Cal Poly Game Thread

[Jacks99]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Tough loss, but not as bad as some. The injuries are are the worst part of it.

I believe Stig did say that the playbook was shortened for TOB and he seemed to relax a bit when he heard that. Thought he did well getting into the game. When he came in at the GSU game? when Craw was dinged the first play he looked nervous, but after that got focused. Let's wait and see how he does when he has a week to get focused.

Agree what the other two said about TOB's throw's maybe being hard to adjust to mid game for the receivers. No excuse, but that has to be part of it.

Hate to say it, but I felt before the game that it may be a good time to get a loss as any. Sometimes losses at certain points in a season can force teams to change and adapt faster. Better now that any conference game.

Like Stig says: The football game pales in comparison to what happened to Crawford and maybe Steffen. His dreams may have just been shattered yesterday. But I also think he has the character to help and be a part of the team from the sidelines if he must.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

I'm with you GBGBGJ...I have always believed that we have a very good chance to get UNI this year. Couldn't pick a better time to face them than with this year's defense, at Coughlin, and on Hobo Day. Is it going to be easy? No...but it is certainly possible. Need to get Missouri State this weekend, and NDSU the next, and you can bet we will be ready to play UNI if we can pull that off. Go Jacks!

[thumper_76]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

One thing that we're overlooking is that our O-Line isn't playing like a squad that has multiple NFL prospects. We're not imposing our will against anyone right now. Like someone said earlier, we should be a run-heavy team. We haven't been able to run it like I think we should so far this season. Also, to reiterate what someone said...TOB is going to need a little more time. He won't be making many plays with his feet like Craw did and the O-line needs to give him some time.

One final thing that I've observed over the years. I can remember the first game for a few pretty decent QBs. Rennerfelt looked awful and was an excellent QB (under-rated by most), Feldheim looked absolutely terrible, Kardoes and Berry also appeared below average in their first couple of starts. I think TOB looked better than all of them, considering the tipped pass, then the fumble which was kind of out of his control. This doesn't mean he will actually BE better than those guys, just a point of reference. As a side note, I think Nelson may have been the only one who didn't look a little shaky.

Just my .02

If this is true (couldn't watch the game) I'd look to see the o-line come back this week with a huge game. Meadows will NOT be happy if we couldn't run the ball well. Believe me, he will be all over those guys like white on rice this week, and I know that they will be upset over the sacks and Crawford's injury. I know MSU is a good team, but I think our line and Minnet come out this week saying hey this is on US now, and really tear it up and play angry from here on out.

[jackmd]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Briefly,

Jerry Lohr, great man, great winery, Jackrabbit fans and alumni are the best. I'll go back whether their is a Jackrabbit game to attend or not.

Tailgating, again great. We hung out in the far north lot with the non-season ticket guys. Right near the stadium was a great area for the booster, season ticket holders. Met several of our players parents and had a great time. One of the campus officers gave one of our players dad's a ride up to the lot, hand cuffed him and dropped him off. Very positive experience.

The game, not really anything positive to gain from it. Fortunately, its just a non-conference road loss. When we rebound with a better performance this weekend it will just be another game to forget. Our defense was exploited by the outside run game and we were never able to recover. Cal-Poly should have scored more points. Their coaching staff made some bad play calls in our territory and kept us in the game. We didn't do well in any facet of the game. Stupid penalties, poor special teams/kick coverage and punt returns. They beat us on the line of scrimmage going both ways.

Our defense could not stop them when they needed yards on 3rd down and too often they gained 7 plus yards on first down. We were lucky to even be in the game near the end. Great decision by their coach to punt near the end of the game. TOB wasn't ready to make reads against their defense, that is understandable. The dropped passes and lack of a reliable ground game made it even worse for Thomas. Our inability to sustain any drives lead to fatigue for our defenders.

Crawford's injury looked bad. I'm guessing ACL/MCL/Meniscus. Steffen's looked like and ankle but could be a knee. Didn't seem as severe but he wasn't getting back in.

Gotta go out and get Missouri State and get them early. That is what will define this team the rest of the year, how do we recover from this bad beat. Based on what I saw Saturday night, our defense has a lot of work to do if we hope to contain teams with talent like UNI has. Remember, Cal-Poly did not have their best receiver and their fastest running back for most of the game and they ran outside as much as they wanted to.

Not a good performance by the Jacks but we can and will recover. At least we better if this team is going to realize its potential.

[1stRowFANatic]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

ACL/MCL/Meniscus.

Can't remember doc, but is that the "terrible triad" or some similar phrase that I heard about many years ago?

[jackmd]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Can't remember doc, but is that the "terrible triad" or some similar phrase that I heard about many years ago?

Unhappy triad is what we call it. Looked alot like the hit on Tom Brady last year. Ryan went down is a lot of pain, I really feel bad for him but it is part of football. He has earned my respect and I wish him the best. Not going to be easy to replace him and his experience with our offense.

[jackmd]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Posted this under another topic but wanted to say it here as well. It felt to me like the Poly players wanted to win this game more and that is a major reason why they did. Our guys seemed flat. I know the loss of Crawford and Steffen and the pick 6 contributed but they lost 2 or their main offensive players as well. They seemed to be in our head. Kjerstad had a stupid penalty, Batten shouldn't have shoved there QB, we looked lost on punt and kickoff returns. I just didn't see a lot of intensity from our guys. I think Stig was feeling some of the same things because he was a lot more animated on the sidelines than usual.

