HornetHope
Active member
EWU just went final- a 3 pt margin over CWU, looks like they will need the advantage of the menstrual turf.
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Hornets vs. WOU
- Thread starter SDHornet
- Start date
footballnow
Active member
This was a bad performance in my opinon. They looked lack luster. Almost like they didn't really want to put an effort into the game. The stadium was as quiet as I have ever seen a football game. No emotion on the Sac State sideline. Sperbeck play calling ? ? ? ? ? I don't know what to say. I think we are in for a tough year ..... No Reed, No Bethel- Thompson -No Gordon and very little Hendershott.
Fleming makes bad decisions.
Brightside- Hillard for 107 and 2 touchdowns.
Here's hoping for a change by next week.
Fleming makes bad decisions.
Brightside- Hillard for 107 and 2 touchdowns.
Here's hoping for a change by next week.
superhornet
Active member
What's the chance SH gets his fondest wish?
Zero, right?
Zero, right?
Super Hornet said:
Yup. Look Fleming has been with the team for two weeks. Cut him some slack. He is a good qb...he's trying to find his way on campus still.
StungAlum
Active member
Not impressed with what I saw tonight.
Fleming makes TERRIBLE decisions and the play calling wasnt great IMO. Fleming did do a decent job considering his time with the team, I just expected better choices from the guy.
Defensive backs need to get their act together, there is no reason why #1 for WOU should be open every damn play, he's not that good, otherwise he'd be playing somewhere else.
The D-Line wasnt as good as I expected, they looked slow.
I hope this game was just being used by Sperbeck as a training tool, a game where he could work out some kinks before going into league play. Maybe he doesnt want to show his hand before BBQ U.
Sorry to be so negative, a win is a win. Overall, it was a pretty good day in FCS football, UCFE and Montucky lost, to teams they should have beat.
Fleming makes TERRIBLE decisions and the play calling wasnt great IMO. Fleming did do a decent job considering his time with the team, I just expected better choices from the guy.
Defensive backs need to get their act together, there is no reason why #1 for WOU should be open every damn play, he's not that good, otherwise he'd be playing somewhere else.
The D-Line wasnt as good as I expected, they looked slow.
I hope this game was just being used by Sperbeck as a training tool, a game where he could work out some kinks before going into league play. Maybe he doesnt want to show his hand before BBQ U.
Sorry to be so negative, a win is a win. Overall, it was a pretty good day in FCS football, UCFE and Montucky lost, to teams they should have beat.
HornetHope said:
Well......actually, the lights were programed to go off at 10:00 cause we had Postgame fireworks to honor the US military.......im sure no one expected the game to go into 4 overtimes :? lights go out for 20 minutes, and Weber was just getting ready to score. Weber barely pulled this one out 50-47 couldnt really tell if UNC was playing really good, or if Weber was really bad, it looked a little of both.
Hornet Homer
Active member
StungAlum said:
Stung, I noticed the same thing regarding our "D" line, they couldn't get off and looked slow against a "D2" O-Line. One more thing, our injuries are mounting right as we start BSC play. I know injuries are part the game, but can we get a damn break. Our season starts right now hopefully we can overcome the injury bug , lets go Hornets!!!
superhornet
Active member
I agree about giving a guy some slack when pressed into action so soon after joining the team.
My objection is this: why was a guy who hasn't had time to adequately learn the offense essentially thrown to the wolves over guys who have had much longer than that to become familiar with it. I mean, as much as I would have preferred you-know-who, are there not others (besides him) who know the offense better than the new guy? I could understand if this was midway through the season and he's been here since training camp. But the second game of the season? It makes no sense....
My objection is this: why was a guy who hasn't had time to adequately learn the offense essentially thrown to the wolves over guys who have had much longer than that to become familiar with it. I mean, as much as I would have preferred you-know-who, are there not others (besides him) who know the offense better than the new guy? I could understand if this was midway through the season and he's been here since training camp. But the second game of the season? It makes no sense....
Because the older guys will never see a snap, they just fill roster positions for the scout team. my guess.
