FWIW, we’ll jump up a couple spots in the polls. 5, 6 and 7 all lost today. South Dakota St will probably jump us after beating NDSt.

yes, way too conservative the last couple drives.

you should be able to find it on ESPN+, i think starting tomorrow.

We're in a weird place honestly. We benefitted from having some big wins in the first couple weeks of the season to put us high in the polls early followed by a relatively easy schedule. An outside observer might look at our schedule and nothing more and think that we're placed appropriately, but I don't think I'm alone in thinking we probably get rocked by most teams in the top 10. I just don't feel like we have the same level of tip top talent or consistency right now.

That being said, I'm happy we're ranked and it's very likely we make a trip to the playoffs which is nice.

ESPN+ will have it on demand no later than tomorrow. I know it’s 6.99 or something a month - but now is the time to live a little.

it shows up now on the ‘on demand’ section for college football on ESPN+

Their first and third possessions went 75 yards for touchdowns. Their 4th 22 yards and their fifth 67 yards for a field goal. That’s three long drives ending in scores in five possessions.

Southern Illinois, SE Louisiana, and Eastern Washington? Depends on which poll I guess.

yah, just looked but not there yet.

ESPN+?

It would have gone to the wire if their QB didn't go down.

CAForever - I'm guessing our QB play weighs heavily on your analysis, which I get. But how about this. If Hastings can play at a B+ level, our Wildcat is an A (best in the country?), and our backup HR is a B / B+, we have something to work with.

Hastings gains valuable experience in start #3. Confidence and momentum key. Probably 1-3 bad calls.

Yeah, but we’ve had our number one QB out and he was never the same, so we can share the pain. Add our big guys on offense going out and we’ve been playing with substitutes as well. I guess all teams are dinged up this time of the year.

The quarterback situation is definitely a part of my analysis. Against Cal Poly, Hastings was highly efficient, but not very effective at all. Basically a lot of completed check downs that went for 5 or less yards. He definitely seemed more comfortable today and would have had a 300 yard game if we didn't put it into neutral at the end of the 3rd quarter. And to be clear, I'm not trying to knock Hastings or anything. He looked good today and it made me feel a little better with him going forward.

I have my concerns about the defense too though. We've managed to be a good bend not break defense so far, but I personally don't think we've played any lights out offenses so far this season. We will see if my fears are confirmed against Eastern or not.

I don’t think Miles ran with the ball at all. That’s one element that HR brings, better mobility. Miles reminds me of Jake to a certain degree. I think naming Miles as the starter and giving him the helm will go a long way in giving him confidence. We just need to protect him.

He's definitely less of a runner than HR or TT, that's for sure. He moved around a little bit in the backfield today while attempting to find open receivers, but I don't remember him pulling one down and going with it. That is an element that is kind of expected of quarterbacks in 2021. You're not really playing with a full deck of cards if you don't have at least some mobility.

Yep. I’m just going off the STATS poll for three actual rankings. I don’t even look at the Coaches Poll. EW might stay above us but the other two will definitely drop, even if it’s only a couple spots.

Agreed on the ranking, though that will obviously be sorted out in the next two weeks. 2-0 and we’re a solid top-5 team regardless of the scores. 1-1 and we’re probably in the 8-13 range depending on the exact scores of the games. 0-2 and we drop to the 17-22 range, again depending on the scores.

Hastings has "rushed" 11 times this season for a -8 yards. A problem with college stats is that they count a sack as a rush attempt. I am not sure how they figure it, because he has been sacked 6 times. I wonder if any forward progress is considered a rush, even if it results in negative yards?

I liked seeing Poerio get the touchdown near end of first half particularly since he got lit up in the end zone on the early drive. I don’t follow HS football that closely but Poerio was a do it all player in high school, including being a good punter. I think he was a walk on here, and I like those kind of stories.

I also liked seeing Da’Von Frazier getting more action. He got half a sack and that might have been the play Martinez got knocked from game. I think he’s a good guy to blitz with.

Connor Lamson didn’t play again but Amoah did. Our 6’8” redshirt freshman who struggled some blocking the diminutive CalPoly defensive end sat this one out.

it was nice to hear some competent broadcasting by the other side, for once

Thomas set a single game record for punt return yardage, 112

I saw at least 4 solid returns. Key.

Lansom has been out at tackle for awhile, and Ford came out yesterday limping very badly. Linemen injuries have been an issue.

Amoah was back at left tackle

Pass protection was better than recent games when we were missing two starters. Amoah returned and I think Malik Banks was moved over to the where Lamson had been starting. In the Cal Poly game Rachow had been at that spot. Rachow often was blocking the 200lb CalPoly defensive end who was having a career night. Zachow is 6’8” and it was hard for him to keep up with a 6’3” 200 lb pass rusher.

This was a good win. Play calling seemed better again this game. Hastings seemed more comfortable, threw a few long balls. He should have connected on a wide open Harrell on that first play. Defense played well. Would hope for more pass rush against EWU as a better QB can do more with the extra time.

Even though we haven’t had the toughest schedule there is something to consistently winning even against mediocre teams. We have found ways to win. This is a good team. Looking forward to the next two weeks.

Nice win for the Aggies. Congrats.

I saw that. That, and the extra week of work, seemed to help the OL although run game was just ‘okay’. Run game was really starting to gel in third quarter, but they weren’t dominate enough to continue when we got so predictable. That, and the fact that NAU was getting more rest in fourth, really slowed us down