The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

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Blake Frohnapfel powers Minutemen past Zips

It's odd to say that Akron had momentum rolling into this game but they did. A late season two game winning streak saw the Zips become suddenly competitive against the backend of the schedule, even though there is a severe difference in talent from top to bottom at the back end.The Zips were expected to win this game and roll into their matchup with winless Toledo on a winning streak that would've had them a game shy of post season birth.

It wasn't the case however.

The Minutemen came to play and did so by jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead thanks to the power ground game they brought to the table. With Marshall transfer Blake Frohnapfel under center the team had a scrambling and throwing threat that made it difficult for the Zips to keep up with at least in the first quarter. The offense was virtually unstoppable for the Minutemen in their opening drive and Shadrach Abrokwah would capitalize after picking up 40 yards on the drive, he would be responsible for the touchdown to cap off the drive.

It didn't take long, Tommy Woodson was hugely ineffective in this game through the air, and would only serve as a read option quarterback throughout this one. He would throw an interception on an ill advised pass to end the second drive of the evening, Akron fans already disappointed at what has presented itself as an opponent to Kyle Pohl as a starter. He wasn't very good in this one.

After the interception, two plays later, the read option call for Blake Frohnapfel saw him take it outside tackle and follow his blockers to trace the sideline and make his way into the endzone for the score. A quick 14-0 lead in favor of the Minutemen that would take the Zips anemic offense two quarters to even up with.

In the second, the Zips took a more focused approach to their ground game and utilized Tommy Woodson's speed to break the edge rush and force the read option to be a deadly part of this offense. A few big gains would set the Zips inside of the redzone and finally, on a keeper, Tommy Woodson darted up the middle and was pushed into the end zone for the score to make it a 7-14 game.

It would take until the end of the third quarter before the Zips would manage to score again. The Zips defense put the shutdown on the Massachusetts offense, something previously appearing impossible in the first quarter. It wouldn't be enough however, the Zips offense wasn't gelling and it'd take a CJ Mizell interception to bring the ball inside the thirty.

Finally, Tommy Woodson dropped back and hooked up with Imani Davis on a quick slant. Davis broke free and crossed into the endzone untouched for the twenty yard score. The Zips were knotted and the game was going into the fourth, this game appearing to be a battle of attrition.

Than the flood gates opened. Midway through the period, Blake Frohnapfel dropped back to connect on a rocket to his wideout, a short seven yard score after a long drive chipped away at the Zips secondary. Tommy Woodson would force another pass that would be intercepted returning the ball to the Minutemen in the red zone, where Blake would turn upfield and make easy work of the Zip defense, scoring when he ran the option to the right side and went untouched intoo the end zone to make it a 28-14 game with just 2 minutes to go.

This would require a perfect execution of the two minute drill to even make it be competitive, a few big gains would favor the Zips, but the clock would keep running, and finally on third and 3 from the 19, Tommy Woodson opted to tuck the ball and run it, going untouched as he dived for the pylon to set up the score. Only 20 seconds remained and the Zips only had 2 time outs, the Minutemen receiving the ball wasn't an option.

On came the onside unit, and the ball was spiked at the ground, it ricocheted off an opposing Minutemen and the Zips dived on it, piling up on the ball and emerging victorious in the small scrap. The Zips offense had 20 seconds to make magic happen and force overtime. The Zips needed a miracle. A first down 17 yard completion brought the Zips past midfield, but a quick three incompletion's saw the Zips suddenly facing fourth down, five seconds and the game on the line.

Tommy Woodson's arm strength is poor and a deep lob wasn't an option, the quarterback struggled on passes over twenty yards and it was apparent that if this was going to be successful, they would need to make a dent and get down quickly. The snap was clean and Woodson dropped back, seeing an open Zach D'Orazio cut to the sideline, he made a pass, but it would be overthrown and fall harmlessly. The Minutemen burst from the sidelines before being forced back by referee's, the kneel on the following play would end the game, and the Zips would suffer a brutal loss to the Minutemen.

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Week 12

The season is almost at it's conclusion and the race for the national title is on, another contender sees their hopes dashed while it boosted a different team and makes the Iron Bowl have national title implications with the Crimson Tide leapfrogging the Auburn Tigers and potentially making them a play for the title game. Naturally that would require quite a few dominoes to fall, the teams above them are undefeated and it's not likely to expect four undefeated teams to drop in the final few weeks, aside from championship week, it isn't entirely likely.

