For those of you who did not watch last night's Big Sky games, there were 5 teams in action and I thought I'd give a brief recap plus some of my thoughts on the games:
Sacramento State: Sac State went on the road and beat Nicholls State 38-24. Kaiden Bennett went 11-16 for 221 yards and 2 TD's plus a rushing TD and was able to connect on a couple of deep bombs for TD's in this game. Carson Camp went 5/11 for 35 yards and 1 INT. There were rumors suggesting that Sac State would continue to try to run a 2 QB system this season, and they tried that early in this game before they realized that Camp was largely ineffective and Bennett took the reins for the majority of the night. Sac State had 185 yards on the ground led by Marcus Fulcher who had 19 carries for 71 yards and 2 TD's for an average of 3.7 yards. Kaiden Bennett was second in rushing with 10 carries for 38 yards and 1 TD for an average of 3.8 yards. Sac State had 256 receiving yards led by Devin Gandy (never heard of him) who had 3 receptions for 82 yards with a long of 47 yards. Jared Gipson who we all love was second on the team with 3 receptions for 60 yards and a long of 40 yards plus 1 TD. Sac State really spread the ball around to a lot of guys last night as nobody had more then 3 receptions in last night's game.
Defensively, I thought Sac State at times looked pretty good, and at other times I thought they looked a little gnarly. They gave up 196 yards through the air but only 97 yards on the ground which is pretty good. Sac State's secondary appears to be the biggest weakness on the team. They got beat across the middle multiple times and even over their heads a couple times. Overall, Sac State went on the road and beat a team by multiple scores that they were expected to beat and they'll head home to take on Texas A&M Commerce next week.
Idaho: Idaho went on the road and beat Lamar 42-17 in what was really a dominating performance for the Vandy's last night. The Idaho offense was as advertised last night as Gevani McCoy went 14/19 for 164 yards, 2TD's and 1 INT. McCoy also got involved in the run game last night as he had 5 carries for 41 yards with a long of 27 yards. Anthony Woods led the way on the ground with 138 yards with a long of 93 yards and 2 TD's for an average of 10.6 yards so his stats are a little skewed by 1 big rushing TD, but still a good performance by him. And no surprise here, but Hayden Hatten the Big Sky preseason MVP led the way in receiving yards with 6 receptions for 86 yards and 2 TD's and he even threw a TD on a trick play so he had a very productive night.
Defensively I had questions about the Vandy's coming into this game but by all accounts they were fantastic last night. They only gave up 119 yards through the air and 71 yards on the ground. Now don't get me wrong, Lamar has been probably the worst team in the Southland over the last 5 years, but outside of 2 garbage time TD's last night, the Vandy's defense was incredible. There are some things to clean up if you're Idaho though as they had 8 penalties for 108 yards, that's not very good, and the TOP was almost dead even at 30 minutes apiece which is not what we've become accustomed to with Idaho. They got some tougher opponents on the horizon though so they'll get their chance to prove it, but last night I thought the Vandy's looked every bit like a Big Sky title threat, and I will not be surprised if they win it.
Northern Colorado: Northern Colorado went on the road and lost to Abilene Christian 31-11 in what I thought was a very disappointing performance. I thought Jacob Sirmon was a massive disappointment last night as he was 18/32 for 106 yards and 1 TD. Definitely not his best night but he was not all to blame as there were a lot of dropped balls by the UNC receivers last night. UNC was even worse last night on the ground with only 84 rushing yards on 26 attempts. David Afari led the way for them on the ground with 11 carries for 56 yards.
Defensively, UNC was terrible. They gave up 225 yards through the air and 268 yards on the ground. ACU absolutely embarrassed them in all facets of the game last night and Ed Lamb could not have been impressed with that performance. I actually thought UNC had a chance to win this game and they weren't even close. I thought with Jacob Sirmon at QB they could at least be competitive in this game and they were anything but that last night. Really disappointing performance for UNC.
