Captain's Log

[Captain Kangaroo]

As usual, a random assortment...Despite the weather reports prognosticating thunderstorms, there was no electricity in the air. Not from the weather. Not from the 104,000 Buckeye fans who sat on their hands well into the 3rd quarter. And certainly not from the Zips offense, which registered yet another dreadful performance.From a tailgating perspective, it was pretty nice. The stories of neo-nazi police attacks on folks playing corn hole with their beer-filled Solo cups proved to be wholly inaccurate. We were able to put up our tent and do about anything we wanted. The people were pretty friendly. I will say, however, that 2-mile haul from the parking lot to the stadium is the text book definition of a buzz-kill.The Zips defense was OUTSTANDING. Holy hell. They went mano-a-mano against a premier Big Ten team dripping with Ohio HS record holders, Mr. Footballs, nationally heralded recruits, and our rag-tag group of guys that were deemed either "too short," or "a step too slow" on National Letter of Intent Day pretty much shut them down. FIVE forced turnovers!! Thats AWESOME. You look back a few years to the Lee Owens era and you remember when we had cornerbacks who rarely, if ever, would turn around when the ball was in the air. We now have hard-hitting ball hawks at every position in the secondary. Hell, if an Owens-coached defense made a team punt twice in a game, you'd sometimes be compelled to storm the field. Now, you EXPECT the opponent to punt.Speaking of punting -- Who's our new punter? Who's the new special teams coach? I LOVE these guys. I hope we can keep them around. Seriously -- who saw such a dramatic improvement in the punting game coming? It was bad for the better part of last year, and after the Army game it looked to be more of the same-old-same-old in 2007. I've openly wondered why we went all the way to Florida to recruit such a mediocre punter? But if Stec can punt anywhere near how he punted yesterday during the MAC season, it will be a huge, unexpected boost for our team.Offense -- Like Dennis Hopper said in those old Nike commercials (regarding Bruce Smith's shoes) -- "Bad things, man. Bad things...".To go 3-and-out on 13 consecutive possessions is flat-out atrocious. And we were never even a threat to get a first down! We rarely punted in any situation where it was less than 4th and 6! That has GOT to be addressed. Yes, MAC teams will not have a fraction of the team speed we saw yesterday. So yes, by simple fact that we'll be facing defenses more at "our level," things will get better. But I saw our offense dissapear last season. We had something like one offensive TD in our last 2 games? Add that to our first two games this year...we now have a combined two. That's terrible.I understand we have a totally new offensive line. But I saw the same thing last year with our veteran offensive line. The trend is disappointing, to say the least.I understand we lost David Harvey. But does that mean we simply give up on throwing downfield? And I'm not talking 50 yard bombs...can we at least throw 5 yards down the field? A dump to an RB? Do we have TE's?Is there another receiver besides Jabari? I heard a big buzz regarding Alphonso Owen, but I haven't seen hide nor hair from him.We have three great backs in Allen, Williams and Kennedy. How are we rushing for single-digit yards? Why can't we run two consecutive running plays? Or three for that matter? We give up on the run WAY too soon.I started the season thinking C-Jacq whas the best option at QB. I'm now leaning towards C-Jack. It is pretty obvious our team is in dire need of a playmaker. C-Jacq's best attribute is "he doesn't make mistakes." That's not going to get us on the score board. C-Jack throws a nice long pass in addition to being more elusive. If he can hold on to the football...and he has shown a tendency to fumble in his brief career...then I'm all for swapping the QB reps. Start C-Jack, and start putting C-Jacq in in the 2nd quarter. Also - Can we roll out once or twice?I hate that this post finish with a bunch of negative comments. Especially when the Zips played as hard as they did. I was really proud of the team. Every Zips fan that left the stadium yesterday did so with their head held high. I give the Zips team a HUGE thumbs up for that! The Zips left their hearts on the field. I saw more than one defensive player in tears after the game. It had to suck to play the game of your life, yet come out on the losing end. But -- If that effort can be duplicated in the MAC season, this Zips team has a solid chance to contend for the MAC East title. We're no different than the OU team of 2006. Horrible offense...stellar defense. In the MAC East, that means "contender." It heartened me to see K.e.n.t. get drubbed at Ken.tucky. Good to see they're back to reality. Iowa State lost to 1-AA Northern Iowa last night, BTW. Thus K.e.n.t's opening night win is a little less impressive. Or, a LOT less impressive. Indiana is a good team. I watched them last night. Their QB is VERY elusive. And they have a 6' 5" wide receiver (Hardy?) who's OUTSTANDING. We will have our hands full, and then some.In closing I'll say -- Great effort Zips! You made us proud! It was only one game. Keep your heads up and finish the season strong. Defense wins championships...and we have a defense!

