And I'm not referring to posting a prediction. I can't believe that not a single person started a game thread or even bothered to comment on the game. Although it was against s crappy team, a win is a win. Tipton had a monster game, 37 carries for 240 yards. Huge game for him. Radcliff was efficient, nothing special. Did throw 2 tds to Titus Davis. Defense was its usual self, but did manage a few big stops for a change. All this in front of maybe 8-10,000 people. It wasn't a pretty sight. Student section went from having maybe 10 rows congested in the center in the section to probably one row with maybe 30 students by the start if the third. Sad to see such apathy.

Attendance: 10,172.

Let me just start out by saying it was a victory. That's No. 1. Also keeps us in contention for a bowl game.

At the same time it isn't much to get excited about. We beat a lousy team and struggled at times against them. We had a good stretch in the first 5 minutes at the start of the 2nd half and put the game away when Akron threatened to make it close in the last 9 minutes.

Some comments. Nice to see Tipton get his opportunity to shine (without fumbling to boot). He's a gamer.

Our defense.

It's gotten continually worse as the season has gone on. Without hyperbole I think our D-line is the worst in Division 1. We NEVER get pressure on the QB, which is about two-thirds of our problem on defense. I've never seen a D-line so ineffective in my life. It's almost like we don't even have a line. I can't believe Enos can't convince some studs to come to CMU. If they're any good at all they'll start from Day 1.

Zurlon was great, and I also thought it was a strong performance for the OL and Titus. On defense, best I've seen Walton in his career. And Akron is garbage. And cheap.

What frustrates me is that we have no speed or power coming off the edge. in years past we had Bazuin and Ogle, through most of the BJ years we had Zombo, Knight, and Sam Williams. We have no combination of speed or power under Enos. I will gladly take a pure speed rusher or pure power rusher as it is tough to bring the best of both to a school like CMU, but we have neither. Our DEs are relatively undersized and don't make up for that deficiancy with speed. Our DEs provide almost no pressure of the edge and damn it gets frusterating. Why not move one of our 4 backup TEs to DE? There's got to be someone that can get to the fu**** passer once in awhile for love of god!

Nice to see the Chips win one. Tipton had a great game. Truly happy for him.

I talked with someone at the game and it looked like no more than 7.000. Very few students and most of those had left by halftime. Sad

Feels good to finally get a win, even though Akron is terrible and we struggled at times. So it's a bit hard for me to get excited. Nice games today by Tipton and Davis. And our defense had some nice stops.

Students and the general public aren't going to go to great lengths to watch two of the worst programs in the country. Let's be honest. The student body was probably more concerned with Halloween going on, sadly.

Big one next week. Slim bowl hopes are still alive.

I'll take a 21 point win anyday.  We needed a win badly.  Our defense is a struggle and our dline in particular.  I listened on the radio and they said Brandon Greer was playing DE, was that true?  Clearly we are desperately looking for some speed/pass rush when we play a safety type player as a DE in passing situations.  Great win, enjoy for the night then time to get fired up for the brown cows coming to town.

These comments about it being against a crappy team are pointless.  Our MAC champ teams played some really bad teams and nobody discounted those wins, you dont look back and say we won 12 games in 2009 but 3 of them dont count because they were against crappy teams and one we won but should have won by more. 
The "fans" of this team are an embarassment, they always have an excuse not to show up.  Its a weekday, game time is too early, weather was too bad, weather was too good, I dont like the coach, not enough home games, teams we play arent good.   You name it our "fans" will find an excuse.  Still think that sealed Butch Jones leaving when in 2009 we had are best team ever and they show up for the first game of the year to half a crowd and a student section that cared more about tailgating policies than supporting a once in decades team. 
That team today showed they arent quiting by showing up and playing in front of an empty stadium and playing for friends, family and themselves.  That shows character and leadership by the captains on this team.

Nice to be surprised with a win. The student section had the worst turnout, I think I have ever seen.
Nice to see Zurlon have a great game.

Lets do it again against Western next week!

chez29 wrote:  
That team today showed they arent quiting by showing up and playing in front of an empty stadium and playing for friends, family and themselves.  That shows character and leadership by the captains on this team.

Important to note. At the same time it is noteworthy to say that Akron is garbage. Just like it would be noteworthy to mention a win over a good team, too. I wouldn't say it's pointless to state how good an opponent is.

A win is a win, and I'll take it.

The hand-wringing over the small crowds is pointless. You want more people to attend? Win some games, or at least be competitive. The train wreck against Navy was as frustrating a game as I have witnessed at K/S since the 1989 no-show against Youngstown State(yes, that game was worse than the beatdown by NDSU).

Let's face it: the home game performances have been disappointing, to say the least. I'm glad today's game was a win. Akron's stud running back was hurt, so the defense caught a break today. Nice to see Enos' old school strategy of running the ball to kill the clock work.

