UC-Davis Game Day Thread

[JackJD]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

I'm watching Midco's "Jackrabbit Journal" as I write this post. Just before a commercial break, Stig was asked about punting. He said the guys know they are supposed to plant their heels on the 10 and if the ball is going past them, they don't wave fair catch, they don't try to catch it, they just move in the opposite direction of the ball. (He commented that everyone in the stands knows that's the rule.) He noted it's nice to win when making mistakes like that because those mistakes are fixable.

I was at the game Saturday. I watched the Jackrabbit Insider Sunday night. Last night I watched the game (had DVR'd it). Tonight, watching the game highlights on Jackrabbit Journal, I get more optimistic each time I see plays from the UC-Davis game. Walking out of CAS Saturday, the best I could think of was "lackluster" but that's wrong. Credit UC-Davis with some stiff defense and some very athletic guys. The better team won but we had a battle on our hands. Overall, a nice win.

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

No doubt. Just to clarify, I wasn't knocking the current "young and inexperienced players with talent and upside", I was lamenting the fact that we don't have "experienced or proven" backups. I understand that many programs are lacking in this area, it just seems like in recent years SDSU is woefully deplete of depth at specialty positions.

I was going to say this earlier but didn't. Isnt it this years redshirt juniors or seniors that State basically lost an entire class? That's where your depth issue is.

Stig has publicly stated that the last two classes have been great for SDSU. Things should be really good with one more class following this one. That's why I think this year is so important in terms of taking that next step and with recruiting. The product needs to come through on the field.

[jackmd]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

Gandy's really young yet,i have faith in him that he'll continue to improve as he gains experience,same with Kline and all the young inexperienced players.

No doubt. Just to clarify, I wasn't knocking the current "young and inexperienced players with talent and upside", I was lamenting the fact that we don't have "experienced or proven" backups. I understand that many programs are lacking in this area, it just seems like in recent years SDSU is woefully deplete of depth at specialty positions.

[jackdaniel]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

In regards to Gandy's performance so far... from what I've seen on the net and heard on the radio (and I wasn't able to attend Sat's game), pretty much every time he's gotten the ball he's been leveled. One of the hits last week, Tyler M. made a comment that Gandy was lucky to hold on to the ball as he got lit up the moment he got the handoff. Can't see how that's his fault.

Also, and this is just human nature, not condoning it, but there could be a bit of a letdown in the O line when Zenner goes out. But it has been mentioned nearly every time Gandy has gotten a hand off, that he's "hit right at the line of scrimmage". And that doesn't happen to Zach every play. Sometimes it does, and Zach breaks the tackle...but they are different styles of runners. I still think Gandy has great potential.

The defense is really showing something. Starting a couple redshirt freshmen, and others contributing. And we don't have to blitz much, because the front four are doing a nice job of penetrating. But I know we're blitzing more than 3 times a game when our redshirt freshman middle linebacker gets four sacks. This defense could be special.

Gandy's really young yet,i have faith in him that he'll continue to improve as he gains experience,same with Kline and all the young inexperienced players.

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

I don't consider red shirt freshman behind a sophomore as great depth. Same at the receiver position. It doesn't mean the guy that are there aren't capable, I just think most of the other teams we compete against have more depth in these positions. I don't have the time to back my statement up with fact and my observations may be completely false, I can handle that.

I can respect that. I would agree that we don't have great depth, but we aren't exactly 1 deep either. Frankly, I don't care if a kid is a true freshman or a sixth year senior, if they are able to play. Would it be great to have Senior-Junior-Sophomore-RsFr at every position? Absolutely. Unfortunately, I don't think that's very realistic. I would be willing to guess that there are multiple teams we will play that would kill for our depth at O-Line, we might like to have their depth at running back. Toe-May-Toe, Toe-Mah-Toe.

To be fair, we lost at least one upperclassmen running back in part (I'm guessing) because he saw the writing on the wall that a sophomore and red shirt freshman were going to play before him. Hard to fault anyone involved.

[jackmd]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

I don't consider red shirt freshman behind a sophomore as great depth. Same at the receiver position. It doesn't mean the guy that are there aren't capable, I just think most of the other teams we compete against have more depth in these positions. I don't have the time to back my statement up with fact and my observations may be completely false, I can handle that.

[da_coach]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

In regards to Gandy's performance so far... from what I've seen on the net and heard on the radio (and I wasn't able to attend Sat's game), pretty much every time he's gotten the ball he's been leveled. One of the hits last week, Tyler M. made a comment that Gandy was lucky to hold on to the ball as he got lit up the moment he got the handoff. Can't see how that's his fault.

Also, and this is just human nature, not condoning it, but there could be a bit of a letdown in the O line when Zenner goes out. But it has been mentioned nearly every time Gandy has gotten a hand off, that he's "hit right at the line of scrimmage". And that doesn't happen to Zach every play. Sometimes it does, and Zach breaks the tackle...but they are different styles of runners. I still think Gandy has great potential.

