23-26 Hornet loss. Hornets had a lackluster showing at the central coast and head home with an embarrassing loss to finish in the basement of the BSC for the season.
Hornets had a head scratching game plan as Coach Fresques opened up with a run heavy approach and completely abandoned the running game after the opening quarter. Carson Conklin (33/51, 308 yds, 2 TD) had a solid showing through the air, unfortunately 2 costly fumbles were the difference in this game. Jared Gipson (11 rec, 133 yds) had an impactful game and Anderson Grover (7 rec, 63 yds, 1 TD) made an acrobatic catch in the 3rd quarter. Running game was quiet as Elijah Tau-Tolliver (13 car, 33 yds, 5 rec, 29 yds) had a limited impact on this game. Up front, the offensive line struggled on the ground game and in pass protection as well. Conklin faced quite a bit of pressure all game, especially when late when the Hornets were only dialing up pass plays.
As expected on the defensive side, the Hornets got carved up. The Hornet secondary continued to give up chunk plays and aside from an early stint in the 2nd half, the defensive line did not pose much of a challenge for the Cal Poly offensive line. Once again the Hornet linebackers struggled with contain on the edges. The Hornets had their struggles with the open field tackling as well.
Hornet special teams had a solid game with the kick return game having some big returns and did well covering punts and kickoffs. Zach Scheiner (3/3 FG, 2/2 PAT) was perfect on the day with a long of 48 yards.
Here are my takeaways from the game:
- Hornets came out pretty flat in the opening of the game. There was some fire to open the 2nd half, but it was short lived.
- Awful offensive game plan by Coach Fresques. Some running plays need to be mixed in, even in a heavy pass attack. Allowing a defense to pin back their ears every play, especially with a banged up offensive line, does not put the offense in a favorable position. A lot of the run plays that were called took too long to develop. More north and south running plays were needed today.
- Conklin made good decisions in the air and took what the defense gave him. He struggled with the deep ball and continues to take bad care of the ball when running/evading pressure. He took some shots in this one and showed some toughness.
- Offensive line struggled to keep a clean pocket. Some bad whiffs on blitz assignments combined with just getting beat up front allowed a lot of pressure in Conklin’s face all game. More running plays would have helped mitigate this issue.
- Defense is a total mess. Injures are having a major impact here, but the defensive line had close to no push for most of the game.
- Lots of freshman getting some run on special teams, that said…
- Injuries continue to pile up. Freshman linebacker James Tivao was carted off with a likely broken leg on the 2nd half opening kick off.
This is an embarrassing loss any way you look at it. As bad as this team has been this season, there is no excuse for not taking care of business in this one and there is plenty of blame to go around. The task doesn’t get any easier for the Causeway.
Stingers Up!