catdaddyp Posted October 7 Report Share Posted October 7 Game thread and preview. QB: Hayden Wolff is in his second season with WMU and is currently completing close to 70% of his passes for 907 yards. He has thrown for 7 TDs vs 2 INTs. Wolff has been able to complete 75% of his passes when not pressured. When pressured, that number drops to 53%. RB: The Broncos have two excellent backs in Oklahoma State transfer Jaden Nixon and senior Zahir Abdul-Salaam. 2023 All-MAC RB Jalen Buckley is being slowly incorporated back into the lineup from injury. Nixon is 2nd in the MAC with 484 yards rushing and 6 touchdowns. Abdul-Salaam is 10th in the MAC with 225 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. WR: Senior Anthony Sambucci has been the go-to target at WR. He has 22 receptions for 286 yards and 2 touchdowns. Senior Kenneth Wommack has gotten involved in the past two games and has 13 receptions for 111 yards. TE: Junior Blake Bosma is usually good for at least a few catches per game. He has 15 receptions for 157 yards and 2 touchdowns. OL: The OL is a veteran group that can be a punishing tandem with the RBs. They have also done a solid job of keeping Wolff upright this season. LT - Tedi Kushi (R. Sr.) LG - John Hofer (R. Jr.) C - Jacob Gideon (Sr.) RG - Addison West (R. Sr.) RT - Jack Sherwin (R. Sr.) DL: Junior Tyson Lee is a starter at one DE spot, while junior Corey Walker will likely start on the opposite side. Lee has 9 tackles and a sack. Walker has 10 tackles and 3 sacks. Iowa transfer Anterio Thompson and junior Mason Nelson start on the interior. Thompson has 15 tackles. Nelson has 13 tackles and 2 sacks. LB: Senior Donald Willis is having an All-MAC caliber season and is 7th with 43 tackles. His running mate is Jacob Wahlberg who has 28 tackles and a sack. DB: Senior cornerback Bilal Kone (we also offered in the 2023 portal cycle) is also having an All-MAC caliber season. Kone has 29 tackles and 5 PDs. Opposite Kone will likely be Tennessee Tech transfer Nyquann Washington. Washington has 9 tackles and 3 PDs. Senior Damari Robinson is the NB. He has 18 tackles and 2 PDs. Senior Tate Hallock starts at one safety spot, while junior Aaron Wolford starts at the other. Hallock has collected 31 tackles, 2 PDs, and 1 INT. Wolford has 21 tackles and 1 INT. K: WMU has utilized two kickers so far, but Butler transfer Luka Zurak has gotten most of the action. He is 4 of 5 on FGs and 16 of 16 on XPs. P: Redshirt freshman Ryan Millmore is averaging 43.1 yards per punt with 9 downed inside the 20 yard line. KR: RB Jaden Nixon is the main return man and is averaging 19.1 yards per return with a long of 27 yards. Breakdown: Offense - WMU’s bread and butter is running the football. The passing game is effective when the running game is humming. Wolff is not fleet of foot and can be limited by a pass rush and lack of run game. However, when he has time, Wolff can pick apart a defense. Defense - WMU’s defense has been hit or miss. They were soft against a not so good Ball State offense, but were much better the game before against Marshall. Akron and WMU are very similar in terms of defensive statistics, except WMU has only managed to create 5 turnovers thus far. Summary: This is absolutely a winnable game as these two teams seem evenly matched. It will likely come down to coaching and special teams play. WMU has had issues with their special teams coverage, so that could be an area where Zips gain an advantage on field position. If Akron can pull out a victory here, then go into the bye week and get some more players healthy, the back half of the season could get interesting. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catdaddyp Posted October 7 Author Report Share Posted October 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted October 7 Report Share Posted October 7 I guess I should look at the schedule more. Five of the first seven games on the road. What could go wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted October 7 Report Share Posted October 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MangoZip Posted October 7 Report Share Posted October 7 3 hours ago, GP1 said: I guess I should look at the schedule more. Five of the first seven games on the road. What could go wrong? Yes, because the Zips have such a huge homefield advantage…🙄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GP1 Posted October 8 Report Share Posted October 8 25 minutes ago, MangoZip said: Yes, because the Zips have such a huge homefield advantage…🙄 They don't stand a chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catdaddyp Posted October 8 Author Report Share Posted October 8 16 hours ago, Blue & Gold said: I don’t know if it’s a must win, but it would definitely go a long way in gaining some momentum and finishing the back half of season on a high note. That’s where the majority of our potential wins were going to come from anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catdaddyp Posted October 10 Author Report Share Posted October 10 Top Rated Players (according to PFF) going into this game: OFFENSE: (150+ Snaps) RB- Simmons LG - Seymore RT - James WR - Norton RB - Kellom DEFENSE: (150+ Snaps) DE - Nunnally DE - Adler DT - Moore S - D. Lewis NB - Greenwood SPECIAL TEAMS: (40+ Snaps) S - P. Lewis S - Conroy S - Roach NB - T. Thomas LS - Reardon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exit322 Posted October 10 Report Share Posted October 10 WMU favored by 9.5 in this one. That feels about right. If Akron keeps it close, they'll find a way to lose it of course, but it may only be a one score game again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZippyRulz Posted October 10 Report Share Posted October 10 1 hour ago, exit322 said: WMU favored by 9.5 in this one. That feels about right. If Akron keeps it