[sgm405]

Great post...can't find much that I disagree with...and good to hear your gameday experience was a positive one

[Buckzip]

Nice post Cap'n.The defense was very impressive yesterday. You have to love the safety.

[skip-zip]

I agree with most of this assessment as well.I don't want to add too much since I've posted several comments on other threads, but let me just add something very noticable about our DBs, from someone with coaching in his blood. The biggest difference I see with these experienced DBs we have now, as opposed to some of our DBs in years past, is that when the ball is in the air, they get to the ball with their FEET and not with their ARMS. It's a sure sign of experience, and surely some good coaching. Only good things happen when you do this. First, you get to the reciever faster when your arms are not flapping all over. And secondly, you are in a better position to jar the ball loose, if the ball happens to get to the receiver before you get there. I'm telling you guys. That secondary is going to win a few games for us this year.

[Zipgrad1990]

If we could just combine those Lee Owen offenses with our current defense....

[RACER]

ck i agree totally.the defense played about as good as you could expect given the offense gave them nothing.i think the offensive problems are part young offensive line,and part coaching.i know osu has a great defense but no excuse for the play calling yesterday.that will be the best team we play all year. if we can get past next week ,and pull the upset everbody else on are schedule is definately beatable.

[uafan]

OK everyone, better sit down! You know how I have complained about special teams, especially punting. But my hat is off to Stec. He did a great job! Only wish he didn't have to do it so often! He was tired. You could see his punts gettiung flatter and shorter as the game went on.The players were upset after the game. They feel they could have won, and I agree. Better play calling would have given the defense time to catch their breath. 3 and out should not be a mantra! OSU is a big time team. Maybe try a few misdirections, some trick plays...we did try a halfback pass that, if it was on line, would have been a score. A little imagination, please!The players did not lose this game. IMO, the coaches did not give them a chance to win!

[skip-zip]

uafan. Maybe a bit harsh.Remember, a team of Ohio State's caliber can recruit great speed defensively. Sometimes, you just have to understand that they will be able to pursue ball carriers, no matter what plays you are running. It looked to me like they were trying a pretty fair number of different plays to try to get something going. They just seemed to swarm to the ball no matter what.

[gozips19]

great posts guys!!!! i had a blast down in c bus and agree whole heartedly that the walk to and back is a bit long! happened to park next to another zip alumni who was very nice. while the akron fan base was small (compared to the rest of the crowd) i was pumped to see how loud we were. much props to the people who made the trip especially the rowdies! for the game, everyone on the defense played great but i'd like to point out the play of big nate and stokes. nate's best game as a zip by far!the o line will be great but they aren't strong enough yet to dominate a game up front. wish we didn't have to see the running back go up the a gap every time on first down. left us with way too many third and long situations. after watching both qb's i'll still stick with my surprise that CJ isn't starting. while both didn't do much, CJ clearly brings more to the table as a playmaker and that is what the offense needs now.jabri is the man out there i will only nit pick on J.D. once as i was stunned when he decided to punt on forth and six late in the game after akron recovered it's final fumble. the d was gassed and it was the only time the offense was in ohio state territory the second half. overall, i was really pleased with the effort although a little bummed that they played so well and couldn't take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. the team will only get better and has the best d in the mac by far. the offense will come around and i am much more relaxed about where this team will end up and that is in detroit!

