The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Coaching Update: Week 1 Edition

Every year, the coaching carousel introduces new talent to the college football ranks and with this year focusing on three of note, two were in action on Saturday and sadly both left with losses.

Starting with Offensive Coordinator John Valkyrie, his Red Wolves welcomed the Florida Atlantic Owls to town in out of conference action and thanks to a late touchdown pass, fell. Spotty quarterback play from freshman quarterback Dwight Pleasant, the Red Wolves just couldn't spur enough offense, their quarterback was just a clip above .500 and while his fifty rush yards were welcome, the Wolves need their quarterback play to be more stable, but those are the bumps a team starting a freshman quarterback will take. Three of the Red Wolves four quarterbacks are true freshman, the fourth is a second year freshman, inexperience is rampant at the position.

The Massachusetts Minutemen were on the wrong side of a three score game as the caved to a nineteen point defeat in head coach Quinn Retney's debut, his offense came out flat and ranks in the bottom third of the NCAA after one game and while the talent is definitely lacking, his players will need to adapt to the system better if this team has any hope of being competitive this year, than again this was a 0-12 team last year and they are adopting a new coaches schemes, bumps are expected but with a difficult American schedule looming, easy games are far and few between.

Wyoming didn't play this week, so coordinator Eric Grant has no news to note this week.

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Looking good man. Nice effort in the UCLA game. If you can get that running game going, this season could be a really good one.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Looking good man. Nice effort in the UCLA game. If you can get that running game going, this season could be a really good one.

Hopefully this team can pull it together and take the MAC this season, it'd be a big step forward!

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Turnovers seal fate of Warriors in rainy Hawaiian rout

This game started the tight back and forth affair that many expected it to be after all both teams came in considered extremely comparable in terms of talent sadly the scoreboard wouldn't reflect that, and it swung in quite a direction thanks to a 6-2 differential in turnovers and the Akron Zips won that battle. When you're forcing turnovers at a 3:1 rate it's unlikely your team will be on the wrongside of scoring and that much was true today as the Zips utilized their defense which scored two defensive touchdowns today along with setting up another 17 points to put away the home Hawai'i Warriors.

On a rainy, humid day in Hawai'i, it was a defensive battle from the start, neither team could get much movement in the rain and the field quickly deteriorated during the battle between these two programs. The Zips would be the first one to light up the scoreboard, although that wouldn't last long thanks to a Darian Green touchdown run up the middle that put the Zips on the board early.

The Warriors answered right back when a pass was lofted over the defense and Deon Eldridge slipped on the slick turf and wide receiver Ammon Barker took off for a seventy-six yard touchdown score to knot the game at seven a piece as the Zips once more gave up yet another big play, a week after big plays did them in.

The Zips did seem to hunker down as their defense killed out the clock in the rest of the quarter, and early in the third, Ahmad Watts jumped a screen route and pulled in the interception, going untouched the rest of the way for a touchdown score and a 14-7 lead.

After forcing a fumble by Hawai'i quarterback Woolsey, the Zips were back in action and it was Jeff Parker out jumping the Warriors cornerbacks as he brought down the touchdown reception on a beautiful lob for the score. The Zips were suddenly threatening to run away with this one, and on their next drive after another interception, it was Tom O'Leary knocking in his first field goal of the season, a beautiful 44 yarder in the rain. Hawai'i would get to answer before the end of the quarter when they made a pair of long passes before ultimately failing to convert on third down and the easy field goal would be knocked in.

With the deficit being two scores, the Warriors took to the air but with two fourth quarter interceptions, any hopes of a rally were quickly killed off and put to pasture. An early pass would be intercepted and brought back by Evans for a second pick six on the day, and a 31-10 lead in favor of the Zips. After a second interception late in the game, it was the Zips getting somewhat downfield before taking a chance with their kicker having the wind at his back to boot a huge 53 yard field goal to boost the lead to 24 with just under two minutes to go.

The Zips wouldn't have any scares the rest of the way. The defense clamped down in a big way and stopped the Hawai'i Warriors from ever becoming a nuisance and in doing so picked up their first victory on the season, a key one heading into their bye week and ultimately their next matchup against Ohio State.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Week 2 Update

Now that almost every team in the country has played a game. With that we've gotten a first or second impression of our contenders and saw some pretenders, how about Alabama showing that they aren't quite dead just yet, or Notre Dame staving off another near upset to remaining atop of the college football world. Time to dig in!

