Both the Aggies and the Eagles jump up several spots in the STATS FCS poll after a combination of week 4 victories and a couple teams in the top 10 losing to unranked teams. This is the make it or break it game for both teams. I don't think there is room for 2 losses for either team, so the boys need to come prepared. I took a quick peek over at the EWU forum and they say the Eagles look like a totally different beast at home compared to when they are on the road so hopefully that trend will continue. Key to the game is to make Barriere uncomfortable in the pocket and for the love of god don't let him scramble.
Barriere will scramble....there's no doubt about that, it will happen and it will likely happen a lot. The key will be to contain him from making big plays with his legs. As athletic as he is, he's going to pick up some yards scrambling around, we just can't let his scrambling be the game changer for them. Containment, containment, containment...
Tough to know on Gilliam since all we have to go on is that he had a "toe injury versus Poly". If it's turf toe, recovery time could be a couple weeks so it's a possibility that he could be ready for Eastern but I wouldn't necessarily count on it. Turnovers are still a major concern going into this game. HR coughs the ball up too frequently for my taste and it's eventually going to bite us in the ass.
Absolutely containment is key, but it really looks like they are trying to have Barriere throw as much as possible instead of straight up running it himself. His mobility will surely extend the play looking for the homerun ball. Talolo Limu-Jones scares the heck out of me. He's been Barriere's go to target and he stands at 6'5 220. Really tough to cover someone that size.
With Barriere, aside from the yards he gets scrambling, those broken plays often result in him finding an open receiver way down field. Their D is questionable. This might be a high scoring game. Last man with the ball wins sort of game.
his scrambling also wears down a defense, especially the big linemen having to chase him. It will help to be at home so we can suit up a few more players. Forecast looks like the weather will be similar to last week, which led to some cramps (we practice early morning so a sunny 75 degree day was probably a little jolt to the system)
We just played a team with a 6’3” 225 wide reciever who broke big sky conference hurdle records, and runs a 10.51 100, and has good hands and limited him to four catches, so whatever we did to contain Connor Tanner we should do again this week.
https://gopoly.com/news/2021/3/29/cal-poly-opts-out-of-remainder-of-2020-21-spring-football-season.aspx
“We made this decision because of the high number of serious, season-ending injuries to our players," said Cal Poly Director of Athletics Don Oberhelman. "In addition, there are many seniors who informed us of their decision to defer spring quarter enrollment to the fall so that they can play a full fall season."
I thought the Covid season didn't count against eligible years?
"Out of a roster of 110 student-athletes, Cal Poly would have only 49 to compete on Saturday, falling below Big Sky minimum requirements for competition. "
it doesn’t but there any academic requirements about making minimum progress and units toward major. Announcement says deferring enrollment. If guys were planning on graduating spring, they could only play as graduate students in fall.... I don’t think they can take classes in spring that fill a unit minimum but don’t count toward major. At least that’s how I heard it
Back in the day there was also a maximum number of units a student can have without graduating. Might be a factor for fifth year seniors.
I wonder if we have any players who are sitting out the spring due to these types of issues.
I suspect it’s not liking blowouts. Illinois State did the same thing claiming injuries (not Covid)- but I guarantee you if they had more wins they wouldn’t have done it. It just seems to me that there are general league commitments as it can impact other teams in terms of sample size for playoff considerations. Also, there is a message sent -at least subliminally .....when the going gets tough ........alternate ending. I think more respect is due those teams who just said they weren’t in from the get go - allowing for schedule adjustments, etc.
The MVFC leaders will play 7 games. Will 5 games with 1 loss be enough for either the Ags or EWU to go as a non-automatic qualifier? MVFC is going to have a stronger argument now relatively. South land projects to 6 games this spring. Would the Ags try to line up a replacement game? How about inviting Montana to sunny ca. (It’s not too cold Bobby) and kicking their butts on 4/16? Oh well - a thought at least.
yah I know. Dr. Mike is right the poly players will still have to make progress towards degree. The subjunctive mode “would” in context of available players the remainder of spring sounds like a scenario in which all seniors pull out until fall. I suspect that with a second recruiting year under Baldwin’s belt many of those seniors won’t be getting the playing time they think.
just a thought, i wonder if we will pull out of consideration for playoffs and just get ready for fall. with gilliam and king out, and other teams seemingly not taking spring seriously... i wonder if we just call it a season after this game. players will have been practicing basically year round if we go to playoffs through mid april / may. gotta turn right around and start summer ball in june. this has to be on Hawks mind.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is our last game, win or lose. We might have some seniors who are making the same decision since spring quarter starts this week. Unless they have a job lined up, a 6 month delay in graduation date would be no big deal
Confused here. This was a free year eligibility wise. What is the benefit of skipping spring games? Or are you implying they'll skip spring games & classes, saving 12 units for the fall?
We're a younger team. Significant seniors include Harrell, Vaughn, Thomas, Richardson, (Duncan), Airey, Whelan, Skeptaris, and Rodgers.