Week 2 (Rutgers) Thoughts

[catdaddyp]

Just from a competitive standpoint, scheduling two Power programs in back to back weeks is a terrible idea. 3 in the first 4 weeks is even worse. We are catching all 3 with physical offensive and defensive lines. That’s a recipe for a banged up roster and apathy. Thankfully, we catch a struggling Colgate team next week. I expect to see a much improved performance from the Zips.

 

 

QB - Even though Finley was solid in spurts, he has to play better. I understand the happy feet and quick trigger when pressured, but he has to hit his open receivers. There were times where he either didn’t see them or just flat out missed them with a throw. It’s hard to consistently throw accurate passes when peddling backwards, don’t have set feet, or shoulders are not squared. We saw far too much of that. I will say, when Finley had time and stood in there he threw some nice passes.

 

RB - Despite the almost even number of snaps between Simmons and Kellom, Simmons continues to separate himself. He doesn’t have the same type of ability to break tackles as Lingard had, but he’s quick and has a nice burst. Both backs could have done better in pass protection.

 

WR - The receivers have to catch the balls that hit their hands. When the QBs are scrambling for their lives, balls that are thrown decently have to be caught. That said, Norton played a whale of a game and should have had more balls thrown his way. He was rightfully frustrated on a few plays where he was open and wasn’t even looked at. I also noticed Norton call out the pre snap CB blitz several times to the QB and OL. Impressive for a guy who is just a sophomore. It should also be noted Norton’s perimeter blocking was excellent.

 

TE - For the second game in a row, Newell made the most of his opportunities. His blocking was solid too.

 

OL - By no stretch am I saying the OL as a whole played well, but they did perform better against Rutgers than OSU. The OL was mostly solid when Rutgers only brought 4. The OL tended to struggle when Rutgers blitzed. In the run game, there were times the OL had a run blocked well on the read options and the QB made the wrong decision to either keep or give.

Blanchard, Williams, and Seymore actually played very well. Davis, Thomas, Burrell, and James often struggled.

 

DL - Tibesar threw all kinds of looks at Rutgers. For example, in the first series, we had 3 DTs along the DL (with Adler) and often brought a safety up to LB depth. Unfortunately, as the game wore on, missed tackles were prominent and any kind of pass rush basically became non-existent. Rutgers big OL and physical RB just wore us down.

Lavea may have had his best game as a Zip. True sophomore Marcus Moore had his moments as well. Cheatom created a few pressures on his own, which is something even Nunnally was not able to do.

Freshmen Hull and D. Frazier saw their first action of the year.

Adler had terrible luck with the missed interception that turned into a TD.

 

LB - I know our LBs are hurting after that game. McCoy, Fish, and Cooper gave as good as they got most of the contest. However, there were times where they were overmatched in one on one situations with Monangai. The trio finished with 26 tackles between the three of them.

 

DB - The secondary actually played decently considering the lack of a pass rush. We got beat up back there though, so I don’t know what the availability will be next week with a few players. I was critical of Daymon David in week 1 and he stepped up in a big way this week. Golden-Nelson and Hunter looked solid at CB too. White showed some potential and will likely be a starter next week if Golden-Nelson or Hunter can’t go. JUCO signee Justin Anderson flashed at safety in a backup role.

 

ST - Outside of a missed field goal, this unit performed well for the second straight week.

 

Coaching - The delay of game penalties are concerning. Delay of games coming off of time outs are inexcusable. That said, I saw a ton of delay of game penalties across college football this weekend and I do wonder if the headset communication is causing some of that. Regardless, it has to be cleaned up. As far as play calling goes, the offense is only going to be as good as the OL and QB take it. There are some play calls that we’ll see in conference action that simply won’t work against a team like OSU or Rutgers. If it can’t be blocked, it can’t be called. Defensively, I thought Tibesar had another excellent game plan.

