Week 10 - #7 Sac State at #4 Montana

[Kadeezy]

So disappointing.

 

[GreenArmySwarm]

Andy and Co really took the culture that Troy Taylor built and ran it to the ground all in one year.

Zero discipline. Penalties everywhere. Mental mistake left and right.

They’re ALL talk. Every momentum this program had, seems to have disappeared after one year. This staff really thought than beating Stanford was enough. I’d rather have them lose to Stanford and beat at least one ranked team in the FCS. At least in Taylor’s era, this team was competitive in games and didn’t “play down” to their opponent. This staff couldn't even carry that over.

I know this seems harsh. But we've seen enough in terms of body of work to see. There’s only two games left in the regular season.

With all that said. I'm still rooting for this program. STILL rooting for this coaching staff. But maybe STOP "putting your own flavor" onto the team. The culture WAS already set. 12-0 IS culture: You didn't need to change anything.

 

[SDHornet]

Andy and Co really took the culture that Troy Taylor built and ran it to the ground all in one year.

Zero discipline. Penalties everywhere. Mental mistake left and right.

They’re ALL talk. Every momentum this program had, seems to have disappeared after one year. This staff really thought than beating Stanford was enough. I’d rather have them lose to Stanford and beat at least one ranked team in the FCS. At least in Taylor’s era, this team was competitive in games and didn’t “play down” to their opponent. This staff couldn't even carry that over.

I know this seems harsh. But we've seen enough in terms of body of work to see. There’s only two games left in the regular season.

With all that said. I'm still rooting for this program. STILL rooting for this coaching staff. But maybe STOP "putting your own flavor" onto the team. The culture WAS already set. 12-0 IS culture: You didn't need to change anything.

Awful take. We're 1 win away from punching our ticket to the playoffs for a 4th straight season with all of our loses to top 10 teams this year. Calm your tits.

 

[FootballAlum84]

Really hard to see this game finish like this after seeing them play with such confidence, get an early lead which could’ve been bigger, and run game control early on in the game. We had the crowd under control and as soon as they were back in it we were rattled and all confidence was out the window. Hoping for a strong finish 8-3 with two remaining to take momentum into next season and chance still for an at large playoff berth maybe on the road somewhere?

 

[BSCfan1]

That was tough. Time to put it behind 'em and get ready for Poly.

 

[SDHornet]

7-34 Hornet loss. Hornets came out of the gates hard but went away from what was working and it all fell apart. Defense looked locked in early as well but got burned through the air. Lots of credit to the Griz, they lived up to the moment and dominated for most of the game. Not many positives to take away from this other than some experience for a lot of the younger players at the end of the game, and Conklin got some experience in the most hostile FCS environment imaginable which will pay dividends later down the road. More thoughts later.

Stingers Up!

 

[SDHornet]

Really hard to see this game finish like this after seeing them play with such confidence, get an early lead which could’ve been bigger, and run game control early on in the game. We had the crowd under control and as soon as they were back in it we were rattled and all confidence was out the window. Hoping for a strong finish 8-3 with two remaining to take momentum into next season and chance still for an at large playoff berth maybe on the road somewhere?

Yeah it all changed with the move from KB. The moment was just too big for Conklin today. I think we get a playoff bid with one more win considering our recent success in past years, being ranked in the top 10 through this week (we shouldn't be ranked in the top 10 after today), and all our losses being to top 10 teams. Also the first round is a bid system so if President Wood ponies up the money, we could be hosting a 1st round playoff game Thanksgiving weekend.

None of that matter is we can't rebound against a horrid Cal Poly next week.

 

[Bodega Joe]

KB’s game isn’t long bombs. Short routes and running seemed to work well for him. It also didn’t seem like he threw much in the middle of the field. I was frustrated watching long passes overthrown by 10+ yards.

I agree with some of the sentiment shared in these posts. We have the talent but we were out coached tonight. Hope we learn from this game.

 

[GreenArmySwarm]

Andy and Co really took the culture that Troy Taylor built and ran it to the ground all in one year.