Troy Crouch, 4* star quarterback out of Buena Park, California has been wavering in his recruiting and presently lists Minnesota as his top option and American program, Houston close behind as his number two. Oddly enough Oregon being his main Pacific 12 team still remains largely out of the equation for the race for the top quarterback.

Jarrett Keel, the top wide receiver in the country saw some shuffling occur in his top 3 as Wyoming made a big push last week on the five star prospect, it'd be a huge steal for the program to snatch the top wide out in the country but California remains the favorite to win it's native son.

USC got a tough uppercut this week when they came out absolutely flat to a bottom of the PAC-12 projected Washington State squad and even managed to lose by two scores in the process. Steve Sarkisian was silent in his press conference and the team will have a lot of regrouping to do in order to bounce back from this one.

Wisconsin suffered their first lost of the year in a neutral site game against the Alabama Crimson Tide, the once #8 ranked Wisconsin Badgers showed they might've come in this preseason a little too high when they lost to a previously unranked Alabama team in a 24-20 fashion. That or Alabama may not be as far off the map as previously stated.

A week after sending the Crimson Tide from the polls, the Gamebirds took a tough loss in the form of a 34-14 loss at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs who for a second week continue to show glimmers of hope that they may not falter this year and overcome the hump of upper tier mediocrity and be a force they were destined to be in the SEC.

The Spartans sent the Oregon Ducks back to Eugene with a number of welts after a 44-10 beat down of the Oregon Ducks that quickly brought their national championship dreams back into perspective. The Ducks have been notorious for high expectations being dashed and it seems that it'll just be another year of the status quo for them.

Auburn looks to rebound after a difficult 2015-16 campaign and did so with an early SEC victory against the Kentucky Wildcats in a matchup that looked somewhat close on paper but the blow out was on as the Tigers emerged the victors in a 45-24 contest.

In the Mid-American Conference tales of positives and futility ring through the halls. On one hand, the Buffalo Bulls are earning up to the "little engine that could" moniker they earned a year ago by traveling to Penn State and nearly upsetting the Nittany Lions. The Lions needed a late touchdown to secure the victory and Happy Valley was able to let out a collective sigh of relief. On the opposite end, the Eastern Michigan Eagles fell in a 9-14 contest against a FCS program for a second straight week a MAC team lost to FCS talent. On the same note, ex-MAC program Massachusetts was on the same frame of mind, falling in their matchup with Northern Iowa.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Coaching Update Week 2

After a disappointing debut from our new coaches would Week 2 bring about a victory for our three aspiring coaches? Sadly it would not.

Heading out to Dekalb, the Wyoming Cowboys took on the Northern Illinois Huskies and were in short order run out of the stadium in a 7-45 thrashing, their greatest piece of news was on the recruiting front when they made a very successful pitch to Jarrett Keel and shot up his list. The Cowboys had minimal positives to note on a day when their new offense debuted to a poor start. The Cowboys hope to get back on track rather quickly.

Heading south, John Valkyrie almost keyed a upset when his offense fell just shy of shocking the Missouri Tigers in Arkansas State. Valkyrie seemed to have a good talk with his freshman quarterback who rebounded to toss three touchdowns and while his efficiency still is lacking, his performance was much better. Sadly though, his quarterback was very inefficient on the ground and for as many carries as he had he had little to show for it.

Heading north, Quinn Retney suffered his first upset in his second week on the job, as the Massachusetts Minutemen fell victim to the FCS Northern Iowa Panthers. The Panthers escaped with a victory after rallying from a 17-9 deficit to steal the win.

A tough week for our coaches, hopefully next week can bring more fortune for our new coaches.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Coaching Update Week 3

Another week and still our coaches our winless with two of three in action this week, John Valkyrie will be taking a seat this week.

Eric Grant and his Wyoming Cowboys put up a good fight against a very solid Hawai'i Warriors squad but they just couldn't come out on top in this one. Their workhorse in the backfield, Brian Hill pounded out yardage on the ground and while it wasn't enough, it's shown that this team can rely on their halfback to make some plays when they are needed and that's a positive for this team.

For the Massachusetts Minutemen, they cannot catch a break and after another blow out loss this time at the hands of the SMU Mustangs to open American league play, a matchup against the winless Cougars offers a faint chance for this team to rebound, but one of the worst offenses in the league mixed with a slightly not as bad defense isn't inspiring much confidence in Quinn Retney's first season, many expected it would be difficult for the coach in his first year.

