Saturday, September 17, 2011

Week 3 Preview: Cincinnati

It won't be much of a preview this week. For the last few years, the Akron/Cincinnati matchup has been close and exciting. That's not happening today.

It has been anything but a solid start for the Zips this year, who have been outscored 83-3 over the first two weeks.

83-3.

Unfortunately for Akron, Cincinnati has this interesting concept called "offense". Let's compare some of the stat leaders:

Passing:
AKR-Clayton Moore-18/42, 246 YDS, 0 TD, 2 INT
CIN-Zach Collaros-33/53, 364 YDS, 6 TD, 0 INT

Ouch.

Rushing:
AKR-Jawon Chisholm-25 CAR, 89 YDS, 0 TD
CIN-Isaiah Pead-21 CAR, 242 YDS, 3 TD

Wow.

Receiving:
AKR-Marquelo Suel-5 REC, 110 YDS, 0 TD
CIN-D.J. Woods-13 REC, 170 YDS, 1 TD

Today we may see a little more Patrick Nicely, as Moore has just looked miserably uncomfortable in his first two starts. There's a decent chance that the Zips will get some offense going, but this Akron defense (which hasn't had a sack or an interception in its first two games) is going to be slaughtered by the Bearcats.

For masochistic Akron fans like me, the game will be shown on ESPN3 at 3:30pm.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Week 2 Preview: Temple

Game 2 of the three-game season-opening nightmare is upon us. The Zips open InfoCision Stadium/Summa Field today against the Temple Owls, who blew away Villanova 42-7 last week.


Temple has a potent offense led by the resurgence of junior running back Bernard Pierce. Last week, Pierce carried the ball 20 times for 147 yards and 3 TDs. We're likely to see at least two touchdowns from him today,  unless quarterback Mike Gerardi's passing game does what most do against our (lack of) pass coverage. Gerardi was 14-20 for 235 yards and 2 TDs last week.

As for the Zips, it's still impossible to say. Clayton Moore looked miserable under center last week (I know, I know, it was against Ohio State), but he did lead the team in rushing...with 32 yards. After this week, we'll have a little better basis for judgement.


As for Temple's defense, I'd like to believe that our Zips are better offensively than Villanova, but in all likelihood it's probably not by much. We're likely to see a pretty similar scoreline to last week's 42-7 scrubbing of the Wildcats.

For coverage, the game will be aired exclusively on ESPN3. If you're fortunate enough to have an affiliated Internet provider, head over to WatchESPN to see it.