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Week 9 - #6 Sac State vs Idaho State

Dr. Wood announced during halftime with Jason Ross that we will have a new stadium and a double decker new gym by next year. We will be playing in a new facility by next year. Very aggressive on stadium too with announcement made this academic year of a grade A, top notch non- temporary stadium.

Pinch me.
 
Conklin is legit. WOW. I thought he might see some run with 4 games left in regular season but not like this… he is going to revitalize Martin…
 
I was only able to have the game on in the background during a family gathering. Did something happen to Bennett or are we just giving Conklin an opportunity? Looks like he is taking advantage either way.
 
In his first quarter he’s had 200+ yds passing, 2 TDS, and 193 rating. He’s stepped right in and looks incredible!
 
Kid did really well. Definitely was the spark the offense has been missing all year. Very good accuracy and played wiser than his playing time.
 
Carson Conklin is super legit! Great arm, precise passes in tight windows and super quick release! I could see him taking the job from KB, very poised Q B for true freshman.
 
51-16 Hornet win. Hornets take care of business in impressive fashion on both sides of the ball.

The focus in this one from most people will be the offense and how it steamrolled the weakest defense in the BSC (and possibly the FCS) behind a stellar performance of true freshman Carson Conklin (14/21, 235 yds, 3 TD) and redshirt freshman Zeke Burnett (9 car, 143 yds) running roughshod on the Bengal defense and the return of Marshel Martin (6 rec, 103 yds, 1 TD) who was screwed out of a touchdown on an athletic catch and run by a blown review early in the 3rd quarter. The real story last night is on the other side of the ball…yes that Hornet defense everyone was up in arms about after last week's loss.

The Hornet defense had an outstanding performance last night against the most productive passing attack in the FCS. The Hornet defense picked off ISU 4 times (could have been 7), and put the clamps on this potent ISU offense. There was a significant amount of time during the game in which it was held in the balance and was there for the taking by whatever team wanted it more. After the Hornets jumped to an early 14 point lead, ISU came storming back and scored 16 straight points to take the lead (largely thanks to poor Hornet special teams play, more on that in a bit) late in the 2nd quarter. That carried over into the early part of the 3rd quarter in which both teams couldn’t get onto the scoreboard and kept turning the ball over. During the first half of the 3rd quarter, ISU had a drive deep into Hornet territory and had a legit chance to even up the game, but the Hornets stopped them and forced a turnover on downs. ISU never had another scoring chance the rest of the game. Armon Bailey (8 tak) led the Hornets in tackling while Mason Brosseau (2 tak, 1 TFL, 1 sack) was the only Hornet with a sack, the defense was constantly getting free shots on the ISU quarterbacks off of the blitz as the Hornets tallied 12 quarterback hurries on the night. Notably Brock Mather (5 tak, 1 INT) continually laid the wood on the Bengal throwers. The Hornet secondary was outstanding. Kylen Ross (4 tak, 1 INT) had a great game, in addition to his pick, he dropped another early in the game that would have negated the botch squib kick and had a pick six just out of reach. Cameron Broussard (3 rak, 1 INT) and Mitchell Wolfe (1 INT) joined in the pick party as well.

It was a mixed bag for special teams. Evan Kiely looked good on his wind assisted kickoffs as he was able to boot some touchbacks. Zach Schreiner (1/1 FG, 6/6 PAT) took care of business on his attempts. Grover Anderson (1 pr, 23 yds) had a good punt return and made some athletic catches on other punts. The bad was the miss-played squib kick that gave ISU the momentum in which they took a 2nd quarter lead and a botched hold on an extra point attempt.

Here are my takeaways from the game:

