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Week 3: Hornets @ Weber State, Big Sky Opener

SDHornet said:
Week 3: Sac State @ Weber State

The Hornets will be heading to Utah for the second consecutive week to face a tough Weber State program. It’s hard to get a barometer for this WSU team as their first two opponents were FBS programs. WSU should have knocked off a weak Wyoming program in week 1; however their defense let that one slip away. Last week they battled tough at Utah State and went into halftime tied at 17. WSU then struggled in the second half as USU ran away with it to win 54-17.

Offense
WSU has a big and tough OL. This is the strength of their offense. Behind that, they have a fairly inexperienced mobile QB who can make some plays. They also have some talented RB’s who are more than capable of putting of big numbers behind their huge OL. This team will probably come at the Hornets with their power running game and look to wear down the Hornet front 6. WSU’s statistical leaders:
  • • Hoke, QB: 39 of 61 for 452 yards, 3 TD’s, 19 carries for 59 yards
    • Booker, RB: 26 carries for 130 yards, 1 TD, 4 recs for 19 yards
    • Johnson, WR: 11 recs for 152 yards, 2 TD’s
    • Kehano, WR: 2 recs for 85 yards
    • Shufford, WR: 5 recs for 62 yards
    • Rought, WR: 5 recs for 52 yards
    • Hinds, RB: 14 carries for 41 yards, 2 TD’s, 1 rec for 24 yards
    • OL: Allowed 5 sacks
    • Avg TOP: 33:40
    • Conversions: 8/33 on 3rd down & 2/4 on 4th down
The Hornet defense will need to stay aggressive and stop the run. If the Hornets can force Hoke into some 3rd and longs, they will be in a good position to stop their offense. A big key to this game will be limiting the amount of time this defense spends on the field. The Hornets don’t have the size and depth up front to handle 35+ minutes of wear and tear against the large WSU OL. If the Hornets can force 3rd and long, they will need to contain Hoke and make sure he doesn’t create any plays with his feet. The Hornets will have their hands full on defense.

Defense
WSU runs a base 4-3. Their DL has some decent size and their LB’s are led by 2 seniors. Their secondary is filled with underclassmen so it doesn’t seem that they returned much experience from a season ago. This defense did allow a lot of yards against USU and Wyoming did have success throwing the ball, but again those were FBS programs and this defensive unit’s performance is hard to gage considering that. WSU’s defensive statistical leaders:
  • • Morales, LB: 20 tackles, 2.5 TFL’s, 1 sack
    • Okwuonu, S: 19 tackles, 2 TFL’s
    • Webb, LB: 13 tackles, 2 TFL’s
    • Taylor, DE: 9 tackles, 2 TFL’s, 1 sack
    • Neal, LB: 8 tackles, 0.5 TFL’s, 0.5 sacks
    • Epperson, S: 7 tackles
    • James, CB: 6 tackles
    • Gooden, CB: 6 tackles
    • Pugh, CB: 5 tackles
    • Marciel, CB: 5 tackles
The Hornets will have a tough time if they play like they did last week. The Hornet offense will need to be on the same page if they want to get its passing game going. The WSU secondary has allowed movement through the air so the Hornets should be able to get things going if they can find a rhythm. The running game will have a tough time at it as these WSU LB’s are athletic and will fill the holes. The OL is really going to have to get it going for Hilliard and Co. to have success on the ground.

Special Teams
Given the first two opponents for WSU, it’s pretty tough to gage how their special teams are. They have allowed a lot of return yardage on kickoffs and they themselves have some pretty good numbers returning the ball. Given that the Hornets allowed a TD on a kickoff, they should be wary to not allow it to happen this week. WSU’s season stats:
  • • McClain, K: 3/4 FG’s, 4/5 PAT’s
    • Kealamakia, P: 17 punts for 735 yards (43.2 ypp)
    • Parham, KR: 9 returns for 193 yards (21.4 ypr)
    • Collins, KR: 2 returns for 48 yards (24.0 ypr)
    • Marciel, PR: 1 return for 8 yards
    • Kick Coverage: Allowed 11 returns for 245 yards (22.3 ypr)
    • Punt Coverage: Allowed 5 returns for 72 yards (14.4 ypr)

Intangibles
Hoke has yet to throw an INT this season, and the only turnovers so far for WSU are 2 lost fumbles. They take very good care of the ball.
WSU committed 12 penalties for 123 yards compared so they have had issues here. Given that this game is a home game for them, I believe they will clean this up quite a bit.
This is WSU's first home game on some new turf. Emotions should be flying high for them.