[LadiesandEdelman]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Yikes. I have not been good. Hope I don't get fired.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Yikes. I have not been good. Hope I don't get fired.

It's been a rough start but it was a 0-12 team last year so it won't be easy to start, but there's quite a few high recruits interested in your team!

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Week 3 Recap

Already the season is in swing and some of the pretenders to the throne are being weeded out, with teams like the Michigan State Spartans, Minnesota Golden Gophers and Stanford Cardinal all tumbling this week, it reshapes the top part of the polls. One team from last years championship game is undefeated and the other picks up their first loss.

The Oklahoma Sooners got revenge on Saturday for last season's Big 12 championship game defeat by knocking off the reigning champions in overtime in what could easily be another rematch for the championship once again this year. The Sooners led by Trevor Knight whom seems unwilling to go pro shooting them atop the Big 12 standings in the early going. Texas Christian has a long road to reclaim their spot in the title game, and this loss just knocked them further down.

Central Michigan bested what many predicted to be the best team in the state on their home turf to silence the crowd as MACtion took center stage with another strong performance against the B1G, this time claiming the "W" in a single score game. Central Michigan could be among the class of the MAC, with Indiana struggling, the door is wide open for them.

Many are still questioning if, or rather when the Texas Longhorn program will be reborn and return to the force it had once been. It might not be this season but at least in the early going with their 35-28 win over the Kansas State Wildcats has the team rallying around the hope that they can be competitive in a very strong Big 12.

Seemingly infuriated with their poor performance last week, the USC Trojans took their aggression out on the Oregon State Beavers whom were absolutely helpless in this one, falling 0-48 to the overwhelming Trojan attack. It was clear from the opening kickoff that last weeks upset lit a fire in this Trojan team.

Northern Illinois made an upset bid against the Ohio State Buckeyes but ultimately it was the Buckeyes who went into the fourth trailing 14-17, hung 17 points in the quarter to reclaim their home dominance in their victory over the American runners-up.

Florida is quickly proving itself to be a true competitor this season in the national climate and jumped up to number 3 with their latest drubbing of the Ole Miss Rebels in a game that many expected to be closer, much like the Kentucky game, no one expected the Gators to run away with it but they did and they find themselves as the most underrated #3 in recent history, are the Gators for real or pretenders to the throne?

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Ohio State utilizes strong second half to rout the Zips in Akron

Cardale Jones heard the talk that the Zips were hungry and out for a victory, especially after they turned some heads with a "quality" victory over the Hawai'i Warriors. The senior simply grinned to reporters on Friday Night. "We haven't lost to them yet, that isn't going to start tomorrow." It seemed he personally saw to his claim as Jones spearheaded a dynamic attack that laid the rout on the Akron Zips who have their second blow out loss of the season.

The Zips actually kept the game competitive heading into the half, holding a lead for about a minute in the second frame before they would relinquish and never return to even again. The Buckeyes got off to the races early when quarterback Cardale Jones kept a read option and broke off to the left side which was completely caught off guard by the option and went 56 yards for the inaugural score of this one, and the Buckeyes had an early lead.

The lead wouldn't last all that long as the next Zip drive ended when Chandler Kincade connected with a wide open Austin Wolf for what ended up being a 42 yard touchdown pass, knotting the game at 7 a piece. Tom O'Leary would knock in a pair of field goals to close out the half, but another Ohio State drive would get downfield and culminate in Cardale Jones tossing an easy pass for the score. The Buckeyes held a 14-13 advantage heading into the tunnels.

It seemed that whatever happened in the Ohio State locker room far surpassed the Zips. While the Zips locker room was full of elation and hope that they could pull off the unthinkable upset, the other locker room was full of fire, and it seemed the fire would take care of business on this day. Bullying Chandler Kincade into a pair of third quarter interceptions, the Buckeyes scored fourteen points back to back off the interceptions, but that was after a pair of Buckeyes drives that would yield scores.

Coming out of the half, Cardale Jones found a wide open receiver on a fly and would loft the pass, Wilson brought in the clean reception and he would be off to the races, going untouched the rest of the way to the end zone. The Buckeyes now up by 8 continued to attack after forcing a three and out, and this time it'd be the ground game coming up big, with halfback Curtis Samuel stepping up in a big way picking up 64 yards on the drive including 22 on a score.

This led to a set of back to back interceptions and Chandler Kincade began to force the ball as his team's deficit grew. Curtis Samuel would score on the first play, with a thirty-five yard touchdown run that shot the game wide open. For insurance, a Buckeyes drive would end with Cardale Jones running a speed option to the outside and instead of pitching, he would take it to the house.

