BSU Notes

[Z-P]

Notes from Ball State…we're improving week by week...this is something I can't really say ever happened during the past few years...BIG UPS ON THE STAFF !

If it weren’t for RAB (Rent A Back) where would we be this year? The man’s a man and a half in a mini “attack†version. All motor all the time. Wow. Hope grades don’t become an issue (assuming that’s why he had to go JUCO)…BTW, the “Back de Jure†this year at all uni’s seems to be the 5’9†200 speedster.

Anyone else notice how fantastic the new surface was in a heavy rain. B-4 the Zips game I was watching NIU vs WMU on ESPN and those guys were slipping and sliding all over the place. I can’t remember one slip last night at the bowl during or after the downpour.

Feel bad for 40, but we’re seeing why he didn’t get reps last year I guess.

Hate to rag on guys, but I made a comment in the stands out loud and the guy in front of me ( who I had never seen or met before ) turned around and loudly agreed with me (to my surprise)…our receivers suck. Example…on comeback routes they turn to come back and instead of jetting back, they slow down every time, giving the DB’s the chance to get back into the play…every firkin time. They run long slow lazy routes instead of facing up the DB’s then breaking hard…it’s just sick to see. Feel real bad for Superman. Never knew how great our group was last year. One exception, 84, he’s going to be a goooooood one. Already is.

Looooove what’s happening on Defense. After all these years, we finally attack offenses instead of sitting back and waiting for our “spanking†(a legacy of the prior staff I guess). I’d like to see a little better tackling, especially behind the LOS, we gave up at least 5 or 6 TFL’s due to no wrap. Remember 2 in particular by 35. Did 29 really catch that ball or was it an All-World Job of picking it up on a short skip?

Guess we do have a screen pass in the package. Finally. 34 for 6.

How about the O-Line? Looking real good. They are finally getting some run-block work in practice and it shows. That is all that was missing from last season’s debacle IMHO…prior staff abandoned the run game…didn’t train or teach it…just expected it to happen I guess. Credit the OL with at least 50% of the reason it’s happening this season.

Attendance reads about 7,000. For those of you not in attendance, that’s a stretch of about 5K...at least. Hated that for players, staff, competitors and The Boss’s guys and gals. They all deserve better. Hope Marshall turns up better.

Seems like the new staff has instilled the belief in our D that they aren’t destined to cave like in the old days…we’re winning games now we would have lost in the past.

How about the freshman QB at BSU? That young man’s gunna have one hell of a run thru the MAC during his tenure. And their punter…could he hit the S_ _ t out of the ball or what?

MN…

[zipper]

You thought 7K was high? That's funny - I thought it was low; it looked like 10K before the game but then after the rain I think a lot of folks left - and that was almost right after the opening kick.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Fast, random notes:

Biggs is awesome. Runs hard, strong and square to the endzone at all times. What a workhorse. I can't count how many times in the stands we turned to eachother and said "That was a hell of a run" or "man I LOVE him" after a run.

Can our offense finish off a game? Last night we fumbled in the 4th to let them back in it...dropped a punt snap and cam up short on a 4th and 1. Somehow our offense needs to put together a 4th quarter drive of 6 or so minutes in the 4th to "ice" a game.

Our WR's were really bad at times last night. The OL did a fantastic job of pass blocking last night and too many times the WR's (Hixson excluded) did exactly what Z-P stated...ran around aimlessly...didn't break off their routes...gave up on the play. I hope JD addresses this in the next 2 weeks. It is the JD's specialty (WR's) so we'll see.

Biggs on the screen was awesome. Big OL's got out in front...little guy hid behind them until they cleared a path and BAM, off to the races!

Frye was solid. Better WR play would have helped tremendously.

OL did a great job of pass blocking and run blocking. Whoda thunk is 4 weeks ago?

Hixson is awesome. The punt returner/WR skills are reminicent of Cherry.

10K Zipper? Man, I want to hit YOUR tailgate party, man!!?? Z-P's right. 2K max. Empty parking lot.

It would be nice to have a #2 RB step up. Ringer is scary to insert at the moment. You GOTTA have sure hands in the 4th quarter!

Looking at #84 Kasparek as a Fr., I never thought he'd be a contributor. He's really playing well. Hats off to him.

Defense comes through again! Good pressure all night. Tight coverage most of the night.

Looking forward to Marshall! If we can keep from "freezing" on offense in the 2nd half, we have a great shot vs. the Herd. Our defense is playing well enough for us to win.

