadium and they still play the music incredibly loud. So loud that a friend sitting two seats away couldn't hear me and vice-versa. Just go to the freaking control board and turn it down. Why is no one doing that? The damn music even plays over the band. That tells me no one is even monitoring the game during timeouts.

 

No college atmosphere exists. No excitement. No fun traditions. Whoever in athletics is responsible for the game, as an event, needs to be replaced. MBA marketing students would do a better job. Be shameless, borrow what works from other schools. It is no wonder attendance is less than 3,000 butts in the stands.

 

Yeah it's not very difficult. The little things aren't being done, and the creativity isn't there to put butts in seats even with a losing program. 

 

44 minutes ago, LZIp said:

No atmosphere exists because the program stinks and nobody shows up. Winning games leads to fans in seats which leads to a fun atmosphere. Not sure what all we're expecting admin to do here.

 

Kent had 13,000 at their game and they blow. Akron had 5,000. There are ways to get the fans to feel like their part of the program without a winning product on the field. 

 

Akron attire is entirely too expensive as well. It's embarrassing what they charge for their gear in the team shop. 

 

11 minutes ago, KangarooJake said:

I may be a late comer to this question, but is there any particular reason we decided to part with Bowden?

 

The program became stagnant, had discipline issues, and the offense wasn't much better in year 7 of Bowden than what we're witnessing in year 2 with JoeMo. Bowden never got rid of Milwee, so Akron got rid of Bowden. 

[clarkwgriswold]

35 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

The program became stagnant, had discipline issues 

 

...with the staff...

[LZIp]

38 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

Kent had 13,000 at their game and they blow. Akron had 5,000. There are ways to get the fans to feel like their part of the program without a winning product on the field. 

 

 

Kent's family weekend (and HS band day) was last week. Our family weekend is this weekend and we had band day the Morgan State game. They aren't doing anything different, except for having more recent success.

[clarkwgriswold]

I have found that the best game day experience is to watch winning quality football.

 

I wouldn't mind of they'd turn down the music.  

[Zippy87]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

No atmosphere exists because the program stinks and nobody shows up. Winning games leads to fans in seats which leads to a fun atmosphere. Not sure what all we're expecting admin to do here.

 

I'm going to push back on this. First, we have an example in-house to show winning doesn't necessarily = attendance (MBB). Second, there are glaring weaknesses this athletic department has had for *years* that have held it back.

 

There's no creativity, no fun, barely any marketing/promotions - these are things you have to do to draw fans even when you're winning and especially when you're not.

 

Different sport, but we go to quite a few Rubberducks games. It's not because they win - I couldn't even tell you their record this year and quite honestly, don't care if they win or lose. It's because they are super-creative with marketing/promotions/ticketing, they engage with their supporters and make them feel valued, and their in-game entertainment is fantastic.  We always have fun at those game. I was so bored Saturday I probably won't go back.

 

We do none of this well, and it's beyond embarrassing for a D1 Athletic Department to be so bad for so long. 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Zippy87

[Blue & Gold]

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

9 minutes ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

 

Salt in the wound after watching Stefanski put his Wish.com-purchased Ivy League degree to good use...