The defense is really showing something. Starting a couple redshirt freshmen, and others contributing. And we don't have to blitz much, because the front four are doing a nice job of penetrating. But I know we're blitzing more than 3 times a game when our redshirt freshman middle linebacker gets four sacks. This defense could be special.

[common sense rabbit]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

I wonder if Dom Wright is worried about getting hit that he doesn't see where he's at or does he just have trouble feeling where he's at in the field. And honestly this should not even be happening, and I'm guessing he caught punts during high school so I have no idea why he struggles with punts or knowing where he's at on the field

bottom line- u either get the job done or you don't! This is a guess and a guess only so please no one become unglued by this statement but MAYBE just MAYBE he's a high scholarship player and when a lot of $ is invested in a player they want to get results from the player??? I'm not saying that coaches think this way but I'm just throwing it out there..

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

Other food for thought:

We seem to have a momentum type of running game, where a guy needs to approach 10 carries to get going.
However, in the Kansas game, on his first seven carries, he went for -1, 1, 99, 2, 4, -1, 3. He had one carry for over 5 yards, and two 1 yard or less. His next 5 carries went for 9, 8, 5, 2, 5.
At SELU, he went 10, 6, 2, 2, 5, 6, -1, 4, 2, 2, 4, 3, 4 (4 YPC). His next 6 carries went for 9, 9, 9, 4, 5, 13.
Against Cal Davis, he went 7, 6, 7, -1, 0, 4, 5 (4 YPC). Then he went for 31, 9, 4, 5, 3, 61.

For whatever reason, our running game seems to be optimized when a back gets around 25 carries. Give Zenner 25 carries every game, he might go for 150 every game. Give him 15 carries, and he might go for 60 (just like last year).

IMO, for our running game to be successful our starting running back needs to get at least 20 carries a week. Is that a reasonable number to do without risking injury?

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

I think this "depth" conversation is pretty similar to basketball conversations in the past.

There were posters comment how Fiegen or Carlson aren't DI basketball players. My contention is that everybody on the team can't average 15/10/5. It just isn't possible (unless you are going to score 150 a game, grab every single rebound, and have an assist on every single play). A player can be "good" and contribute even if they aren't all-conference (or even starting) material.

Likewise in football. Is Rollin better than the back-up? I should hope so, otherwise Rolling should be the backup. Backups are backups for a reason, they aren't as good as the starter.

Depth means you have someone who can step in and play adequately until the starter can return. It doesn't mean you have someone step in and play just as good as the starter until they return. I would say the backups have performed at least adequately everytime they have been needed so far this season.

[witness]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

I wonder if Dom Wright is worried about getting hit that he doesn't see where he's at or does he just have trouble feeling where he's at in the field. And honestly this should not even be happening, and I'm guessing he caught punts during high school so I have no idea why he struggles with punts or knowing where he's at on the field

[Chains]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

[QUOTE=SF_Rabbit_Fan;207938]I would rather have punt return problems with fair catches/field awareness than the problems we had the last 2 years. Seems like an easier fix than struggling to run the ball or stop the run. It doesn't appear to be a unit problem.[/QUOTE

Agree, punt returns / field positions issues should be an easy fix. However, in the third game of the season it should NOT still be a problem. That is why you have practice. I promise you that if this was happening at some other MV schools there would be changes. It is completely unacceptable in the first game, last game and all the games in between. Fix it gentlemen or it will cost us a win somewhere down the road.

GBGBGJ

[Southeast]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

The point of having depth at RB is that Zenner can't carry that much of the load in the MVC. He's going to get injured if he's carrying the ball that much. It's too physical of a league.

I agree. Running backs are an injury waiting to happen and handing them the ball 25 times per game is asking for trouble. Avoiding a significant injury at that rate would be a miracle. Hopefully one of those young guys is ready to carry a heavier load.

[JackJD]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

Our corners playing so far off the outside receivers is deceptive in that it looks bad from the fan perspective, but in theory and practice it's not all that bad.

Passes near the sideline are tougher throws (lower completion %) than those over the middle and take longer to reach there target (CB has more time to break on the ball), so encouraging the opposing QB to attempt them isn't a terrible thing. Also, most of the time when our corners are playing way off the far receiver the opposing offense has a slot receiver on that side, which our linebacker/safety is covering close to the line of scrimmage. This helps protect against the quick hit/WR Screen, plus, with the corner playing off, he has a good angle to see both the receiver he's line up against and the slot, which is important since we play a lot of zone. Also, just because they are playing deep doesn't mean they are always taking the deep zone, as disguising coverages and forcing opposing QBs to make post snap reads is a good thing.

I'm not saying the deep corners is always perfect (it's good to mix it up and show different looks), but I think it gets a bit overblown at times.

This is an excellent post.

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: UC-Davis Game Day Thread

The point of having depth at RB is that Zenner can't carry that much of the load in the MVC. He's going to get injured if he's carrying the ball that much. It's too physical of a league.