Question For Those Who Were There

[GP1]

Every year Jim Tressel goes through his first few games of the year and shows nothing. Hand wringing abound starts in Columbus.....then he goes into the Big Ten and dominates with plays nobody has seen yet. Is JD doing the same thing?I didn't see the game, butt it seems as if a different CJ11 played last night than the first five games. Did the Zips play a different game? Was the play calling more open? Did CJ11 keep the ball more on the option plays? Our offense went off last night and I'd like to know what the difference was?

[RACER]

the real difference for the offensive going wild is .western defense is not ohio state defense.that's it.

[Zipsrifle]

My wife and I were sitting all by our lonesome's in the North Endzone....far from the other Akron fans. This is my assessment:First, WMU fans are great. We didn't have any real problems with them during the game and that stadium was a near sellout. Great facility, very helpful fans before and after the game (Kalamazoo is the most confusing town I have EVER been in!!!) I wouldn't say there were any plays last night that weren't seen before, kinda the same thing, but I think we are seeing the experience start to kick in and what we can do in MAC play. First, we had a decent time running the ball for a few reasons. 1) OL is opening holes. We're in MAC play guys and I could see THROUGH the line to the other endzone! On one play, there was enough room for CJ11 (who blew the block) and Alex to run through the hole at the same time!2) Alex Allen is a beast. That guy just keeps fighting for yards and taking hits. 3) Nice job at Concealing the handoff. 4) Stable of Backs. We could give the guys a breather without much of a dropoff.Next, Jabrai is a Man among Boys out there. He had a GREAT game and came back from an injury late in the game to make a few clutch catches. As I mentioned in another post, we got screwed on a TD call in the 4th. Though it was 100 yards away from where I was sitting, their Jumbotron showed the catch and it was a TD, no doubt in my mind. We had a few other guys step up in the WR dept. in Brandon Williams and Alphonso Owen which was nice. They are nowhere near 12, but it's a start. On the defensive side of the ball, I thought we did a decent job of stopping the run. We had our lapses, but did a good job of shutting down Bonds and West who are GREAT backs. Bonds has some GREAT moves! WMU is a well disciplined team and I thought we did a good job of making adjustments to their run game after they started moving the ball. The passing game is a completely different story. Sorry folks, but we really didn't have an answer to their passing game. They ran GREAT routes and had GREAT receivers. They were BIG and had GREAT hands. On at least 2 TD's, even though the Zip defender had good position, they just took the ball from them. If they had a better QB, we would have been crushed last night. I can't tell you how many times their guys were WIDE open and there weren't any Zips to be found. Special teams look good. Nothing like the Jabari pass in the Can't game. That final play was NOT a planned thing, it was pure luck! Owen completely botched on receiving the kick. He dropped it and it rolled about 10 yards to maybe the 12 yard line. He chased it down and picked it up and there were a TON of Bronco's waiting for him as he ran it up the left side, made a few good moves in traffic and dumped it to Jones as soon he was wrapped up and going down. From there, I don't know how Jones got out of traffic....he ran to the right and emerged with about 4 Zips blocking in front of him. He charged down the field and then high stepped it into the endzone (what an IDIOT!). I saw him slow down for his high step and I thought "JUST GET IN THE DAMN ENDZONE!!!!!!!!". Overall, WMU was the better team. We showed a LOT of grit, and our Offense had a slight advantage over the D. I don't know why they didn't pass the ball at the end of the game and I don't know WHY they took the safety. I understand the concept, but wouldn't you rather go into OT on the fluke punt return than lose the game on the fluke kickoff return???? I put this win up there with the MACC win.

[ZippyRulz]

He charged down the field and then high stepped it into the endzone (what an IDIOT!). I saw him slow down for his high step and I thought "JUST GET IN THE DAMN ENDZONE!!!!!!!!".

I saw the kick return on gozips.com and there was one more WMU defender he had to step over/around at or inside the 5 yard line which is why he slowed down & high stepped it in...it would have been hard to see from the opposite endzone. I'm sure the video will make it onto youtube eventually.

[timsum1283]

ZippyRulz: do you have a link to it on gozips.com because i can't find it

[ZippyRulz]

ZippyRulz:do you have a link to it on gozips.com because i can't find it

Sorry, I meant that I had bought a pass and watched it live on ZipsZone, not that they have a replay available on gozips.com. I wish they would though, I'd like to see it a couple more times. It was WMU-homer announcers on the broadcast so maybe they control the film and don't want to release it Those announcers couldn't even name the Akron players on the field while calling the game (I guess they didn't bother to get a roster) so I turned the sound down and listened to 1350.

[Z.I.P.]

