After a night to think about the game here are some of my thoughts

- Statistically speaking, the offense looked good. Almost 550 yards of offense with almost 400 being through the air. We had receivers and tight ends getting open for plays down field. I can specifically remember a deep ball to Harrell, several to Preece, and the trick play to Hyman. The interceptions were no bueno though, 2 throws that shouldn't have been thrown.

- Gilliam looked awesome the first couple drives busting off a couple of huge runs, but was relatively silent for the rest of the game.

- The play calling at times was very strange. We're inside the 5 yard line and trying to force passes into the end zone, we are 1st and 21 and run 3 times in a row. I don't know, something about the calling just seemed off from what we normally see.

- Special teams coverage needs work. They allowed the 100 yard return for the touchdown and then allowed another big return in late in the game that got called back thankfully. Just unacceptable at this level of football.

- Devon King is a STUD! Grabs an interception in the end zone to prevent a touchdown and then forces the fumble at the very end of the game. He's young too. It seems like it's been awhile since we've had a legit game changing threat in the defensive backfield.

- Defense, especially run defense, needs to change something up. Their small running backs were dragging our guys and had open running lanes for days. That's not going to work against Big Sky competition.

- All-in-all, a win is a win, but I have to imagine that our rating is going to drop after coming as close as you can to losing to a non-scholarship team. Props to San Diego as they really held in there and made it much more of a game that I hoped it would have been.

[reply="CA Forever;24250"Imagine what the score could have been if the defense hadn’t allowed them to convert 11of 16 on third down. Defense made them punt just 4 times

give their QB a lot of credit for that. He converted several long third downs after getting flushed from the pocket and making a great pass.

That kick return was huge. Up 14-0, have all the momentum, and all the sudden they are right back in it. Seems like they got it right back and scored again and then we had a battle.

Run defense is my concern. They were averaging 4-5 yards a carry. Even when we brought pressure to the right spot, we never stuffed them. And that was a young line. Gotta fix that soon!

Play calling was interesting at times. Goal line INT on a weird formation, the 3 runs on first and goal from the 20, fumble on a reverse....

Reasonable article in this mornings San Diego tribune.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/story/2019-09-07/fumble-out-of-end-zone-costs-usd-shot-at-big-upset-of-uc-davis

Cal beat Washington last night which makes your close game against them look even better.

I am unclear on the rules: What would have happened if the fumble was recovered in the end zone by USD? Can you fumble-advance a ball forward into the end zone for a touchdown? I would think it would result in a forward-lateral penalty and they would get the ball back with two seconds left to run another play.

I believe if they recover it’s a TD. I googled it and don’t see anything that contradicts that. Had he not fumbled it would have been interesting. tackle inbounds and game is over ( no time outs). Out of bounds, a couple seconds left from 1 or 2.

Game looks better after old town margaritas last night, and day trip to Coronado today. Back to reality Monday. Looking forward to home opener AT NIGHT next week. Tired of sweating like mad at a game ( yeah, I know, Montana kickoff at 1:00) Still have no idea why they played at 2:00. Wasn’t a PFL game vs someone two time zones away

I think that is true as long as it's not an intentional fumble, thinking back to the Raiders and their Holy Roller...

i think the run d problems and overall problems of the defense came from poor D Line play. Zero pressure, zero penetration on the run. forces linebackers Airey and Flowers to have to really hit the holes hard and fill the gaps. Really tough from a second level standpoint. Tough to play when the line gets pushed back 2 yards off the ball immediately.

Were we out coached in this game?

USD had a nice game plan. Power running early, play action, lot of short passes and burn clock. Take pressure off the new QB. That works if they keep the game close-> that’s why I thought that kick return was a huge deal. They executed nicely and their QB made some big third down long conversations on the run.

Our line play on both sides wasn’t great which probably changed our game plan.

All-in-all, a win is a win, but I have to imagine that our rating is going to drop after coming as close as you can to losing to a non-scholarship team. — CA Forever

Still #4 in the NCAA coaches poll. Stats poll hasn't been released yet.

As long as you win you should not drop in the poles. If we were to lose by 1 point to NDSU would they drop? Would we drop or go up? The answer is yes we would drop, and not go up even though it was NDSU. You need to defeat the teams you play. If you do that, you will be number 1 regardless of how close the scores were.

Stats poll just released. Top 9 remain nearly unchanged. Weber and Maine trade the 6 and 7 spots. Ags stay at #5.

seems like it was a good gameplan by USD to get the ball out quick. i think Ags coaches played it safe and we did do a good job of keeping everything in front of us and not allowing any big plays. SD just played disciplined and took what we gave them. The concern for me is not causing enough defensive pressure. If we play safe against NDSU, EWU.... doesn’t look good.

I'm surprised to be totally honest. Not so much dropping because of us winning, but potentially because of teams below us with higher quality wins.

It may not yet be reflected in the polls but it is reflected in the computer rankings. We’re now fifth in the big sky in Sagarin ratings behind Weber, Montana State, Montana and Eastern Washington.

my thoughts exactly, I.e., no penetration and no pressure on QB. I will say that USD had an excellent game plan. They really spread things out. It seems at times the D was a bit confused on how to react to different and shifting formations. I know in one play, there were 3 stacked receivers- and maybe 1 more split left, and there were n-1 defenders in that side of the field. Big play as a result.

Also thought Maier was very accurate and effective. Yes, 2 ints. Preece really stepped up and good to see Harrel with 8 receptions. Crawford becoming a go to guy too.