NAU looks tough, especially playing them at home. They lost to SLAC by 1 point, knock off the Griz, and handle Weber. We’re going to need all our horses for this game as well as the rest of the games going down the stretch.
This a must win game for the Aggies if they are going to keep their marginal playoff hopes alive. I think a loss in any of the next 3 games leading up to Sac game would eliminate the Aggies from playoff consideration.
...and yet Portland State smoked them and Utah Tech dropped 50 on them, so they have inconsistency it seems, but definitely the game plan and talent to beat anybody.
NAU has thrown 6 interceptions vs Davis 2
NAU has 3 interceptions, Davis only 1
NAU averages 3.7 yards per rush Davis allows 3.1
Davis averages 5 yards per carry NAU allows 4
NAU leads the conference in sacks (14) Davis leads in fewest Sacks allowed (3)
NAU much more a threat on kick returns.
I wonder if that last metric, sacks allowed, is related to the fact that Hastings rolls out and doesn’t stay in the pocket, and also that we don’t throw deep.
Watching MSU - SLAC, that QB mobility for both of those teams, just adds so much to the offense. Is this something that the QB coach can teach? It seems Miles would rather toss the ball out of bounds rather than turn it up field when the opportunity is there.
I think if we go 7-4 we'll have a good chance of getting in. We're behind Montana St, Montana, Idaho and Sac. Going 3-1 either means getting a signature win over Sac or beating all three of NAU, Port St, Idaho St. We know the committee will take 5 Big Sky teams, they did it last year. We also know that the committee is willing to take a 7-4 team over a 6-5 team even though the 6-5 team beat the crap out of the 7-4 team. So EWU is probably out since they're already 2-4 and would need to win at Montana St (among other game) to go 7-4. After the top-4 teams, we're the only other Big Sky team with only 3 losses.
Will we go 3-1 or 4-0 to end the year? I don't know. But generally speaking, over the past few years this team has shown a pretty consistent ability to beat teams worse than them while losing to teams better than them. We're a bad-good team.
Hawkins mentions the factors in his press conference today. He credits a number of things, including Hastings calling the protection schemes they use, getting rid of the ball quickly, and the receivers running the routes so the QB doesn’t have to wait for them to break.
While on the subject of QBs, most teams are using two. It is disappointing that Tompkins couldn’t throw well enough to stay at QB, he runs better than most of the running QBs teams are using as a change of pace.
Yeah, I don't get it. Does anyone in the media department actually open the Aggie YouTube channel and see if the videos they are making are actually showing up on it? Obviously not.
The media/marketing situation has only gotten marginally better since I started following in 2004......and I'm talking hardly any improvement, and it went backward for a few years there too.....
An interesting statistic is that Trent Tompkins has the lowest average gain per reception among wide receivers. i don’t know the reason for this but suspect his average is brought down by ineffective screen plays, or getting thrown short passes as the check down receiver in the hope he can do something with no blockers. I hope they can find a way to get more out of him as a pass receiver. While he was out or playing running back, Gbatu was very productive at wide receiver.
They have definitely regressed in the last couple of years. I don’t think its just the marketing department, the Athletic Department can’t even list game participants accurately. Seven games they list a players name that doesn’t match the jersey number. Don’t the people keeping stats look at the roster? Or if not the roster, the game notes? Somebody has their own incorrect roster and they are keeping score. One of the best practices of handling data is to have a single database, not have everyone keep their own list.
I don’t think any team be it FBS FCS, or NFL now posts it’s starting line up much less it’s injury report or it’s “starting line up”. Or depth chart. Why give up this information just for the media?
Are you referring to my post? I’m talking about the game stats where they list who started and who played. The box score, The information flows from the game statistics automatically into each players bio and the season statistics. The player participation tab of our games this year have never listed the guy who starts at left tackle, and at in early games messed up with the players that have duplicate numbers. A player who transfers here from out of state because he never got to play at his major college team, and then starts here the first game he is eligible, deserves to have that recognized so his friends back home can see that he is playing here.
Almost every college team posts a depth chart in their game notes. In our case it never changes and is not accurate anyway.
No college team gives information about medical issues. I think its violates medical confidentiality policies and perhaps even legal mandates
Eli Simonson #70. The transfer from Nebraska.
Sophomore, started every game,
They list another player as #70 and he gets all the participation stats even though I’ve never seen him on the field. That players jersey is #93
Even with our injuries at running back that left us playing without our best runner in 3 and a half of the four conference games we are still averaging 4 yards a carry in those games. Davis also is at the top of the conference in not allowing sacks. It is not o-line issues.
The games we lost were largely determined by Eastern Washington and Montana being very successful in moving the ball in the third quarter. I think that is indicative of the other team making adjustments Davis coaches didn’t have a quick answer for.