Week 4 - #4 Sac State at #7 Idaho

[SDHornet]

Week 4 - #4 Sac State at #7 Idaho

The 4th ranked Hornets (3-0, 0-0 BSC) hit the road to face the 7th ranked Idaho Vandals (2-1, 0-0 BSC) in the BSC opener and their home opener in Moscow, Idaho. BSC title implications are immediately on the line for both programs in this game of the week matchup. Head Coach Jason Eck has the Idaho program humming and is coming into this week looking to claim the inside track to the BSC title.

The Vandals have looked strong so far this season and are off to a fast start. Idaho opened up the season with a dominating 42-17 win at Lamar in a game in which the Vandals racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense. Idaho followed that up with the total destruction of Nevada in a 33-6 win at Reno. Last week, Idaho jumped on Cal early and raced to a 17-0 point lead. Unfortunately, Idaho’s fortunes turned midway through the 2nd quarter on an ill-fated 4th down attempt at midfield that gifted the Bears a short field in which they scored a touchdown on. From that point on it was all Cal as the Vandals lost 17-31.

The Vandal offense will be the most dynamic and versatile offense the Hornets will play in the regular season. The Vandal offense is poised to put up prolific numbers as they return every key player at the skilled positions in their spread read option attack. Dual threat quarterback Gevani McCoy (57/86, 756 yds, 4 TD, 2 INT, 20 car, 104 yds, 1 TD) has put up impressive numbers through the air so far this season. The Vandals have a litany of receivers that terrorize opponents secondary with Hayden Hatten (20 rec, 256 yds, 2 TD) being the primary target. The receiving threats are rounded out by Terez Traynor (10 rec, 133 yds) and Jermaine Jackson (11 rec, 130 yds). On the ground, running back Anthony Woods (42 car, 265 yds, 3 TD) has been a play making force that has kept opposing defenses honest.

While the high octane Vandal offense was highly anticipated, it has been the suffocating defensive play that has been the most surprising. With the newly installed 4-3 defense, the Vandals only allowed 23 points through the first 9 quarters of the season until Cal overpowered them last week. Idaho’s defense is led by linebacker Tre Thomas (19 tak, 3 TFL, 1 sac), defensive tackle Mathias Bertram (18 tak, 3.5 TFL), and safety Tommy McCormick (16 tak, 0.5 TFL).

On special teams, kicker Ricardo Chavez (5/5 FG, 5/5 PAT) has been nails as he has a long of 43 yards. The punting duties have been split, but Chavez (3 pnt, 62.3 ypp) has a booming leg with 3 punts over 50 yards. In the return game, Jermaine Jackson (5 kr, 13.8 ypr) has playmaking speed and is always a looming threat.

Position Advantage

• Quarterback: Push. Both quarterbacks are similar in style and play making ability. Gevani McCoy has a bigger arm than Kaiden Bennett, not sure that really comes into play in this one.

• Running Backs: Hornets. Marcus Fulcher and Anthony Woods are both very good backs, the Hornets are just deeper at this position than the Vandals.

• Wide Receivers: Vandals. Idaho has multiple players that can take it to the house anytime they touch the ball. The Hornets are more of a possession receiver type of bunch.

• Tight Ends: Vandals. Graduate transfer Turon Ivy Jr has been a godsend for the Vandals while Marshel Martin may still be on the mend.

• Offensive Line: Hornets. Hornets have yet to allow a sack while the Vandals have given up 5.

• Defensive Line: Hornets. Hornets have more sacks and TFLs by their front 4 compared to that of the Vandals.

• Linebackers: Vandals. Tre Thomas and Mathias Bertram have made more plays in the backfield compared to Aarmon Bailey and Brock Mather.

• Defensive Backs: Hornets. The Hornet secondary has made more plays on the ball compared to the Vandal secondary, but this will be the most talented group of receivers the Hornets will face this season.

• Punters: Hornets. Cal McGough has pinned opponents deep in their own end almost every time out while the Vandal punters have only done it once.

• Kickers: Push. Zach Schriener is now a proven commodity, Ricardo Chavez was a proven commodity entering the season.

