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Week 3: Hornets @ Weber State, Big Sky Opener

Hornet25 said:
Beating OSU might have been the worst thing that could have happened to this team.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

Every time I get excitied about this program taking what appears to be a HUGE step forward, they immediately take 2 equal steps backward. I don't get it. I was fooled into believing Sperbeck was changing the culture around the program. From what I've seen the past 2 weeks, nothing has changed.

What a disappointment. Although it shouldn't be ... I should be used to it by now.
 
Last week, couldn't stop the pass in the flats. This week, can't stop the run. A freshman running back is making the Hornet defense look like a freshman HS team, averaging over 10 yards per carry. They aren't so much as even touching this kid until he's already gained 4-5 yards. What a joke.

This isn't some Pac-12 offensive line. This another Big Sky school. How can your defense get dominated in the trenches in this manner?? It's called heart. And the Hornets left theirs in Corvalis. I wish they'd send someone to get it back ... and soon.
 
BuckeyeHornetFan said:
Every time I get excitied about this program taking what appears to be a HUGE step forward, they immediately take 2 equal steps backward. I don't get it. I was fooled into believing Sperbeck was changing the culture around the program. From what I've seen the past 2 weeks, nothing has changed.

What a disappointment. Although it shouldn't be ... I should be used to it by now.

Best post of the year nominee!!
 
Well that game didnt turn out the way I thought it would, Now I wont lie and say im not happy about the final outcome, just thought it was going to be closer.

I think the road is getting to the Hornets, they looked gassed from opening tipoff. Hopefully you guys can right the ship and get a W vs Montana next week.

Good luck on the rest of the year Hornets, your team is better than what they showed tonight.
 
WILDCAT said:
Well that game didnt turn out the way I thought it would, Now I wont lie and say im not happy about the final outcome, just thought it was going to be closer.

I think the road is getting to the Hornets, they looked gassed from opening tipoff. Hopefully you guys can right the ship and get a W vs Montana next week.

Good luck on the rest of the year Hornets, your team is better than what they showed tonight.

I agree, the schedule sucks, but everyone plays on the road. From watching the game, one would think this team has regressed in a big way since last year. But I actually think this is a much better Hornet team. The lack of preparation and lack of effort falls on Sperbeck.

The Weber announcers were talking before the game about the "hangover effect" of beating OSU and how the coaches need to bring the players from the hangover and get them focused on playing. Sperbeck's inability to get the players ready the last two weeks and yesterday's play calling was very questionable. How many consecutive plays are you going to smash Hilliard up the middle before every 350 pound Samoan with 5.9 second forty speed just blocks the middle of the field? Why do we have a team loaded with senior receivers and hand the ball off on 3rd and long? How many times is a slow ass Big Sky returner going to give the other team field position on our 40? Soorry, that returner on SUU was simply slow as F@#!. On defense, other than Todd Davis, way too many blown assignments and missed tackles. I agree with someone else on here, if Fleming is injured and can't throw, put in Edwards or Saffron. At least try to win the game!!

I still think the teams gets it together and beats Montana, who will as usual look past Sac. Its a must win. If we lose, we go 3-8 on the year and Sperbeck's joining Moosh and Baby Brother at College of the Siskiyous.
 
It looks like we're heading back to "let's be predictable" and if they expect us to run, we run. Last year we did what they DIDN"T expect and had great success. A lot of that left with coach Adams..... Not sure what the heck is going on with the defense unless the element of surprise we had last year with the aggressive defense is gone. Not liking this at all...
 
I'm slightly cooled off by now...

I'm not in fire Sperbeck mode after two games... I'd like to chalk this us to an OSU hangover, the state of Utah, elevation, green uniform pants, mormons, WHATEVER... It's doesn't matter...

My point is I won't be in panic mode until we lose a game after week 4. I think we will beat UM next week (no clue why I think that), and we'll be 2-2. If we ever dip back under .500 again, I would panic.

If I'm Sperbeck, I lace into these guys. Really, really lace into them. Your ranking is gone. The reporters are gone. Your fans, they're probably gone too... What are you going to do???
 
I agree with K. No need to panic…yet. Following up the disastrous SUU game with another one is very concerning and it reflects directly on the failure of the coaches AND senior leadership on the team to get up for a big conference road game. Sperbeck’s play calling was absolutely terrible. We aren’t going to beat anyone with a 90%-10% run to pass ratio (at least that's about what it was from the 35 minutes of the game I watched).

UM is beatable but we won’t win many games playing like we did that last two weeks. This team needs to get it in gear.
 
Green Cookie Monster said:
How long is Sperbeck's contract?
I am not getting the warm fuzzies he is the one.
I think he is signed through next year. No need to run him out of town, there is still plenty of season left.
 
ChiCity said:
It looks like we're heading back to "let's be predictable" and if they expect us to run, we run. Last year we did what they DIDN"T expect and had great success. A lot of that left with coach Adams..... Not sure what the heck is going on with the defense unless the element of surprise we had last year with the aggressive defense is gone. Not liking this at all...
I was looking forward to seeing him in the OC role here. That was a huge loss that we are seeing now. We've seen how the offense looks when Sperbeck calls the plays in recent years and this season is matching up with that. He needs to get an OC in here this offseason as Sperbeck has proven and continues to prove he is incapable of orchestrating an offensive game plan.
 
