Week 9: Northern Arizona @ Sac State

[SDHornet]

Recap/Thoughts

The Hornets squandered any last hope for the playoffs in a mistake ridden 27-26 loss to NAU. The Hornets played without tug-o-war champ Fleming again but they still should have been able to pull out the win. With the loss, the Hornets squandered possibly one of the greatest seasons ever and at best, this season can only be a complete disappointment. Turnovers, stupid penalties, and least surprising of all continued struggles in the kicking game were the cause of yet another loss at home that should have been a win. There weren’t many people on hand to witness the implosion as a paltry 6,100 fans made it out to the game.

Offense
Fleming didn’t play so again the ball was handed to Edwards and Safron. Neither played as well as they did a week ago as Edwards struggled at times to make catchable passes and Safron wasn’t nearly effective at running the ball this week. The running game was nonexistent and turnovers inside the redzone killed a couple of great scoring chances. Aside from Reed having a monster game, the offensive performance was awful. Failure of the offense to execute when it mattered most continued to plague this offense. Game stats:

• • Safron: 5 of 7 for 130 yards, 2 TD’s, 19 rushing yards on 7 carries
  • Edwards: 10 of 24 for 129 yards, 1 INT in the redzone
  • Hilliard: 9 carries for 16 yards, 1 TD
  • McCowan: 4 carries for 18 yards, 2 recs for 18 yards, 1 TD
  • Croxdale: 2 carries for 7 yards
  • Tezanos-Pinto: 1 carries for -1 yards, 1 Fumble in the redzone
  • Reed: 7 recs for 140 yards, 1 TD
  • Hendershott: 2 recs for 32 yards
  • Carter: 1 rec for 39 yards. (He keeps his feet and he has 1 TD and 80 yards.)
  • Heaslet: 1 rec for 14 yards
  • Broadnax: 1 recs for 13 yards
  • OL: No sacks allowed
  • TOP: 21:23

With this loss, the season is over. With no shot at the playoffs and no exciting games left on the schedule, there isn’t much reason to tune into Hornet football until next fall. Having said that, the remaining games could be used to get younger players ready for next season. The QB position will be wide open and Sperbeck could use the remaining weeks to get Safron and Edwards more reps to see if one of them can win the job. If he takes this route, hopefully he gives each QB enough reps in a row to see if one of them develops a rhythm with the offense. Switching QB’s mid series doesn’t seem to be working. Personally I like Safron better. He has a couple of inches on Edwards, he can run, and this week he showed he has the ability to hit his WR’s. Edwards had too many ducks come out of his hand late in the game when it mattered most. Plus that INT at the end of the first half was absolutely horrid. With injuries mounting at WR the coaches can get some reps for the younger receivers on the team.

Defense
The Hornet defense had issues containing the explosive Bauman, but they did keep this team in a position to win the game. Stupid penalties by senior players at crucial times really hurt the Hornets in this game, and those mistakes are unacceptable. Monson had an exciting pick 6 and overall the secondary did have a respectable game, however the defense was unable to come up with a crucial stop in the last 3 minutes to give the Hornets one last chance. Game stats:

• • Rushing Allowed: 257 yards on 50 attempts (5.1 ypr), 2 TD’s
  • Passing Allowed: 16/30 for 167 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
  • Badger: 12 tackles, 1.5 TFL’s
  • Davis: 10 tackles
  • Larche: 9 tackles
  • Nash: 9 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
  • Smith: 7 tackles, 0.5 TFL’s
  • Coleman: 7 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
  • McMahon: 6 tackles
  • Bloomfield: 6 tackles
  • Monson: 5 tackles, 1 INT, 1 TD
  • Williams: 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack

The lack of effectiveness of the blitzing is a major concern. The blitzes off the edge were largely ineffective and the blitzes up the middle were picked up. Hats off in large part to the NAU OL for doing a great job here but the defense needs to find a way to get pressure on the QB. Unfortunately this has been an issue for the defense all season long and most likely won’t improve from here on out. Bad penalties at inopportune times really cost the defense in this one. A bad holding call on Monson on the last drive (questionable call as there was no replay) and an undisciplined unsportsmanlike penalty on Nash following a sack probably hurt the most. With that said, the Hornet defense kept the ball game close.

Special Teams
The kicking game lost another one here. Diniz’s has been kicking low PAT’s all season long and finally an opponent was able to block them. Two were blocked and those two points were the difference. Sperbeck burned Heath2’s redshirt as he took over the punting duties from his older brother. The lone bright spot for the ST’s were the Hendershott returns.

• • S. Heath: 5 punts for a 37.2 ypp avg. 1 Inside 20
  • Kick Coverage: Allowed 93 yards on 5 returns (18.6 ypr)
  • Punt Coverage: Allowed 44 yards on 3 returns (14.7 ypr)
  • Diniz: 2/4 PAT’s
  • Hendershott: 5 kr’s for 170 yards (34.0 ypr)
  • Monson: 2 pr’s for 15 yards (7.5 ypr)

No need to say much about the kicking game as it has been consistently terrible all season. There was a slight increase in punting average with the change there, we’ll see if that improves over the last few weeks.

Injuries
The injuries are increasing as the season wears on. Fleming missed another game rehabbing his tug-o-war injuries, Deadder, Odiase, Norrise, Shaw still out. It would be nice to see some of these players get healthy but at this point it doesn’t matter.

Other Random Stuff
Photos:
http://sacstatesports.com/2011/10/30/photo-gallery-hornets-v-nau-lumberjacks/

Highlights:
I haven’t seen one.

