Eastern Michigan Preview (Game Six)

[catdaddyp]

QB:

Noah Kim is playing well in what is presumably his final season. The former Michigan State and Coastal Carolina transfer started his collegiate career in 2020. Kim has thrown for 1,187 yards and 8 touchdowns against 3 interceptions while completing nearly 63% of his passes. Kim is excellent when his isn’t pressured, completing almost 69% of his passes, compared to just 38% when pressured.

 

RB:

EMU will utilize three different backs depending on the situation, with sophomore Amareon Blue and seniors Joey Mattord and Braydon Bennett all seeing significant playing time. Blue has been the main man as of late, rushing for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns on 60 attempts. 

 

WR:

Senior Benson Prosper and sophomore Harold Mack have become the focal points following the injury to All-MAC receiver Nick Devereaux. The duo has combined for 47 receptions for 525 yards and 3 touchdowns. If Devereaux returns, he’ll make the passing game even more dangerous.

 

TE:

All-MAC selection Joshua Long and senior Tanner Lemaster handle most of the snaps at tight end. Unlike most tight ends, Long is a legitimate threat in the passing game, as he already has 22 receptions on the year.

 

OL: 

The offensive line has been pretty good in pass protection, giving up only 8 sacks on 205 attempts. However, they have been inconsistent when it comes to run blocking.

LT - Tyler Brumfield (6’6 305) (Sr.)

LG - Guzzy Kayed (6’3 316) (Jr.) - Transfer from St. Francis

C - Nicholas Gallegos (6’3 294) (Gr.)

RG - Dennis Strey (6’7 312) (Gr.)

RT - Elijha Payne (6’6 315) (Sr.) - Transfer from Delaware State

 

 

DL:

Sophomore Quincey Byas and seniors Carter Evans and Ronn Hardin are the main edge threats. The trio has combined for 4.5 sacks. Seniors Peyton Christian, Makhi Gilbert, Joseph Oluwayemi handle the majority of snaps on the interior.

 

LB:

Junior Elgin McDuffey and senior Zach Mowchan are the starters at linebacker. Mowchan leads the team with 50 total tackles, while McDuffey has amassed 23 total tackles.

 

DB:

Junior Caleb Dobbs starts at one corner with JUCO transfer Rayquan Adkins on the opposite side. All-MAC defensive back Bryce Llewellyn is the starting nickleback. Seniors Juan Salas and Davion Williams fill out the safety spots.

 

ST:

Junior Rudy Kessinger has made 5 of 8 field goals and 16 of 17 extra points. Junior Daniel Hull is averaging 43 yards a punt with a long of 60 yards.

 

 

Keys on Offense:

Stay on the field and ride Gant and Patrick as much as possible. Limiting EMU’s opportunities will be important. Their offense can be inconsistent, but they did enough to put away a seemingly improved UMASS squad, and no Zip fan wants to see our secondary on the field against a pass heavy offense any longer than necessary.

 

Keys on Defense:

Find a way to get off the field. The “bend but don’t break” philosophy has been completely broken the past two games and needs to be corrected. Things can’t get worse from here, so the only two ways to go are to either improve or continue to make the same mistakes.

 

Final Thoughts:

Nothing about this matchup screams win for this Akron squad. However, I’m sticking with my preseason prediction of an Akron win. EMU is on their second consecutive road game and coming off a high of beating a UMASS squad that seemed to be pretty good. This is a prime let down spot for EMU, and the Zips are due for a rebound game.

 

Edited October 4 by catdaddyp

[exit322]

Great writeup as always.

 

EMU by 20.  Akron isn't winning another game this year with how it's looking right now.

Edited October 4 by exit322

[kreed5120]

So their strength is our main weakness? This should be a fun game. Only hope is CB returns and Akron can match EMU score for score.

 

Teams have clearly figured out Roggow. He's no longer having the same success that he had earlier in the season during mop up duty.

Edited October 4 by kreed5120

[exit322]

Sac State is angry now that "we paid you all this money and you didn't even put Akron on our schedule?!"

[ZippyRulz]

7 hours ago, exit322 said:

Great writeup as always.

 

EMU by 20.  Akron isn't winning another game this year with how it's looking right now.

 

Especially if CB has Alex Adams Syndrome.

[exit322]

6 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

 

Especially if CB has Alex Adams Syndrome.

Until he learns how to slide, I don't think we can safely call him a multi-week starter.

[clarkwgriswold]

So much excitement rolling into Homecoming week.

[Blue & Gold]

8 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

So much excitement rolling into Homecoming week.

 

[exit322]

32 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

So much excitement rolling into Homecoming week.

 

Losing 45-17 to a bad CMU team will do that.

[Ham]

9 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

Losing 45-17 to a bad CMU team will do that.

 

 

Too early to tell.  Wonder Team U Mass stumbled.  let's judge the teams in a couple months.  I still have a player's mentality.  Looking in the rear view mirror too much is a killer(successes or failures).  Focus on getting better today and your next opponent.  If Eastern looks in that mirror too much thinking about tomorrow, they could be in for a surprise Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kreed5120]

12 minutes ago, Ham said:

 

 

Too early to tell.  Wonder Team U Mass stumbled.  let's judge the teams in a couple months.  I still have a player's mentality.  Looking in the rear view mirror too much is a killer(successes or failures).  Focus on getting better today and your next opponent.  If Eastern looks in that mirror too much thinking about tomorrow, they could be in for a surprise Saturday.