• Kick Returners: Vandals. Both teams have capable returners, the difference here is that the Vandal kickoffs go for touchbacks more often than the Hornet kickoffs do which means more opportunities for the Vandals.

The lone knock on this Vandal offense is that they have not taken care of the ball. They have turned it over 6 times; 2 interceptions and 4 lost fumbles (9 fumbles on the year) in just 3 games. On the other side of the ball, Cal exposed the Vandal defense last week as they gashed them for big plays on their way to 31 unanswered points. I would expect the Hornets to exploit those shortfalls in the Vandal defense this week as well.

This game will set the tone for both programs in their quest for a BSC title and I’ve been factually stating that the Hornets own the BSC until proven otherwise. If the Hornets play anywhere near like they did at the Farm this past weekend, we will beat Idaho and undoubtedly run the table for a 3rd straight season en route to a 4th straight BSC title. I’m sticking to my guns on that prediction and while Idaho is a damn good team, I believe we are just a bit better. Hornets win a close one in the quonset hut. Heavy is the crown.

Stingers Up!

Idaho at Lamar Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AJw5DxrADo

Idaho at Nevada Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmkYDN4SZmU

Idaho at Cal Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qtqw7lxnMM

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

I'm undecided which will be the tougher road challenge, this upcoming game against Idaho or Montana on November 4th?

The Griz are always pretty good, especially so at home in what likely will be inclement weather, but I think Idaho might be the better team.

I suppose we'll get a good indication this Saturday and also on October 14th when Idaho hosts Montana.

Here's hoping our Hornets keep their focus after their big win this past weekend and find a way to keep their streaks going.

 

[stingthemgood]

I'm undecided which will be the tougher road challenge, this upcoming game against Idaho or Montana on November 4th?

The Griz are always pretty good, especially so at home in what likely will be inclement weather, but I think Idaho might be the better team.

I suppose we'll get a good indication this Saturday and also on October 14th when Idaho hosts Montana.

Here's hoping our Hornets keep their focus after their big win this past weekend and find a way to keep their streaks going.

Football related post. Not allowed

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Idaho -- no doubt -- is a tougher matchup. Through three weeks, the Griz wouldn't be in the top 25 if their resume was attached to their name. They have not looked good. Time to turn it around, but they look like a midpack team.

That's kinda where my head is too. I suppose I'm just giving the Griz too much credit and respect for longevity of their great program and also their home field advantage.

But as far as the talent between the teams go, I do see Idaho as the superior team, at least right now. We'll see how things play out on the field where it matters most.

 

[stingthemgood]

Football related post. Not allowed

 

[SDHornet]

I'm undecided which will be the tougher road challenge, this upcoming game against Idaho or Montana on November 4th?

The Griz are always pretty good, especially so at home in what likely will be inclement weather, but I think Idaho might be the better team.

I suppose we'll get a good indication this Saturday and also on October 14th when Idaho hosts Montana.

Here's hoping our Hornets keep their focus after their big win this past weekend and find a way to keep their streaks going.

Idaho -- no doubt -- is a tougher matchup. Through three weeks, the Griz wouldn't be in the top 25 if their resume was attached to their name. They have not looked good. Time to turn it around, but they look like a midpack team.

Going into this season, I thought Idaho was the biggest challenge in the conference because of how dynamic their offense is. Hatten went out for a few plays with a leg against Cal and wasn't the same after. Hope he heals up. I want strength on strength.

Strap in everyone, I think this is the best FCS matchup of the regular season.

Agreed. Idaho is way better than Montucky. It's not even close. IMO Idaho has the best offense in the BSC. They should put up video game numbers this year. Montucky has been a middle of the road team for a few years running now. They are living off of their legacy at this point, still a tough team, but not top tier BSC caliber team like us, MSU, and potentially Idaho.

Our game in Missoula will be the toughest from an environment standpoint. Night game, probably in the snow, a packed house with a bunch of drunk screaming griz fans. It's going to be nuts.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Our game in Missoula will be the toughest from an environment standpoint. Night game, probably in the snow, a packed house with a bunch of drunk screaming griz fans. It's going to be nuts.

