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2009 Recap Part 1 of 4

SDHornet

SDHornet

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I’ll be wrapping up the season with a four part write up featuring the recap of the Hornet season. I’ll be starting with an overall season recap followed by taking a look at the offense, defense, and special teams and discussing how they played, who they lose, where they can improve and what to look for from them next year. This will be nothing but my speculation and opinions. Please don’t hesitate to add discussion or corrections as I am 500 miles away from the front lines and am sure to overlook a few things.

With high expectations coming into the season following a 6-6 season last year, the Hornets finished the 2009 season with a 5-6 record. Although the win total wasn’t matched from a season ago, they did finish with one more FCS win than a season ago and they ended on a very high note with a come from behind victory over “the farm extension”. Sperbeck and Co signed one of the top recruit classes of the FCS heading into the 2009 season and things look to be headed in the right direction. Hornet fans were buzzing and many were predicting a winning season (me included) and possibly a playoff push. Others were even bold enough to predict an undefeated run to the national championship. Then the season started and everyone came crashing down to earth.

The Hornets had one of the tougher schedules in all of FCS this season. If I recall correctly it was somewhere in the neighborhood of the 10th toughest in FCS. Almost every week the Hornets faced a top 25 ranked team. The season was a bit of a roller coaster ride with the wins and losses coming in streaks and the team having to battle through quite a few injuries to key players. The season got off to a 0-3 start with losses to UNLV, cal poly, and EWU. Panic set in among the fan base. Coaching decisions were being questioned as well as the direction of the program. However, the Hornets got it together and shut up some of the critics up by following up the 0-3 start with 2 consecutive wins against PSU and ISU. This got things going and gave the Hornets confidence as they headed into the brutal stretch of facing 3 top 25 teams in three consecutive weeks. The Hornets opened that stretch with losses to WSU and Montana, but pulled a huge upset against NAU and were 3-5 heading into the last few games of the season. Sac State followed the NAU win with a terrifying road win at UNC but fell short against an MSU squad that was fighting for a playoff birth. The Hornets went into the Causeway with a 4-6 record but were playing a lot better then their record indicated. The Hornets had a tremendous and memorable game against “the farm extension” to end the season on an epic come from behind victory. The win rejuvenated the support for the Hornets and solidified the fact that Sperbeck has this program making progress and is the right man for the job.

If you hate reading my posts, you can stop here (assuming you even bothered in the first place). Otherwise, I’ve got a week by week blurb on each game in the following posts…
 
Week 1 opened on with a 38-3 loss at UNLV. The score doesn’t tell the complete story. The Hornets were in the game late into the third quarter and fighting hard. The defense ran out of gas as the offense was unable to move the ball by means of a run heavy play calling scheme. UNLV was able to score some points in the 4th quarter to run away with it. The defense had a courageous effort but the offense sputtered and it was a disappointing start to the season.

Week 2 was a matchup at 12th ranked cal poly that resulted in a 38-19 loss. This was cal poly’s opening game and they graduated practically every skilled position player from their impressive 2008 season as well as had a head coaching change. Given the changes that cp had, I pegged them to have a disappointing season and not live up to their preseason ranking. Over the length of the season, this assumption played out; however the Hornets had a terrible game and made cp look better than they actually were. I label this loss as the only bad loss on the season for the Hornets as I feel they could have won this game. The offense was unable to get much going on the ground and the defense was not prepared for the triple option attack of cp. As the game went on, the time consuming offense of cp controlled the tempo of the game.

Week 3 was a bye for the Hornets. It gave them an opportunity to catch their breath and prepare for a high powered EWU that was headed their way.

Week 4 was the home opener for the Hornets as 20th ranked Eastern Washington came to town. The Hornets suffered an embarrassing 56-30 loss. EWU went on to win a playoff bid so they did lose to a quality team; however the defense did next to nothing the entire game and was ineffective against anything EWU ran. This is where it became evident that the defense would be suspect against any capable opponent and it left many fans scratching their heads. The good thing that came of this game was the ability of the offense to move the ball and score points. This performance showed us all what the Hornets were capable of on offense. But in the end, there was no way they were going to keep pace with the high power offense of EWU.

Week 5 had the Hornets traveling to Portland to face a capable Portland State team. The Hornets got every aspect of their game clicking and dominated PSU in a 31-14 win. The Hornet run game and passing game got going and the Hornets were able to sustain a balanced attack. This game is a perfect example of what can be accomplished when the offense and defensive lines control the line of scrimmage. The defense had a good game as well and was able to contain the ever dangerous and capable PSU QB Drew Hubel. The defense kept PSU out of the end zone until the 4th quarter. Overall, the Hornets had a solid game and got the win when they desperately needed one.

Week 6 brought a struggling Idaho State to Hornet Stadium. The Hornets got their second win of the season with a 38-17 victory. This was one of the many games this season where the Hornets had two different types of halves. The Hornets had a lot of big plays in the first half to blow this game wide open. The defense had 2 INT’s returned for TD’s and the offense was able to move the ball and score points as well. However the team cruised through the second half and if ISU wasn’t so terrible, this could have been a close one. ISU held control of the ball for much of the second half and had scoring opportunities. To the defenses credit, they buckled down when they needed to and only allowed 1 second half touchdown.