Zero discipline. Penalties everywhere. Mental mistake left and right.

They’re ALL talk. Every momentum this program had, seems to have disappeared after one year. This staff really thought than beating Stanford was enough. I’d rather have them lose to Stanford and beat at least one ranked team in the FCS. At least in Taylor’s era, this team was competitive in games and didn’t “play down” to their opponent. This staff couldn't even carry that over.

I know this seems harsh. But we've seen enough in terms of body of work to see. There’s only two games left in the regular season.

With all that said. I'm still rooting for this program. STILL rooting for this coaching staff. But maybe STOP "putting your own flavor" onto the team. The culture WAS already set. 12-0 IS culture: You didn't need to change anything.

Awful take. We're 1 win away from punching our ticket to the playoffs for a 4th straight season with all of our loses to top 10 teams this year. Calm your tits.

Punching the playoff ticket based on reputation that was built from the previous years and barely squeaking by mediocre/bad teams THIS year? Resume has one decent win so far. Stanford. So no, not a bad take. Get your head out of your a** maybe?

 

[HeavyistheClown]

Jody Sears would be proud! What a shellacking. They should have just mailed in the L and saved the travel expense.

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

Ugly and disappointing tonight but the season is far from over. We just need to win our next two BSC games…VERY doable. Eight wins puts us in the playoffs. Win a couple of playoff games or more and it will go a long way to smooth out these three conference losses.
I can see it happening. No need to panic.

 

[HornetHope]

https://x.com/lucas_semb/status/1720979064109121778?s=61&t=UGzZqunf2LJBzlYdB4WRmw

This is not good.

 

[SDHornet]

Andy and Co really took the culture that Troy Taylor built and ran it to the ground all in one year.

Zero discipline. Penalties everywhere. Mental mistake left and right.

They’re ALL talk. Every momentum this program had, seems to have disappeared after one year. This staff really thought than beating Stanford was enough. I’d rather have them lose to Stanford and beat at least one ranked team in the FCS. At least in Taylor’s era, this team was competitive in games and didn’t “play down” to their opponent. This staff couldn't even carry that over.

I know this seems harsh. But we've seen enough in terms of body of work to see. There’s only two games left in the regular season.

With all that said. I'm still rooting for this program. STILL rooting for this coaching staff. But maybe STOP "putting your own flavor" onto the team. The culture WAS already set. 12-0 IS culture: You didn't need to change anything.

Awful take. We're 1 win away from punching our ticket to the playoffs for a 4th straight season with all of our loses to top 10 teams this year. Calm your tits.

Punching the playoff ticket based on reputation that was built from the previous years and barely squeaking by mediocre/bad teams THIS year? Resume has one decent win so far. Stanford. So no, not a bad take. Get your head out of your a** maybe?

Correct. How else does a 7-4 Griz team with zero quality wins and off of a blowout loss in the final game of the season make the playoffs last year? Like it or not pedigree matters...also cutting a check to the NCAA to host a 1st round game also helps because cash is king. We should hit 7 wins with a win over CP next week, have an early season quality road win over Nichols State (they are in the driver's seat to win the Southland title following their upset win over #8 UIW today) and a win over a P4 program and have taken care of business against the teams we should have taken care of business against. And there should be no doubt Wood/Orr got a bid into the NCAA to host a first round game which would give the NCAA a west coast evening time slot on ESPN. 

Do better.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

Agree. Don’t try to fix 12-0 championship team.

The offensive play calling is about 65% of our previous years. OC needs to get back to what worked and start writing a script if he can’t remember how to mix it up and do TT Light as we expected.

If Fresques doesn’t get some help we will beat Cal Poly. But struggle w UCD. We have the talent but we aren’t using in as potent of a way as we did under TT.

Yes. We know he’s not coming back. But we need to learn from previous success. If the OC can’t raise his game then he need to work w QB’s again. He stepped into big shoes. But it appears that he’s not ready if he can’t get this fixed?