UC Davis: Davis went on the road and destroyed Texas A&M Commerce 48-10 in an absolutely dominant performance last night. Miles Hastings had an incredible night going 22/30 for 239 yards with 1 TD and the only blemish being 2 INT's, he'll need to clean that up. Davis had 279 yards on the ground on 45 attempts led by Lan Larrison who had 16 carries for 109 yards and 3 rushing TD's, pretty good starting debut for him if I do say so myself. Matteo Perez was a close second in the rushing column with 13 carries for 88 yards and 1 TD. That comes out to an average of 6.8 yards for both of them. That's quite the 2 man tandem in the backfield. Josh Gale and Trent Tompkins led the way in receiving yards with each of them notching 61 yards and Gale having the only receiving TD last night. In total, 10 different guys got involved in the receiving game last night so they spread the ball around quite a bit.
Defensively, that was an incredibly dominant performance as Commerce only had 3 points at the half before getting a garbage time TD. Commerce did have some success moving the ball with 143 yards passing and 142 yards rushing, but the big stat of the night was the Davis defense picking off their QB 3 times last night before Commerce finally made a QB change and they cleaned their act up offensively. Davis did have 3 total turnovers last night as Hastings threw 2 INT's and they lost a fumble so they definitely need to clean that up but how about this stat? Not a single penalty for Davis in the game last night. That's pretty impressive. UC Davis will likely be 4-1 heading into the October 7 showdown with The Griz which will be an absolutely huge game for both teams, but man did Davis look good last night.
Weber: Weber was the only team in action last night that played at home knocking off D2 Central Washington 35-10 in a game where they only led 14-10 at the half. I gotta be honest, I was not very impressed with Weber last night. I think Kylan Weisser sucks and is the equivalent of Kris Brown for us. To anyone who thinks Weber is gonna beat the cats in 3 weeks in Ogden, I got news for you, they're not. In fact, they're probably gonna get blown out at home. I will say despite a shaky start from the defense in the first half, they really buckled down in the second half and I don't even think CWU got across midfield in the second half, but offensively is where all the problems are for Weber. Weber had 190 yards on the ground and I actually thought Damon Bankston had a pretty good game. I thought that's actually when Weber was at their strongest when they were handing it off to Bankston, he was good last night. Only 23 minutes of TOP last night and if that continues into these tougher games, then Weber is not gonna win very many of them. Weber may have some uphill sledding with their next 3 games against UNI, Utah, and the cats. Good luck to them!
Sacramento State: Sac State went on the road and beat Nicholls State 38-24. Kaiden Bennett went 11-16 for 221 yards and 2 TD's plus a rushing TD and was able to connect on a couple of deep bombs for TD's in this game. Carson Camp went 5/11 for 35 yards and 1 INT. There were rumors suggesting that Sac State would continue to try to run a 2 QB system this season, and they tried that early in this game before they realized that Camp was largely ineffective and Bennett took the reins for the majority of the night. Sac State had 185 yards on the ground led by Marcus Fulcher who had 19 carries for 71 yards and 2 TD's for an average of 3.7 yards. Kaiden Bennett was second in rushing with 10 carries for 38 yards and 1 TD for an average of 3.8 yards. Sac State had 256 receiving yards led by Devin Gandy (never heard of him) who had 3 receptions for 82 yards with a long of 47 yards. Jared Gipson who we all love was second on the team with 3 receptions for 60 yards and a long of 40 yards plus 1 TD. Sac State really spread the ball around to a lot of guys last night as nobody had more then 3 receptions in last night's game.
Defensively, I thought Sac State at times looked pretty good, and at other times I thought they looked a little gnarly. They gave up 196 yards through the air but only 97 yards on the ground which is pretty good. Sac State's secondary appears to be the biggest weakness on the team. They got beat across the middle multiple times and even over their heads a couple times. Overall, Sac State went on the road and beat a team by multiple scores that they were expected to beat and they'll head home to take on Texas A&M Commerce next week.
Idaho: Idaho went on the road and beat Lamar 42-17 in what was really a dominating performance for the Vandy's last night. The Idaho offense was as advertised last night as Gevani McCoy went 14/19 for 164 yards, 2TD's and 1 INT. McCoy also got involved in the run game last night as he had 5 carries for 41 yards with a long of 27 yards. Anthony Woods led the way on the ground with 138 yards with a long of 93 yards and 2 TD's for an average of 10.6 yards so his stats are a little skewed by 1 big rushing TD, but still a good performance by him. And no surprise here, but Hayden Hatten the Big Sky preseason MVP led the way in receiving yards with 6 receptions for 86 yards and 2 TD's and he even threw a TD on a trick play so he had a very productive night.
