Recap/Thoughts
Finally some redemption for the Hornet faithful via a 42-28 beat down of Montana. The Hornets got to enjoy some home cooking as they opened the season in front of an amazing crowd (12,751 attended) and they played like we knew they could. The Hornets finally rebounded from the two horrendous games the weeks prior and gave Hornet fans a reason to keep the faith. I only caught the first half but was able to read some reviews and see some highlight clips.
Offense
The Hornets came out with a balanced attack and never looked back. The opening drive consumed a lot of clock and resulted in a TD and it really set the tone for the rest of the game. The offense finally found their groove as the passing game and running game was damn near unstoppable against a highly touted Griz defense. The OL dominated the front 7 of UM and allowed the Hornets to control the tempo. Game stats:
- • Fleming: 18 of 27 for 224 yards, 2 TD’s, 59 rushing yards on 9 carries, 2 TD’s
• Hilliard: 22 carries for 100 yards
• McCowan: 14 carries for 66 yards, 1 TD
• Deadder: 4 recs for 47 yards, 1 TD
• Norrise: 6 recs for 96 yards
• Hendershott: 4 recs for 29 yards
• Carter: 2 recs for 27 yards, 1 carry for 14 yards
• Reed: 1 rec for 37 yards, 1 TD
• Maciel: 1 rec for 8 yards
• OL: Allowed 1 sack
Sperbeck did a good job of mixing up the plays early but there were a few issues where a play got in too late that resulted in a delay of game. Still some things to work on but this offense was firing on all cylinders against UM. Let’s hope they keep this up. We got a glimpse of McCowan’s speed. I would love to see Sperbeck get some plays so he can get into space. DeAndre Carter also looked like a shifty WR who did well on the screen passes. It’ll be interesting to see who can get more into the mix.
I also felt the offense looked more comfortable when Fleming was operating from under center. The running game looked crisper as the OL had more time to pull and the play action seemed more effective from this formation. I also like the 4 WR sets that were used. The Hornet TE’s aren’t great for much more than added blocking so it was good to see the offense spread the defense.
Defense
It wasn’t pretty in the first half but the defense did what it needed to do to get the job done. I was worried that the Hornets would struggle to keep the UM read-option contained and early on it looked like that would be the case. Fortunately the defense buckled down, forced some stops, and forced UM to do what they don’t like to do and that is throwing the ball. Johnson made poor decision after poor decision and it ended up resulting in Hornet INT’s. Stats:
- • Rushing Yards Allowed: 139 yards on 32 attempts (4.3 ypr)
• Passing Yards Allowed: 12/27 for 184 yards (6.8 ypp)
• McMahon: 12 tackles
• Davis: 11 tackles, 1 TFL
• Badger: 5 tackles
• Nash: 4 tackles, 0.5 TFL’s
• Larche: 3 tackles, 2 INT’s
• Lawrence: 3 tackles, 1 TFL
• Croxdale/Agaiava/Bloomfield/Fernandez: 3 tackles each
• Wilkins: 1 tackle, 1 INT
• Odiase/Monson: 2 tackles each
The defense showed a lot of toughness and they need to keep this mentality from here on out. The Hornets struggled at times to slow down UM but they never gave up and they kept fighting. Still lots of improvements to make going forward but this was definitely an improvement over what was seen the past two weeks. The defense stayed aggressive and created some turnovers. The one thing I did notice from the highlights were that the defense over pursued at times, especially on screen passes and were really exposed here.
Special Teams
The special teams had another mixed bag of results. The blocked punt in the early stages of the 2nd half was a huge momentum swing. The Carter fumble on a kick return kept the door open for UM. (Fortunately the D held UM to a FG which they missed.) Also a missed 25 yard chip shot FG at the end of the 1st half is a huge concern with respect to the kicking game. The punt coverage was great and the kickoff coverage did a great job at containing Sambrano.
- • Heath: 3 punts for a 39.0 ypp avg.
• Kick Coverage: Allowed 127 yards on 7 returns (18.1 ypr)
• Punt Coverage: Allowed 2 returns for -10 yards
• Diniz: 6/6 PAT’s, 0/1 FG’s
• Deadder: 1 pr for 10 yards
• Carter: 3 kr’s for 42 yards (14.0 ypr), 1 fumble
• Monson: 1 kr for 16 yards
Diniz2 has got to settle down and start making FG’s. He will be needed to perform when called upon and missing a short FG is cause for concern. His kickoff power isn’t great but I’m willing to deal with that if he can drill his FG’s. Right now Sperbeck is reluctant to call in the FG team and this is a huge liability moving forward. This needs to get fixed whether it means using a new holder, or finding a new kicker. (I don’t recall seeing many, if any, bad snaps so I’ll assume that isn’t an issue with the FG’s.)
I also like the idea using Carter as a returner; of course he didn’t help his cause by fumbling on a return. The coaches have given Monson plenty of room for error in this area so maybe they do the same with Carter. He seems like a burner and I can’t help but get excited whenever he touches the ball.
Injuries
Hilliard rolled an ankle but should be fine if he returned to play. Any other Hornets go down this week?
Other Random Stuff
Photos:
http://nabityphotos.com/SSH_20110924/index.htm?1
Highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-He3qGDruY&feature=player_embedded
Hornetsports:
http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=9871
Also a big fail to the BSTV camera operators. Zoomed in way too far such that most of what was going on during each play was missed. Audio went down while watching the video stream but I was ok with that. McElroy is best received in small doses imo.
