2R - Austin Peay @ #4 Sac State

[Mvemjsunpx]

Playoff football in Sacramento!? (cue the Vince Lombardi "What the hell's going on out here!?" video) Austin Peay is also in the middle of their first-ever playoff appearance, and they've certainly made the most of it so far as evidenced by their complete humiliation of overrated Furman. The Governors also outgain their opponents by 136 ypg and they have a +8 turnover margin. The only real thing holding them back is penalties—they've racked up nearly double the penalty yards of their opponents. Meanwhile… Sac State is known for their offense, but they really had (IMO) the best defense in the Big Sky. The big question for the Hornets is whether QB Kevin Thomson is 100%. He's ironically done fine running the ball since his return from injury (he ran for 116 and 2 TDs against Davis), but his passing stats have suffered (a 93.6 efficiency rating the last 2 games). If he struggles, it could be a bad day for Sac considering how good Austin Peay's run defense is. I think the Hornets will put it away in the fourth, but the Govs will be a tougher out than most anyone else they could've played in this round.

• • • • Austin Peay 21-30 Sac State

[cats2506]

Interesting game, first year in the playoffs for both teams if I'm not mistaken. AP is looking strong and the OVC is looking more and more like they are becoming a better conference as a whole. Sac has been good but injuries have made them appear to struggle late in the season. I would really like to have another home game for MSU providing they take care of business this week, but I have to pull for our Big Sky brethren at SAC, I think MSU is trending up and could reverse the outcome in that game should it come to that.

This is my pick for the most possible upset in the 2nd round

[Mvemjsunpx]

Govs lead 21-0, late-1Q

[Mvemjsunpx]

Now 28-0, early-3Q

[Mvemjsunpx]

Sac finally gets on the board, but Austin Peay counters with some JaVaughn Craig running magic.

35-7 Govs, mid-3Q

[BlackFalkin]

Big Sky should’ve got 5 teams in. Sacramento State is gettin that ass WHOOPED!

[BDKJMU]

Big Sky should’ve got 5 teams in. Sacramento State is gettin that ass WHOOPED!

What other team?

[BDKJMU]

Austin Peay 42-14 mid 4th..

[uofmman1122]

Jesus, what an egg.

[Mvemjsunpx]

Govs win 42-28

[BDKJMU]

Anyone hear from SuperHornet or SDHornet to see if they’ve committed hari kari?

[SDHornet]

Anyone hear from SuperHornet or SDHornet to see if they’ve committed hari kari?

Nope, still here. Hornets no-showed and AP came ready and took care of business. All credit to them, very athletic team. I'm not surprised at the loss, more surprised and disappointed at how unprepared we were.

It was a hell of a run this year and I enjoyed every minute of it.

[SuperHornet]

My SacBuzz response:

Factors in last night's debacle from my vantage point about four rows back at the 50 yard line (thanks to Kadeezy):

1. Defense. The defense didn't show up, period. The DL couldn't stop a simple zone read, something they've handled rather easily all season. The LBers were not scraping into the gaps. The DBs couldn't stop the deep ball. It would have been worse had Craig been more accurate.

2. Offense. The offense didn't wake up until the second half. Where was Elijah Dotson? The Hammerheads didn't do their job at all, so no running game whatsoever, leading to second- and third-and long on just about every series. GAS makes a good point about going for the the home run ball too much; lack of protection was part of the problem, also contributing to playing "behind the chains" for much of the night, but Thomson's accuracy was also way off, with many throws high or into the ground, and receivers making the wrong read on choice routes was a HUGE issue.

3. Special Teams. This was completely a coaching issue, and one I'm surprised nobody else has mentioned. We can forgive that roughing the kicker penalty, as noted below. But the failure to recognize that first quarter center onside kick was unforgivable, as was that systemic calling for the fair catch on EVERY Peay kickoff as soon as the kicker's foot even touched the ball cost us AT LEAST 15-20 yards each time as we accepted the NCAA's new "fair catch = touchback" paradigm despite the fact that a decent return would have placed us at least at the 35 or the 40 given that the coverage men were super slow in getting down the field. What was Taylor thinking here?!?

4. ECB Officiating. At least in the first half. This is actually a secondary issue, as key defensive stops, particularly in the second half, that didn't happen would have made this a non-issue. The entire first quarter was an ECB nightmare, as that roughing the kicker should not even have been called, as the dude was blocked into the punter. The penalties in 1Q were ALL on us, and not all valid, and they were all big. The second quarter shifted the other way, but all of those penalties were of the false start and offside variety. The second half was a completely different story; outside of one drive where Peay was called for PI twice (which seemed to be more taking advantage of the difference between NCAA and NFL PI rules to save a long TD), the flags in the second half seemed firmly planted in zebra pockets, ignoring many Peay holding and PI offenses. But again, had our defense played like they did against the Griz and the Kitties earlier this year, this would have been a non-issue.

