Why are we so bad?

[JP Morgan]

I'm going to get straight to the point and am going to keep it short.

We're bad, really bad. I haven't actually eyewitnessed a snap but have listened to the games on the radio and read the box scores. It's readily apparrent, we stink.

Question is why? Is the talent level so bad that there is no way we can compete? I don't think its bad, but probably mediocre. I now think Lee probably got the most out of his players. But we now have a new system, new coach, and what do you get........... 0 and 3 and drilled 51-0 in this past game. But a "good" coach will make it respectable, I'd say all three games were NOT respectable. I'm not giving JD a pass here, we should have faired better in these games.

As someone mentioned before, we all would like to see JD be the next Urban Meyer. Doesn't look like that is going to happen. It looks like this is going to take some time to turn this ship around. We all know that most Zip fans have given up, the question is will the "die hards" give up before this thing is turned around? I doubt I will make many games this year.

In the end, I've been a Zip fan for roughly a decade now, and have never had a harder time being a fan than this year. It's like 1997 when we got drilled by Nebraska, I didn't mind as much then because I knew we were "building" a team for the future. 7 years later and we're still gettting "drilled." Well I'm tired of waiting, I'm tired of building and tired of Akron getting kicked around every fall. How long until this madness ends?

[Captain Kangaroo]

I'm going to get straight to the point and am going to keep it short.

We're bad, really bad. I haven't actually eyewitnessed a snap but have listened to the games on the radio and read the box scores. It's readily apparrent, we stink.

Question is why? Is the talent level so bad that there is no way we can compete? I don't think its bad, but probably mediocre. I now think Lee probably got the most out of his players. But we now have a new system, new coach, and what do you get........... 0 and 3 and drilled 51-0 in this past game. But a "good" coach will make it respectable, I'd say all three games were NOT respectable. I'm not giving JD a pass here, we should have faired better in these games.

As someone mentioned before, we all would like to see JD be the next Urban Meyer. Doesn't look like that is going to happen. It looks like this is going to take some time to turn this ship around. We all know that most Zip fans have given up, the question is will the "die hards" give up before this thing is turned around? I doubt I will make many games this year.

In the end, I've been a Zip fan for roughly a decade now, and have never had a harder time being a fan than this year. It's like 1997 when we got drilled by Nebraska, I didn't mind as much then because I knew we were "building" a team for the future. 7 years later and we're still gettting "drilled." Well I'm tired of waiting, I'm tired of building and tired of Akron getting kicked around every fall. How long until this madness ends?

My take is as follows...and this is from a 38 year old guy that wears a french fry(e) on his head, so take it for what it is worth:

Lee Owens may have fared a little better than JD in the short term, only because he knew the players. JD had 7 months to watch what what inherited in practices and the gym. You never know what you have until you see it in game situations. JD is making some moves after seeing some of the guys in action on Saturdays. He also needs to learn how to motivate guys. Some guys get motivated by benching...some guys pout. Some guys need kit-gloves...some need in-you-face-profanity-strewn tirades. I'm sure he and his staff are learing alot about the psysche of the individual players on-the-job.

We lost an NFL TE, an NFL WR, 2 other solid senior wide outs and Hendry...not to mention our best OL. Don't forget that.

The new WR's can catch a football, but they're still learning to run routes...downfield block...knowing when to break off the route to help a scrambling QB, etc. Statistically they are comparable to last season's group, but there are a lot of aspects to being a WR that don't show up statistically.

I've been to Penn State and MTSU. I've yet to see our OL open up any type of hole for Biggs or Ringer. Any running yards have been tough.

Our OVERALL talent level is not up to par with the upper-echelon MAC teams. To say it is "bad" isn't fair to the kids that have committed themselves to being Zips...I love all the guys...but there are too many guys on the team that are closer to 1-AA talent than 1-A. Beyond that, I think 45% of the team is a Fr. or redshirt Fr.? That's a damn young team.

