2024 Outlook

[stingthemgood]

We all love Marcus Fulcher because he was / is a badass too. But Skatt runs w an attitude! That monster on the loose and no other SAC ST RB has ever ran like that.
I wanted to make sure nobody would think we didn’t appreciate Fulcher. Solid guy and solid player.

And the best TD celebration in school history

 

[SDHornet]

After watching yesterday (ASU vs UA) and listening to Nick Saban's analysis of Cam Skattebo, I will have to say you were wrong SD....Saban's favorite player in college football this season is Cam Skattebo and he thinks he should be in New York for the Heisman ceremony....I think I'll side with Nick Saban's opinion over yours....and your statement that Fulch was a better pass reciever is not fair either as it looks as if Skat just wasn't thrown to enough at Sac as he is the second leading reciever at ASU and is 2nd in all purpose yards in NCAA DI....Fulch was a decent RB but wasn't and never will be in the same class as Skat....Saban even said with the way Skattebo plays, he lifts his whole team's attitude....ASU was picked to finish in last place in the Big12 but look who is going to play in their championship game after a 3-9 season last year....Skat is the best football player Sac St has ever had and probably the best they will ever have...Bar none....Oh, and as far as "pinning the difference in record on one player" is concerned, do you think the KC Chiefs would be the same or even close without Mahomes? I doubt it....Now you're going to come back with the RB vs QB argument...I know, I know....

Cam's development at ASU has taken his play to another level and it has been both entertaining and should be treated as a proud moment for Hornet fans. It also helped that ASU actually had a quarterback this season compared to last season.

That said, I stand by my comments from...checks notes...14 months ago. There was not a lot of drop off from '22 Cam Skateboo to '23 Marcus Fulcher. There is a lot of drop off from '22 Cam Skateboo to '24 Cam Skateboo. Credit to Cam and his support system for getting him to the level we are currently seeing and I hope he can perform at the next level as well.

 

[sacstateman]

No one player, specifically a non-QB, is that impactful.

Now losing the HC that built it all is. Especially when that HC was also the OC.

You're simply identifying the wrong person.

Looks like you may have changed your mind about Skat's impact....Welcome back to the real world....Even though I agree with SD 95% of the time, he is wrong on this one and looks like he won't admit it....That's his opinion and he's free to have it as I am free to think his opinion stinks.....

 

[sacstateman]

Cam's development at ASU has taken his play to another level and it has been both entertaining and should be treated as a proud moment for Hornet fans. It also helped that ASU actually had a quarterback this season compared to last season.

That said, I stand by my comments from...checks notes...14 months ago. There was not a lot of drop off from '22 Cam Skateboo to '23 Marcus Fulcher. There is a lot of drop off from '22 Cam Skateboo to '24 Cam Skateboo. Credit to Cam and his support system for getting him to the level we are currently seeing and I hope he can perform at the next level as well.

'22 season= Skattebo....1382 yds....196 carries....7 ypc....31 catches....371 yds...11.7 ypc
'23 season=Fulcher.........590 yds......121 carries....5 ypc....18 catches....171 yds...9.5 ypc
and those numbers are suppose to reflect "not a lot of drop off"
'24 season=Skattebo....1421yds....247 carries....5.7 ypc....35 catches....468yds...14.6ypc
and these numbers are suppose to reflect "a lot of drop off" from '22 stats

I don't know about you but I just must be blind to the facts SD...You can stand by your notes....I'll stand by the facts.....

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Looks like you may have changed your mind about Skat's impact....Welcome back to the real world....Even though I agree with SD 95% of the time, he is wrong on this one and looks like he won't admit it....That's his opinion and he's free to have it as I am free to think his opinion stinks.....

No, no change of opinion. And I’m still in the real world.

Yes, Skat is a helluva player and the best Sac State has had in a long long while if not ever.

But, no, the drop off from 12-1 to where they are now is not solely due to him leaving the program. It’s the shake up in coaching, along with player attrition (especially on defense) as a result.

If Taylor hadn’t left, this program would still be a contender in the BSC, even if not producing 12-1 records most seasons. They certainly wouldn’t have gone 3-9 this season.

Again, football is the ultimate team sport. No one player has that large of an impact, especially a non-QB. But a collection of players and their leader head coach does have a large impact.

 

[sacstateman]

No, no change of opinion. And I’m still in the real world.

Yes, Skat is a helluva player and the best Sac State has had in a long long while if not ever.

But, no, the drop off from 12-1 to where they are now is not solely due to him leaving the program. It’s the shake up in coaching, along with player attrition (especially on defense) as a result.

If Taylor hadn’t left, this program would still be a contender in the BSC, even if not producing 12-1 records most seasons. They certainly wouldn’t have gone 3-9 this season.

Again, football is the ultimate team sport. No one player has that large of an impact, especially a non-QB. But a collection of players and their leader head coach does have a large impact.

