Their version of Trent Tompkins, Zack Borisch a 3a Washington state Player of the year who is an international judoka and rushed for 205 yards against Eastern Washington this spring is now an essentially unused running back.

How did Rodgers beat his guy so badly when the QB is standing at the back of the end zone? They say ill advised pass, but the QB didn’t have an option. Couldn’t get anything in the ball because he didn’t have room to complete the motion. Best rush of the year! I can only imagine their team watching that play on film!

Buchanan played in second half

Hard to argue with wins but I think they need to take a little more risk to get some stops. Part of the reason the offense didn’t get untracked was Weber had the ball so long between our possessions

That has to be it.We’ve played two first game starters the last two weeks, don’t let a single play beat you make them do multiple plays without screwing up.

For sure the running backs are making it through the second level. I don’t think I’ve seen many games with guys sliding and trying to grab someone’s ankles as this one. But also our DBs are not contesting or breaking up passes but just allowing the catch and making a tackle. Broadcasters commented on how far back our safeties were which leads to a lot of catches in front of them and tackles.
But let’s give the linebackers some credit, Scharetg made that great stop on Davis on 4th and 1.

Odd game because Weber seemed ro push us around but in the end we seemed to wear them down. And that’s with the altitude factor.

at least we were good enough to be lucky

Yes, Comcast internet espn+

Your play by play was ahead of the stream

We.seem to play only a subset of our offense against good teams, like tonight and Tulsa.

Two turnovers and stopped them twice on fourth down. Otherwise we’d be blown out

The live stats are fully populated for Weber but empty for UCD. This is on our gameday page

Sac lucked out. Idaho State kept Sacs first TD drive alive by lining up over the long snapper. Then lost their starting QB in second quarter. Idaho State left guys wide open for huge gains with no defender several times.
with all that it was a close game. I only watched first three quarters.

Sax 23 Idaho State 21 start of 4th

That was a quote from Dr Mike, and he speculates in the next sentence because no need to given the lead. Bend but don’t break.

They burned us, we got five interceptions, who won?

Look, we’re far from perfect on D.
I have for decades hated that we almost never stop anybody from getting first downs when they’re pinned deep in their own territory, college teams tend to play loose when they have a lot of field behind them or a big lead. That’s irritating but maybe the smart move.

Good choice, Hope you root for UCLA

That was disturbing. But I think you might have pointed out the explanation:
I think we prepped for the other QB, so were zone dominant with a REALLY deep safety (25 yards). The new QB didn’t run much, didn’t go down field BUT was accurate 10-15 yards (especially, it seemed like on 3rd and long!). We didn’t seem to adapt much from that especially with the big lead. Bend and let them break? Just concerned at the last of pressure without a blitz and the openness of their WRs (who were talented).
That ties in with the idea that Dixie in prior games couldn’t score, so make the emphasis not giving up the quick score. Make them sustain drives.

As for the evidence that we improved, this is from the Weber game notes:
The Aggies are also third in the Big Sky in scoring defense, rushing defense and third down conversions.
Nationally, the Aggies lead the nation in interceptions with eight this season. UC Davis is also fourth in the country in turnover margin and rank fourth in the nation in red zone defense,
Its noteworthy that Tulsa couldn’t move the ball through the air against us without interceptions and forced fumbles, but they threw for over 400 yards against Ohio State.

I think the biggest reason we’re improved over 2019 is we got an infusion of size on the defensive line, with three 300+ lb linemen new to the team this spring, all of whom play to some degree. Luka Nixon also emerged as a force, and he’s a lot bigger than he was a couple of years ago, as is Bryce Rogers. As mentioned previously NG Suani, who started games for us in 2019 is quicker now, and he has more effect on collapsing the pocket now. He wasn’t on Spring team.
We have playmakers in the secondary, veteran guys that have had all league recognition or mention being pushed by some underclassmen. We play a lot of nickel and we have quality DBs.
The team as a whole seems very fit.
The coaches seem to make good decisions on blitzing vs coverage and mix things up well. I think it’s only natural that the defensive team would get better after a few games under a new coordinator, as he learns who can do what, and as they learn what he wants.

Our defense has been “stout” the sense of getting turnovers. They were stout in the March game in the sense of not giving up a lot of points and holding Weber to 3.3 yards per rush,
.
The defense has added Duncan and Suani who took spring off. Suani seems more disruptive at his lower weight, and it’s good to have depth against their big line. The earlier game was the second under a new coordinator, and I think we’ve improved. Lots of reasons to be optimistic if we look past the series history.