The Zips would finally show some life as they slowly churned out a long drive, which utilized quick hitting short routes that allowed the receivers to make one cut and get into position and quicker reads for Chandler Kincade, and it worked for this drive at least as Kincade hooked up with Blyden on a short flat route to edge the Zips closer, 21-42 with a successful two point conversion attempt.

The fourth quarter rolled and the embers of hope were fading, they were extinguished when the hope of a rally met a thud when Cardale Jones led his Buckeyes back down the field and hooked up with Dixon for a second time and another score, and the backups would come into the game with a 21-49 deficit with just six to go.

The Zips allowed some of their backups into the game, but kept most starters on the field including Chandler Kincade who struggled with the new receivers put on the field and a decent drive would end with a punt. With their back ups in, the Buckeyes kept rolling and Ezekiel Elliot, who platoons an incredibly deep group of Buckeyes runners punched the ball in from the goal line for the final score of the 56-21.

"It hurts, but we knew coming in this is a team that could be title bound, them and UCLA were a tough draw for us but I am proud that the boys continued to fight no matter what the scoreboard read, and I'd of love to play them all four quarters but I decided to let our hurting players rest and let some of our young guys get some game experience. It was a learning experience all around." Spoke Tyler Kozlov, this was a final game of a three game series, one in which the Buckeyes won all three. It's unknown if this game will be renewed next year.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

A fourth of the way through the regular season and do we finally have some answers as the first quarter wears down on a season long run? The answer is quite simple, not really.

Notre Dame has some good wins but a lot have been extremely close to the point where one has to wonder if/when their luck will run out, they are a very talented team, but it's entirely possible that they finish 8-4 as it's possible they finish 12-0 on the regular season.

The lone upset of the week came when the Gators traveled to Neyland stadium and conceded to a Volunteer squad that seemed ready to knock their rivals off from the ranks of the unbeaten. In doing so the Gators tumbled and their stock as one of the best in the SEC takes a major hit, as many have significantly lowered their expectations after an early season run through the SEC. The season is still young and they can bounce back, but this is a tough loss to swallow. Kelvin Taylor drops from the Heisman contention yet again. He rushed for just 31 yards against the Vols.

Texas A&M has the Gamebirds of South Carolina reeling yet again, as South Carolina just cannot seem to get over the 8-4 hump that they've been living in. A strong start to the season has quickly evaporated as the South Carolina squad falls to .500 and out of the polls with this loss.

The Stanford Cardinal, that team that everyone wanted to love last season but they gave every chance to fall apart has climbed back into the rankings this season despite tempered expectations. Their schedule hasn't been too difficult yet, but that all will change as they start to eye their Pacific 12 schedule. This team has stayed on the rating bubble but hasn't been a key factor as of late.

North Carolina State looks to get off to another good start this season, with a victory over Miami, the historically strong Florida university, they have an early marquee victory for Dave Doeren's side. The Wolfpack aren't expected to compete for the ACC throne but they could be a dark horse candidate to do just that.

Penn State continues to win but one has to wonder for how long, not long after nearly losing in a game that lit up the scoreboard against the Buffalo bulls, the Penn State Lions survived a defensive slugfest against the Rice Owls, yes the (0-4) Rice Owls, Penn State isn't ranked and for good reason. It's hard to envision them competing in the B1G when they are playing down to their competition.

Vanderbilt is off to one of it's better starts in recent history and now has a SEC blowout on it's resume as the Commodores took care of the Ole Miss Rebels who are winless on the season. The Commodores hope to be a factor in the SEC conference race which at the moment has no clearly defined leaders. The Bulldogs sit atop the conference at the moment but their history of bowing out with the spotlight on has many hesitant to boast their early season success without much to show for it in SEC Play.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

If anyone knows how to get better pictures with a phone so that there isn't so much noise in the picture please let me know. (I have an iPhone 6 if that helps).

Never had this issue with my Galaxy but I'm tired of the lines, and I'd rather stay away from EASportsworld (if that even still exists) if possible.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Week 4 Recap

Time to look back on the past weeks action and how our coaches performed and it took a quarter but two coaches have picked up their first collegiate victories at the FBS level. Starting out west, the Wyoming Cowboys bested a previously undefeated San Jose State squad in overtime, in an excellent all around team performance. While Eric Grant's offense wasn't very high powered as he'd hope for, it did enough to put them in good position. Grant who has been doing some work with special teams saw his return man Evans pick up player of the week honors, a rarity for a return man, but with a punt return for a score in a tightly contested game and big returns all day, it was an easy choice.