The Crimson Tide demolished the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a 52-17 destruction that essentially removes the Bulldogs from any discussion for anything such as a BCS Bowl. This team got absolutely destroyed and blown up. It cast a major shade of gloom over the SEC which the Bulldogs have largely been strong in this season. Nick Saban made a highly successful game plan and the Tide executed it to a T. Dak Prescott threw four interceptions as two interceptions were returned for a touchdown.

In other SEC action, the Auburn Tigers and Cameron Artis-Payne outperformed Todd Gurley and the Georgia Bulldogs as the Auburn Tigers continue to win but saw themselves fall a spot in the polls this week due to the impressive victory from the Crimson Tide.

Amongst the top five teams, the Oregon Ducks destroyed the Utah Utes in a 59-17 shellshock that saw the Ducks second string outperforming the starters for the Utes. The Ducks are the class of the Pacific 12 and they've shown that no team is on their level in that conference this season. Marcus Mariota appears to play like a man on a mission.

Ohio State shut out the Illinois Fighting Illini for a 41-0 victory in a game that was over almost before it started. Scoring two touchdowns in the opening five minutes gave the Buckeyes the breathing room they needed, Urban Meyer's squad just continued to pile it on from than on. Scoring all 41 in the first three quarters before killing the fourth to end the game as quickly as possible. Urban Meyer's squad came out of no where to find themselves in the NCG race.

The Florida Seminoles pick up another key victory, this time against the Syracuse Orange, a 44-14 blow out. The Seminoles are being hurt by a fairly weak ACC that isn't making much of an impact in the nationwide level. Jameis Winston has his team performing at a high level but he isn't able to turn the national attention in favor of his team quite yet.

The Louisville Cardinals picked up a victory with a 35-9 victory over the Houston Cougars. The Cougars have become a shell of a program that they were when Case Keenum was under center and the Cardinals bullied them in this victory. Allowing just three long field goals, the Cougars never touched the red zone.

The lone undefeated outside of the top four, the UL-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns picked up a lone first place vote as they rise to number nine in the rankings, but a near upset from Georgia State has many wondering if they could truly be a BCS Buster. It's unlikely they will fall this season, but do they deserve a BCS bid when they are starting to struggle with low end Sunbelt talent?

The top five heisman contenders continue to jostle for position with Todd Gurley's strong performance against Auburn retaining his status as the favorite to claim the Heisman. It's still a toss up however as any of the five are within striking distance to claim the trophy. Todd Gurley has slowed down in recent weeks and his competitors are catching up.

In recruiting news, the shock of the year is that Rutgers has suddenly pulled ahead for the top quarterback recruit in the nation. There is truly no rhyme or reason as to why he suddenly has a favorite in Rutgers, he isn't from the region, and Rutgers is far from a powerhouse, yet they appear to be gearing to make a huge splash, and he could make a massive impact for a program seeking that one player to spur them past mediocrity.

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Nick Hirschman story headlines senior day activities

Nick Hirschman transferred from Colorado post graduation in hopes of revitalizing his football career in Akron. Kyle Pohl however had entrenched himself as the starter and Hirschman found himself holding a clipboard, however with the team out of bowl contention, head coach Tyler Koch has opted to give the senior a proper send off. He will start the final game of the season.

The decision was pretty easy to make, Tommy Woodson struggled against the Massachusetts defense and Kyle Pohl despite a high yardage total had a lackluster season that was crippled by several costly turnovers. While this will be far from a potential evaluation, as this will be the final college game Hirschman plays in.

"It'd be different if we were playing for a bowl, but with that out of our hands, expect a lot of our young players and seniors to mesh in this final game. We want to get new players some experience and let the seniors play hard in their final game representing the University of Akron. This may be a class I haven't recruited and won't get to spend much time with, but it's a class I will remember. We came through, and powered out some good victories and caused some havoc in the MAC. It's time to put on a show one last time for our home fans."

Tyler Kozlov answered the question effortlessly following Monday's practice and seniors were taken off the field by the underclassmen as per tradition on Tuesday. The final contract practice for seniors who will focus on film sessions and be given their commencement awards through the remainder of the week.

The Zips have no recruiting news of note, and no injury news. Kyle Pohl is reportedly unhappy that he was benched the final two games of the season but has spoken with Tyler Kozlov in recent days and no news has come from the junior quarterback as of yet.

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Week 13

Weekly wrap up, chaos edition.

