Question for anyone:. If Northern Arizona wins out adding Davis and Montana to Arizona as quality wins, would they make the playoffs with a 7-4 record? I’m thinking they will view our game as a must win playoff type game.

UNI beat #3 Southern Illinois. 23 to 16

NAU punter dropped to a knee to field a bad snap. Give Idaho chance
And Beaudry throws interception

NAU looks tough against Idaho.

Unlikely, unless we beat EWU.
Right now we might be favored by a point because it’s a home game. But in two weeks it will be different.

We will be underdogs against both Eastern Washington and Sac.
It was surprising how Sac dominates NAU, I thought they were coming on with their true freshma QB..
In my opinion the season would be a great success if we beat EWU regardless of the playoffs. Going from not having beaten a top 20 team in a decade to knocking of two, one of which might be number 1 ranked when we play them would be a real step forward. Same applies but to a lesser degree if we beat Sac and lose to EWU.

I think Sac is not going to have any trouble. I haven’t been a believer in Sac because I just didn’t want to, but they’ve overcome my skepticism.

I take it you don’t think Northern Colorado has a shot?

in the Weber game a Davis punt led to a touchdown due to a turnover by the Weber QB throwing from the back line of the end zone with a 350lb lineman in his chest.
However, perhaps it’s just my biased eyes but we seem to allow first downs whenever we have them pinned deep at a vey high percentage. So we don’t get great field position as much as one might think.

We haven’t had a turnover except on downs in the red zone defense in conference games. I guess we used our allotment in the preseason.
Hawkins said that O’Keefe called that run from punt formation play. Has permission to anytime the defense/situation is right for it.

I know. I chose that to give apples to apples comparison.
Shows that we are indeed good as far as red zone defense, in the top half at least, we’re not the best.

Hastings seems to be really good at the two minute offense. Final drive of the first half and the end of the Weber game.

Hawks comment about red zone defense prompted me to look at the BigSky conference stats.
I have no idea what they indexed this on. It looks like Sac State has the best Red Zone defense, yielding only four touchdowns in 11 attempts. We’ve yielded 7 touchdowns in 15 attempts.

Red Zone Defense
Index Team G ATT % TDS R/P FG-AT FUM INT Downs
1 Southern Utah 5 24-29 82.8 18 11/7 6-7 1 0 1
2 Northern Colorado 5 24-27 88.9 14 10/4 10-12 0 0 1
3 Idaho 4 18-22 81.8 16 6/10 2-5 0 0 0
4 Northern Arizona 4 16-19 84.2 14 8/6 2-3 1 1 0
5 Eastern Washington5 14-18 77.8 13 11/2 1-2 0 1 1
6 Portland State 4 12-17 70.6 8 4/4 4-4 2 1 1
7 Idaho State 5 15-17 88.2 9 5/4 6-6 0 2 0
8 Montana 4 11-16 68.8 9 5/4 2-4 1 1 0
9 UC Davis 5 11-15 73.3 7 4/3 4-7 0 0 1
10 Cal Poly 4 13-14 92.9 10 4/6 3-4 0 0 0
11 Sacramento State 4 6-11 54.5 4 3/1 2-3 0 2 2
12 Weber State 4 10-11 90.9 8 7/1 2-2 1 0 0
13 Montana State. 5 8-11 72.7. 5 3/2 3-3 0 2 1

Thorpe looks good, but to say he’s our best receiver must have some qualifier.
The Poly defensive lineman who created the most disruption against us ( 2 sacks, 4 TFL, a tipped pass that lead to an interception, maybe another block or so) was a 6’3” 200lb. defensive end. If our guys who weigh 260 to 280 can’t block him, it’s unlikely putting a bigger slower guy in would help.

Do you think Sac is suffering for using two QBs? They switch them at any time in a drive.
I know that throughout football history there is the belief that not having a number one QB is a bad thing. I think that’s no more true than for most positions. Certainly whatever benefit derives from having a top guy depends on picking the right guy, and that has to involve giving candidates playing time.
It’s unfortunate the HR has been inconsistent enough to have to sit a game. He may or may not have lost his starting role, I think not. But I think it was a sound decision to sit him.
Hastings gained valuable experience.
The team saw that Hastings can win with/for them, which is a positive. Rather than a controversy I think they now have evidence that any of the QBs are good enough to play. If the QB is pressing because of competition that doesn’t bode well for other pressure situations.
I agree 100% that HR has a higher ceiling. I’m hoping to see him play next game. I wish both guys had better pass protection,

For what it’s worth, at end of season 2018, Sagarin had the Aggs #100.
This years team currently stands at #130.
Their algorithm is based on scores.

Based on performance so far, it edges out the 2018 team for best. That means we’ve played eight games, had an win over a top 100 FBS team, broke a loosing streak on the road over a favored and ranked Weber State team. That’s two quality wins. The 2018 team had a win over what turned out to be a poor San Jose State team and a win over an unranked Montana team.
However, it’s an incomplete season. The 2018 team won a playoff game. So that counts as a third impressive win. This team can add a third win by beating EWU or Sac or a playoff game. Anything beyond that makes them the best. I’m not too persuaded by strength of schedule because losing by 20 to Stanford doesn’t prove anything. The main thing is who did you beat and the 2018 team didn’t beat any ranked opponent, this team has done that.

It depends on whether you’re a glass half empty or half full guy.
Pretty good for a reserve.
Good enough to beat Eastern Washington - probably not.
If we had better line play with our running backs and receivers we could win with any of our QBs.

Playing multiple QBs is commonplace in college football. We’re a better team when Rodrigues is playing his best game than if Hastings is playing his best game, but if your starter isn’t producing it’s a good thing to use someone else. They are both new, so neither has really prove themselves to the extent they have a claim on the role. I think it only becomes a controversy when players start thinking the coach is playing the wrong guy, but players understand competition.

Hawkins recently said that as a player here he felt if he fumbled he would be on the bench. Hawkins repeatedly stresses that turnovers make the difference in most games. I think Hawkins benched Rodrigues to make that point.
I think we’ll see him again either as a starter of if Hastings has problems. I think the point has been made, not just to Rodrigues but to Hastings as well.