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2013 Week 1: Sac State @ San Jose State

Down 17-0 after the first half.

Poor coaching and poor decisions by Safron have cost them. The Hornets defense, sans a pass rush, has been impressive. San Jose St. hasn't been very impressive on offense as the Hornets have shut down their rushing attack and the secondary has matched up quite well against their receivers. The big passing plays and TD passes have come because of a lack of any type of pass rush. You give any QB that kind of time and he should find open receivers eventually.

Odiase has been really good. He's had 2 or 3 near INT's and hasn't really been beaten from what I've seen.

The offense has been downright offensive. Ezekial Graham has had a few moments, but nobody else has showed up to play, especially Safron. He underthrew (what else is new) an open Morris Norrise on what should have been a TD on the Hornets first or second series of the game and allowed 2 very inexcusable delay of game penalties that cost the Hornets a shot at a first down. The first came AFTER a timeout and the second came on a 4th and 1 when Sperbeck couldn't make a timely decision on whether to go for it or kick the FG. Once he did make the decision to kick, they had to rush to get the snap off and the kick was blocked. That's all on Sperbeck.

Regardless, if Safron can't get the ball downfield or get a play off after a timeout, maybe it's time to see what the freshman QB can do. In all seriousness, there's no excuse for a 3rd year starting QB to be making the mistakes Safron has made during the first half.

This game should be a 1 score game right now.
 
unfortunately i cant see any of the game but reading the last post it sounds like the same old safron. Does it look like he has at least shown a little growth?
 
SacHornet said:
unfortunately i cant see any of the game but reading the last post it sounds like the same old safron. Does it look like he has at least shown a little growth?
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I like the kid. He's gritty. He just doesn't have enough arm and he's erratic with the short throws he makes.

Case in point, the Hornets took the opening drive of the 2nd half all the way to the Spartans 28, but stalled out because Safron couldn't connect on 2 routine pass plays. He overthrew Graham on a wheel route out of the backfield and Shane Harrison (I think?) on a misdirection sprint pass, both plays that would have resulted in first downs. Instead, we miss another FG due to a poor snap.
 
The Hornet rush defense finally cracked. Simpson with a long run.

24-0 Spartans. The Hornets really blew several opportunities to make this a good game.
 
After I criticize him a bit, Safron responded with a nice drive, but couldn't punch the ball in. Once inside the 10, Safron refused to try to throw and instead took off on a couple of inside runs gaining minimal yardage each time. SJSU took a timeout and the Hornets ran another misdirection, bootleg pass play that did not fool the Spartans. Turnover on downs at the 2 yard line.

2 missed FG's, an underthrown to Norisse on a sure TD pass and now a turnover on downs at the 2.

If our kicker made even one of those kicks (without the poor snaps), the Hornets could conceivably have 10-17 points right now.
 
Another turnover on downs by the Hornets at the SJSU 4 yards line.

I'd love to give credit to the Spartans defense, but Marshall Sperbeck's play calling inside the 10 is utterly ridiculous. He ran the quick dive to his 160 pound running back 3 times in a row, gaining a mere 1 yard each time. What imagination.

Oh, Safron seems to think there isn't a play clock in the game of football as he had yet another issue with it the drive. Coming off another timeout, Safron took his sweet time calling an audible and even took time to stretch before realizing there was only 3 seconds on the clock and burned another timeout. Awesome.
 
The Hornets stunk. This performance was pathetic and lame. Remove Safron! Give someone else a chance when the starting QB is awful. Defense was the only bright spot. This will be a very short season.

Also, Santiago's half time and post game sucked. Is he even wearing headphones to hear himself? Turn down the gain or whatever makes the broadcast sound so bad. Also, there shouldn't be so much dead air in your playbacks.
 
Kadeezy - awesome video. It sums things up perfectly.

I know it's easy to be negative after a loss, but, aside from the QB play, coaching decisions, lack of a pass rush, and time management miscues, I actually saw some things to be encouraged by.

The defense was pretty solid. Their Achilles heel was a non-existant pass rush that allowed Fales time to eventually connect on some big pass plays. Other than one big run in the 3rd quarter, the Hornet defense kept the Spartans rush attack in check. How many 3 and out's the Hornets defense force? I remember several.

Offensively, there wasn't a ton to get excited about as there were ZERO big plays. The Hornets did string together some extended drives that could/should have resulted in points, but they were generally getting in their own way by committing unnecessary penalties and running predictable plays in the red zone.