I watched Bowling Greeen for the first time this year, vs Boston College on ESPNU Sat morning, and they must be a very close copy of WMU, except they have even less running game, and a more polished passing game. The QB completed 22 of his first 24 passes before BC figured out the scheme -- and picked him off five consecutive possessions. Hopefully JD and co. can look that video over and find out just what BC knew. Eagles gave BG all the five yarders they wanted, bent but didn't really break, and then just exploded on the Falcons. And Bowling Green could not stop BC either on the ground or through the air. I think every run play gained at least five yards.So, frankly, I feel it will be easier to go into BG and pull off a win than going into Miami, where we NEVER win.

[skip-zip]

I wouldn't think we are in a position to "hold back" plays for conference opponents. I think the good coaches continue to add plays as the season progresses, and they see tendencies in upcoming opponents. In this case, I think it was all about being patient with a young offensive unit.

[Zips Win!]

Nice summary ZR. After having the pleasure to attend this one, I’ll post my thoughts here as well. The atmosphere at WMU was great. There were many tailgate lots throughout the stadium area and campus. Tons of students were out in force in the tailgate lots. (It seemed like there were about 4,000 in attendance at the game.) I could see no other Zips fans in the mix tailgating and it seemed that there were less than 50 in attendance for the game.What a finish? Ranks up there in the top 5, no doubt! The punt return to win the game was surreal to say the least. Still trying to figure out how we pulled it off! Once the ball gets past Owen and rolls to the 11 close to the far sideline, all I could see was the first wave of defenders that he somehow slipped through. Heading up field several yards he is met by a second wave of defenders. At that point, I lost sight of the ball. A second later, Jones comes busting out of the pack heading up field and then to the outside , running past defenders and teammates. From his own 40 to near the goal line, all you could see was green grass in front of him. I looked back to see if any flags were dropped and I didn’t see any. All I could think of was Brandon Payne running back a punt a few years ago and as he was crossing the goal line, the official dropped the flag back at the 10.Back to the return! Heading up the sideline deep into WMU territory with one blocker in front of him, a WMU defender comes racing across the field with a great angle. At the 7, Jones stops on a dime, partially loses his balance, allows the defender to fly by, and then walks into the endzone. Zips Win!. At that point, the entire team rushes the field and all I can do is continue to look for a flag and wait even longer to see if the play is going to be reviewed. Neither happened! After the celebration, I ran down to the tunnel area and reached down and was able to high-five most of the team as they ran off the field. What a feeling? Two days later, I’m still having visions that Jones slips and falls down. Still not sure how he kept his balance. I need to see a replay of this..As for the other 59:45, where to begin?-CJ11 was very good throwing the ball. He was very bad holding onto the ball when running. While he did complete several up-and out patterns to keep drives alive, I must admit, many of the other patterns/routes seemed new to the playbook. He had great protection all night and we actually threw the ball DOWN the field. The none-yard passes were limited on Saturday. Many of the patterns were long and I thought he had great zip on his 30 + yard throws and he didn’t seem to hold onto the ball too long. On the flip side, from my vantage point, it looked like we had guys open all over the field. WMU does not have the best D, either. Crossing routes and post patterns worked all night. -JA12 was a man among boys as posted. He did a great job catching the ball and he has to lead the MAC in YAC. He just wouldn’t go down.-The running game was very good. The O line had holes opened up all over in the first half and in the fourth quarter. -WTF was the play calling down inside the 10, TWICE? It was Ball State all over. AA26 was gaining several yards a clip…we should have run the ball 4 times…..not throw it 4 times. Please tell Morehead to get those fade/throw it up for grabs- passes out of the playbook. I hate those. -RC20 got burnt all night long. On one TD catch, he went up with the MWU receiver, and allowed the ball to be taken out of his hands. -The pass D stunk all night, the run D was great in the first half, awful for the first 22 minutes of the second half. That said, the D made two critical stops for 3 and out late in the fourth to set up the game winner. -Kudos to the Kalamazoo Gazette for very good post game coverage on Sunday. What a treat for WMU fans. At least they get to open a paper after the game and see their team displayed in the top corner of the front page, their team headlining the sports page with game coverage and a player feature. Somehow they figured that there was ample space on pages 4 and 5 for coverage of the other Michigan schools. Nice job. Finally, thanks to the moderators for the new board. Great job!

[3rd&twenty]

-Kudos to the Kalamazoo Gazette for very good post game coverage on Sunday. What a treat for WMU fans. At least they get to open a paper after the game and see their team displayed in the top corner of the front page, their team headlining the sports page with game coverage and a player feature. Somehow they figured that there was ample space on pages 4 and 5 for coverage of the other Michigan schools. Nice job. Finally, thanks to the moderators for the new board. Great job!

And our supposed "hometown" newspaper saw fit to give us 2 short columns on page 3 from the AP while Can't got front page, the rest of page 3 and 3 color pics in a losing effort. As Frenchy said in the post game show, "no one is talking to the media because frankly, there's no Akron media here"