.

Yeah, i picked up on that as well regarding fatigue. For some reason in years past the altitude was not “that” problematic for us. But LL and TT both may not have been able to work as hard as normal considering they are both nursing injuries.

Ws would be nice. I think we all have greater aspirations than a 6-5 team. At some point it just seems like you have to shake things up to get the desired outcome. As an example, when i was commuting on the train to the bay area, i developed a friendship with this guy who was an executive problem solver. He would be hired as a temp CEO to turn around companies that were failing. He was a good coach and mentor, but expected excellence if you were going to stay on the team.
Back to football, at some point in a loosing season you need to try something different. Maybe a few different linemen, a young RB or receiver, and yes, a different QB. Put some new talent in there and open it back up for competition to earn that starting position. This might bring back the “best” in players.
In the presser, Hawk mentioned the defensive adjustments necessary to deal with a dual threat QB. Well, thats one less thing our opponents have to worry about.

What an entertaining and insightful presser. The thing that stands out to me in this presser is Hawk's honesty and wisdom.

We all want to win and play for championships but, when thing's aren't going well, most fans tend to fault the coaches and the QB first. I thought his explanation about how each of the 3 interceptions were not simply Miles' fault alone. The receivers have to run the correct routes and be in the right place for the timing of the pass to be accurate and that didn't happen on the first interception. The same thing contributed to Miles holding onto the ball longer and then getting hit from the back when he fumbled. There are a lot of moving parts that need to be in sync for a passing play to be successful so interceptions are not solely about what appears to be a poorly thrown ball by the QB.

I thought Hawk's answer to what he told the team today was special and it tells us a lot about why we are so fortunate to have him as our head coach.

After watching sections of the game again, I think:

-Hastings did not have as “bad” of a game as some have indicated. A couple interceptions were either bad routes by the receiver or not cutting a route (Scott Gordon mentioned that on the radio feed and the pass to Gale. Josh didn’t have one of his better receiving games (dropped an easy 20 yard or so pass, and didn’t locate one along the sideline. I was really impressed with Davis who seemed to me to really go after balls and show his potential after not being a big factor.

On the inability to get the ball into the end zone while deep in the red zone, the Aggie O-line was not getting a good push (and NAU had penetration) - a couple of the runs had pulling guards or washout blocking to one side - again with no real holes or push developing. NAU did a good job, but I just wonder if straight ahead zone blocking letting the back find a hole would be more effective down deep. Easy to question in retrospect I guess.

Another thing that baffled me was the TD pass into the corner of the end zone by NAU that looked clearly out of bounds. I don’t know why Hawkins did not risk a timeout with a challenge on that other than no one had a view or tv feed to let him know. In reality, if there was a reply official he should have invoked a view.

The Aggies have really seemed to abandon the fly sweep actions that they used quite frequently in the past. This might be due to Mark Speckman leaving and perhaps Cody Hawkins.

I'd have to go back and watch it again ......but I feel like Gale dropped 14 points (not TD passes, per say, but easy long completions that would have resulted in TD's or at least some points)

Your comment about pulling guards reminded me of a video presentation Speckman made for coaches where he was explaining his version of the fly offense, and he didn’t like pulling guards.

Didn't Hutton excel at the fly?