close, they'll find a way to lose it of course, but it may only be a one score game again. Naw, I think we will score a touchdown right before the half which will be the difference in allowing us to win by one score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egregiousbob Posted October 10 Report Share Posted October 10 I predict a 6-point margin of victory. It always happens when it doesn't make sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkwgriswold Posted October 10 Report Share Posted October 10 Zips to lose but cover the spread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted October 11 Report Share Posted October 11 20 hours ago, catdaddyp said: DEFENSE: (150+ Snaps) DE - Nunnally DE - Adler DT - Moore S - D. Lewis NB - Greenwood I'm impressed with our DL. Nunnally and Adler are All-MAC-caliber DE's & wow does the future look bright with Dall & Cheatom Lama LaVea & Nathan Kapongo are All-MAC-caliber DT's & we don't lose a beat with R-Fr. Marcus Moore in the game (in fact I see he graded higher than any DT last week). And then a new name I noticed last week @ DT was Zy Brockington. He had a good game & I don't think I saw him in any of our first 4 games(?). I still want to see more from Kiwan Murphy. I don't think he's playing up to his God-given potential yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catdaddyp Posted October 11 Author Report Share Posted October 11 (edited) 2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said: I'm impressed with our DL. Nunnally and Adler are All-MAC-caliber DE's & wow does the future look bright with Dall & Cheatom Lama LaVea & Nathan Kapongo are All-MAC-caliber DT's & we don't lose a beat with R-Fr. Marcus Moore in the game (in fact I see he graded higher than any DT last week). And then a new name I noticed last week @ DT was Zy Brockington. He had a good game & I don't think I saw him in any of our first 4 games(?). I still want to see more from Kiwan Murphy. I don't think he's playing up to his God-given potential yet. Agreed, Nunnally and Adler are playing extremely well. Moorhead said he didn’t know Adler’s health status in any of his media sessions, so we may see a lot more of Richards and Dall this week if Adler is limited. Richards has been playing really well in his newfound backup role and is actually the top rated player on defense. That said, he’s played under 80 snaps, so that’s a skewed metric and the reason I didn’t add him above. The DT rotation is deep and will need to be solid again against WMU. Brockington has been good the past two weeks as he has picked up Murphy’s snaps. Moore has been a nightmare for opposing centers when he is lined up at NT. Moore is a guy who seems to get better every week and we’ll be fortunate to hang on to him for the duration of his career. Murphy may be hurt. He hasn’t seen any action in the past two weeks after being a top backup the first 4 weeks of the season. The “play 4 games, redshirt, and transfer” ordeal did cross my mind, but he’s already used his redshirt (unless he applies for a medical redshirt), so I don’t think that’s the case. On a different note, we’ve had an unusual amount of missed tackles this season (the whole defense, not just one position) and I have to believe that was due to the brutal non-conference slate. It really showed up in the 2nd half against Rutgers. Tackling was decent against a talent deprived Colgate squad, and then reared its ugly head the following two weeks against South Carolina and Ohio. I believe injuries really played a part in that because we looked much crisper against a Bowling Green team (who is better in almost every area than Ohio). We’ll definitely need to tackle well this week and I expect we’ll devote an extra player to the box and play a lot of man on the backend. We play a lot of man anyway, but I expect we’ll see it more than usual this game. My guess is we’ll force WMU to prove they can throw the ball on us. I’m not sure they can without a run game. On the flip side, if WMU can get their run game going, it may be a long afternoon. Edited October 11 by catdaddyp 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue & Gold Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopride Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Go ZIPS!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catdaddyp Posted October 12 Author Report Share Posted October 12 Out: WR - Adams WR - Walker LB - Cooper CB - White S - David S - Anderson Questionable: TE - Newell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exit322 Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Good start by the defense on that opening drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exit322 Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 And then a real nice first play after the punt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exit322 Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 I don't love settling for a field goal after the 60 yard pass to start the drive, but up 3-0 is better than down 3-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Nice - happy for Tahj. 😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exit322 Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Really can't ask for a much better start than the first two drives both ways Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roopride Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 What? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDZip Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Wow and a fourth down stop on their third drive. Who is this team? 😊 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipsrule Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Great start to the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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