FormerEag said:
clawman said:
LDopaPDX said:
Atrocious defense. Absolutely shocking.
50% of their yards came after contact. Horrible to watch.
I have to disagree with your stmt about overall defense. IMO the D kept us in the game until they just wore down from several 3 and outs in the second half. The third qtr was practically all 3 and outs. And missed tackles happen when players are tired.
It must be a record somewhere that we miss 3 fake punts, which leaves the D on the field again.
How did the offense get the ball back to make the final drive?? Yes a forced fumble and recovery by the defense.
It's cheap and easy to claim "atrocious defense" but that is not true.
Yep. This looked like an offensive collapse for almost the entire game to me. Special teams was pretty rough too.
Sorry guys, I totally disagree. If we were playing an offensive juggernaut with a bad defense, sure the 35-34 scoreline may have been a bad look for the offense. But we played the most one-dimensional team in the Big Sky. Everyone knew they had a fantastic defense and a woeful offense. They were held to 7 points on their home field last week. Hanging 34 on a great D is decent work... it could've been better, but it was certainly good enough to win. Giving up 35 to a terrible offense is a killer.
If you dare re-watch this game, take a look at how many times we hit their ball carrier in the gap, only to have them plow right through a defender and get 7 yards. It was perpetual, on virtually every drive. That's what made it so hard to watch... our coaches got the players into the right position, and they just whiffed on tackles. Their big 3rd down run to ice the game was emblematic of the whole game; we had the runner dead to rites at the line of scrimmage, but he breaks an arm tackle and easily walks down the field for a first down. The number of missed tackles in this game had to be more than 50... and again, that's against an offense that everyone else has been able to stonewall.
For sure, our special teams was brutal. 3/3 on fake punts, two of which were obvious fake punts that everyone in the building knew was going to be a fake. More bad kickoff returns and an extra point that was aimed at Zip's. Those are serious problems, but we've known all year we are struggling in those areas. A defense that had showed some progression only to collapse against a bad offense is a surprise.
The only thing I'd really pin on the offense is a lack of urgency throughout the game. It seems weird to me that Eric Barriere is such a great runner when the chips are down, but doesn't seem to try those same bold runs early in the game. But when required, he pulled through and should've tied the game had it not been for a failed PAT. But scoring 5 TDs on the best or second best defense while giving up 35 to one of the worst offenses in the conference is two completely different trajectories.