Hornetsports:
http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=9955

Sac State Sports:
http://sacstatesports.com/2011/10/29/hornets-dont-run-get-run-on-in-loss-to-northern-arizona/

The season is over and the only game left that might have any meaning in it will be the Causeway. However there is a great possibility that there may only be 5-7 wins between both teams so it could turn into a very sloppy and ugly game.

Go Hornets!

 

[StungAlum2]

Not much I can say, Buckeye pretty much said all that needs to be said.

Hate to say it, but Sperbeck has got to be on the hot seat. If he's not, he should be.

 

[Green Cookie Monster]

Not much I can say, Buckeye pretty much said all that needs to be said.

Hate to say it, but Sperbeck has got to be on the hot seat. If he's not, he should be.

After five years and the best available this year is another 6-5 record. I think we will end up with a losing record this year due to 33% of the team missing (FG/PAT). Some marquee wins, but otherwise not much better than Volek and Co. and a total lack of consistency or urgency.

Here is the urgency, the school is on the hook for the $9M Spanos has failed to pay. We need every $$ we can get from big crowds.

 

[Green Laser]

on a somewhat off-topic, scheduling a 6:00 kickoff on 'Halloween' Saturday wasn't a great idea. 6600 fans; probably a low student turnout? coming after a big homecoming crowd, you'd think an afternoon kickoff might have drawn a couple thousand more.

I am sure last weeks results had more to do with a low turnout than Halloween. This weeks results guarantees a less than 8k turnout for the ISU game. With the magnitude of suckage between the farm extension and the Hornets, I'd be shocked if the Causeway cracks 10k.

I am sure that Halloween party night had more than last week's game. As I recall a couple of year's ago it was something like 4,500 on Halloween weekend and that was a afternoon game. Not as many students there last night. Attendance down everywhere this weekend except for the Montana Jailbirds! I expect the Causeway to draw between 13,000-15,000.

a couple years ago a student was killed on campus right before the weekend started and that is why the attendance was down that weekend. all the students went home

I think that killing occurred before earlier, before the Montana game and we drew only 7,000. As I recall the 4,500 Halloween weekend was NAU.

 

[SacHornet]

on a somewhat off-topic, scheduling a 6:00 kickoff on 'Halloween' Saturday wasn't a great idea. 6600 fans; probably a low student turnout? coming after a big homecoming crowd, you'd think an afternoon kickoff might have drawn a couple thousand more.

I am sure last weeks results had more to do with a low turnout than Halloween. This weeks results guarantees a less than 8k turnout for the ISU game. With the magnitude of suckage between the farm extension and the Hornets, I'd be shocked if the Causeway cracks 10k.

I am sure that Halloween party night had more than last week's game. As I recall a couple of year's ago it was something like 4,500 on Halloween weekend and that was a afternoon game. Not as many students there last night. Attendance down everywhere this weekend except for the Montana Jailbirds! I expect the Causeway to draw between 13,000-15,000.

a couple years ago a student was killed on campus right before the weekend started and that is why the attendance was down that weekend. all the students went home

I think that killing occurred before earlier, before the Montana game and we drew only 7,000. As I recall the 4,500 Halloween weekend was NAU.

i was a student at the time and i am fairly certain it was before the NAU game, but overall we didnt have many games outside the davis game that we drew well that year

 

[Green Laser]

on a somewhat off-topic, scheduling a 6:00 kickoff on 'Halloween' Saturday wasn't a great idea. 6600 fans; probably a low student turnout? coming after a big homecoming crowd, you'd think an afternoon kickoff might have drawn a couple thousand more.

I am sure last weeks results had more to do with a low turnout than Halloween. This weeks results guarantees a less than 8k turnout for the ISU game. With the magnitude of suckage between the farm extension and the Hornets, I'd be shocked if the Causeway cracks 10k.

I am sure that Halloween party night had more than last week's game. As I recall a couple of year's ago it was something like 4,500 on Halloween weekend and that was a afternoon game. Not as many students there last night. Attendance down everywhere this weekend except for the Montana Jailbirds! I expect the Causeway to draw between 13,000-15,000.

a couple years ago a student was killed on campus right before the weekend started and that is why the attendance was down that weekend. all the students went home

I think that killing occurred before earlier, before the Montana game and we drew only 7,000. As I recall the 4,500 Halloween weekend was NAU.

i was a student at the time and i am fairly certain it was before the NAU game, but overall we didnt have many games outside the davis game that we drew well that year

2009 Season Schedule

Download Schedule to your Microsoft Outlook
Date Opponent Time/Result Media Coverage
9/5/2009 at UNLV (Las Vegas, Nev.) L 3 - 38
[AUDIO]
9/12/2009 at #12 Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo, Calif.) L 19 - 38
[AUDIO]
9/26/2009 #19 EASTERN WASHINGTON* (Sacramento, Calif.) L 30 - 56
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
10/3/2009 at Portland State* (Portland, Ore.) W 31 - 14
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
10/10/2009 IDAHO STATE*# (Sacramento, Calif.) W 38 - 17
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
10/17/2009 at #15 Weber State* (Ogden, Utah) L 10 - 49
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
10/24/2009 #2 MONTANA* (Sacramento, Calif.) L 30 - 45
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
10/31/2009 #21 NORTHERN ARIZONA* (Sacramento, Calif.) W 27 - 24
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
11/7/2009 at Northern Colorado* (Greeley, Colo.) W 38 - 35
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
11/14/2009 at Montana State* (Bozeman, Mont.) L 17 - 27
[VIDEO] [AUDIO]
11/21/2009 UC DAVIS (Sacramento, Calif.) W 31 - 28
[VIDEO]

2009, NAU on Holloween, Montana the week before. Smaller than expected crowds for both.

 

[SDHornet]

Hornetsports video:

http://www.hornetsports.com/sports/football/release.asp?release_id=9958