We saw the turnover problem rear it's ugly head last year at times too but today's game was particularly troublesome. The Ags came out very unfocused and lackadaisical. We had something like 5 turnovers in first 6 possessions and they weren't due to pressure by the Tiger defense; it was just throwing the ball away.

The Aggies were not mentally ready to play hard and smart. The starters are just not on the same page with each other and some of our experienced players that need to step up and be the leaders of this team are struggling. The way we rallied at the end of the game is encouraging but I think Jen Gross and the team must be very disappointed so far.

I just walked outside in Sacramento...the air is practically choking!

If the game is cancelled it could have a lot of consequences for the Ags. Not playing means that there's no chance for a loss but I think the Ags need to make a statement in this game to get the selection committees attention. The magnitude of our loss at EWU has raised questions about just where the Ags stand in relation to good playoff caliber teams.I think ultimately a cancelled game will work against us as far as the playoff picture is concerned.

The fire is currently only 25% contained.

Crazy ball game. The Aggies played poorly most of the game and were down 19 points 81-62 with just 3:24 to go in the game. Then they on a tear and outscored Pacific 18-2 but fall 83-80. The Ags had a great chance to tie it but turned the ball over with 10 seconds to go. Morgan Bertsch scored 31 points and broke the all-time scoring record and became the leading scorer in Aggie basketball history.

However, the real story of this game was the unfocused, sloppy play by the Aggies resulting in 26 turnovers, many of which were simply poor passes, and a very porous defense. The Ags beat the Tigers last year in Pacific 90-58 to put things in perspective.

Jen Gross has some serious problems to clean up with this team. It was nice to see the Ags come to life in the final 3 minutes but the game is 40 minutes long and the Aggies were not present mentally for most of it.

The Tigers roar out of the half and hit their first 9 shots and put up 30 points in the 3rd and take the lead 65-57

Pacific is on a 16-0 run and from the closing minutes of the first half until the 7:47 mark of the 3rd. The Aggie starters have come out and turned the ball over 6 more times.

20 turnovers now. If I was Jen Gross I would start subbing profusely and see who wants to play.

They just seem really unfocused...don't have their heads in the game. Way too many lackadaisical passes.

McKeown is the reason we are ahead 40-35 at the half despite 14 turnovers and Morgan Bertsch struggling to hit anything. She's totally out of sync.

Yes they would cancel the game if the air quality was very unhealthy for the players and the fans alike. It would create a mess but they would not put anyone's health at risk no matter how important the game was.

Ags turn the ball over 10 times in the first quarter and trail 18-13 after the first. Morgan Bertsch is 1-5 missing wide open looks. Hard to know what's wrong with this team but it looks like they are simply not focused.

The Ags are off to a horrible start...they have 8 turnovers in the first 5 minutes of the game and all of them have been unforced. This team is not mentally ready to play.

Davis Enterprise: Eagles fly high in second-half rout of Aggies, 59-20

“Mama told me there would be days like this, but she didn’t tell me it would be today,” said Aggie head coach Dan Hawkins.

“We just couldn’t find a rhythm out there, but you have to give them a lot of credit. Their defense gave us problems all afternoon and when their offense got rolling they really poured on the coals. That’s a very good football team.”

https://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/eagles-fly-high-in-second-half-rout-of-aggies-59-20/

I live in the Land Park area of Sac and the air quality has been horrible. As bad as when Mt St Helens erupted but without all the ash falling from the sky.

I don't know if we are thinking of the same play but the critical one I remember was in the first quarter also where we had them stopped for another 3 and out and then there was a holding call on one of our corners. Then, next play IIRC, Barriere threw a bomb down to the one yard line on a busted coverage. They scored and the momentum changed quickly.

An early decision by Hawk that left me scratching my was the choice to punt on the 4th and inches at midfield early in the game instead of going for it. They had picked up momentum and were beginning to roll and we needed a make a play to to give us some life.

Hawk normally takes risks to win and I think that conservative call sent the wrong message. The game was still within striking distance. Punting in that situation sent a message to them and to our team that we didn't think we could pick up a few inches. They got the ball back a moved down the field.

Three biggest factors that turned the game into a blowout to me were:

1) The dominance of their D line and the constant pressure on Jake plus the outstanding coverage of their DB's blanketing our receivers and then Jake desperately throwing into double and triple coverage. We were lucky that they only picked him twice.

2) The athleticism of Barriere. He made us miss all day long and ran us ragged. Our D was gassed just chasing him around all afternoon and being on the field so long. When things began to snowball we were missing tackles and they were still gaining more yards with several Ags hanging onto the ball carrier. I think the D was just worn down and Barriere was the main man who wore them out.

3) 5 turnovers that led to 21 points.

The call by their coach to have Barriere throw for another TD on 3rd and goal with 41 seconds left in the game with the score 52-20 was as poor sportsmanship as I have seen in a long time. 32 points ahead with 41 seconds to go wasn't enough...bull crap...that was just rubbing it in...

There's a lot on the line next Saturday. Time to lick our wounds, learn what we can, heal up and take our frustrations out on the Hornets!

EWU Coach Best:

EWU coach Aaron Best’s voice was hoarse after the decisive win, which came in foggy, 30-degree conditions.

“You want to play the best to see if you can become the best, and we did that today,” Best said. “Everybody outside of Eagle Nation didn’t give us a chance, and we love it.

“We are a complete team and we’ve showed that for 10 weeks. I’m going to continue to beat our drum – this team is selfless and they showed today how well they can execute.”

Hawk:

“They outcoached us, they outplayed us, and they really took it to us,” Hawkins said. “Give them credit, they were better in all phases of the game.”

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2018/nov/10/eastern-washington-thumps-uc-davis-59-20-in-big-sk/

Well this hasn't been a good week for the Aggies. The Men's Soccer Team just lost the Big West Tournament to UC Riverside on penalty kicks 4-2 in the 3rd OT.

I don't think it is outside the realm of possibility but we'd probably have to guarantee a certain amount of revenue and that would be tough with the students gone for Thanksgiving. But, then again, the students don't attend the games anyhow...

EWU had their way with us more so than Stanford.

1. The biggest difference to me was the domination of the EWU's O and D lines. Their D line put a lot of pressure on Maier and their DB's blanketed our receivers. Jake, in an effort to make something happen, threw into double and triple coverage and got burned. I think he was lucky that EWU only picked 2 of his passes.

2. It seemed to me that EWU had a better game plan on offense. They really opened up the playbook whereas Hawk seemed uncharacteristically conservative early on...4th and inches at midfield and punted and it was EWU that was showing creativity on offense.

3. EWU gave us a good taste of what the upper echelon of the FCS is all about. We've made great progress this year but we are not up to that standard yet.

4. We've got a whole lot to play for next Saturday. If we finish 9-2 and tied for the Big Sky title then we will probably get an at large bid to the playoffs. Unfortunately, because the loss was so lopsided we will also probably have to travel and play a higher seed on the first weekend. I don't see a home game anymore.

5. Let's hope that they get the devastating Camp fire under control and no more fires break out during the week or air quality will be an issue for the Causeway. Football seems trivial compared to the heartbreak that so many Californians are experiencing with the loss of their homes and loved ones to the fires and yet another mass shooting. It's been a sad week...

Rough week for Aggie fans: MBB get blasted by USF and USD, WBB gets routed by Stanford and the Ags get run out of Cheney. Aggie men's soccer play for the Big West Tournament Title tonight at 7 pm at Riverside:

Soccer final here: http://www.bigwest.org/tv/