Richmond’s QB could not throw a wet ball. Nothing but Joe Kapp floaters. Both Dunniway and O’Hara could at least get some spin on the ball. That was the difference in second half. Feel a bit bad for Richmond - they really shut down Sacs running game.
Now that Taylor has the playoff loss thing off his back - maybe he’ll move on up to FBS.
Sac could have won that game by 3 td's if they could execute in the red zone/stopped turning it over w picks. Richmond had 56 yards on their final 7 drives. Weather a factor for both teams but the Sac defense made some nice adjustments. Udinski/Herres combo was fun to watch, both at VMI & Richmond.
Lindsey Scott Jr poses a whole different level of threat for Sac this weekend. He isn't the kid of a year ago prone to stupid mistakes. He's basically cleaned that up and become the most dangerous QB in FCS. IW gonna get 30 but Sac prob will too. Should be a fun game.
Incarnate Word’s only loss was by 6 on the road to SE Louisiana, who won their first round playoff game. Hammered a 5-6 Southern Illinois team and also won at Nevada (they went 2-10 but it’s still an FBS win). Scored at least 31 in every game this year and over 40 in 9 of their 12 games.
The IW SOS wasn't good - in the 100's but their offense is so explosive. Their game 1 beatdown of SIU was by far their most impressive result, imo. The literally played no one the las 6 weeks until the Furman game. The loss to SELA (who lost to a Samford team with their backup QB last week) was surprising and came on a hail mary at the end of the game. Sac has been way more battle tested and wont have trouble scoring but IW offense is fun to watch. Interested to see how they fare against the Hornets. IW struggled in the 2nd half last week to put up points vs Furman (10 points over 28 mins) but dont be fooled by the final score. They dominated that game. 613 yards to 332. Had the Furman defense on the field for almost 100 plays. 6.3 YPP vs 5.2 - close b/c 3 turnovers and 16 penalties.
The IW head coach also took the Texas St job last week. Will continue to coach the team through the playoffs.
3 of the 4 quarterfinal playoff games are on Friday, and it's very good news for Sac to play Friday night before the heavy rains on Saturday.
Friday
Samford @ NDSU, 4 pm PT -- listed as being on ESPN2 and ESPN+
William & Mary @ Montana State, 7:15 pm PT -- listed as being on ESPN2 and ESPN+
Incarnate Word @ Sac, 7:30 pm PT -- listed as only being on ESPN+
Saturday
Holy Cross @ South Dakota State, 9 am PT -- listed as being on ESPN and ESPN+
My two cents....NDSU by 20+. Almost certain the Samford backup QB, Cirittendon, goes again as Heirs is nursing a hand injury. He played like 5 snap last week and had to come out. Might see something similar this week. Backup is solid but not Heirs and this is a different animal in the fargodome. Mismatch along the lines will show over time and anyone with a rushing pulse has mashed against Samford. Last week SELA 348 at 7.1. Mercer had no issues either. Bison missing their best back in Luepke but ran the ball much better than I figured last week again a Montana team I thought was pretty weak but could hold up decently in the trench. They did not. By 2h they were cooked. This Bison team a few notches down from those of years past mainly driven by the QB. Gotta find a team that just slows the run a bit and forces the Qb to make plays. That how you beat them and that's not Samford.
Sac Bee this morning said Sac pushed for the friday game to beat out the weather on saturday. Not sure how far in advance they would have had to do that if its true. Either way, a rain free game seems to play into Incarnate Word’s hand more so than Sac’s.