[Guest Guest]

Though I was glad for the win last night, I do have to say that was WAY to similar to the Zips of old. Someone in my group turned to me just after the beginning of the 4th quarter and said "I think we've got this one in the bag". I too was believing it in my mind, but my mouth said "It's not over in Zipland till it's over". For once my mouth said the right thing.

Z-P hit the nail on the head about the receivers last night, I noticed the same thing, jogging across the field while Frye is scrambling. IMO, that is something that can be coached. I was so pissed at Ringer too. Biggs has a good run back, give him a breather, Ringer puts the ball on the ground. Again, we couldn't get a first down late in the 4th when we needed it. What was the deal with JD going for it on 4th down? I know we were close to the endzone and would have eaten more clock but if we would have kicked the FG, it would have put us up by 15 and not 12. In general I was just extreamly frustrated with the ability of the team to put this one away late....just like last season.

Frye, though he played a good game, didn't look like a Heisman hopeful last night. Missed a few passes to Hixon deep when he had them beat. Danced out of bounds on at least one first down when there were 3 FREE yards in front of him (though he did do some nice footwork to tiptoe down the sideline on another play.) Thankfully, Frye was his ususal self, making overall smart decisions.

I think we're going to need a lot of work to take Marshall in two weeks. Granted, we've got about every advantage you could ask for prior to this game, but if our offense is going to score on their defense, we shouldn't have had a hard time controlling the clock at the end of the game vs. Ball State.

Oh yea, two more things, why are they called Ball State? Second, the refs sucked!

[Guest ***GUEST_Zipsrifle]

That was my post

[Guest ***GUEST_Z.I.P.]

Rifle asks: "why are they called Ball State?"

I hope someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I know I have heard (from BSU folks) that there is some connection to the people who make the "Ball" jars for canning, etc. It may have been that family that started the U. Or maybe it's just a "funny" I didn't quite get.

Any others?

[Guest ***GUEST_racer]

a win is a win and for that i am happy. from the begging of the season i never though we would be in this position at 4-4 and 4-1 mac. i know the teams we played were not good ,but akron did what they had to do.c/k you were right that the three teams we played were all very beatable .i thought we would win maybe two out of three.

at the same time i did say that this offense was not performing very well. if they play like they are capable esp the o line we would be ok.

then alott of the posters said it was because owens left the cupboard bare , and it was

not the coaches .we dont have d-1 players ,were to slow , to weak, were to small, blah blah blah blah blah. so now that we have won four of five kinda dispels that to a point.

the good part is that the d is getting better .so i give the new staff credit for that. we are aslo turning up the running game. we will get an indication how this team has improved now that we play marshall. go akron.

[Guest ***GUEST_Zipper]

It's great that the team has won 3 in a row and is now 4-1 in the MAC but that does not change the fact that Akron still has a lot of non-D-1 players on the roster. Beating Can't State, Buffalo, UCF and Ball State is nothing to get all buff about - it's the bottom 10 schedule.

This team could very easily finish 4-7, in fact anything over that would be a big success. I said before the season that 5 wins would be a great achievement for this team and I stand by that 100%. You can say the team should have beaten MTSU but in week two of a new system that was not in the cards. Let's look at the rest of the season objectively.

MARSHALL will be an easy 14 point favorite coming in. Anything can happen but they kicked Akron hard last season with a better Akron team on the field. The crowd can play a big part in this game but from what I have been a part of the last few weeks I do not expect more than maybe 15K on a high school football friday night when you can watch the game for free on TV.

OHIO is playing great football right now and is falling just short against good teams. Akron is just barely getting by BAD teams like Ball State and UCF. Akron never plays well at Ohio. This would be an upset for Akron to win.

MIAMI will be another possible win, but the truth is they have way more talent than Akron. Again, the Zips get no home field advantage playing in front of the small crowds at the bowl and this game is up against the Suckeyes and Michigan. Frye's last game at home will be in front of maybe 2,000 people.

4-7 would be a letdown from last season's 7-5 but it's what I expect will be the end result.

I think this program is headed in the right direction. I guess I just want to see something from this team against a decent opponent before I can believe in the team of 2004.

[GP1]

Here is a reason to have faith in the team and the direction of the program.

An earlier post said that Owens did not leave the program baren. He did. One person, a JD recruit, has made the difference in this team. He wears number 34. We have the same starting offensive line as the start of the year, the same QB, the same tight ends and receivers. The only difference in the starting line up is replacing 40 with 34. 34 is a true Division I player not just a player playing Division I.

I'll also go as far as to say that 34 is the Most Valuable Player of the team. The team is 4-2 with him in the starting line up. His ability to run the ball has opened up the passing game much better.