5. Conclusion. A complete "sleepwalk" by our team, as GAS put it. I disagree somewhat with GAS on calling out Thomson for poor decision making; his accuracy and poor routing by the receivers seemed to me to be more the issue. And the defense was a HUGE culprit, as were the Hammerheads in getting no traction in the running game and in protecting Thomson (though the protection was MUCH better in the second half). This game was an utter embarrassment in which the weather played no factor as expected coming in, and I hope that it becomes a lesson learned for next season.

[Chizzang]

For those of us that haven't seen them play
What style of offense does Austin Peay run..?

[89Hen]

For those of us that haven't seen them play
What style of offense does Austin Peay run..?

High scoring.

[cats2506]

For those of us that haven't seen them play
What style of offense does Austin Peay run..?

pass game was a lot of straight up RPO and stuff, run game was similar to MSU, lots of motions and formations power and counter. I actually thought it was more like MSU than any I had seen, but not as committed to the run as we are.

[SDHornet]

For those of us that haven't seen them play
What style of offense does Austin Peay run..?

I refer to it as the spread read option. Lots of motion. They also have a WR that can throw the ball well so they ran a play where the WR would motion into the backfield, the QB would take the snap and hand it to the WR, who would then take a step forward feigning a run then step back and chuck it. That play burned us more than once.

[BDKJMU]

Anyone hear from SuperHornet or SDHornet to see if they’ve committed hari kari?

Nope, still here. Hornets no-showed and AP came ready and took care of business. All credit to them, very athletic team. I'm not surprised at the loss, more surprised and disappointed at how unprepared we were.

It was a hell of a run this year and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Yeah, you'all had a an absolutely great year given your history and pre season predictions.
The only game I saw was when Sac beat up on EWU pretty good. You'all looked pretty good then.

Too bad about the AP game. Sounds like it was a combo of you'all not playing your best, and AP being better than people thought.

[SDHornet]

Nope, still here. Hornets no-showed and AP came ready and took care of business. All credit to them, very athletic team. I'm not surprised at the loss, more surprised and disappointed at how unprepared we were.

It was a hell of a run this year and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Yeah, you'all had a an absolutely great year given your history and pre season predictions.
The only game I saw was when Sac beat up on EWU pretty good. You'all looked pretty good then.

Too bad about the AP game. Sounds like it was a combo of you'all not playing your best, and AP being better than people thought.

Thanks. We were missing some key players (Leading WR Williams was injured and didn't play, starting OL Bianco was out, and leading RB Dotson went down early in the game with an injury) but we came out flat and got thumped. Can't spot a team 21 points in the playoffs and expect to win.

[BlackFalkin]

Nope, still here. Hornets no-showed and AP came ready and took care of business. All credit to them, very athletic team. I'm not surprised at the loss, more surprised and disappointed at how unprepared we were.

It was a hell of a run this year and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Yeah, you'all had a an absolutely great year given your history and pre season predictions.
The only game I saw was when Sac beat up on EWU pretty good. You'all looked pretty good then.

Too bad about the AP game. Sounds like it was a combo of you'all not playing your best, and AP being better than people thought.

Ooohhh don’t you worry! Weber State or the Gizz will be ramming Big Sky D**k down JMU’s throat next week! Also, tell your fans to show up next week!! Making the whole damn FCS look bad with that EMPTY, lopsided turd-basket JMU plays in.

[SDHornet]

Yeah, you'all had a an absolutely great year given your history and pre season predictions.
The only game I saw was when Sac beat up on EWU pretty good. You'all looked pretty good then.

Too bad about the AP game. Sounds like it was a combo of you'all not playing your best, and AP being better than people thought.

Ooohhh don’t you worry! Weber State or the Gizz will be ramming Big Sky D**k down JMU’s throat next week! Also, tell your fans to show up next week!! Making the whole damn FCS look bad with that EMPTY, lopsided turd-basket JMU plays in.

This didn't age well.

[89Hen]

Ooohhh don’t you worry! Weber State or the Gizz will be ramming Big Sky D**k down JMU’s throat next week! Also, tell your fans to show up next week!! Making the whole damn FCS look bad with that EMPTY, lopsided turd-basket JMU plays in.

This didn't age well.

Great bump.

[BDKJMU]

Yeah, you'all had a an absolutely great year given your history and pre season predictions.
The only game I saw was when Sac beat up on EWU pretty good. You'all looked pretty good then.

Too bad about the AP game. Sounds like it was a combo of you'all not playing your best, and AP being better than people thought.

Ooohhh don’t you worry! Weber State or the Gizz will be ramming Big Sky D**k down JMU’s throat next week! Also, tell your fans to show up next week!! Making the whole damn FCS look bad with that EMPTY, lopsided turd-basket JMU plays in.

Wrong on all accounts dumbass..