Week 8 - Sac State vs Weber State

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

I’m a fan of Carson Conklin. He’s developing well.

It’s important to remember that he’s a RS freshman. Still lots of room to grow.

And there are times he’s looks absolutely phenomenal. Whether or not it actually happens, I think the kid has the talent to be among the better QB’s the program has ever had.

It’s the OC’s job to select good playbook then from sky box scout the D scheme and send QB his play call.
I feel we can win games if our OC has his act together. We have enough talent to play w anybody in the BigSky to be competitive.

This team has too much talent to be 1-2 in conference, especially against the competition they’ve faced.

Troy Taylor wasn’t a perfect play caller or strategist, either. But his teams still won most every Big Sky game they played during his 3 season tenure, winning 23 of 24 conference games.

And it could be argued that the talent on the teams that won all those games wasn’t any better or deeper than it is today.

The differences, so far as I can tell, are the level of preparedness (the past two teams don’t appear as focused) and consistency of the play calling on both sides of the ball.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

MSU, Montucky seem to have figured out to have annually consistent low scored upon defenses. Same with FUCD and overall program success on both D & O.

Andy Thompson needs to be a full time HC or full time DC, not both.

I mostly agree.

I get why Coach Thompson got the HC gig in the wake of Taylor’s departure. He is a long-time veteran coach in the Big Sky that paid his dues.

However, in hindsight, I don’t believe he was the right choice. Nor do I believe that his talents are best suited as a HC.

I believe Kris Richardson as HC and Thompson remaining as DC (only) would have been the better scenario for this program.

But most coaches have aspirations of being a head coach regardless whether it is the best fit for them and Thompson had the most time in and experience.

I realize that KR is “associate HC”, but let’s be real. He’s still not the overall decision maker. Further, I believe KR could better handle multiple duties of the line, run game, and HC (if he didn’t delegate the former) much better than Coach Thompson can handle the defense and HC responsibilities.

Fresques/Thompson just about choked the game after the errant pick 6 and subsequent 17pt Weber onslaught to crawl back into the game. This team has to learn to put the game away. Bankston and 234yds was running at free will against the Hornets.

Hornets didnt win the game, they just didn't lose it. It was a failure of the Weeb kicker, which was a miraculous event in itself as he is their all time scorer.

I agree with you here, too. After all the chaos, it’s easy to forget that Weber’s kicker missed a high percentage FGA. If not for that good fortune, the Hornets may not have escaped the situation they created for themselves via the idiotic play call and subsequent player execution.

That 4th quarter was most definitely a “choke job” but completely avoidable with higher IQ coaching/management.

If we were just talking about one game here, it could be excused or overlooked. But we’ve seen the same M.O. for multiple games this season and at times last season.

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

Kris Richardson is telling anyone who is willing to listen that he called the gadget play that turned the momentum around. I'm really surprised that someone didn't post that immediately after the game.

 

[SDHornet]

For those relitigating the head coaching succession, just a fun reminder that Coach Thompson has just as many playoff wins as Coach Taylor. Cheers.

 

[Hornet25]

High expectations for the program is never a bad thing.

Positively speaking, there seems to be a consensus that there is a lot of talent on the team, which is why the brunt of the frustration is coming down on the coaches.

I do recall criticizing Taylor for seemingly being out coached in the biggest games. So this may be par for the course with talented teams.

Losing against NAU and EWU are really unacceptable for what our current expectations are. Having a close game against Weber when it very easily should have been a blowout hasn't alleviated the frustration. Thompson and staff are going to get picked at until it's obvious the team is being beat by the players on the field and not due to an apparent lack of preparation or discipline.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

For those relitigating the head coaching succession, just a fun reminder that Coach Thompson has just as many playoff wins as Coach Taylor. Cheers.

With a team Taylor built then left behind. Barry Switzer once won a SB with Jimmy Johnson’s roster, but as time went on and it actually became his own team — what happened then?

It's always much, much easier to maintain a winning program than it is to actually build one from scratch. Especially in the short term.

A myriad of examples can be cited in high school and college of coaches taking over ready-made programs that couldn't build one up themselves.

So, for those in complete denial about this particular head coaching succession, just a fun reminder that -- through only 11 conference games -- Coach Thompson has already suffered 6 times the amount of Big Sky losses that his predecessor had in 24 conference games.

23-1 versus 5-6 (currently).

30-8 overall versus 11-9 (currently).

^^ This is DESPITE Taylor inheriting a talent-devoid program from Jody Sears that was 2-8 in 2018 and 20-35 during his entire tenure.

Meanwhile Thompson inherited a ready-made FCS program chock full of talent YET (before his 2nd season has even concluded) has already suffered 6x as many league losses and more overall losses (9) than Taylor lost in 3 full seasons.