I wouldn't let the defensive coordinator off the hook either as they gave up over 500 yards last night, 399 against SUU, and over 400 against Oregon State. How is that "new direction" Boise State experiment working for you?
 
Sac Rat said:
I wouldn't let the defensive coordinator off the hook either as they gave up over 500 yards last night, 399 against SUU, and over 400 against Oregon State. How is that "new direction" Boise State experiment working for you?
Ah I knew it was only a matter of time until the "I told you so" and the "paint the field blue brigade" reared its ugly head again. As of now it isn't going well, but again there is lots of season left to be played. The defense hasn't been near as aggressive as it was last season and there are lots of improvements that need to happen in their game play. Also falling behind big is always going to hurt a defense, especially when your opponents have a big size advantage on the OL vs. DL. Lastly the defense lost key players at every level of defense (Clark @ DL, Buck @ LB & Schrader @ SS) which are voids this defensive unit are struggling to fill.
 
Recap/Thoughts

This week we would see how this team would respond following a God-awful performance…and they followed it up with another God-awful performance. With another loss, the Hornets will need to figure things out on both sides of the ball as this team has been almost nonexistent since week 1.

Offense
The game plan was terrible for this one. Aside from the last drive in the first half, I think there were maybe 2 passes by Fleming. Hilliard is good but he can’t carry the full load himself and the Hornet OL isn’t dominant enough to control the game against a good defense. The passing game has regressed to last season’s inadequacies and Sperbeck appeared reluctant to call a pass until the Hornets were in a very deep hole. Sperbeck needs to be batter at mixing up the play calling if
  • • Fleming: 17 of 39 for 230 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT’s, 57 rushing yards on 8 carries
    • Hilliard: 19 carries for 73 yards, 1 TD
    • McCowan: 7 carries for 47 yards, 4 recs for 34 yards
    • Deadder: 2 recs for 20 yards, 1 TD
    • Croxdale: 4 carriers for 27 yards
    • Norrise: 6 recs for 91 yards
    • Hendershott: 2 recs for 44 yards
    • Carter: 2 recs for 28 yards
    • Reed: Nothing
    • Heaslet: Nothing
    • Howard: 1 rec for 13 yards
    • OL: Allowed 0 sacks
The offense needs to get going. There has been no balance and the passing game has been completely ineffective when it matters. With a load of seniors on the offense, the lack of execution is inexcusable.

Defense
The defense had a half decent first half but gave up a late first half TD that opened up the flood gates for WSU. Lack of pressure up front, lack of aggression, poor coverage, and poor tackling plagued the defense. I didn’t like the passive play calling in the 1st half. The DB’s were giving up too much ground on the coverage and we have seen how ineffective this style is in the past.
  • • Smith: 10 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
    • Badger: 8 tackles
    • Davis: 8 tackles
    • Larche: 7 tackles
    • Monson: 7 tackles
    • Fernandez: 6 tackles
    • Allen: 5 tackles, 1 TFL
    • McMahon: 5 tackles
    • Nash: 3 tackles
    • Odiase: INJ
The defense will have to find a way to regroup; they are allowing too many yards and too many points. The defensive coaches need to look at shaking some things up to generate a better team effort. Right now the defensive unit is lacking its aggressive style of play from a season ago and this unit needs to find its swagger quickly.

Special Teams
The special teams had some issues on the coverage. The punt coverage team allowed a 17 yard return which is an issue when Heath only averaged 35.9 yards per punt. The kick coverage didn’t allow a TD this week but WSU was still able to average almost 20 yards per return. The Hornet kick returns were better yardage wise but that is probably because WSU’s coverage teams got tired from having to cover so many kickoffs.
  • • Heath: 7 punts for a 35.9 ypp avg. 1 inside 20
    • Kick Coverage: Allowed 59 yards on 3 returns (19.6 ypr)
    • Punt Coverage: Allowed 2 returns for 15 yards
    • Diniz: 2/2 PAT’s, 1/1 FG’s
    • McCowan: 2 kr’s for 34 yards (17.0 ypr)
    • Hendershott: 4 kr’s for 71 yards (17.7 ypr)
    • Carter: 2 kr’s for 53 yards (26.5 ypr)
    • Monson: 1 pr for 6 yards
Heath continues to struggle to have booming punts which mean opponents will have good field position. This will continue to be an issue throughout the season. The kick return yardage increased. Diniz got on the board with his first FG of the season.

Injuries
Odiase was out, as was Shaw. Through the 35 minutes of the game I watched, I didn’t see any Hornets go out with an injury. Did we lose anyone this week?
 
Kadeezy said:
I'd like to chalk this us to an OSU hangover, the state of Utah, elevation, green uniform pants, mormons, WHATEVER... It's doesn't matter...

:rofl: We've been blamed for much worse! But seriously, I hope the Hornets don't give up on this season. There is still a LOT of football left to be played. I think playing at home to a good supportive crowd will get the team going again. Now do us all a favor and go out a beat the Griz!!
 

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