Thomas would have taken a lot less heat if he fired Owens after this season (instead of last). I give him a lot of credit. It's like when Shapiro gutted the Tribe and began re-building. Everyone and their brother ripped him a huge a-hole for getting rid of Colon, Alomar, Thome, Ramirez, etc. Now people can see the guy knew what he was doing. Thomas is going to endure a lot of crap over the next two years before the dividends of his decision will be visible.

I hope JD and the guys continue to improve from here on out. The schedule gets a lot easier begining Thursday.

[Guest Roos Your Daddy]

As usual, the captain knows what he is typing about. Great post.

[Dr Z]

It's like when Shapiro gutted the Tribe and began re-building.  Everyone and their brother ripped him a huge a-hole for getting rid of Colon, Alomar, Thome, Ramirez, etc. Now people can see the guy knew what he was doing.  Thomas is going to endure a lot of crap over the next two years before the dividends of his decision will be visible.

Great analogy.

There are a lot of ignorant Chicken Littles out there.

PS The season starts Thursday. Let's go Zips !

[zff]

Capn' is the Man.

[GP1]

The Captain is right on the money. It is obvious it is going to be a looooooong season for the Zips, but what can we do.

Please don't take the following statement as being purposely malicious because they aren't intended to be so. My only disagreement is that Owens should have been fired one year before he did and certainly before he started to hire every high school coach in Ohio to work under him. My guess is that in the end Owens surrounded himself with high school coaches because every other college coach saw the writing on the wall and they were the only coaches he could get. High school coaches rarely are able to understand what a Division I player will look like two or three years down the road. Have you ever talked to a high school coach about football, they speak in cliches. Good Division I players do not always play for good teams or even have good statistics because they may be on a bad team. A Division I coach must be able to spot a good player's talent and I don't think that was getting done. For example, do all three Basch brother deserve Division I scholarships????? Are 5' 11" 215 pound linebackers really Division I players? The Zips are way too small and way too slow.

The athlet director is also partly to blame. He is paid to have foresight about the program and when one high school coach after another is hired to be an assistant, he should have known something was wrong. It is not always about what plays are called. Success is more frequently about creating the right culture. The ADs job is to create the proper culture. JD has been around the block and I believe understands the culture of accountability that needs to be created.

Speaking of creating the right culture. I said this a week ago and after seeing the game Saturday it is obvious that more competition needs to be created on the team for starting positions. After all, a rising tide lifts all ships. The starting offensive line has no pressure on them to perform because the back up players are so poor they could not be counted on to perform in a game. The solution to this problem is to bring in older players who can compete.......JUCO players (but not a lot of them and only for one or two years). Just enough to create competition and some depth.

Oh by the way, Can't State has a patio where you can drink beer and watch the game. Some day when Akron has a real stadium, maybe we can have a beer patio that allows us to see the game also. See everyone there Thursday.

Look at the current staff, they all have college experience, and a lot of it. Given time, they will do a good job. I really do have a lot of confidence in them. I hope everyone else does too.

Have a good week everyone!

[Guest ***GUEST_racer]

nice spin. im sorry, but i dont agree on all the points. the offensive line is almost the same .we have the same qb back, the recievers can catch the ball.biggs is as good as bobby last year.yet we get shut out last week, score on penn state only when it did not count,and lost to middle tenn who lost to fla atlantic. most of the denfese is back and they are terrible; no improvement from last year. i did watch the first game on tv also and they looked like they did not know what they were doing. im willing to give jd a pass on losing games to top 25 teams. we are getting drilled though ,and do not look like a d-1 team. im not to say owens was the answer, but after the first three games this staff has fared worse.im willing to wait until the end of the season to make a judgement because the mac does not look like a powerhouse this year. you can spin it any way you want. learing the system,no talent .whatever you want.the bottom line is the coach makes his palyers better that he has,and to get better players . i have not seen the first part.hopefully he can do the both.but once again i have not seen the first part.

we need to beat Can't bad. ainw at Can't State and the mac record may not be that bad. if were 0-4 going into n.illinos its going to be along season.

i saw ucf play penn state on tv and they did not look bad.they made some turnovers that led to psu points. they played them alott better than we did; esp their defense.

go akron.