For the life of me I cant figure out why we cant recruit a QB and have him play here for 4/5 years. It is always musical chairs or we have waaaaay to complex a system for the college level.
For the life of me I cant figure out why we cant recruit a QB and have him play here for 4/5 years. It is always musical chairs or we have waaaaay to complex a system for the college level.
Hammerhead Dad
Active member
Super Hornet said:
SH - isn't the answer obvious? Murdaca is hurt, Edwards is ineligible (D1AA lateral transfer) and Carmazzi was beaten out for back-up (prior to Fleming coming) by a walk-on true freshman. Fleming has 9 starts at the D1A level, so he's got experience at this level and the speed of the game wouldn't surprise him. You don't think Sperbeck knows who his best QBs are? Of course, he does.
If the D-line is so slow why did they have over 20 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 4 sacks and 1 forced fumble? Did you see David Coleman on the first play the defense had? I saw Todd Davis, a true freshman d-lineman run down running backs from behind twice on plays from scrimmage and once on a kick-off. Zach Nash played his butt off and was all over the field. The issue was the funky way the WO would come up to the line and either snap the ball or call a hard count and then stop and get a play from the sideline. The d-line had to be very careful about when the ball was snapped because of the unorthodox offensive play calling of WO. These guys are not slow.
They had what, 4 WR's at least 6'3"...not sure any other team in the Sky or ucd have that. For what it was, they defense did a good job. The Pereira injury totally sucks, but what can you do. I wonder if he tore his ACL, judging by the way he was helped off the field.
The DL was fast all night, its the LB corps that might get hung out to dry a little bit this year against the pass. The corners did a pretty good job I thought on man to man coverage. Its their zone reads that I thought were a bit shaky.
Fleming did a good job considering he is still absorbing the playbook. As long as Shaw can be back in the next couple of weeks, with Reed coming back from his leg injury, we should start to see good things on offense. Deadder had a really nice game, remember he lost of last year with injury too. Norrise is going to be a stud WR by the time his career is over.
The only thing we are not good at is kickoff coverage. Blech! That needs to improve immediately, especially at high altitudes, or we are giving the opposition short fields everytime.
Go Hornets!!!
The DL was fast all night, its the LB corps that might get hung out to dry a little bit this year against the pass. The corners did a pretty good job I thought on man to man coverage. Its their zone reads that I thought were a bit shaky.
Fleming did a good job considering he is still absorbing the playbook. As long as Shaw can be back in the next couple of weeks, with Reed coming back from his leg injury, we should start to see good things on offense. Deadder had a really nice game, remember he lost of last year with injury too. Norrise is going to be a stud WR by the time his career is over.
The only thing we are not good at is kickoff coverage. Blech! That needs to improve immediately, especially at high altitudes, or we are giving the opposition short fields everytime.
Go Hornets!!!
footballnow
Active member
SactoHornetAlum said:
Are you serious! Do you think the way they played was okay?
I don't know about other fans but being realistic I thought they played horrible considering that was a Div II team. I don't want more mediocrity this year. I'm tired of 3-8 6-6 5-6. What are we gonna be this year 5-6? Come on it's not acceptable to be middle of the road evey year,then say .. Oh Sperbeck is doing a great job we are improving. If you have the same record every year then your not improving. No less then 7-4 is acceptable to me. They need to feel the same way. I saw no emotion last night they were flat as hell and if you were there have you ever heard a stadium of about 7800 or so that quiet.
I was not impressed at all. If you look at a earlier post I wrote when I went to a scrimmage during camp that I thought they weren't gonna be as good as we were hoping. They look smaller and slower this year.
I agree with the last post, but 2 things have to be pointed out: 1) WOU may be a D-2 team but they appear to be capable - they hung with Dung last year; 2) Sac beat them without contribution from numerous starters i.e. Reed, Lane, Gordon, Willis and a new quarterback who needs time with a new system. I have to give major props to Fleming so far.
Weber is going to be a true measuring stick for this team IMO.