If the offense took better care of the ball and cashed in on some of their long drives, this easily could have been a game that came down to end. The defense did enough to keep them in the game, but the offense and offensive coaching staff wouldn't allow it.
 
I completely understand the disappointment on the performance, but is anyone really that surprised? The one constant over the last few years is the "inconsistency" on one side of the ball. I wouldn't be shocked if the offense put up 24 points next week but the defense will give up 50. This has all the signs of a 5-7 team.

As for the QB, as bad as the performance was I would rather not burn the redshirt year for Vercher. Vercher has all the skills to be a real stud for the Hornets. This may be a rough year but in the long term I think it's best for the Hornet program.
 
OldHornet said:
I completely understand the disappointment on the performance, but is anyone really that surprised? The one constant over the last few years is the "inconsistency" on one side of the ball. I wouldn't be shocked if the offense put up 24 points next week but the defense will give up 50. This has all the signs of a 5-7 team.

As for the QB, as bad as the performance was I would rather not burn the redshirt year for Vercher. Vercher has all the skills to be a real stud for the Hornets. This may be a rough year but in the long term I think it's best for the Hornet program.
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I'm honestly not surprised at all. I always get hopeful and my blessed wife is always so patient with me, yelling and screaming at the computer, or at the game in-person. I think the fact that we've pretty much always been mediocre is what keeps me coming back for more punishment.

Who wants to be a freaking Alabama fan? Congratulations, your team is always awesome... BORING. I get some sort of sick satisfaction out of eeking out a win over an FCS ranked Cal Poly team, only to be kicked square in the junk by my team at the end of the season, watching them fumble punts, throw double reverse interceptions, and whizz down their collective legs at the most backbreaking times.

Such is life as a Hornet fan.

I expected us to start 0-2, but what made life so painful last night was the simple mistakes, and the SAME F-UPs we saw last season. Safron has zero touch, he makes bad decisions, and doesn't know how to count (see playclock issues). Playcalling is sketchy; I love watching our shifty RBs run into brick walls at the goal line over and over again. Guess what y'all our Special Teams unit is collectively terrible as well! Our new long snapper, McDade as the holder, and Aguillar all looked completely out of sorts; Jimmy doesn't like.

Anyways, we'll get pasted 55-7 next week and then we have to regroup for a freaking good Southern Oregon team and then our FCS schedule.

Welcome to he// Hornet fans!
 
Had a blast on the booster bus and a good time at the game, just wish the outcome would have been different. Everyone pretty much touched on the things that I noticed. Defense was solid and SJSU really had to work for it. I believe their starters played the whole game. If the Hornets could have got some pressure on Fales they would have struggled more. I was glad to see the Hornet secondary not get ran off the field so that was encouraging.

Offensively we saw the same thing as last season. Safron was too inconsistent at times but the offense did move the ball. The biggest issue was the red zone offense. The Hornets need to get into the endzone and score points. You can’t help but wonder if Vercher will be put in if the Safron inconsistencies persist throughout the season. I think we are all hoping to see Safron turn the corner but it’s hard to believe that he will.

Most concerning was the FG unit. The other areas of the special teams did fine, but that FG unit was horrid. I also wonder if those two late drives that were turnover on downs inside the redzone were due to a lack of confidence in the FG unit. No competent FG unit means no chance for this program to finally get over the hump.
 
Here's some fun stats from last night too!

FIRST DOWNS
Sac- 18
SJSU- 15

TIME OF POSSESSION
Sac- 36:08
SJSU- 23:52
 
Kadeezy said:
Guess what y'all our Special Teams unit is collectively terrible as well! Our new long snapper, McDade as the holder, and Aguillar all looked completely out of sorts; Jimmy doesn't like.
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McDade was holding? I couldn't see who it was but Vercher was holding in the scrimmages. Makes no sense to change it up for the regular season if that is in fact the case.
 
Kadeezy said:
Yes, McDade was holding.
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That's stupid. Not sure why you run Vercher as holder with this unit in practice and scrimmages then switch it up for the games. Typical Hornet coaching blunder. :ohno:
 
SDHornet said:
Kadeezy said:
Yes, McDade was holding.
Click to expand...
That's stupid. Not sure why you run Vercher as holder with this unit in practice and scrimmages then switch it up for the games. Typical Hornet coaching blunder. :ohno:
Click to expand...

Yep, and they probably rationalize it by saying "oh, this way we keep the RS intact for Vercher should Safron miraculously turn things around and become an all american!" :rofl:
 
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