Yes. The cal poly famous drop game rears it’s head. A win is as win and very sweet against cal poly. And it makes them 0-8. Love beating rivals. I have to give some credit to the defense. They proved me wrong.
Happy we won. Don't understand Tehran Thomas, who would be one of my top 2 backs, not playing. Defense getting too happy w 3 minutes left after a stop when we had won nothing. Poor discipline. No effort to mix in an occasional running play in first half.
I don't expect probing questions from our press.... so we score 21 early... 10 the rest of the game? Ugly win, good crowd.
Connor Airey RFrosh LB had at least one big play down the stretch (again).
Winning the shoe is nice, but I think this game continued to show some glaring weaknesses in our program as it stands. Run game is non-existent, so much so that we basically gave up on it altogether. I don't think that is a long term solution but at least we went in the direction of our strength as opposed to NAU where we tried to force the run. Tackling is abysmal. The 2nd half of this season we seem to have adopted a weird trend of going conservative at weird times in the game. That wasn't present in the first half of the season where we went full steam ahead for the entire game. I gotta give props to Poly though, they wanted that win bad. A lot of programs that are 0-7 would just roll over especially going down big early on, but they fought til the very end on that one.
Does our offensive brain trust need a little therapy? I love our coaches, but... Thomas averaged 16 yards a carry last week, and he saw no PT today? His average on the year is 6.8 yards per carry... highest on the team ... only 20 carries, but worth thinking about.
1) Aggie Pack: I continue to be disappointed and underwhelmed by this so-called student section. No organization, no leadership, no knowledge of football. The loudest they were all night was while mugging for a camera before a punt all 200 of them. Seriously? AP leadership of 10, 12 years ago must be livid with what they have since become.
2) Lack of concentration: It sure seemed like we put it into cruise control after going up 21-0 6:00 into the game. Also, a dance party by the benches when Poly punted late in the 4th but before the 3-and-out with Spencer and Maier? Really bad look.
3) What the hell are we doing benching Meier with 459 YARDS for Spencer the first 2 downs of what ultimately was the most critical possession of the game? And then put Maier in for 3rd down? Can we more blatantly telegraph what we are doing? Yes, we most likely would run to burn clock and the last Poly timeout, but taking out Maier allowed Poly to sell out on the run, and then know the pass was surely coming on 3rd & long. Could not have been more conservative with the Spencer keepers on 1st and 2nd. Play to win the game.
4) Horseshoe: I saw the photo of the trophy on my phone and had to ZOOM IN to see it. Isn't this the 3rd iteration of the trophy? I guess we know what the solution is: never lose to Poly again. Pretty asinine and ridiculous if you ask me - 12 years, 3 trophies. FBS rivalry game trophies have been around for generations. Get it together Poly.
I was watching the game online so I can't really comment on your 1st point. Points 2 and 3 should be concerning. Taking Maier out of the game to run the clock was absurd. Running wasn't working all game, keep Jake out there and try to get a couple of first downs with short passes. I also noticed that it looked like a different trophy. Always seems to happen when its coming from Cal Poly. Not sure what their deal is.
The sideline dance was a horrible look. Thrilling win that shouldn’t have been that close. Give poly credits, coaches and kids. They made adjustments ( completely took away Preece), stuck with their run game and didn’t give up. They got killed by three of their mistakes : 1) fumble before half cost them three or seven points; 2) hold on last punt cost them ten yards and left them out of FG position; 3) dropped pass on last play. But it’s a win.
In retrospect a FG instead on going for it on the one would have iced it BUT shouldn’t give up a 99 yard drive. Thought that penalty was ticky tack for that situation. Wasn’t egregious enough to make a game changing call.
Run game was non existent against poly’s front four - let their backers drop into pass lanes to take away pass option. Only one fly and that went for a loss. I’d like to see some fakes off the fly to keep d honest.
Aggie pack did get loud at end but they need leaders. Football isn’t part of many of our students background so they need someone on a mic to teach and lead. That being said best atmosphere in stadium in many years.
Beat the bengals and let’s see what happens down the stretch
So Poly made adjustments, and we didn't. Not good. We didn't score in the second half with a dominant QB and WRs, and only added 10 points after the first 5 minutes?
I don't think I've ever seen a more untimely, large sideline celebration in decades of Aggie football. CJ, Airey, a few othes can also strut like peacocks while we are behind or on the edge.
We had problems starting w our 2 minute drill vs EWU. We need to button things up or we lose an opportunity to do more with Doss' junior year.
Good atmosphere, good crowd, recruits on hand. Go Ags!