I don't think I ever said Skat was the sole reason for the decline but let's look at it another way...Do you think the Hornets would have had a better record if Skat had stayed? I believe you will say the record would have been better than 8-5 and 4-4 BSC...I believe the record could have been MUCH better with Skat, how much would be a guess but I'll stick it out there 11-2 and 6-2...We would have beaten USD in second round with Skat...we passed for more than they did and we only ran for 148 vs their 194....Oh well, split milk....I'm done proving my point....I rest my case

 

[HornetHope]

For those that believe the Offense is the problem, the NCAA shows the offenses ended the season ranked #31. But the “Defense is not the problem”? Yea, ranked 101, giving up almost video game level numbers. Which side of the ball needs fixing?

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

I don't think I ever said Skat was the sole reason for the decline but let's look at it another way...Do you think the Hornets would have had a better record if Skat had stayed? I believe you will say the record would have been better than 8-5 and 4-4 BSC...I believe the record could have been MUCH better with Skat, how much would be a guess but I'll stick it out there 11-2 and 6-2...We would have beaten USD in second round with Skat...we passed for more than they did and we only ran for 148 vs their 194....Oh well, split milk....I'm done proving my point....I rest my case

Of course they would have been better. An NFL caliber talent on anyone’s collegiate roster would make them better. And even if one doesn’t subscribe to Cam Skattebo being an NFL caliber talent, he has certainly proven himself as a top shelf FBS P5 talent at the very least.

So, yes, having FCS defenses trying to tackle that guy all game would be a huge benefit, along with Tau-Tolliver filling in here and there. We already saw it first hand in 2022.

But Skattebo wouldn’t have solved any of the Hornets defensive problems. Nor would he have solved their coaching and play calling issues. He’s just one player. And even the Hornets line underperformed as the season went along, making running the ball and pass protecting more difficult.

I can see Cam Skattebo’s physical running and pass receiving making a difference in a few of the Hornets losses — but 11-2? I’m not buying into that.

I can realistically buy into 7-5 and 5-3 with wins over EWU, IDST, Poly and UCD. 3 of those losses were by 3 points and the other was 7. Having Skat may have made up those small differences. Or it could have led to depending upon one player far too much making them worse on that side of the ball or even to eventual injury. We’ll never know.

 

[stingthemgood]

For those that believe the Offense is the problem, the NCAA shows the offenses ended the season ranked #31. But the “Defense is not the problem”? Yea, ranked 101, giving up almost video game level numbers. Which side of the ball needs fixing?

No one here ever said we weren’t moving the ball offensively. But you can cherry pick any stat. The one I’ll ask you to defend is that we were tied for 69th in red zone efficiency. We were awful. And that’s where a lot of the concern on this board was.

And no one is arguing it that defense isn’t a problem.

THE PROBLEM WAS BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL

So I think we should fire the offensive coordinator. Is your response we should fire the defensive coordinator? Oh wait…

Mic Drop

 

[sacstateman]

Of course they would have been better. An NFL caliber talent on anyone’s collegiate roster would make them better. And even if one doesn’t subscribe to Cam Skattebo being an NFL caliber talent, he has certainly proven himself as a top shelf FBS P5 talent at the very least.

So, yes, having FCS defenses trying to tackle that guy all game would be a huge benefit, along with Tau-Tolliver filling in here and there. We already saw it first hand in 2022.

But Skattebo wouldn’t have solved any of the Hornets defensive problems. Nor would he have solved their coaching and play calling issues. He’s just one player. And even the Hornets line underperformed as the season went along, making running the ball and pass protecting more difficult.

I can see Cam Skattebo’s physical running and pass receiving making a difference in a few of the Hornets losses — but 11-2? I’m not buying into that.

I can realistically buy into 7-5 and 5-3 with wins over EWU, IDST, Poly and UCD. 3 of those losses were by 3 points and the other was 7. Having Skat may have made up those small differences. Or it could have led to depending upon one player far too much making them worse on that side of the ball or even to eventual injury. We’ll never know.

Sorry, I forgot to specify that my 11-2 prediction was for '23, not '24...my bad (original debate was about minimal drop off after Skat left)

 

[HornetHope]

No one here ever said we weren’t moving the ball offensively. But you can cherry pick any stat. The one I’ll ask you to defend is that we were tied for 69th in red zone efficiency. We were awful. And that’s where a lot of the concern on this board was.

And no one is arguing it that defense isn’t a problem.

THE PROBLEM WAS BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL

So I think we should fire the offensive coordinator. Is your response we should fire the defensive coordinator? Oh wait…

Mic Drop

My point was and is this: many people on this board were screaming for BF to get the ax, but being circumspect, there is one area that clearly needs improvment which is the red zone.

On defense the only area where we are in the top third is sacks and TFL. Outside of 3rd down, 4th down defense which is in the middle of the pack, but as whole both rushing and passing defense are voting present. That is where I want to see changes. Clearly I am not the “football guru” like yourself, but I have enough sense to figure out our whole focus should be improving the defense first. Fix red zone offense? Cut the super duper razzle dazzle trickeration nonsense.