This will be a tough game for the Hornets. They will have to have every aspect of their game clicking if they want to come out of Ogden with their first win there. I’m sticking with my homer pick and going with a Hornet win in this one. Given the tough slate in the following weeks, this looks to be the “easiest” of the next three games. Hornet playoff aspirations depend heavily on this team getting it together this week and pulling off the victory. This game will tell everyone of this program is for real or just more of the same old isht we see every year.

Go Hornets!
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that is a good point considering after last season's first 2 games played we had 9 turnovers. :lol:
 
Right now both teams first 2 games means nothing, both teams are 0-0 in conf, this is where the season begins.
 
SDHornet said:
weberwildcat said:
that is a good point considering after last season's first 2 games played we had 9 turnovers. :lol:
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What am I missing?
http://www.bigskyconf.com/custompages/football/2011/stats/wsu.htm

BSC stats page shows no INT’s thrown and 2 of 3 fumbles lost. Are these wrong? :?:

Edit: nevermind, you were comparing it to last season. :facepalm:
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ya we had 6 fumbles against UNC and we still won, though it took 4 over times and about 5 hours with time lost when the lights went out.

funny clip of game:
Lights Go Out

:rofl:
 
Hornets are in an ok position right now at 1-1. EWU is 0-2. I hope the Hornets realize this and use it as a tool to motivate themselves. Defeating Weber, entering homecoming at 2-1 will significantly increase their confidence adding to the homefield advantage against the Grizz. But it appears that the Wildcats are bringing a tough game. It will be an exciting Big Sky Conf opener.
 
Some big differences in rankings between the Sports Network and Sagerin. Something may shake out this weekend.

Sagerin Rankings versus The Sports Network.....

Montana = 5th and 91st overall, but 12th in TSN.
MT State = 15th & 114th..... vs 5th in TSN.
SUU = 24th & 129th, vs 26th
EWU = 25th & 130th vs 10th
NAU = 27th & 135th vs 59th
Sac St = 33rd & 143rd vs 20th
Weber St = 36th & 147th, vs 60th....
 
I've had a bad taste in my mouth all week after the SUU loss... let's hope the players did too.

My fiance is praying that the Hornets win because we had a miserable date night last week after we watched the SUU game...lol

I also picked WSU in all the selections threads across the net because if the Hornets pull through and win, I'll be ecstatic. If they don't, at least I can be right.
 
Kadeezy said:
I also picked WSU in all the selections threads across the net because if the Hornets pull through and win, I'll be ecstatic. If they don't, at least I can be right.
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I thought about that but I stuck with my homer pick. Very important game for both teams tonight, maybe slightly more so for WSU than us. They start 0-3 and their season is pretty much over. Likewise if we drop this one, being 1-2 is bad but not nearly as detrimental as being winless. It's going to be a good close game tonight.
 
As an aside... WOW, I'm at work and I have the UM/EWU and MSU games cued up on BSTV and WOW, what an improvement. The PIP is great, the quality is great, let's hope WSU can come through with a quality feed too...
 
Kadeezy said:
As an aside... WOW, I'm at work and I have the UM/EWU and MSU games cued up on BSTV and WOW, what an improvement. The PIP is great, the quality is great, let's hope WSU can come through with a quality feed too...
Click to expand...
Hopefully BSTV found some money to have HDTV cameras instead of the vintage 1992 hand held camcorders they have been using thus far.
 
Marquese Smith should do fine... I hope. Sounds like Weber is missing 3 or 4 starters due to injury tonight...
 
Kadeezy said:
Marquese Smith should do fine... I hope. Sounds like Weber is missing 3 or 4 starters due to injury tonight...
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The internet audio went down. Any specifics on who WSU is missing?
 
Working fine for me... Starting TE is out for year. QB that was supposed to replace Hoke still hurt. Starting DE is out. And starting true frosh at LCB.
 
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