Our defense gave up 14 points, best performance of the year wrt points. They gave up a lot of yards but held Akron to 2 TDs. The stand on 4th and goal sealed it. We definitely need more pressure up front. But I'm with chez, a win beats a loss anytime.

babenny wrote: Nice to see the Chips win one. Tipton had a great game. Truly happy for him.

I talked with someone at the game and it looked like no more than 7.000. Very few students and most of those had left by halftime. Sad

The low attendance is symptom of poor play and poor planning.  Why was this game at 3:30 when there was no TV.  I really think it's later to justify having lights.  They need make this more fan friendly if they want butts in the seats.  A Friday night game with a world class team like Navy and scheduling Homecoming the same day as the UM-MSU game is poor planning.  I'm not surprised by the low attendance figures.  Something's got to give!

Anyone else wonder why the starters were still in the game with two minutes to go in the fourth?  At what point do you play the subs?  At what point does a back-up qb get a couple of in-game snaps?  Tipton ran the ball all the way down the field.  We were up by 14 when that drive started.  No Garland.  No Kater.  Seriously?  The OL was dominating by this point.  And when we scored and Akron got the ball back who did we see playing defense?  The starters.  Up 21, less than 1:30 to go, and Addae is still in the game.  I seriously don't get this coaching staff.

DL: interior wasn't so bad.  No pressure off the edge as per ususal. I would say that Walton made a difference; there were more stops at or behind scrimmage between the tackles than I've seen all season. The interior defense I think is making strides as the younger bigger players get more time. I agree we need a serious upgrade at the ends. Other than Rodriguez, our ends seemed invisible most of the game.

Overall defense: bent a lot, only broke a couple times. Two picks, including one by White!   Two goal-line stands, great to see. One wasted when the offense went three-and-out and we allowed a sizable punt return.   Bottom-line: Akron game in averaging over 29 points and 420 yards per game. We allowed 440 yards (I think) but only 14 points. Something to build on, IMHO. The secondary was in general much better today, and good adjustments were made after Akron's first scoring drive. Although the CBs still allow too big of a cushion, I think. Obviously, that's more of a scheme issue.

Offense: Tipton was a BEAST!  He seemed to run even better once Akron started cheap-shotting him. I'd like to think he gave Cubit something to chew on today.  The Bubs put in their usual solid performance. RR was adequate. Too many off-target passes in the first-half and locking on his primary receiver. He played better in the second half; he even looked of his primary target a couple times. I'd say he plays better with a substantial lead. Most importantly, there were none that were in serious danger of being intercepted. I was happy to see us score off a turnover for a change. Playcalling was fine; I like the quick toss to the RBs, which seemed to catch Akron napping a couple times. Receivers were generally good; I only counted two flat-out drops.

Special teams were OK, but the missed FG that could have nailed the game down (up 17 in the 4th) hurt a bit. Return coverage was OK, except for one PR that set Akron up on our side of the field. 

What I take from today: finally, a solid win over an opponent that we should beat. Not a perfect performance, but one that shows we are still considerably better than the bottom of the MAC. In looking at today's results, it could be partly that we have played some very good teams this season.  NIU and Toledo are one-loss teams, Navy is better than I thought, and Ball State at 5-3 is looking solid. We still have some flaws -- DE, erratic passing game and special teams -- but are good enough to win every game remaining on the schedule. Which is not saying we will run the table. But I feel better about our chances against a 3-6 WMU team next weekend.

Actually, there were three things that sealed the deal for BJ, but attendance was not one of them. They were, in no particular order: 1. Money, 2. Filthy lucre and 3. Dinero.

Love the post, chez.

ChiefChip wrote:

babenny wrote: Nice to see the Chips win one. Tipton had a great game. Truly happy for him.

I talked with someone at the game and it looked like no more than 7.000. Very few students and most of those had left by halftime. Sad

The low attendance is symptom of poor play and poor planning.  Why was this game at 3:30 when there was no TV.  I really think it's later to justify having lights.  They need make this more fan friendly if they want butts in the seats.  A Friday night game with a world class team like Navy and scheduling Homecoming the same day as the UM-MSU game is poor planning.  I'm not surprised by the low attendance figures.  Something's got to give!

How is 3:30 not fan friendly? I think there will be just as many people that can't (won't) make a noon game as 3:30. Besides I don't know how much say we have in game times. Even major conference teams don't always get times announced until TV decides.

The low turnout has to be primarily poor record and poor competition.

I think the turnout for the WMU game will be considerably better, especially since we got a solid win today.

Chippitt wrote: Actually, there were three things that sealed the deal for BJ, but attendance was not one of them. They were, in no particular order: 1. Money, 2. Filthy lucre and 3. Dinero.

Love the post, chez.

To be fair I would have thought that if he would have taken the Marshall job.

Jones was in the mix for a few openings, each one more attractive than the Marshall gig. In spite of the snarky tone of my prior post, I don't blame him for leaving for one second. That is, after all, how that business operates.