Fresques is a great hornet. But in over his abilities. He was a better QB coach. Anemic Offense

We got out coached.. we have plenty of talent.

 

[SDHornet]

7-34 Hornet loss. Aside from a strong start on both sides of the ball and a couple of decent drives in the 3rd quarter, the Hornets were completely dominated in a top 10 matchup in Missoula.

Offense had a strong start. The offensive line looked dominant early and the Hornet running game was gashing the Griz defense early. Marcus Fulcher (11 car, 87 yds, 1 TD) looked strong and broke some good runs early that allowed the Hornets to jump to an early 7 point lead. Kiaden Bennett (8/17, 52 yds, 12 car, 42 yds) made a few plays with his feet as well but struggled in the passing game. Carson Conklin (7/22, 67 yds) saw a lot of action but did not look comfortable at all. Conklin’s best play was a 24 yard strike late in the game to Carlos Hill (4 rec, 53 yds). The Hornet offense was held to a paltry 268 total yards of offense.

Similarly to the offense, the defense had a strong start as well. They jumped on the Griz offense early and had them on their heels. Unfortunately, the Hornet defense could not withstand the UM offense and eventually got ran off the field. The Hornet defense was not helped out by the fact that they lost time of possession by about 10 minutes in the first half as UM took a 21-7 lead into the half and never looked back. The Hornet defense had a solid 3rd quarter and kept the game within reach, unfortunately they got burned on too many plays and the game turned into a rout in the 4th quarter. The Hornet defense gave up an embarrassing 242 passing yards on 12 completions to a Griz offense that doesn’t throw the ball very well (at least until this game). Gavin Davis-Smith (11 tak, 1 sac) led the Hornets in tackling while 3 other players had 6 tackles.

Special teams was disappointing. A bad punt gave UM some good field position early and Zach Schreiner (0/2 FG, 1/1 PAT) missed a 44 yard field goal early, but more costly was a missed chip shot field goal following a long Hornet drive in the 3rd quarter. Whatever wind the Hornets had in the sails at that point quickly deflated. The lone bright spot was Cal McGough (44.6 ypp) but it’s never a good game when the punter is a bright spot.

Here are my takeaways from the game:

• The coaches had the Hornets prepared and ready to rock. I was impressed with the play in the first quarter. The Hornets jumped on the Griz early and momentum was building, things were looking good.

• Then Coach Fresques threw it all away with an ill-fated quarterback change/rotation that spelled doom for the Hornets. After a couple of effective drives mainly consisting of RPO with KB and Fulcher, Conklin was rotated in and all offensive mojo was lost. It was a head scratching move, not only considering the success the Hornets were having with KB and Fulch on the ground, but the weather conditions (wet and windy) were not conducive to a pass happy environment. The Hornets promptly had 2 short drives with little production with Conklin at the helm and before it was all said and done the Hornets were in a 14 point hole.

• Play calling and personnel just wasn’t up to snuff for a game of this magnitude. In addition to the QB swap, the one dimensional aspect of the run game with Conklin in the game put the Hornets at such a disadvantage that there was really no hope for success. It was most evident during that awful decision to run a dive to Zeke Burrnett (2 car, 2 yds) with Conklin under center on a critical 3rd and short in the 2nd quarter. Everyone knew what play was coming before the ball was snapped. The full house looks on that 3rd quarter red zone opportunity were also suspect. The 2nd down play had an execution issue (KB had his foot stepped on by the pulling guard), but a full house look on an obvious passing situation on the following 3rd down play was suspect.

• Offensive line was impressive early, but the Griz made some adjustments and shut things down. Kenndel Riley was benched (hurt?) in favor of Kaden Richardson as he was getting beat off the snap nearly every play.

• Hornet receivers got little to no separation in this game and every receiver was a non-factor in this game. A lot of credit is due to the UM secondary as they played tight coverage all game long.