Weber is going to be a true measuring stick for this team IMO.
jj2319 said:
Exactly. Games against D2 teams are difficult to get a good read on a team. Hell, Eastern barely held off Central and Taiwan Jones also got a concussion. D2 rules are diff when it comes to player eligibility. Kind of why it's now biting ucd in the rear now that they have to play by DI rules.
Remember, a D2 slapped UCFE in its first game at their new cracker box. :lol:
superhornet
Active member
At least we didn't have to worry about WOU throwing the blasted A-11 at us....
Green Laser
Active member
I am not as disappointed with the WOU game as some are. WOU is a quality D2 team with a good shot of making the D2 playoffs. They are picked second in their conference behind Central Washington the team that came within 3 points of beating Eastern Washington last night. Just because a team is D2 doesn’t mean that they recruit at the local park, they have some excellent players usually just not as many as a FCS team. I was really impressed with their QB and their 6’7” 225lb wide receiver, he could move and was a real threat. This was definitely not the lower level of D2 team that the Griz beat. I thought that we controlled the game and stepped up when we needed to, I never felt that we were in danger of losing. We were missing many starters, as I understand Gordon and Reed could have played but were held out until next week. I was glad to see Hendershott back out there and getting back into the groove. Deadder and Hilliard looked impressive those two could have really helped us last year, great to see them back. I was also impressed with Sam McCowan, back and looking good . McCowan’s speed complements Hilliard’s power running. I have also been impressed by freshman Morris Norrise he looks like he will develop into a great WR. I am sorry to hear that MBT’s injury is more severe than we thought, I hope for a speedy recovery. He has had a roller coaster carrier in college and I was looking forward to him having a great senior season. I think that Fleming has a lot of up side and would hope people will not be too fast to judge him. He clearly does not have his timing down yet with the receivers, and is still learning the playbook not surprising since he only had 3 days of practice with the team before the Stanford game. For a 6’4” QB he moves very well, is able to buy himself some time in the pocket and he is always a threat to take off and run as he did for 17 yards at Stanford. Before last night I questioned his arm strength , he was limited to short passes at Stanford but he had some nice longer throws including a very long barely over thrown pass to Hendershott which would have been a certain touchdown. We have a lot of Qbs on the roster but Fleming is the only one with actual playing experience available. We need to get behind him and give him a fair chance to get up to speed. We have had a lot of injuries so far both in camp and the first two games. I was at Stanford and the Avery White’s injury looked serious, I understand he is out for the season, It was scary to see Curtis Shaw facedown an motionless on the field for so long last night, apparently he was just knocked unconscious which is the best case scenario in a thing like that. Hopefully he is ok and will be back for the BSC stretch run, he has a lot of talent. Jarred Pereira also injured his knee last night, after they treated him he stayed on the sideline with crutches so hopefully it isn’t too serious. This team has a lot of talent and I look forward to a successful season, I hope everyone will make it out and support the Hornets vs. Weber Saturday!
Hammerhead Dad
Active member
footballnow said:
I'm not saying it was OK how they played, they can and must play better, but if you think they played "horrible", that is wrong, because they didn't play "horrible." If they played "horrible", we lose the game.
Here is my recap. Big Sky TV was down so I couldn’t see anything and the radio guys were awful. But what I was able to gather is that this team didn't look impressive and did not show the dominance and crisp play that we all expected against a D-II opponent. The offense faltered too much and let WOU hang around. Fleming is still adjusting but his decision making needs to improve. When Shaw went down I expected Sperbeck to use McCowan in the open field a lot more. I was very disappointed in the lack of use of McCowan, it seemed like Hilliard got the majority of the carries late in the game. Hilliard is a stud but if he is over used, the risk of him getting hurt increases. The Hornets simply cannot afford to lose another key player. The Hornets were never in any real danger of losing but they never put the game away either. All in all it was enough for the win which is all that matters.
The defense made stops when they needed to but they gave up too many yards through the air. They were going against some tall receivers but there is no excuse for a blown coverage which resulted in a WOU TD. I have yet to see any games but I am curious as to how the DC change has impacted the play calling. It sounds like the Hornets still use that pussified zone and gave up some plays. This defense needs to improve; they will have their hands full when Higgins and WSU come to town next week. On a positive note, the front seven did shut down the run which was a good sign. They will face a more capable running attack against Bolen, Booker, and Tafuna next week.