This is where we need our senior leadership. We need the best effort possible from our guys against Missouri State. I'm not saying they weren't giving their all against Poly. The commitment the players make is a great one. I just needed to be better Saturday. I hope we can look back at this loss as a wake-up call.

[sfjacksfan99]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Thanks for the post doc. It's hard to see a lot of those things listening to the radio and following the game thread.

What is it about Poly and the Jacks playing flat? Same thing last year. Only Poly really gave a butt whippin' last year. Disappointing. After what happened last year, I really thought the Jacks would have fire in their eyes and ready for this game. Disappointing.

If their giving up yardage like that on the outside to Poly who had a below average passing game, what is UNI going to do if the Jacks come out flat?

I'm waiting to hear confirmation, but I did hear something on RC today from a decent source. I'll keep it at that because I don't want to be a false rumor spreader.

[SturgisJeff]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Sometimes you need an a$$kicking to get your a$$ in gear. Three easy wins and you get overconfident, maybe they needed this to get back to earth and discover where they need to put the work in.

[Nidaros]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Sometimes you need an a$$kicking to get your a$$ in gear. Three easy wins and you get overconfident, maybe they needed this to get back to earth and discover where they need to put the work in.

I have had similar thoughts about this loss. GSU is not the same team we first played in 2004 or 05. Indiana and Illinois State are teams we should handle without difficulty. Missouri could be tough, but after that the real opponents are on our plate. Btw I dont think we can count a win over the Bison until its in the books as such.

[filbert]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

I have had similar thoughts about this loss. GSU is not the same team we first played in 2004 or 05. Indiana and Illinois State are teams we should handle without difficulty. Missouri could be tough, but after that the real opponents are on our plate. Btw I dont think we can count a win over the Bison until its in the books as such.

Quibble . . .

You know how irritated we get when people refer to SDSU as "South Dakota?"

We're playing Missouri State this week . . .

[mitchell]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Why is the UNI game already a loss in some peoples mind? If we cant beat them at CAS on Hobo Day how do we expect to beat them in the playoffs at their place or on a neutral field? And if we cant beat them then, what does it matter if we make the playoffs or not? I know it would help in recruiting and in future years, but I think we have the talent to win the whole thing this year. Our starting defense has given up ONE OFFENSIVE TOUCHDOWN IN FOUR GAMES. That is remarkable. We have one of the best running backs in the FCS and TOB will get much, much better. He doesnt have a whole lot of chemistry with the receivers so once he develops that it will make a world of difference. Also, is the reason there were so many dropped balls because of the velocity difference between TOB and Craw?

UNI is in a different realm so far this season. I completely agree that we can beat them, especially at home and on hobo days, but they will be favored in that game.
If you look at the rest of the season, SDSU will be favored in all their games left besides UNI and UofM and the SIU game will be a toss-up.
That's why the Cal Poly game would have been big. If we would have won, we could lose the other three "big" games and still make the play-offs.

[Nidaros]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

Quibble . . .

You know how irritated we get when people refer to SDSU as "South Dakota?"

We're playing Missouri State this week . . .

Will correct my quibble I meant to say Indiana State and Illinois State. Not to do so does creat an ambiguity to my fellow readers. Sorry about that.

[89rabbit]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

You know I was at the game too and I guess I saw something different. I saw two heavy weight fighters standing toe to toe and trading blows. I didn't think the Jacks came out flat I think that they were playing a very good football team. One that like us was ranked in the top 25.

They did some things to us and we did some things to them and I felt like we were going to win right up to the end. I thought we would go into OT and I felt our offense (even with a 2nd string RS Frosh. QB) had a better chance to score on their D then their O did on our D.

Disappointing loss and disappointing injuries but I am not sure you can fault the effort of the team. You have to give some credit to Cal Poly they are a good football team. This was nothing like last year's game.


Go State!

[jackmd]

Re: Cal Poly Game Thread

You know I was at the game too and I guess I saw something different. I saw two heavy weight fighters standing toe to toe and trading blows. I didn't think the Jacks came out flat I think that they were playing a very good football team. One that like us was ranked in the top 25.

They did some things to us and we did some things to them and I felt like we were going to win right up to the end. I thought we would go into OT and I felt our offense (even with a 2nd string RS Frosh. QB) had a better chance to score on their D then their O did on our D.

Disappointing loss and disappointing injuries but I am not sure you can fault the effort of the team. You have to give some credit to Cal Poly they are a good football team. This was nothing like last year's game.


Go State!

You could be right. Numbers suggest they did more than just hang in there with us. 20 first downs and 35 minutes of possession, pretty dominate. I think our players would admit that they expected more from the team, in fact some of them did. Cal-Poly made some huge mistakes as did we. Again, great win for Poly and taking nothing away from them a very disappointing loss for the Jackrabbits. There were some similarities to last years game. Poly moved the ball outside the hashes nearly at will. The main difference, they had almost no red zone offense and made some horrible decisions in our territory or the would have scored more points and had even more possession time. They deserved to win that game and earned a nice victory. A victory they needed and I think wanted more than we did. We can disagree if you'd like but that's the way I see it. I want to and expect to see this program come out and win games like this one. I guess that is what I am trying to say. You can focus on my comment about effort or you can look at the result.