 

 

QB:

Finley

Bullock

 

HB:

Simmons

Kellom

 

WR:

Norton

Davis

 

WR:

Golden

Rush

 

WR:

Polk

Granger

Campbell

 

TE:

Newell

Cravaack  

 

LT:

Blanchard

Shor

 

LG:

Davis

Seymore

Morris

 

C

T. Williams

Mobley

 

RG:

Burrell

Davis

George 

 

RT:

D. Thomas

James

 

 

DE:

Adler

Dall

D. Frazier

 

DE:

Nunnally

Cheatom

 

DT:

Moore

Kapongo

 

DT:

Lavea

Murphy

Hull

 

LB:

Fish

Benenge

 

LB:

Cooper

McCoy

Spriggs

 

CB:

J. Hunter

White

 

CB:

Golden-Nelson

DeWalt

Jarmon

 

NB:

Greenwood

D. Lewis

 

S:

David

Anderson

Roach 

 

S:

P. Lewis

D. Johnson

R. Huntet

 

 

Top Offensive Players (25 snaps or more):

RB - Jordan Simmons

OG -  Laurence Seymore (was Blanchard)

WR - Adrian Norton (was Seymore)

LT - Josh Blanchard (was Norton)

QB - Ben Finley (was T. Williams)

 

Top Defensive Players (25 snaps or more)

DT - Lama Lavea (was Hunter)

DE - Bennett Adler (was Fish)

NB - Darrian Lewis (was Nunnally)

DE - CJ Nunnally (was David)

S - Daymon David (was Adler)

 

Top Special Teams (10 snaps or more)

S - Noel Roach

RB - Jordan Castleberry 

LB - Antavious Fish

S - Aman Greenwood

S - Paul Lewis

 

Edited September 12 by catdaddyp

[clarkwgriswold]

Nice recap.

 

I'm afraid these first two weeks could have damaged Finley's psyche to the point that he'll be quickly bailing on plays all year, even on perceived as opposed to actual pressure.  Next week will be telling.

[1981 grad]

Finley's mind set was that he was not going to take any hard hits and he ran away from pressure, threw the ball while back peddling, and made some terrible throws.  He did have some nice runs and threw the ball well when not pressured.   There were several bad drops.  The interception in the 2nd half was indicative that it was time to pull him.  However, he kept playing.  Not sure why Tahj did not get more opportunities.  Really disappointed in the coaching with regard to the delay of game calls.  He called time out the first time and then let the time run on crucial plays and had 2 timeouts he never used in the first half.  Just poor coaching. 

[catdaddyp]

 

[72 Roo]

AS I watched Joe's presser the one overriding impression I got was here is a guy who is not happy in what he is doing. When Joe came to Akron one of the factors was that he and his wife really enjoyed their previous 5 year stay when he was OC under JD. Their quality of life was good and the job was very fulfilling. Joe came to Akron as a HC when the fundamentals of the college game in D1 were about to shift big time. He didn't sign up for that, it just happened. Turning around a program that was losing, but had potential became a herculean task under the new conditions. I could see Joe fulfilling his contract and exiting to an OC position at more money and less headaches, like he had at Penn State.

 

I am beginning to wonder if Joe demands the discipline needed in the long run to turn this around. Our players do not show much discipline. From player control fouls, offsides, delay of game and (my pet peeve) lack of pride in appearance with blue undershirts hanging out against white uni's I see an issue. Last year we all saw the tolerance of Gaithing's lack of self control. It was continued all season even with Joe acknowledging it needed to be fixed. Discipline is an issue he can fix. NIL, talent or our opponent have nothing to do with it. It is on Joe to fix it. I hope he does because it is foundational to turning around football. 

[kreed5120]

7 minutes ago, 72 Roo said:

AS I watched Joe's presser the one overriding impression I got was here is a guy who is not happy in what he is doing. When Joe came to Akron one of the factors was that he and his wife really enjoyed their previous 5 year stay when he was OC under JD. Their quality of life was good and the job was very fulfilling. Joe came to Akron as a HC when the fundamentals of the college game in D1 were about to shift big time. He didn't sign up for that, it just happened. Turning around a program that was losing, but had potential became a herculean task under the new conditions. I could see Joe fulfilling his contract and exiting to an OC position at more money and less headaches, like he had at Penn State.

 

I am beginning to wonder if Joe demands the discipline needed in the long run to turn this around. Our players do not show much discipline. From player control fouls, offsides, delay of game and (my pet peeve) lack of pride in appearance with blue undershirts hanging out against white uni's I see an issue. Last year we all saw the tolerance of Gaithing's lack of self control. It was continued all season even with Joe acknowledging it needed to be fixed. Discipline is an issue he can fix. NIL, talent or our opponent have nothing to do with it. It is on Joe to fix it. I hope he does because it is foundational to turning around football. 