Yep. The only real reason I said I was undecided which road game will be the greater challenge.

Seems we all agree that Idaho is more challenging from a talent and coaching standpoint.

They sure gave the Hornets a battle last season at Hornet Stadium.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

Yeppp… the Idaho team is solid. I’ve noticed though that Idaho isn’t as fluid in adjusting as we saw in our chess match Off / Def against Stanford.
I think we have a tight game first 1/2 then we start breaking it open 2nd half and win by 10 or 14.

Montana Griz knows they need Snow / ICE / Noise to help them to beat us these days.

Historically we played Montana early in season before the winter was stuck in Freeze Mode!

If everybody is still healthy after Stanford game I expect a W and we are business as usual!

 

[SDHornet]

Hornets rolling in the all whites again.

https://twitter.com/SacHornetsFB/status/1704988912048083240

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Not bad at all, but I liked last week’s look a lot better.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Tough way to lose a 22-game regular season and 19-game conference win streak.

These types of games often come down to whom commits the fewest mistakes. Well, in a 3-point game (before the gimme TD at the end), look no further than the “roughing” the kicker penalty that resulted in a FG for Idaho.

I personally thought it should have been ruled “running” into the kicker instead of roughing, but that’s what they called and it ended up as the difference in the game.

Also, having to burn timeouts unnecessarily cost the Hornets a chance at the last possession.

WRT the Hornets performance on the field, the offense didn’t run it well and the defense couldn’t stop the run. It’s really that simple.

The Hornets defenders weren’t getting off blocks and Idaho was just running through and around their defense for nice gains. They chewed up the clock and dominated TOP.

If it weren’t for a couple of turnovers and unforced personal foul penalties by the Vandals, Idaho might have run away with the game earlier.

Good news was, the Hornets found a way to stay in it and gave themselves a chance. Shoddy tackling on Idaho’s game-winning drive ultimately did them in.

Props to Idaho. They were the better team most the day and deserved the ‘W’. Let’s see how our Hornets bounce back from this loss.

Lastly, I gotta ask, what’s the deal with the Hornets d-line lining up so far off the LOS? I’ve never noticed them as far off the ball before. It was annoying to see all game long, especially in short yardage situations.

 

[SDHornet]

27-36 Hornet loss....so that's what a BSC loss feels like, it's been so long. More thoughts later.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

That was a bummer… We didn’t execute nearly as well as last week. I was hoping hornets would have during 3rd Qtr or so done an OnSide Kick like Stanford did to us.

We settled for a couple of field goals earlier in the game that was the difference. I was surprised at the penalties and unsportsmanlike calls for both teams.
Out of character!
Hoping the team sees that they need to bring 100% every week!

 

[SDHornet]

The regular season, road game, and BSC winning streaks come to an end as the Hornets lose their first conference game since 2019, 27-36, at Idaho. All credit goes to Idaho in this game, they outplayed the Hornets in the trenches and made plays down the field that went for points.

First and foremost the production of this game was atrocious. Awful camera angles and at times not even following the ball, announcers weren’t keeping up with what was going on on the field either. A very disappointing production given the top 10 matchup.

Idaho came out with a lot of energy and the Hornets struggled to meet it. The Hornets got sucked into their trash talking and made some uncharacteristic penalties that were costly as the game was quite chippy throughout. The Hornets have to keep their heads.

On offense the Hornets looked off most of the game and the offensive line struggled to get anything going on the ground. Kaiden Bennett (15/29, 236 yds, 2 TD, 12 car, -3 yds) had a subpar game, it just seemed that he was trying to win it all by himself at times. KB made some solid throws, but he forced a lot of balls that could have been picks. Idaho did a great job of containing him as KB did not get anything going on the ground and made him take some bad losses in the backfield. Jared Gipson (3 rec, 91 yards) led the Hornets in receiving production and the receivers made some big plays to get the Hornets back into the game. Marshel Martin looks like a shell of his former self out there which is very concerning.

The play calling was very unimaginative. A lot of run plays were called well after it was established that the Hornet offensive line couldn’t get a push up front that put the Hornets behind the sticks. This resulted in the passing game not getting into a rhythm until late in the game. Hornets also had to burn a timeout early that cost them some time at the tail end of the game. It was not an efficient game on offense.