[GP1]

Hang in everyone, still nine games to go.Go Zips!

[skip-zip]

gozips19. I'm not refuting what you say, but who is saying that we have the best defense in the MAC? That would be great if we do, and could go a long way towards us having a respectable season. Who is saying that? I'd sure like to see where we are rated as having the best defense.

[uafan]

skip-zip, I don't think anyone said we have the best D in the MAC, but after Saturday, I'd like to see who is better! And speaking of the MAC as a conference, it used to be that Miami would beat Northwestern occasionally and it was expected that everyone else would lose. But look at this weekend, I think the MAC presented itself pretty damn well!

[Lone Zip in Col]

But look at this weekend, I think the MAC presented itself pretty damn well!

If you have low expectations the MAC did well. N. Ill. who was supposed to be a front runner to win the MAC champsionship went down to S. Ill. a Div IAA school better known for B.B. Can't got waxed by Kentucky who is by far not a powerhouse. Although Miami took Minnesota to overtime, they still lost to a team who will likely be at the bottom of the big 10. Ohio had a big scare from a weak Sunbelt team. To be honest, I just don't see the MAC as a whole improving over the past several years.

[liljc]

Mackey! Mackey! Mackey! If he doesn't get some love from the All MAC team this season, then.....Awe, forget it, he's a lock!

[gozips19]

skip i am saying that...that doesn't count for anything just my observation so far after seeing akron twice and many other mac schools on the tube. if you have seen a better defense i'd love to know who so i can catch one of their games again.

[skip-zip]

No. I think we do have a great defense. And I thought that before last weekend. I was just curious if there was any publications, etc. that were actually saying that we had the best defense in the MAC. I don't like to miss that kind of information if it is actually out there somewhere. Oh, and John Mackey is the man. I had friends calling me up that were watching the game on TV that had never seen him play before, and were quite impressed.

[Zipsrifle]

Good summaries all around! First of all, I have a totally different opinion of OSU fans after this past weekend. We went out on the town on Friday night, and despite all the warnings, I wore my Akron stuff anyway! Amazingly, nobody got in my face. Showed up at the Fawcett center at 7AM set up my stuff, and despite being the only Akron fan, everyone was very helpful telling me to keep the booze undercover and stopping by to chat. On the way into the game, many people went out of their way to wish us luck! Pre-game atmosphere was AMAZING! I've been to 2 other B10 stadiums (Purdue and UofM) on game day and OSU hands down has the best pre-game atmosphere. In the stadium though, it was disappointing. Band was great, but the OSU fans were not the rabid dogs they say they are, rather benign if you ask me. Where were the ROWDIES!?! Akron fans were worse than the OSU fans, sitting on their hands the entire game!Where the hell did our special teams come from! That was the most impressive punting I think I've ever seen out of Akron. Defense, damn, they were amazing as well! Who said they couldn't make the OSU 3rd team!?! Now for the O, I agree that CJ should have gotten more playing time. It seemed to me that he hung in the pocket too long. WTF was up with that flea flicker? We've got 3 QB's we can put on the field, and we leave it up to a RB to pass the ball? I expected to see some more variation on offense but we kept the same few plays. QB's need some work. Jabari was open crossing the middle and Chris threw it way behind him. Chris also threw it directly to an OSU DB, with no Akron WR around. Carlton made a few good moves, but I guess I expected more. I don't blame the players, IMO, we were out coached on the O. I also understand these guys are green, give them some time and they'll get better.IU is gonna be TOUGH this week, not the game we expected! I just hope we show steady improvement over the next week so we can put the whoopin on K E N T!