The near universal pattern for coach talks is exaggerated praise to opponents pregame, then post game to talk as though the outcome of the game hinged entirely on how his team played and the other team had little to do with it.

The Gbatu interview got me thinking about how the team is unusual in that they list most, but not all, players by academic year. Gbatu is a red shirt junior but they list him as a senior They no longer put HS graduation year alongside the school name like they used to which would be useful in determining eligibility. Why aren’t they consistent? Not that hard.

Washington was the last game Richardson played in.

Passing efficiency formula has # of attempts in the divisor., so its good things - bad things per pass.
Opponents have tried a lot of passes because 1) It works better than rushing 2) we don’t get off the field on third down so opponent runs more plays and 3) they are behind.
The good news is our run defense is better than commonly thought. 3.2 yards per carry, in third place is Montana at 3.9

No one has released all 13 names of the players out for the season leading Plough to lose sleep.
Defensive line intact, rush linebacker still has top player, Sievers playing effectively in place of P. Connors, and we have veteran safeties.
Corner is the spot we have.had multiple guys in the depth chart not playing Carr, Cravin, Totton. Just saying that's where the low profile.injured players are concentrated.
Possibly related.is that.while.Davis ranks 2nd.in the conference only stats in defensive yards per carry, they are 6th in defensive efficiency leading to the conclusion pass defence is relatively weak. Could be the team faced above average QBs.

What do you think about Hawaii? They are up and down over the years, but among the best Mountain West teams not moving this year.

I'm guessing the injury situation is worrisome at cornerback, even though they aren't big names. Lost Richardson. Totton and Carr are listed in the game notes on the depth chart but neither played. Carr may have been injured for a while as he only played at Utah Tech. Totton was reported injured by a poster here.

Davis and the middle of the Mountain West in Sagarin ranking
105 UC Davis 61.71
106 New Mexico 61.57
107 San Jose State 61.26
108 Wyoming 61.21

On the Sac Town Sports show, Plough reiterates "five All-Americans out" but says all to season ending injuries. His list of All-Americans was previously Rex Connors, Porter Connors, Williams, Nava, and D3 All-American, Richardson. As far as I know that's the first statement that Richardson and Nava.are out for the season.

Sometimes.Davis picks.up a guy.after all the recruiting attention is over, and they make an impact. He caught a lot.of.passes at Sac CC.

Sac State has three wins, with the narrowest margin 21 points. They have either won in a blowout or lost.
Sac has a pretty good pass defense. Northern Colorado is giving up five yards a carry, Sac just rushed for 400 yards., I don't like N. Colorado's chances.

Scott Nixon started for Davis against NAU.
He is a 6’2” receiver. He transferred from Sac City College
I think I heard on the broadcast that he is the best WR blocker.
In high school he was the Sac Bee Player of the Year for the 2022 season
https://www.sacbee.com/news/article270454282.html

“The Delta League MVP and a two-time Bee All-Metro player, Nixon accumulated 2,138 total yards and 27 touchdowns in 12 games. He had 1,280 yards receiving and 17 touchdowns, and he stepped into the running back role as if he was born for it, playing the position for the first time out of injury necessity. Nixon rushed for 858 yards and 10 touchdowns during an 8-4 season”

Montana State is clearly the best Big Sky team based on conference games, which is the only way their schedules compare. Not even a close call.
You can’t have it both ways, give a lot of credit for playing a tough schedule and then ignore the losses. How tough would Montana States schedule be without the teams they lost to? Tarleton State is undefeated and has a better win, Army is better than Southern Illinois. Gets back to the question if what the goal of ranking is. Is it to judge how teams have performed already or guess who would win a contest? I lean towards who deserves it based on their record.

Casey Merrill is a more similar player.among guys who played significantly in NFL.
.

In conference only stats:
Davis is second best in the conference in rushing defense per carry, but tied for 7th in offense yards per carry.
Davis is second in scoring per game, third in scoring defense,
Second in yards per play gained , tied for second best in yards per play allowed.
First in passing efficiency but only 7th in defensive passing efficiency.
On offense passing is a strength, rushing just average.
On defense rush defense is a strength, pass defense just average.

Surprise! Davis is the second best team as far as points allowed per game in Big Sky Conference play, mostly without the Connors brothers and others. Giving up 21 points per game behind only MSU, at 9.
Davis is tied for 2nd with that team across the causeway giving up 5.1 yards per play, which ain’t good but is better than everyone else except Montana State’s 4.3.

Big difference in yardage for Pinnick in conference games, about 100 yards per game more than Lamson.

[ Not minimizing the loss of those guys, but OL, RB, TE, and Safety were the deepest positions on the team. Fortunately Sievers is filling in well for Porter Connors.

Not so impacted that they need to convert players. There are young players who were highly regarded recruits at all the lost player positions that still aren’t playing, but would be better than anyone switching sides.

Defense Starters lost: Safety Rex Connors, linebacker Porter Connors, cornerback Ty Richardson
#2 man on depth chart lost: Edge linebacker Garretson.
Offense starters lost TE Williams and OL Nava,
OL Rodriguez is somewhat limited but plays.
Depth chart player lost RB Perez
Can anyone add to this list? Its not 11 guys but the other 3 are unknown to me.

Penn State just fired their coach

When a contract has a $48 million buyout, do you think he cares? A perverse incentive.