Special teams were decent but the kickoff coverage needs to improve greatly. Allowing a DII team to consistently start near midfield is unacceptable. The coverage needs to tighten up and stop the 25+ yard returns. I don’t recall hearing the punt coverage giving up any big returns so that is a plus. Monson needs to never botch a punt catch ever again. A penalty saved his ass last night and quite frankly one botched punt return is one too many. That could have changed the whole complexion of the game last night. Diniz was solid yet again in FG’s and PAT’s. Heath had some good punts that pinned WOU deep as well.
What we learned:
The bottom line is the Hornets got the win. There is obviously room for improvement and I think the Hornets will get there. This next game is huge and will answer a lot of questions for both WSU and the Hornets.
Go Hornets!
The defense made stops when they needed to but they gave up too many yards through the air. They were going against some tall receivers but there is no excuse for a blown coverage which resulted in a WOU TD. I have yet to see any games but I am curious as to how the DC change has impacted the play calling. It sounds like the Hornets still use that pussified zone and gave up some plays. This defense needs to improve; they will have their hands full when Higgins and WSU come to town next week. On a positive note, the front seven did shut down the run which was a good sign. They will face a more capable running attack against Bolen, Booker, and Tafuna next week.
Special teams were decent but the kickoff coverage needs to improve greatly. Allowing a DII team to consistently start near midfield is unacceptable. The coverage needs to tighten up and stop the 25+ yard returns. I don’t recall hearing the punt coverage giving up any big returns so that is a plus. Monson needs to never botch a punt catch ever again. A penalty saved his ass last night and quite frankly one botched punt return is one too many. That could have changed the whole complexion of the game last night. Diniz was solid yet again in FG’s and PAT’s. Heath had some good punts that pinned WOU deep as well.
What we learned:
- • Big Sky TV is worthless. 2 weeks in and I still haven’t watched any Hornet football. At least the audio feed worked this week. :roll:
• The OL is coming together. They seemed to struggle at times but in the 4th quarter, it sounded like they got it together and were the reason why the Hornets put the game away.
• Fleming needs to settle down and minimize turnovers and mistakes. I don’t think I can fully blame him for the INT off of a deflection, but his second INT was a pass he threw up into double coverage. Those kinds of mistakes need to stop; I think he will only improve over time.
• Shaw will return but for what game remains to be seen. I have to think with the severe concussion he suffered last night; he will miss at least one game. That means Sperbeck needs to use McCowan more to lighten the load Hilliard will have to carry.
• Norrise sounds like he will evolve into a solid WR. He had some catches and is getting some experience under his belt. Again I couldn’t see any of the game but it sounded like the WR’s are getting open and giving Fleming some good targets to throw to. The WR play will only increase as Hendershott and Reed return to full health.
• DL plays hard but needs to get more pressure. Nash had a couple of sacks but it is crucial that they can get a push and disrupt the QB’s timing and rhythm. Pressure will mean everything next week against Higgins.
• Judging by the numbers the LB’s had a good game against the run. The injury to Pereira sucks but he missed a lot of playing time last year so I don’t know how big of a loss this will be. Again I couldn’t watch the game so it’s tough to have much input here.
• The secondary is still allowing opponents to move the ball through the air effectively. I wish I could have more input but I couldn’t see if they were getting beat in a zone or man to man or both. Higgins is a solid QB when he has time and he will shred the secondary if they drop back into zone coverage and can’t get pressure up front.
• The crowd turnout was downright pathetic with only 7,811 making it out to the game. Sure WOU isn’t a draw at all but it would be nice to see attendance pushing the 10k mark. Attendance will increase if the Hornets can get some wins early.
The bottom line is the Hornets got the win. There is obviously room for improvement and I think the Hornets will get there. This next game is huge and will answer a lot of questions for both WSU and the Hornets.
Go Hornets!