[ZipDude]

Gotta weigh in on this one. First JP, I agree with you from a pure analytical standpoint comparing last yeas to this year. CK you are , as usual on the money with your take.

Yet something smells in Denmark.

Ringer/Biggs do not come close to replacing Hendry. Why? First heart. No one had more. Second, he's a friggin warrior. No one blocked for 5 better than Bobby. Bobby sacrificed his body for the team. Think about being on the goal line against MTSU, UP the guy numeruos times???? Hendry over thye top everytime. Heart and being a warrior. Big time difference

New wywterm, yes definitely a part of the explanation

Wide receivers and tight end. Definitely a major big time deal. I have no idea what happened at Cavil;iaer land cause i did not go or listen but at MTSU , Chjerry, Irv, Brake et al would have eaten those guys up and charlie would have picked them apart.

I have no clue WTF is wriong with the OL. They should be the absolute stringth of this team behiond 5. Baby Gres was and is ready to step into his legacy and could reasonalby replace 78. I think Crouch is worthless and Gres should be on the left side and Hein on the right but who am i to say, im a damn bean counter CPA.

Fionally, i think the ghost of Tresey still runs the D, We just plain suck.

Sorry to digress but lets look at the friggin Pukeeyes. They lose all that D talent to the NFL. They lose D'antanio and Fickell to UC and yet last week the D won the game for them. YOu win football games with defense.

We have to beat Can't.

Go Zips

Go Bengals

BTW was at the Beagles?Miami game last night and Jason Taylor is a stud.

For my Padre:

[Guest Zip88]

Lack of confidence... plain and simple....We don't believe and neither do the players.

We took the field against Penn State hoping not to get embarassed and got drilled.

We hoped we'd beat MTSU and played like it. Hangover from PSU???

Then another hope we aren't embarassed performance at Virginia -- drilled again.

The real test is not for the players, it's for the new coaching staff. And it comes right now... only the 4th game of season Thurs at Can't. Do we roll over or does JD appeal to Zip pride and get us up for our rivalry game?? If we do, and win it, then maybe the confidence returns. If not, then another long season.

The Zips used to make up for a lack of athleticism by playing with emotion and confidence... it covers alot of mistakes...

Last year, the offense was comfortable with Winter's offense and had confidence that Charlie would lead them down the field. I haven't seen that in this year's O.... right now, we're still trying to figure out what's going on...

I'm disappointed, just like the rest of you .. but we can't expect miracles in JD's 1st 3 games...

JP>>> you've been waiting 10 years. I've been in it for 20. I remember Faust coming to campus and all the hype of joing the Big East and such...all of it a load .... and I'll bet some on this board have been waiting even longer. Near misses in 1AA playoffs etc...

It's no fun being a Zip fan. It's harder than being a Cub fan. And even Can't State can point to the Basketball team with pride ...we have had neither program be successful since Huggins in the 80's.

It's frustrating... but MT and UA seem to have decided they really want to be a 1A program and be upper echelon MAC ... 1st they have to overcome the culture here...

and that's not going to be easy....

Show us something this week guys --GO ZIPS!!!

Bring back that Wagon Wheel...

[JP Morgan]

My point is that I expected a little bit more out of this team and this coaching staff.....I'm sure all of you did as well. I don't mind losing, especially given all of the factors that all of you list above, but I DO mind getting our asses kicked like we did.

You know what would really make this all better for me? If we drilled Can't! I'm talkig like a 40 point win.

JD, get these guys motivated, out-coach Pee's and win this game. This is BIGTIME! PUT UP OR SHUT UP!

[Guest Duh]

Out coaching Peas would be tough since he is with the patriots in the NFL dumbass Zippy.

[JP Morgan]

Sorry "duh", I guess Kents' coaching changes aren't on my radar.