On defense, the Hornets just couldn’t stop the run. Idaho dominated time of possession (39 minutes to 21) and racked up 178 rushing yards. The Vandals then threw it over the top as the Hornet defense cheated up to stop the run. The Hornet defense was able to limit the damage, pouncing on some Idaho fumbles to keep things close, but unfortunately they couldn’t get a stop on the final drive. On a positive note, the front four was constantly in the face of Gevani McCoy as they sacked him 3 times.

On special teams, Schriener (2/2 FG, 3/3 PAT) was clutch again as he hit a late 44 yard field goal to keep the Hornets in the game which is unfortunately the lone bright spot. The awful roughing the kicker play that extended a drive and resulted in points for Idaho.The coverage struggled and the decision to kick it deep to a dangerous kick returner late in the game, especially when Jermaine Jackson gashed them in the return game earlier, is a questionable one. IMO Jackson takes that kick to the house if Elijah Tau-Tolliver doesn’t horse collar him as he made the break for the sideline. The icing on the cake of this underwhelming game for special teams was the shitshow that was that lateral play that gifted Idaho a meaningless score on the final play of the game.

Given the struggles in this game, there are still positives to take away from this game:

• Idaho controlled the game and the clock, had plenty of opportunities to put this game away and it still took a late game drive to beat the Hornets. This game shouldn’t have been this close.

• The Hornets responded to an early onslaught and fought for the entire game. This speaks to the grit this Hornet team has.

• Hornet defense forced turnovers and kept this game in reach.

• KB threw some dimes and the receivers made some big plays to keep drives alive.

• The Hornet offense scored every time it got in the redzone.

• Defensive front looked good in the pass rush.

• Schreiner clutch again on field goals.

No need to doom. The Hornets are a good team with lots of potential, the Vandals were just a better one today in their house. While the Hornets lost the game and the inside track to another BSC Title, there is still a lot of football to be played.

Stingers Up!

 

[Kadeezy]

Nailed it SD. It was weird to see us get undisciplined like that. I kept thinking we would pull something off all the way until the last FG went through the uprights to make it 30-27 before the last kickoff.

No doom, here, but a serious reality check for a team that may have been feeling themselves a little too much after the big Stanford win… gotta whip NAU and go 4-1 into the bye. Better than the 3-2 I thought we would be…

 

[SDHornet]

Full game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIzEiiOWKLU


Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FndY_TiYYpE

 

[SDHornet]

Nailed it SD. It was weird to see us get undisciplined like that. I kept thinking we would pull something off all the way until the last FG went through the uprights to make it 30-27 before the last kickoff.

No doom, here, but a serious reality check for a team that may have been feeling themselves a little too much after the big Stanford win… gotta whip NAU and go 4-1 into the bye. Better than the 3-2 I thought we would be…

Yep. Lots of emotional and physical energy expended at Stanford, then we had to hit the road and face a very talented team. No excuses, but not an easy back to back road stretch. Good news is we have no more back to back road games the rest of the way, Hornets just need to buckle down and handle business one week at a time. We'll be fine.

 

[HornetHope]

Nailed it SD. It was weird to see us get undisciplined like that. I kept thinking we would pull something off all the way until the last FG went through the uprights to make it 30-27 before the last kickoff.

No doom, here, but a serious reality check for a team that may have been feeling themselves a little too much after the big Stanford win… gotta whip NAU and go 4-1 into the bye. Better than the 3-2 I thought we would be…

Yep. Lots of emotional and physical energy expended at Stanford, then we had to hit the road and face a very talented team. No excuses, but not an easy back to back road stretch. Good news is we have no more back to back road games the rest of the way, Hornets just need to buckle down and handle business one week at a time. We'll be fine.

This team looked out of sorts from the beginning. Not every play, defense certainly looked better, but everyone lacked energy.

I hope they get that fixed, I watched NAU game with MT. Not sure if MT is really bad, NAU better or a little of both. They are far more explosive on offense, so I hope they had a Tell the Truth Sunday so they can move forward.