• Penalties played a role early. As expected in a tough road environment like Wa-Griz, the noise caused several false start penalties. Most of these occurred as Conklin was trying to audible or change routes in the 2nd quarter. Then there was the stupid penalty by Jared Gipson (no stats) at the end of the 1st half that got himself ejected. Cameron Broussard (6 tak) also got bounced on a targeting call. It didn’t look like purposeful targeting as his momentum carried him into the receiver, but by the letter of the law it was the right call. Anytime the refs see helmet to helmet targeting the defender is getting tossed. It is what it is.

• Good aggression from the defense early. The Hornets really got after the ball and came out motivated to stop the run.

• The Hornet secondary just completely fell apart against the pass. Broussard’s ejection had a large role in that, but giving up that 97 yard house call due to blown coverage to put the game out of reach is just embarrassing.

• Overall I didn’t think the Hornet defense was aggressive enough in the 2nd half. The delayed blitz wasn't getting pressure and just opened things up for UM’s passing game. The defense seemed passive, but maybe they were just spent by that point in the game.

• Zach Schreiner missing that chip shot field goal at a moment of the game in which the Hornets were looking to claw their way back into it was devastating. That 6+ minute drive needed to be capped off with points.

• Following a Hornet defense interception, KB took a bad sack on the subsequent drive early in the 4th quarter. It was 3rd and 4 in a clear 4 down situation with the ball being at midfield in a 2 possession game. The Hornet running game was reestablished and we were moving the ball. Should have pounded the ball with Fulch and then gone for 4th if needed. In retrospect, the Hornets were still within reach had either of these 2 drives gotten points.

• A lot of experience was gained for the younger players. Once the game was clearly in hand, a lot of the defensive reserves played most of the 4th quarter. Even in garbage time, this experience will pay off down the road.

Nothing really more to say other than the Hornets need to turn the page and focus on winning the next game as there’s no way to sugar coat this turd of a game. The good news is the Hornets close out the regular season home schedule this week against a horrid Cal Poly team that is an absolute mess right now. The Hornets playoff hopes are on the line, so there’s still plenty to play for.

Stingers Up!

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

SD…that sums it all up pretty well.

 

[Kadeezy]

Re watched a lot of the game on mute - my god Marty Morningwheig (sp) is the worst color analyst I’ve ever heard.

So many bad plays, penalties, questionable play calling. But, Hornets were still in it until 11 min left when they hit that 97 yard pass. Rocha, who was in for Broussard has to know they are going to take a shot there. Juniel sat underneath at the marker as I believe was his assignment and Rocha was playing half the field in Cover 2 zone methinks, and just let himself get burned. That was the nail in the coffin.

 

[Super Hornet 2.0]

Kadeezy: I didn't get to see the game, but Morninweg must have been really bad to be be worse than Collinsworth and Romo....

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

Out of fairness to Bobby and the offensive coaching staff...last season we had two established quarterbacks who presented a unique set of problems...two healthy dominant running backs in Skat and Fulcher...and a healthy All American TE.
I'm disappointed with our offensive output but some of you are being way too hard on Fresques.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

SDH - Good Write up. Regarding OC B Fresques. His job as OC makes him responsible for play calling. He deserves the challenge to his performances.
Previous season 2QB system they were interchanged based upon plays the OC / TT wanted to call. They weren’t decided by setting up a QB per series or per Qtr like our current OC has been switching QB’s. (Take what D gives us and adjust)
We have enough talent on this team that we could and should be a Top 1 or 2 team in our conference.
Bobby needs to study game film from our offense last season and take notes. We have a great passer in Conklin and a great RPO an in Bennett. They do compliment each other. Bobby had the tools to win. But he’s not making the right calls at the right times.
Let’s finish strong! Get healthy psychologically w a solid W cal poly! Be ready to WAR w UCD and get us into playoffs!

Offseason coach needs to make some changes and either get help for OC or hire a new OC and have Bobby work w W QB development. Yes and re build discipline w penalties and quality control. I’d like to hear about “love for the team, and for teammates”. Get back to what built the program!