Defensively I had questions about the Vandy's coming into this game but by all accounts they were fantastic last night. They only gave up 119 yards through the air and 71 yards on the ground. Now don't get me wrong, Lamar has been probably the worst team in the Southland over the last 5 years, but outside of 2 garbage time TD's last night, the Vandy's defense was incredible. There are some things to clean up if you're Idaho though as they had 8 penalties for 108 yards, that's not very good, and the TOP was almost dead even at 30 minutes apiece which is not what we've become accustomed to with Idaho. They got some tougher opponents on the horizon though so they'll get their chance to prove it, but last night I thought the Vandy's looked every bit like a Big Sky title threat, and I will not be surprised if they win it.
Northern Colorado: Northern Colorado went on the road and lost to Abilene Christian 31-11 in what I thought was a very disappointing performance. I thought Jacob Sirmon was a massive disappointment last night as he was 18/32 for 106 yards and 1 TD. Definitely not his best night but he was not all to blame as there were a lot of dropped balls by the UNC receivers last night. UNC was even worse last night on the ground with only 84 rushing yards on 26 attempts. David Afari led the way for them on the ground with 11 carries for 56 yards.
Defensively, UNC was terrible. They gave up 225 yards through the air and 268 yards on the ground. ACU absolutely embarrassed them in all facets of the game last night and Ed Lamb could not have been impressed with that performance. I actually thought UNC had a chance to win this game and they weren't even close. I thought with Jacob Sirmon at QB they could at least be competitive in this game and they were anything but that last night. Really disappointing performance for UNC.
UC Davis: Davis went on the road and destroyed Texas A&M Commerce 48-10 in an absolutely dominant performance last night. Miles Hastings had an incredible night going 22/30 for 239 yards with 1 TD and the only blemish being 2 INT's, he'll need to clean that up. Davis had 279 yards on the ground on 45 attempts led by Lan Larrison who had 16 carries for 109 yards and 3 rushing TD's, pretty good starting debut for him if I do say so myself. Matteo Perez was a close second in the rushing column with 13 carries for 88 yards and 1 TD. That comes out to an average of 6.8 yards for both of them. That's quite the 2 man tandem in the backfield. Josh Gale and Trent Tompkins led the way in receiving yards with each of them notching 61 yards and Gale having the only receiving TD last night. In total, 10 different guys got involved in the receiving game last night so they spread the ball around quite a bit.
Defensively, that was an incredibly dominant performance as Commerce only had 3 points at the half before getting a garbage time TD. Commerce did have some success moving the ball with 143 yards passing and 142 yards rushing, but the big stat of the night was the Davis defense picking off their QB 3 times last night before Commerce finally made a QB change and they cleaned their act up offensively. Davis did have 3 total turnovers last night as Hastings threw 2 INT's and they lost a fumble so they definitely need to clean that up but how about this stat? Not a single penalty for Davis in the game last night. That's pretty impressive. UC Davis will likely be 4-1 heading into the October 7 showdown with The Griz which will be an absolutely huge game for both teams, but man did Davis look good last night.
Weber: Weber was the only team in action last night that played at home knocking off D2 Central Washington 35-10 in a game where they only led 14-10 at the half. I gotta be honest, I was not very impressed with Weber last night. I think Kylan Weisser sucks and is the equivalent of Kris Brown for us. To anyone who thinks Weber is gonna beat the cats in 3 weeks in Ogden, I got news for you, they're not. In fact, they're probably gonna get blown out at home. I will say despite a shaky start from the defense in the first half, they really buckled down in the second half and I don't even think CWU got across midfield in the second half, but offensively is where all the problems are for Weber. Weber had 190 yards on the ground and I actually thought Damon Bankston had a pretty good game. I thought that's actually when Weber was at their strongest when they were handing it off to Bankston, he was good last night. Only 23 minutes of TOP last night and if that continues into these tougher games, then Weber is not gonna win very many of them. Weber may have some uphill sledding with their next 3 games against UNI, Utah, and the cats. Good luck to them!