  • Tailgate scene is ridiculous now. It was Homecoming so there was an added bump, but the lot was full 3 hours before kickoff. Having 13.7k come through the gate on a cool and windy evening is quite a testament to how far this program has come. Lines to get through the gate are swift as well and the endzone area is top notch (well worth the splurge if anyone has been on the fence on making that commitment). Credit to all the department staff that has improved the gameday experience, it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
  • Kaiden Bennett (7/11, 79 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT, 11 car, 45 yds) came out of the gates looking strong. His touchdown throw to Jared Gipson (3 rec, 34 yds, 1 TD) was a great play. However, KB still forced some balls (pick was thrown into the wind and into triple coverage) and just looks like he is trying to win the game on one play. The Hornets will still need his athletic ability as the coaches likely move the offense into a 2 quarterback system from here on out. After KB was pulled, he looked to be pouting on the sideline as he didn’t huddle up with the offense during timeouts and didn’t wear a headset to listen to the plays coming in. He’ll need to get his head in the right place if the 2 quarterback system is going to work.
  • Carson Conklin can ball. He came in ready to take advantage of his opportunity and didn’t disappoint. His arm strength will be able to stretch a defense and his accuracy is impressive. He got away with a mistake in the redzone and probably should have gotten down to the ground a bit sooner a couple of his runs, but he is clearly the future of this offense. We’ll see what he is really made of when he plays against a real defense next week in Montucky.
  • The wide receivers and tight ends had a much improved game from a week ago. I don’t recall seeing any drops and the down field blocking on runs helped spring some chunk yardage gains. 6 players had 3 catches or more. Besides, Gipson and Martin mentioned above, Carlos Hill (3 rec, 91 yds, 1 TD) got to showcase his speed on a big 69 yard catch and run and Devin Gandy (4 rec, 43 yds, 1 TD) and Anderson Grover (4 rec, 37 yds) got into the mix as well. It was a complete game from this unit last night.
  • BSC refs doing BSC ref things. Martin's body was clearly down before the ground forced the "fumble".
  • In the running game, a lot of different players got into the mix. Burnett led the way, but Elijah Tau-Tolliver (8 car, 14 yds, 1 TD) had some tough runs, one of which went for points in the redzone. The coaches emptied the bench after the game was well in hand.
  • Offensive line took care of business against an inferior front. There were some holding calls that killed some drives and let ISU get pressure at times. Overall not a stellar night, but plenty good enough against a defense as bad as ISU’s.
  • Offense was perfect in the redzone and overall had a very efficient night. Only knock was the penalties and some sloppy play at times. IMO, the execution concern is still there as the Hornet are going to need a complete game to knock off the top teams in the BSC/FCS.
  • Talked a lot about the Hornet defense above, but they held ISU’s playmakers well below their season averages and did a great job in open field tackling. There were some lapses here and there but nothing that didn’t get cleaned up as the game wore on. The Hornets held ISU to 5/17 on 3rd downs and 2/5 on 4th downs. They greatly outperformed my expectations in this game.
  • Grover looks pretty sure handed catching punts. He had a good return and made some good catches on the run to prevent punts from bouncing deeper into the Hornets end.
  • Kick return team needs to be on the ball (pun intended) better. A blown squib/on-side will be costly in critical games.

Hornets couldn’t have picked a better time to have one of their more dominating performances of the season. This should serve as a perfect springboard into a road game at arguably the toughest place to play in FCS.

Looking around the BSC, with a missed field goal in the closing seconds (lol) MSU lost on the road at Idaho which put the BSC title chase on its head again (Idaho will win the auto-bid if they win out, and they have a pretty favorable schedule down the final stretch) and the dungpilers season officially came to an end with an embarrassing loss at NAU (lol).

In other Hornet sports news, Hornet’s men’s soccer got their lone Big West win in the season finale at the dungpile (lol) and volleyball went on the road and swept UNC and NAU to claim a commanding 2 game lead in the standings to earn the inside track to their first BSC title since 2017. All in all it was a damn good weekend to be a Hornet.

Stingers Up!
 
I attended a Halloween party last night and wasn’t able to watch live but reviewed the game later on.

Down 16-14, this team really took off once Carson Conklin was inserted into the game. Anyone could see that.

While Kaiden Bennett has played well on the whole, we saw throws from Conklin we really haven’t seen from him or even Camp during his short stint.

He made quick decisions and accurate throws. Most of all, he brought Marshel Martin to life — which is something Bennett had been unable to do.

While Conklin was a dual threat in HS and may indeed possess that added element in college, it’s probably safe to say he doesn’t possess Bennett’s wheels but boy did he showcase better arm talent albeit in just one game.

It’s still enough of a sample size to get excited about. It kinda reminded me of seeing Kevin Thomson step up the first time. You could just tell that something was there and he was a bit different.

Hopefully it continues. What a boost that would be for this offense.
 
2 QB System Activated again my opinion. KB has the scramble skills. Conklin appears to have better vision of the field to find open receivers.
With KB having an injured shoulder. This should be perfect scenario to blend both QB’s going forward the remaining stretch of the season.
What a great first game he had! Kid must have been sleeping last night dreaming he was still throwing more TD’s!
The future looks good w Conklin & Z Burnett in the stable.
 
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