Down goes Oregon, Louisville, Arizona State, Minnesota and Texas A&M. Suddenly the picture for the championship looks significantly different as two top contenders go down in embarrassing fashions, while several other top twenty-five teams found themselves on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

Oregon carried a 13-3 lead into the fourth quarter where they allowed the Arizona Wildcats to mount a tremendous 24 point quarter such that they ultimately came back and routed the heavily favored Ducks on Saturday. Marcus Mariota tossed both of his interceptions in the final frame, while the Arizona offense seemed to fire up on all cylinders to conclude this matchup on a positive note. This victory sends the Wildcats up into the Top 25 rankings by virtue of their record and their defeat of the top team in the country.

Shifting the attention to Louisville, the Cardinals had a somewhat tough test on their slate when they drew the Memphis Tigers. The Tigers have had an up and down season. They were projected to be slightly better than their modest record but at the same time, they've underachieved. They seemed to fix their fortunes by stunning the American's lone shot at the championship game by downing Louisville by a pair of scores.

The top 25 rankings look significantly different and in the top 3, the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns took advantage of the chaos, leapfrogging several teams to boost their way into the national championship picture. Imagine the chaos that could ensue if Florida State or Ohio State loses in the next two weeks and the Cajuns finish undefeated, would Alabama leap frog the Sunbelt squad or would the Sunbelt get their first ever national champion participant?

Recruiting news has slowed down as most players have found a home for themselves. The biggest exception being J.J. Porter, J.J. hasn't wavered in his support of the Rutgers football program, he has however continued to downgrade his interest in the Fighting Irish as he now rates the Irish behind the Auburn Tigers in terms of his desire to attend.

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Toledo runs away with game on Senior night

"Senior night is the opportunity to make your legacy, to show those fans what you've contributed to this program over the past four years. Seniors you are all starting this game, and will play every snap that you can handle. This is your legacy. From the practice field to game day you've contributed years of your life for the betterment of his football program and yourselves as men. Go out there and show them just what it means to play Zip football!"

The motivational speech from Akron Zip head coach Tyler Kozlov didn't seem to register with players, who despite coming out of the tunnels energetic, their offensive play was anything but. In some ways it was to be expected. Kozlov trotted out several players who hadn't started all season, especially so on offense and hoped to have a cohesive unit from the start. It was ill advised but with the meaning of the season long gone and the big rivalry game already a victory, Kozlov took an opportunity to honor the players that would be playing their final snap in organized football for their lifetime.

It would be a scoreless first quarter for both teams, which came as a shock to some as the Zips offense has always been pretty strong coming out of the gates, but an interception and the ground game being non-effective posed little trouble for the Rockets. It would be into the second quarter before the scoreboard operator had to perform some extra work, when a Tom O'Leary field goal sliced through the uprights to make it a 3-0 contest in favor of the Zips. Naturally, the lead wouldn't stay for very long. As a matter of fact, the Rockets would close the game on a 0-27 run, largely due to their opportunistic defense. They would knot the score at 3-3 to close the half.

Nick Hirschman had an awful game and it didn't completely unravel until the second half. Where he threw three interceptions including one that would be returned for a touchdown, all three interceptions led to touchdowns for the Rockets. Logan Whiteside managed to turn an interception from his defense into a quick touchdown drive that almost didn't happen. Third and long, Whiteside connects with Olack in the seam who breaks away for the touchdown, the first of the game and a sudden burst of scoring for the Rockets. The following Zip drive saw Nick Hirschman lead his team downfield before tossing an interception to Jordan Haden, Haden would bring it back all the way, 72 yards for the score. Suddenly going into the fourth quarter, what looked like a see-saw 3-3 game was blown open to a 3-17 deficit with no momentum in favor of the Zips.

It wouldn't ever pick up for Akron, who has made a few comebacks this season, the offense would never get rolling and the fourth quarter was largely a lot of incompletions, poor runs and a lot of disappointed fans leaving their seniors to their defeat before the final whistle. The Rockets would knock in a field goal with over a minute left that essentially guaranteed the victory, three scores in a minute would be virtually impossible, not that two was very likely by any stretch.

A Nick Hirschman interception quickly became another seven points when Logan Woodside took a read option to the right side and would go 46 yards untouched for the touchdown. 21 points off turnovers with the senior in his only game of the season tossing 4 interceptions. Luckily no one will be saying "what if" he had started all season after this little experiment could've blown up in Kozlov's face, but it's clear that the quarterback position has it's issues and it will need to be rectified in the offseason if this team wants to be serious in the MAC next season.