 

The MAC outside of 3-4 teams have all looked very bad. Even then none of those 3-4 teams are remotely in discussion to get the G6 bid.

 

Given there aren't really anymore OOC games to measure ourselves against external competition, MAC play is mainly just about determining who is the tallest midget.

[exit322]

3 hours ago, Ham said:

Too early to tell.  Wonder Team U Mass stumbled.  let's judge the teams in a couple months.  I still have a player's mentality.  Looking in the rear view mirror too much is a killer(successes or failures).  Focus on getting better today and your next opponent.  If Eastern looks in that mirror too much thinking about tomorrow, they could be in for a surprise Saturday.

 

Given they're certainly the team most like Akron in terms of "wow there's no one here," at least they'll feel somewhat at home in the cavern (even if the turf is green).  While that 45-17 result may be "too early" in Joe's 14-39 tenure, it's going to limit excitement anyways.

Edited Tuesday at 03:55 PM by exit322

[ZippyRulz]

4 hours ago, clarkwgriswold said:

So much excitement rolling into Homecoming week.

 

Should be good tailgating. 3:30 start and 74 degrees. I say we put Broughton in with a green shirt on and see if they fall for it.

 

[exit322]

23 hours ago, ZippyRulz said:

Should be good tailgating. 3:30 start and 74 degrees. I say we put Broughton in with a green shirt on and see if they fall for it.

 

I'd put nothing past Eastern Michigan in terms of falling for it, but I don't want CB to get hurt worse just to try and help his failed coach win a game.

[kreed5120]

26 minutes ago, exit322 said:

 

I'd put nothing past Eastern Michigan in terms of falling for it, but I don't want CB to get hurt worse just to try and help his failed coach win a game.

 

He has his next NIL deal to play for. All these players are just 1 year mercenaries. If he's healthy to play, he should play.

[exit322]

51 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

 

He has his next NIL deal to play for. All these players are just 1 year mercenaries. If he's healthy to play, he should play.

 

I think the assumption was that he wouldn't actually be healthy enough to play in this scenario.

[ZipForNow]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

He has his next NIL deal to play for. All these players are just 1 year mercenaries. If he's healthy to play, he should play.

I think we assume this, but some good players do return for their own reasons. I have no idea why Jordan Gant returned, but he did. 

[kreed5120]

10 minutes ago, ZipForNow said:

I think we assume this, but some good players do return for their own reasons. I have no idea why Jordan Gant returned, but he did. 

 

I don't disagree that some might give a hometown discount to return. It's just that the vast majority are chasing the highest bidder. Not that I fault them. 

 

As for Gant, RBs are one of the cheaper positions in the portal. There are a lot of good backs out there. I'm glad he's in an Akron uniform, but he doesn't seem to have that explosive athleticism that allows him to break game changing 40 yard runs. If he did, he wouldn't be in an Akron uniform.

[ZipForNow]

1 hour ago, kreed5120 said:

 

I don't disagree that some might give a hometown discount to return. It's just that the vast majority are chasing the highest bidder. Not that I fault them. 

 

As for Gant, RBs are one of the cheaper positions in the portal. There are a lot of good backs out there. I'm glad he's in an Akron uniform, but he doesn't seem to have that explosive athleticism that allows him to break game changing 40 yard runs. If he did, he wouldn't be in an Akron uniform.

Good point. Still, I wonder whether he could have gotten NIL money if he had entered the portal. 

[kreed5120]

26 minutes ago, ZipForNow said:

Good point. Still, I wonder whether he could have gotten NIL money if he had entered the portal. 

I know Akron doesn't have a ton of money, but it's very possible that we prioritized what little money we do have to keep Gant.

[exit322]

As an aside, the TV ratings are starting to crack a bit, which probably isn't helped by this "one year mercenary" nature of things.  Double the TV timeouts of an NFL game certainly hurts at least as much.

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, exit322 said:

As an aside, the TV ratings are starting to crack a bit, which probably isn't helped by this "one year mercenary" nature of things.  Double the TV timeouts of an NFL game certainly hurts at least as much.

 

I feel the expanded playoffs has more to do with it. Before each regular season game was a playoff matchup. To leave yourself any margin of error you also had to schedule tough. 

 

Now with this inclusive playoff structure teams can afford that early season unexpected loss to a Minnesota, Purdue, etc. Teams also no longer have to schedule challenging OOC opponents and have little incentive to since as long as they're in a P4 conference and have 2 or fewer losses they're in.

 

Defending national champion Indiana is a prime example of that. Unless you're an Indiana fan who wants to watch them beat Indiana State, Old Dominion, and Kennesaw St. by a combined score of 156-46? It's only going to get worse with an expanded playoff as what's the point when 4 loss teams make the playoffs? Schools like OSU only play 3-4 "good" teams a year and if they lose each of those games they can still make the playoffs. Makes it hard to get excited for an OSU-Oregon regular season match-up when the stakes are reduced.

Edited Wednesday at 09:05 PM by kreed5120

[exit322]

When I was in school and in the band, we had a couple games (including one at PCCC) where it got kinda boring and we counted the people in the stands.  We got to 750 for a Buffalo game, and got to 680 or so for one of the Kent games (and that included the bands).

 

Given the complete lack of enthusiasm (very fairly earned) for a great weather homecoming game here, I wonder if the band will be doing that next month.

Edited Friday at 02:22 PM by exit322

[MangoZip]

Maybe the band geeks should just watch the game… 

[ZippyRulz]

28 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

Maybe the band geeks should just watch the game… 

 

To the extent it's watchable....