One last thing. I posted a couple of weeks ago that the kicking game is doing well. I'd like to restate that point. Field position is everything in college football and these guys are doing a good job. Keep up the good work.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Here is a reason to have faith in the team and the direction of the program.

An earlier post said that Owens did not leave the program baren. He did. One person, a JD recruit, has made the difference in this team. He wears number 34. We have the same starting offensive line as the start of the year, the same QB, the same tight ends and receivers. The only difference in the starting line up is replacing 40 with 34. 34 is a true Division I player not just a player playing Division I.

I'll also go as far as to say that 34 is the Most Valuable Player of the team. The team is 4-2 with him in the starting line up. His ability to run the ball has opened up the passing game much better.

One last thing. I posted a couple of weeks ago that the kicking game is doing well. I'd like to restate that point. Field position is everything in college football and these guys are doing a good job. Keep up the good work.

I see where you're going with that statement, but I disagree a little.

Chevin Pace's play has been nothing short of outstanding. Without him steping up, our secondary looks real bad...there isn't anything behind him.

Hixson has also been outstanding. We'd be in big trouble without him. The other WR's struggle enough...if Hixson wasn't drawing the opponent's best CB every play we'd be in be up a creek.

Biggs rules. No doubt about it. However, we had Hendry last season...who was more than a capable back...and like Z-P stated....Owens never threw him a screen, and many times echewed handing the ball off entirely (Miami/UConn games, choosing instead to throw every freaking down. Beyond that, all those stupid f-ing draw plays to the RB out of the shotgun that Owens and Winters ran incessantly are out of the playbook. JD's playcalling is giving the RB a much better chance for success than Ownes/Winters ever did.

I'll hold off on giving Biggs the MVP for another week...but that's probably all. It is definitely his award to lose at the moment.

I will say it one more time: How freaking nice is it not to see that stupid delay draw play on 3rd and 8??!! I thought of that in the Ball State game when we had 2nd and 35. We actually tried to get the first down. JD actually said "We have a damn good QB...let's get 35 yards in two plays. As opposed to Owens, who consistently took the ball out of Frye's hands in any situation beyond 3rd and 6.

Much better play calling on offense this season....MUCH better...

[ZipDude]

Thank you for all the opinions and game reporting. I "watched" the game on Game Tracker from GoZips.com....boy does it suck and then waiting for the Zip Score to cycle through on the ESPN games.

I am pleased to see improvement, yet very concerned about the let down and lack of ability to "piut away" an inferior team in the Testicle State guys.

The season starts now. They need to get their asses fired up for Marshit oops Marshal , the Cats and the RedHawks.

Kudoos to my OL boys finally playing to their level of abilities. Do not know if it is coaching or just their moptivation and figuring out that in addition to #5 they truly are the strength of this football team.

Padre, you saw how truly important the loss of Cherry, Irv, Nick and Brake were to the passing attack with your comment about the receivers.

I say bring the departed 16 seniors back for one more game, how about against The Thundering Turds???

I will be at the Bowl this Saturday. Looking forward to seeing some of my fellow slugs .

For you my Padre

[Guest Calendar Girl]

If you are at the Bowl this Saturday you'll be by yourself - it's an open week followed by

a game on Friday, November 5 vs. Marshall.

[Guest ***GUEST_racer]

guys. we have a guest and a former akron coach to give the pregame speech before we hit the field with marshall. one hint guys its not lee owens. "i think you guys are doing a great job four of five ,and three in a row. what's more amazing is your doing it against d-1 teams. mount union has nothing on you guys. frye has had a great year, and may even get drafted. that's pretty incredible for a non d-1 payer. bigss is running the ball like a mad man. 510 in three games. mac player of the week. not bad for a guy who had only one d-1 offer. glad we got him instead of the d-1 team. the o line has been doing a great job also. there doing this even though they are undersized and playing against bigger ,faster, stronger d-1 athletes. we always had some great jc players ,but for some reason they would always miss games,and then disappear never to be seen again.im not sure how you guys will play against marshall. they have a d-1 all american at DE ,and none of you guys are even d-1 players let alone all american. " i do know you you'll give your best and play hard. so go out there and get em." " thanks coach."

[Guest ua-fan]

I didn't see the BSU game but what I'm reading on here is that this coaching staff is doing a lousy job of coaching the WR's. What have they been practicing all season? Does JD (WR coaching specialist) need a reprimand from Mike Thomas or what?

[zipper]

Hello ex-coach.