The Zips fall to 3-9 on the season, which is still as many wins as they had gotten in the three previous years combined. A sizable improvement for the team which has teetered on the edge of one victory for a few seasons before Kozlov's employment. With a strong recruiting class, there's no telling what the future holds for the Zips. Toledo finishes the season 2-10 with the Rockets winning their final two games in a row.

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Two weeks ago, calling for Alabama to be in the national championship seemed to be a joke at best. On the wrong side of a list of several undefeated teams that just didn't appear to have any shot of being toppled. Than Oregon fell in a game that almost no one expected them to in the worst possible way, that was one domino that needed to go. In that same week the Louisville Cardinals just couldn't muster up enough offense to stave off defeat and got rolled over.

This week it was the Florida State Seminoles who fell to a barely bowl eligible Florida Gator squad in it's biggest rivalry game of the year, in what would've virtually sealed their ticket to the national championship game. UL-Lafayette skyrocketed up the rankings and some wondered if the Sunbelt program would get the go ahead, before a one loss Alabama squad but those questions were answered this week when the Tide who knocked off their heated rival in Auburn take over the #2 spot and are primed for yet another championship run under Nick Saban.

Without a doubt in the minds of any, the Bowling Green Falcons will represent the West division in the MAC while the Northern Illinois Huskies will return for yet another year as the two teams have become repeat contenders for the MAC Throne. The West was a wasteland of talent this year, only the Falcons are bowl eligible and across the entire conference it was a struggle.

Top recruit Chris Massey has forgone his top choice to remain in state, he has signed his letter of intent to play for the Florida Gators. This is a significant step in the right direction for a team that hasn't had much to benefit from in recent years. The LSU Tigers are extremely close to signing the #2 nationally ranked half back which would give them the #1 and #2 halfbacks in the nation, if the Tigers came into this season wanting to infuse the halfback position with talent, they have succeeded in the grandest way possible. J.J. Porter remains an outlier as he hasn't decided where he plans to play college ball but insiders do expect that the Rutgers Scarlet Knights will win his signature, with visits off the board, if he is going to sign with Rutgers, it will be in the coming week.

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Zips round out their class with a few more players

The season may be over for the Zips but they still hit the recruiting trail hard and with the final week of regular season recruiting in the books, the Zips managed to get five more players, four three stars and one [one] star. Starting from the top.

Jeff Parker comes out as a junior college prospect from Kenner Louisiana. Parker has tremendous speed and decent strength for a wide receiver prospect. Parker could figure into the starting line up depending on how the wide receiving corp shapes up next year, but there isn't much guarantees for that. This team will likely have virtually every position open for a competition come spring practice.

Tra Ingram hails from Montreal Canada and has excellent speed out of the halfback position. The team signed Damion Bain early in the year and added Ingram as they look to fortify their halfback position with more young talent. Ingram is a speedy back that has a solid frame.

Wesley Taylor will be another junior college transfer, coming from Ithaca, New York, Taylor will be expected to fill in from day one. The cornerback position was a major weakness for the Zips this season and Taylor presents a tremendous upgrade at the position while younger talent develops.

Adding to a weak secondary, Bubba Clayton hails from Jacksonville, Illinois and will play the strong safety position. Clayton wasn't highly recruited as he was a low ranked prospect but his major ability lies in delivering hits, a strong player that has a bench comparable to some linemen will likely see playing time down the road for Tyler Kozlov.

Finally, Geoffrey Byers will be leaving Michigan to head to Ohio. The Middle Linebacker is another player that has a high amount of strength but lacks in other departments. Byers will be expected to end up being a CJ Mizell replacement, but he won't be one next year. He is extremely raw and a poor coverage linebacker.

These recruits continue to give Tyler Kozlov the foundation he needs to build his team and with the green light from the athletic director to get his guys in, Kozlov has been doing just that. He has done a tremendous job bringing in new talent and next year we will begin to see the rewards that this offers the program.

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Week 15 Wrapup

With the majority of the teams done, a few geared up for their conference championship while the conferences without a championship game played out their final game. The biggest news of the week is that there will be no BCS Buster this season. The Ragin' Cajuns took a bad loss to the South Alabama Jaguars and find themselves around the bottom of the top 25 after spending several weeks at the top. They will likely figure into the Go Daddy.com bowl as the Sunbelt champion but this loss has to sting a team that could've been in the running for a national title game.

This opens up the B1G and SEC championships to have title implications. It's hard to suggest that either Ohio State or Alabama losing wouldn't open the door for either Michigan State or UCLA. It's possible for Michigan State to leapfrog UCLA into the NCG. If both teams lose, there could be quite a lot of intrigue heading into the BCS selections.