Shooting to the South, it was the Arkansas State Red Wolves edging out the ex-Sun Belt Florida International Panthers. The Conference USA program came in with a 1-1 record before dipping to the Red Wolves. While Pleasant remains to be inefficient he is starting to blossom in John Valkyrie's system and the true freshman can only continue to grow, his rushing output has substantially increased in the recent weeks and his abilities as a dual threat quarterback cannot be understated.

Traveling to the North, the Massachusetts Minutemen took on the Houston Cougars in the battles of the winless and in a disappointing fashion it was the Minutemen being outpaced by the Cougars. Many simply feel this Massachusetts squad isn't capable of competing in the American despite lobbying from it's neighbors in Connecticut to give them a closer rivalry. Abrokwah had a break out game with him reaching the century mark for the first time with 107 rushing yards. With AJ Doyle out until late in the season, this squad will need to get more production out of it's quarterback to pick up that elusive first victory.

[K0ZZ]

Re: The Legacy of Tyler Kozlov

Indiana invades Akron and escapes with the victory

Nate Boudreau tossed three interceptions in the first half alone, the Indiana Hoosier offense had just 48 yards heading to the half but were only staring down a 7-0 deficit as the game began to turn towards it's second half. Despite the overwhelming odds and the likelihood that the Zips would continue to play at such a high level, the Hoosiers knew all good things come to an end and so did the Zips high level of play as the Akron side falls 19-14 to an opportunistic Hoosier offense.

The Zips didn't go down quietly, pulling off an onside kick after a late score that brought the game within a touchdown, but the offense just couldn't convert into the end zone, getting into the red zone but unable to cross the plane before the end of the game, the final whistle would sound after a harmless pass was slammed to the field after an excellent swat by the Hoosiers defensive secondary.

Chandler Kincade started the game much better than he had ended it, with 1 touchdown pass, 1 interception and a 75% completion percentage, but the lack of a ground game continued to hurt the Zips, who just couldn't establish blocking against the Hoosiers and caused the ground game to be almost entirely abandoned in the second half due to poor yardage.

Chandler would open the scoring on this game with an excellent pass to Jeff Parker for his first touchdown reception on the day, Parker has been on a tear to start the season and his two touchdown receptions on the day would be a bright spot on a day littered with offensive inefficiencies.

The second half was a completely different story and due to big plays from the offense and defense that tore this one open for the Hoosiers in the end game and was responsible for 19 unanswered and what would ultimately be the difference between victory and defeat in this contest.

The first on a huge run, something this Akron Zip defense has been prone to giving up in the first third of the season, and something this team will undoubtedly have to work on, in terms of the secondary cheating in on runs, this one, a run over fifty yards on a play where the halfback really didn't have much space in the first place was just another disappointment.

Turning into the fourth quarter, an early field goal put the Hoosiers ahead and it definitely appeared that the lead wouldn't be insurmountable, the crowd was loud and the offense was fired up but after a dropped kick off and the ensuing chaos, the Zips offense would start from their own four, a running play on first down went for a one yard loss, and on the option play following, Chandler Kincade would be brought down in the end zone for a safety and suddenly it was 7-12 and the ball would have to be punted back to the Hoosiers.

The Hoosiers offense capitalized on the energy of their defense and shot down field quickly, and the past mistakes of Nate Boudreau were quickly remedied as he led his unit downfield and ultimately, kept the ball himself on a broken pass play and outpaced the defense for the game winning score, putting the lead to 12 and a 7-19 score midway through the fourth.

The Zips would toss an interception before forcing a quick three and out and drive downfield, it would be too late as Chandler Kincade found Jeff Parker on a touchdown score to make it a single score game, but the Zips had no time outs and just a minute and a half. The onside kick would get a good bounce and an extra kick from a Hoosier returner to set the Zips up on their own forty.

The lack of offensive diversity meant a lot of mid-level passes which meant going deep into the down markers, and ultimately, inside the fifteen with five seconds to go and a running clock, the Zips tried one last pass to the end zone where it would be harmlessly batted down, and the Hoosiers escaped with the victory.

"This one stings, but we have a new game next week and our focus is on that, we can mope the rest of the night, recover on Sunday than back to business on Monday. Our boys know that and I expect them fully to rebound in this next one."