25 Kangaroo Questions

What is their body of work?

It is not great. They have won only one FBS game, against their arch-rival Kent. This has to be a tough year in Akron. They were set up for an exciting season with a new stadium, and in general it has been a dreadful year. You have to look back and remember that a lot of people thought they could beat Indiana. They suspended Jacquamain for the season, and then the backup ripped his knee up. There were reported problems with the coaching staff...just a rough year at Akron.

What is their best result?

By default, their best result is beating their arch-rival, the Kent Golden Flashes.

What is their worst result?

They provided Buffalo with their only MAC win.

What is their turnover ratio?

They aren't losing because of this---they are only -3 for the year.

Offense:

How is their QB Play?

This has probably been the single biggest issue for them. One of the reasons I put this as the first question is that I believe in the MAC, it is very difficult to win without good QB play. As noted above, their top two choices for QB are gone, so Patrick Nicely, highly touted true FR, is in the game now. Nicely was originally a BG commit but switched when Coach Brandon was let go. His QB ranking is 101, just a tick ahead of where Kelly Page was. He had a better game against Kent but not a great game. It is really tough to be a true FR QB.

What was their scoring and yards per play?

They are 12th in yards per play and 11th in scoring in the MAC. They are struggling to score points.

Can they run the ball?

We have already talked about Nicely's struggles, but if it wasn't for BG and Miami, they would also have the worst run attack in the MAC.

Do they pass the ball?

See above. They have 53% completions, 11 INTS, 4% interceptions and a very low 6.2 yards per attempt.

How is their run/pass balance?

Well, they don't do either very well. In terms of play mix, their last two games have seen 69 runs and 69 passes.

Do they convert on 3rd Down.

At about 30% their are only five FBS teams that are worse. Obviously, this is not surprising given that what we have seen above. They are likely to be facing harder to convert situations with a poorer attack.

Do they score in the red zone?

On a straight percentage, they are worse than Bowling Green, worst in the conference and 117th out of 120 in the FBS. The difference is Bowling Green has generated 51 red zone trips and Akron has only 31. Thier per trip average is 3.5 points, which is not good.

Do they protect the quarterback?

They have a veteran line that has given up 25 sacks, which is one fewer than BG. However, BG has thrown 485 passes and Akron only 292. I believe that if BG can keep them from running, as we did against Miami, we can tee up some pressure and do what we did to Dysert, which is cause havoc.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

Akron is 10th in scoring defense, 7th in total defense and 5th in yards per play. Normally, when we see numbers like that, our true enemy reveals itself somewhere in the numbers.

Do they defend the run effectively?

They are 8th in the MAC with 4.3 yards per carry, which is not great but better than BG for the year. It will be interesting to see if we can run on Akron.

Could they be passed on?

They are 7th in pass efficiency defense. They do have 11 interceptions, which is a lot. They are allowing 60% completions which is 10th in the MAC, but for only 6.2 yards per catch, which is 4th.

Did they get off the field on 3rd down?

Negative. They allow conversions on 45% of their third down plays, which is second to last in the MAC. (Clue number one, by the way, to our question).

Do they defend in the red zone?

First, they have allowed 45 red zone trips, which is among the worst in the MAC. Once there, they allow 4.4 points per trip, which is pretty typical.

Do they pressure the QB?

Uh, no, they have 7 sacks in 10 games. Only Western Kentucky has fewer in FBS. Our line's goal should be for Tyler to leave the field with his uniform clean.

Special Teams:

Punting?

They are 10th in the MAC in net punting. They have been blocked once and allowed two returns for TD. When teams do return on them, they average 11 yards.

Punt Return?

They are 10th here too, though they do have one return TD.

Placekicking?

Their kicking rotation sounds like the criminal docket at the Hague--Branko Rogovic and Igor Iveljic. Rogovic has been getting the kicks lately, and he is 5-13, with 3 misses inside 30 and a 45 yard long. They are the only MAC team to miss more than half their FGs.

Kickoff?

They are 8th in the MAC with a 40 yard average (nearly), which means starting on the 30 is par for the course. They have allowed a TD.

Kickoff Return?

This is among their stronger points, they are 4th in the MAC and have a TD. Their net is 40.2, which means they start on the 30 today, on average.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

Even if Akron is playing better, (and they beat Kent but gave up huge points to Temple) this is a game we should win.

It would be great to reward the home fans.

Beyond that, it would be great to see the progress continue and BG play as well or better than it did in Oxford last week.

There will be a shockingly small crowd at the Doyt on Friday. The 5:30 kickoff time is a joke. Sometimes, they takes the road team out as much as the home team. Akron is either super-resilient or weary of the wars and ready to pack it in (or quit at the first sign of trouble.)

This is a game BG should win, and let's hope we can get it done.