Unless a miracle happens, Sac State will miss the postseason in season 2 of Thompson's tenure whereas Taylor never missed the postseason.

Shake yourself, SD. I know you cannot be this one-dimensional of a thinker. I don't think this is a game you want to continue playing.

Cheers.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

For those relitigating the head coaching succession, just a fun reminder that Coach Thompson has just as many playoff wins as Coach Taylor. Cheers.

Addendum to what I already posted above, I think it's also fair game to point out that one of Taylor's playoff losses occurred while Thompson's defense was busy surrendering 59 points and the game-losing TD in just 1:16 time.

Otherwise you'd not even have the equal playoff wins to hang your hat on.

Nobody should lose a game in which they score 63. Who was mostly responsibly for that?

 

[JB94]

With a team Taylor built then left behind. Barry Switzer once won a SB with Jimmy Johnson’s roster, but as time went on and it actually became his own team — what happened then?

It's always much, much easier to maintain a winning program than it is to actually build one from scratch. Especially in the short term.

A myriad of examples can be cited in high school and college of coaches taking over ready-made programs that couldn't build one up themselves.

So, for those in complete denial about this particular head coaching succession, just a fun reminder that -- through only 11 conference games -- Coach Thompson has already suffered 6 times the amount of Big Sky losses that his predecessor had in 24 conference games.

23-1 versus 5-6 (currently).

30-8 overall versus 11-9 (currently).

^^ This is DESPITE Taylor inheriting a talent-devoid program from Jody Sears that was 2-8 in 2018 and 20-35 during his entire tenure.

Meanwhile Thompson inherited a ready-made FCS program chock full of talent YET (before his 2nd season has even concluded) has already suffered 6x as many league losses and more overall losses (9) than Taylor lost in 3 full seasons.

Unless a miracle happens, Sac State will miss the postseason in season 2 of Thompson's tenure whereas Taylor never missed the postseason.

Shake yourself, SD. I know you cannot be this one-dimensional of a thinker. I don't think this is a game you want to continue playing.

Cheers.

Just because Coach Sears had a bad record and was a poor coach doesn't mean that the roster he left was devoid of talent. For all of the negative associated with Sears, the team recruited well during his tenure. I have my concerns with Thompson but changing history to support your argument doesn't make your argument stronger.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

Kris Richardson is telling anyone who is willing to listen that he called the gadget play that turned the momentum around. I'm really surprised that someone didn't post that immediately after the game.

Sounds like KR jumping on the grenade to take heat off of Bobby F.

 

[HornetFootballFan]

For those relitigating the head coaching succession, just a fun reminder that Coach Thompson has just as many playoff wins as Coach Taylor. Cheers.

With the direction our team has slipped this season, we won’t be in the playoffs anymore, unless we go on a streak and dominate FUCD and beat MSU.

 

[BuckeyeHornetFan]

Just because Coach Sears had a bad record and was a poor coach doesn't mean that the roster he left was devoid of talent. For all of the negative associated with Sears, the team recruited well during his tenure. I have my concerns with Thompson but changing history to support your argument doesn't make your argument stronger.

Changing history? How do you figure?

Just because it is your opinion that the roster handed over to Taylor from Sears wasn’t devoid of talent doesn’t somehow qualify that opinion as a historical fact that I’m allegedly changing. That’s disingenuous.

We can have a debate as to how talented those Sears era teams were or weren’t all day along, no problem there. But positioning your opinion as FACT then accusing me of changing history to fit a narrative is the pot calling the kettle black.

You need to construct and support a better counter argument than that.

Furthermore, are you really going to tell me with a straight face that talent left behind by Sears was as good or better than the talent left behind by Taylor when Thompson inherited the job?

If you’d like to avoid subjective debates, then I refer you back to Thompson’s 11-9 overall record and 5-6 conference record in less than 2 seasons compared to Taylor’s 30-8 and 23-1 conference record in 3 full seasons.

Those are stark contrasts and not at all subjective. The drop off in a season and a half has been steep. All while possessing higher rated talent than before.

 

[SDHornet]

I'm not really sure how any of this is even an issue. That 2019 Hornet roster Coach Taylor inherited was pretty stacked, check out the names from the 2018 season and see if you recognize any of them. That doesn't take anything away from the success Coach Taylor and his staff had while here. That threepeat was the best run Hornet fans will ever see.

Likewise, the only issue Coach Thompson and his staff had was having to be the staff that followed up an undefeated regular season. Expectations for him and his staff were exceptionally high, and rightfully so. Coach Thompson's first season was never going to live up to the expectations set by that magical 2022 season given what graduated and left via the portal. It's a shame folks don't seem to grasp this.

