Omg, kept me on the edge of my seat. Great play call

You’ve got to be kidding.

I DON'T KNOW IF I AGREE WITH THAT BUT WHAT A BONKERS SET OF DOWNS

Love Tompkins enthusiasm.

Crazy day in the Big Sky!

Okay, I guess I won't complain about clock management or not letting Tompkins throw.

Tompkins saves the day

I didn't get the approach at all, taking the ball away from Rodriguez and taking the pass offense out of the game. But it worked, so what do I know?

A win is a win is a win. Gonna need to take a long look at the tape to see what went wrong cause Eastern is a different beast.

Man. A gut check game and good that they have a diversity of athletes. Sort of feel sorry for ISU.

Barry never stops talking.

they are going to need to pass more on first down. Hope Gilliam is back they are going to need him.

haha. You are right.

Hell of a drive there. Loved going for it on 4th down. 45 yarder is no sure thing from a college kicker and I feel much better about getting a yard. If it’s 4th and 4, then the equation changes. But if you can’t pick up a yard there, you don’t deserve to win anyway. Always love going for the win.

Didn’t mind the clock management either. They had two TOs and had plenty of time if need be. Really surprised Idaho State didn’t take any timeouts though. Once we had 1st and goal, it’s likely we either tie the game or take the lead. And it’s not like we didn’t have any timeouts where you could view it as doing us a favor to stop the clock. Idaho should have gotten the ball back with 30 seconds left.

To quote a line from one of my favorite rants ever (after a Mich St-ND game about 15 years ago), timeouts aren’t like cell phone minutes - THEY DON’T CARRY OVER.

"Runs on every first down - predictable"

+1

Rodrigues had a really hard time throwing the ball today. Staring down a blitzing CB from 15 yards away and still taking the sack, the non contact fumble. Not sure if the coaching staff lost faith in his ability to get the job done through the air, but 160 yards with a pick and no passing TDs is a rough stat line. Castles 1 reception for 5 yards.

On the other hand, Larison had a really nice day and proved he could cut it with starting reps. Kid is fast... If he gets through the line then he's gone.

One long ball attempt early (Castles, underthrown, flag).

No OC here, but I don't recall a screen pass, and have we ever run a bootleg w HR? Not a single trick pass this year? - Crawford & wildcat don't count.

WHERE WAS PLAYMAKER LANCE BABBS?

Gut check game, great we pulled it out, but puts last week in perspective. EWU a real test. Hats off to ISU... their coach threw a mini tiff at the end.

I think having Gilliam out with his pass catching ability on top of running showed. He has been the target of outlet passes, and wheel routes.

Very lucky win. We come off a blow out win. IS comes off with a weeks rest. Aggies were not on their best game today, but we won and that’s all that matters. What gives me the most happiness is that it seems that some of our best players are freshman. Larison and Tompkins are game breakers. Same on defense. And I will add this: Rodrigues is a stud! Took hits all day and did well under the circumstances that IS was gong to pummel him all day which they did. Hope UG is OK.

+1

ISU stacked the box taking away much of our run game, and were able to get good pressure with their front four taking away much of the short passes. I’m with Barry - we need to push it down 15-20 yards, cuz our receivers seemed wide open down there. Hunter seemed to get a little sped up after some big hits and that fumble. Maybe wasn’t patient enough to let the medium range passes open.

Hope Gilliam is okay; need to be very cautious with a fall season not too far away

The Sac Bee said Gilliam had a boot on his foot on the sideline. That doesn't sound like good news.

Fun game. Survived the trap. Showed our depth. Also... How about Whelan's punt game? Man, that helped both offense and defense so much.

ISU was better than expected. We were real sloppy with some bad decisions, mistakes, and failure to capitalize on gifts. We got away with one today. Sloppy will not get it done against Eastern. They dunked on Poly 62-10. Their defense may be suspect, but we will need a better offense than what we saw today. Weber almost upset the standings in the west today - barely beat Northern Arizona on a Hail Mary as the clock hit zero.

After HR started limping, he became less mobile. Maybe that was part of the decision to put Tompkins in?

Stats that stand out

*Ags 13 first downs total*
HR took 3 sacks
Only Crawford (4) and Babb (3) had more than one catch
Nick Eaton busts out - 8 tackles, 2 solo, 1 Sack
Luka Nixon big day, 6 tackles, 5 solos & a sack
Redshirt Frosh DE Zach Kennedy w 4 tackles

After 4 years in the program (team bio), sophomore DB Algery Mcguire came up with 3 tackles.

Before the final 3 minutes, my rough count is we ran 14x on first down (82%) and passed 3x.

We had a WR drop a 15-20 yard pass that hit him in the hands.

Hutton.

I love UG. But with Larison and Tompkins I do not see why he should be rushed back this spring. One question: who recruited Larison and Tompkins? They should get a medal! These guys are Pac12 level players and I agree with a previous post that they both look like Christian McCaffry look a likes. Incredible athletes. Lean and very fast. I don’t know when we ever had athletes at this level before. Maybe Preston Jackson i back in the day?

When I was doing the recruiting page for Tompkins I was reading some scouting articles basically saying that if he was 6'3 he would have been a 4 star pushing 5 star recruit. He was extraordinarily praised for his athleticism by every source I could find. I wish the coaches would let him throw the ball a little bit, but he could (emphasis and could and not necessarily will) be one of the most electric Aggies to ever grace the field.

Yeah. I generally don't read recruiting news too much because it's all above my head for interpretation. However, I've always been a fan of Tompkins, because recruiters passed him up because he was too short. I think he had a chip on his shoulder because of that.

That could be said of each of our top four QBs.

Rather than trying to recruit the next best 6’4” QBs after all the big schools have picked them over I think our recruiters just get the guy that can play.