 

The game has changed a lot at the B10, SEC, B12, ACC level, but has much changed at the MAC level? I know NIL exists, but are there many, if any, MAC schools that are spending $1 million plus? I'm coming for a position of ignorance so that's a genuine question.

[MarkWiley]

1 hour ago, 72 Roo said:

AS I watched Joe's presser the one overriding impression I got was here is a guy who is not happy in what he is doing. When Joe came to Akron one of the factors was that he and his wife really enjoyed their previous 5 year stay when he was OC under JD. Their quality of life was good and the job was very fulfilling. Joe came to Akron as a HC when the fundamentals of the college game in D1 were about to shift big time. He didn't sign up for that, it just happened. Turning around a program that was losing, but had potential became a herculean task under the new conditions. I could see Joe fulfilling his contract and exiting to an OC position at more money and less headaches, like he had at Penn State.

 

I am beginning to wonder if Joe demands the discipline needed in the long run to turn this around. Our players do not show much discipline. From player control fouls, offsides, delay of game and (my pet peeve) lack of pride in appearance with blue undershirts hanging out against white uni's I see an issue. Last year we all saw the tolerance of Gaithing's lack of self control. It was continued all season even with Joe acknowledging it needed to be fixed. Discipline is an issue he can fix. NIL, talent or our opponent have nothing to do with it. It is on Joe to fix it. I hope he does because it is foundational to turning around football. 

Being a MAC head coach has to be exhausting, especially if you are on the bottom trying to claw up.  I think coaching in the MAC is a young man's game, it's going to turn into first time coaches that are on the same path as the players.  Let me show I can handle the duties reasonably well and then make the jump to coordinator/coach at the next level as soon as I can.  It has to be exhausting to think, one phone call and I'm out of here to a OC spot in the power 5.  I have no idea why he's hanging here, other than maybe the chance to see his son play on Fridays in November.

[kreed5120]

3 hours ago, MarkWiley said:

Being a MAC head coach has to be exhausting, especially if you are on the bottom trying to claw up.  I think coaching in the MAC is a young man's game, it's going to turn into first time coaches that are on the same path as the players.  Let me show I can handle the duties reasonably well and then make the jump to coordinator/coach at the next level as soon as I can.  It has to be exhausting to think, one phone call and I'm out of here to a OC spot in the power 5.  I have no idea why he's hanging here, other than maybe the chance to see his son play on Fridays in November.

 

I'm not really sure a P4 job, even as an OC, would be any less stressful. The pressure to win would be much higher and you still have to worry about NIL and re-recruiting you players every year. 

 

At least in the MAC you're on relatively even footing compared to your competition (other MAC schools) and you don't have 100s of callers calling into sports talk radio shows every Monday criticizing every micro decision you do or calling for your job.

 

Edit: Joe could get off the bus when he returned from Rutgers and take his wife to Luigi's or Lockview and it's likely not a single person would recognize him. That wouldn't be the case for Ryan Day in Columbus. Imagine the heckling he had to deal with after each loss to Michigan. You don't have to worry about that at Akron because Joe Akron frankly doesn't care.

Edited September 9 by kreed5120

[catdaddyp]

Top Rated Players after 2 weeks according to PFF (50 snap minimum)

 

OFFENSE:

RB - Simmons

QB - Bullock

WR - Golden

RB - Kellom

WR - Norton

 

DEFENSE:

DE - Nunnally

DE - Adler

S - P. Lewis

DT - Lavea

LB - Fish

[catdaddyp]

PFF Special Teams have finally been added for the Rutgers game.

 

Offensive updates were mostly the same except PFF thought Finley played a little better than T. Williams.

 

Defensive updates saw Lavea shoot to the top. Like I mentioned before, I thought he played his best game as a Zip. D. Lewis was also bumped up.

Edited September 12 by catdaddyp

[MangoZip]

1 hour ago, catdaddyp said:

PFF Special Teams have finally been added for the Rutgers game.

 

Offensive updates were mostly the same except PFF thought Finley played a little better than T. Williams.

 

Defensive updates saw Lavea shoot to the top. Like I mentioned before, I thought he played his best game as a Zip. D. Lewis was also bumped up.

How does that work? Do they make initial grades and then go back and do a second review and adjust? 

[catdaddyp]

6 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

How does that work? Do they make initial grades and then go back and do a second review and adjust? 

Yes, they update throughout the week. They are usually similar by the end of the week but some players do get substantial adjustments, like Lavea.