Say what you will about Coach Thompson, but he and this staff had the Hornets ready for those road trips to the Dakotas last post season. That Hornet squad, arguably noticeably less talented than years prior, repeatedly punched a stout UND squad right in the mouth during that upset road win in Grand Forks.

I'll close my rant by reiterating that the calls to oust this coaching staff are completely off base. I was creeping near that doomer ledge after the EWU loss but this team came through in the clutch against Weebs and throwing out all the positives due to one poorly called gadget play is egregious. We've got a talented young gunslinger developing right in front of us who has talented players to distribute the ball to, sit back and enjoy the show.

 

[JB94]

Changing history? How do you figure?

Just because it is your opinion that the roster handed over to Taylor from Sears wasn’t devoid of talent doesn’t somehow qualify that opinion as a historical fact that I’m allegedly changing. That’s disingenuous.

We can have a debate as to how talented those Sears era teams were or weren’t all day along, no problem there. But positioning your opinion as FACT then accusing me of changing history to fit a narrative is the pot calling the kettle black.

You need to construct and support a better counter argument than that.

Furthermore, are you really going to tell me with a straight face that talent left behind by Sears was as good or better than the talent left behind by Taylor when Thompson inherited the job?

If you’d like to avoid subjective debates, then I refer you back to Thompson’s 11-9 overall record and 5-6 conference record in less than 2 seasons compared to Taylor’s 30-8 and 23-1 conference record in 3 full seasons.

Those are stark contrasts and not at all subjective. The drop off in a season and a half has been steep. All while po

Changing history? How do you figure?

Just because it is your opinion that the roster handed over to Taylor from Sears wasn’t devoid of talent doesn’t somehow qualify that opinion as a historical fact that I’m allegedly changing. That’s disingenuous.

We can have a debate as to how talented those Sears era teams were or weren’t all day along, no problem there. But positioning your opinion as FACT then accusing me of changing history to fit a narrative is the pot calling the kettle black.

You need to construct and support a better counter argument than that.

Furthermore, are you really going to tell me with a straight face that talent left behind by Sears was as good or better than the talent left behind by Taylor when Thompson inherited the job?

If you’d like to avoid subjective debates, then I refer you back to Thompson’s 11-9 overall record and 5-6 conference record in less than 2 seasons compared to Taylor’s 30-8 and 23-1 conference record in 3 full seasons.

Those are stark contrasts and not at all subjective. The drop off in a season and a half has been steep. All while possessing higher rated talent than before.

The point I was making was that calling the roster depleted was wrong. Here were some main contributors that Taylor inherited:
Kevin Thompson
Marte Mapu
Marshel Martin
Abel Ordaz
Marcus Aponte
Allen Perryman
Elijah Dotson
Daron Bland
Killian Rosko
Armon Bailey
Jordan Stanley
Jett Stanley
Wyatt Ming
Troy Stiefel
Brandon Weldon
Pierre Williams
George Obina

Hardly depleted

 

[stingthemgood]

The point I was making was that calling the roster depleted was wrong. Here were some main contributors that Taylor inherited:
Kevin Thompson
Marte Mapu
Marshel Martin
Abel Ordaz
Marcus Aponte
Allen Perryman
Elijah Dotson
Daron Bland
Killian Rosko
Armon Bailey
Jordan Stanley
Jett Stanley
Wyatt Ming
Troy Stiefel
Brandon Weldon
Pierre Williams
George Obina

Hardly depleted

There are more active professional football players on that list than the school has seen in a long time...

 

[OldSchoolHornet]

Changing history? How do you figure?

Just because it is your opinion that the roster handed over to Taylor from Sears wasn’t devoid of talent doesn’t somehow qualify that opinion as a historical fact that I’m allegedly changing. That’s disingenuous.

We can have a debate as to how talented those Sears era teams were or weren’t all day along, no problem there. But positioning your opinion as FACT then accusing me of changing history to fit a narrative is the pot calling the kettle black.

You need to construct and support a better counter argument than that.

Furthermore, are you really going to tell me with a straight face that talent left behind by Sears was as good or better than the talent left behind by Taylor when Thompson inherited the job?

If you’d like to avoid subjective debates, then I refer you back to Thompson’s 11-9 overall record and 5-6 conference record in less than 2 seasons compared to Taylor’s 30-8 and 23-1 conference record in 3 full seasons.

Those are stark contrasts and not at all subjective. The drop off in a season and a half has been steep. All while possessing higher rated talent than before.

Speaking of changing history to fit a narrative...you still owe a couple of us $100 from the bet you posted and we accepted. Trying to play the "oh, I was just kidding" card after we won the bet still makes you a whelching sumbitch.