Week 7 sent the Hornets back on the road to face the dangerous and high powered 15th ranked Weber State. The Hornets didn’t fair well at all in this one as the playoff caliber WSU controlled every aspect of this game. Costly turnovers, poor special teams play, and no answer to the WSU passing attack resulted in a complete disaster. Higgins exposed the Hornet secondary and threw at will as WSU rolled to a 49-10 victory.
 
Week 8 brought the perennial power and 2nd ranked Montana to town. The Hornets responded well following the previous weeks performance, however it wasn’t enough to get the win. This was a hard fought game with the Grizzlies pulling out the 45-30 victory. The Hornets were able to move the ball and attack the defense; however costly turnovers and penalties allowed Montana to stay in control.

Week 9 featured a 22nd ranked Northern Arizona team who rode into town on a huge wave of confidence. They ran into a swarm of angry and aggressive Hornets right from the get go. The Hornets jumped on NAU from the start but mistakes let NAU go into halftime with a lead. The Hornet defense pulled it together and shut out the NAU offense in the second half of the game in what was by far their most impressive performance of the year. They got pressure on the NAU QB Herrick and rattled him pretty well. This resulted in some costly turnovers for NAU late in the game. The offense was able to string together a couple of scoring drives in the second half that proved to be the difference. NAU missed a long FG that would have tied the game as time expired and it allowed Sac State to pull out the 27-24 win against a top 25 team. This was the beginning of the end for NAU as they didn’t win again for the rest of the season.

Week 10 had the confident Hornets heading to face a struggling Northern Colorado team. The momentum from the previous weeks’ win obviously gave the Hornets a boost in the first half as they jumped all over UNC in every way possible. The offense moved the ball at will behind its veteran offensive line and was able to score points. The defense forced turnovers which the offense capitalized on and it was 31-0 at the half. Nothing could go wrong. Unfortunately UNC came out of the break swinging and immediately took flight. The Hornets came out of the break flat and allowed UNC to climb back into the game. The defense dropped back into a very conservative prevent type of defensive and UNC exposed the Hornets badly. UNC went on to score 35 second half points. Fortunately for the Hornets, the offense was able to mount one TD drive early in the 3rd quarter which was the difference. The special teams recovered two crucial on-side kicks late in the game to seal it. The Hornets avoided a near monumental collapse and left with a 38-35 victory.

Week 11 featured the Hornets traveling to Montana State. MSU was fighting for their playoff lives and everyone know this would be a tough, hard fought game. The stout MSU defense kept the Hornet running game in check all game and limited the effectiveness of the Hornet offense. The Hornet defense had a tremendous effort and kept this game close late in the game. Unfortunately, the inability of the offense to move the ball kept the defense on the field for far too long. MSU was able to get a pair of 4th quarter FG’s to seal the 27-17 victory.

Week 12 was the 56th annual Causeway Classic played at Hornet Stadium. This game featured the Great West Conference Champions uc davis who rode into town with their typical “holier than thou” attitude and sense of entitlement of a victory in this rivalry. Unfortunately for them, the game still had to be played. It was a defensive battle early as both teams struggled to move the ball and create scoring chances. The Hornets got in the scoreboard first with a 37 yard Diniz FG in the 1st quarter. Then “the farm extension” woke up and had an offensive explosion in the 2nd quarter which resulted in 2 TD’s. The Hornet offense sputtered for almost the entire 1st half and it was punctuated with a potential scoring drive late in the 1st half ending with a Jason Smith fumble. With a 14-3 halftime score, Sperbeck made the brilliant decision to bench Smith and start Bethel-Thompson in the 2nd half. MBT scored on a QB sneak early in the 3rd quarter and suddenly we had ourselves a ball game. The scoring went back and forth until the Hornet D made a stop late in the game that set up an epic and memorable 89 yard 4 minute and 25 second drive that resulted in a MBT to Reed 13 yard TD pass to give the Hornets a 31-28 lead with only 20 seconds remaining. Sac State finished the season with its 2nd consecutive Causeway Classic victory in the most dramatic way possible.
 
1. Why quibble about a few yards on what had to be the most beautiful crunch-time scoring drive since Staubach did in the Whiners?

2. SD, this summary is amazing. You should be working for the U-T with work like this. Wouldn't it be funny for them to have a Hornet beatwriter and the Bee still continues to stiff us? LOL.
 
SactoHornetAlum said:
Hammerhead Dad said:
SactoHornetAlum said:
Point of clarification, it was an 87 yard drive ;-)
Click to expand...

Actually, it was an 83 yard drive. It started at the 17 yard line. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...

3...7...whatever. ;-) You're right HHD. My bad.
Click to expand...

I was going off of the Causeway article on Hornetsports.
"A punt drove the Hornets back to their own 11-yard line with 4:45 remaining." I thought it was referring to where the first play started, I guess the article left out the punt return.

http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=8426

Like SH said, either way it was a great drive. I can't think of a better way to end the season. :twisted:
 
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