Northern Arizona had their starting QB, Pennington (all I can ever think of when I hear that is grass seed) knocked out of the Idaho game early in the second half. Their back was far inferior to their starter in both passing and running departments. I think if Pennington had not gone out, there was a good chance NAU would have won. Their success against Montana (or lack thereof) will heavily depend on if Pennington can go. I would confidently say they have no chance without him - Pennington is quite good. I think his injury was related to a possible concussion.

Don’t they know that “the” has been copyrighted by The Ohio State University? Poor English is ubiquitous these days … and whoever does the UCD game notes is not a whole lot better.

FB a still is a game of 18-20 year olds playing a game.

Amen to that! Although with Covid/redshirting/portal it’s seems the upper bound is 25 years old or so.

Regardless, a major reason that there is so much uncertainty in college games with regard to outcomes.

The ball only needs to touch the goal line not cross it. So less of a “requirement” on the field side then perhaps many think.

at this point tha

that’s what I was thinking until I watched the whole game :-). Pretty deflating for Cal. The attendance at memorial stadium was impressive. Analogous to Easter Sunday. Will be interesting to see subsequent attendance on “low Sundays”. I expect eventually back to half capacity at best.

That Watt guy can run. His success in that was due to big line splits and hitting gaps that looked like one could drive a Mac truck through. The QB that looked good at UNC and first of the Idaho State game is Jones. He is quite mobile and extends plays and throws well. He was injured in the Idaho State game, and in my opinion is their best all-round QB. I think film study will be helpful. Poly is definitely improving and needs to be taken seriously.

with the impressive offensive yardage figure, one would have guessed the Ags would have had 40 points or so. But both the yards and number of first downs are in part reflective of poor field position when starting drives. I think the Aggies must have one of the poorest total yards to points ratio in the nation. I’d be more worried if they couldn’t move the ball, and recently they have been getting better red zone success, but improvement is still needed without doubt.

That’s Larison at midfield in the photo, not the TD play. @movielover had a good description. The incomplete pass to CJ was barely tipped which is why CJ didn’t catch it (although I think he thought he should have snagged it anyway - he is very sure-handed). The clock operator let the clock expire but as the tv announcer said the refs put 1 second back on the clock. I am not sure but I suspect in situations as this there is one ref who monitors the time.

Re: Tompkins catch - in real time it looked like the ball was out of the end zone, but Tompkins was coming back to the ball so his momentum in real time surely gave the appearance of no TD as he was moving away from the end zone. The rule is if any part of the ball touches the field side of the line with control it is immediately a touchdown. The local news video posted here used the phrase “crossed the plane” but again only one point of the ball need “touch” rather than “cross” the infinitesimally thin plane of points at the field side of the line.

The ref that made the TD call was positioned exactly on the goal line and only a few feet from the catch. So with that call on the field and camera angles that weren’t on the goal line and poorly positioned for a good review, the call on the field had to stand.

Now if either the 1 second put back call or the TD call had not eventuated, I don’t think anyone could have complained.

They (CP) seem to have picked it up when they changed QBs to Jones. He is mobile and extends plays. He just came out of the game with an injury though.

True in the ultimate sense. However if whomever covered up the tight end knew from the play call that the TE was going out on a route and not just blocking - one would think that he wasn’t thinking. But yes the coaches need to drill that stuff in. I do see a lot of calls these days on illegal formations - many of those due to more than 4 in backfield and many times a tackle backed off the line so as not get burned by an edge rusher.

Idaho State has some nice looking tall receivers. One is a high jumper and Fredrickson is very good too. Sort of glad the Ags aren’t playing them this year although the series would be at Davis (that Dome seems to cause bad vibes for some opponents).

your last bullet point was very obvious to me (I didn’t see all of game)

I did t see the fumble but did see the int. When you throw the ball 55 times (although a lot of shorter throws) a pick is likely to happen. Chachere here had a very good game. Some incredibly open receivers - DBs improved in second have but either coverage or schemes (zone/man) were not working at all in first half.

From the parts I saw, the Aggies had poor starting field position on a number of drives which likely contributed to yards/points ratio. A couple of “sailed” throws by Miles appeared to be due to avoiding linebacker tips/interceptions but the one to Gbatu on the late hit penalty was sailed. But overall quite a good game for him I’d say.

I need to have you talk to my wife :-).

Yes. Montana has given up a crazy number of points the last 2 games - but on the other hand have scored a lot. Expected against EWU but not so much against Weber.

Is it heartbreaking if they are used to i

:-) Guess you have a point. Maybe more just numb at this point. Will be interesting how they respond or not next game.

The veterans showed up.

If there is anything positive to identify in this game is that good teams sometimes win very ugly games. They didn’t give up the last couple minutes. Portland could have put the game away with a first down.

Exactly. I get the feeling the team and maybe coaches were gleaning the press and social media about Idaho win rather than seriously preparing for this game. This shows what is needed to contain a mobile quarterback. I’m retired so I am allowed to glean and bask :-).

the ball doesn’t need to cross the line. The only requirement is that the front of the ball touches the “front” of the goal line.