I apologize for the late post, but I have not been feeling well on this Sunday, hopefully the last warm weekend of the year before Autumn rolls in, which is what we are looking at next week. Let’s get to it.

1. Overall-Disappointing. Our offense had its best game and our defense had its worst. Special teams had some serious issues and if you want the truth, I truly underestimated Colby Carthel and his SFA squad. I looked at their record and thought we would have either a close win or a close loss, and the way it started, I thought that is what would happen. SFA started on a field length drive to score and then bam, we hit them with a counter draw courtesy of Reggie Branch and then it became a game of making plays and executing, which SFA did and we did not. I felt after the block field goal attempt and our inability to get off the field, it was going to get hard, and it did. We also had two completely foolish and totally unnecessary unsportsmanlike/unnecessary roughness penalties and nothing makes me more upset than to see someone put his pride above the team effort, and that is discipline. But the team never quit fighting and for that, I am hopeful as we head in Southland Conference play.
2. Offense-We have our Quarterback. Josh Magana got the start, but mainly because Peter Parrish did not dress due to some kind of injury. That to say, Magana led an offense that played the best they had played all year, and truth be told, Magana is the guy to lead the offense, period. The line still didn’t play up to part but they did improve, and the receiving game took off. Reggie Branch did not get the carries he should have, he got 7 when he should have gotten 10-15 at minimum, but the staff really did well calling out the Diamond formation. We just need to put the running game together with this newly improved passing game, and we will get better. The offense has gotten better each game as far as moving the ball, but the fact we finally put up more than a handful of points makes me hopeful about the unit.
3. Defense-I told a lot of people that all we needed to do was score 17 points and we had a good chance of winning. I severely underestimated SFA’s Matt Storm, our old offensive coordinator. He dialed up a great game that we just quite frankly, could not stop. He was ready. He knew our defense was coming in on a big time high, and he found every way to move the ball in the air and on the ground. They kicked our butts on this end of the ball, period. Again, the unit played hard and had yet another game with a takeaway, and it was big, but the defense have 555 yards and ran 90 plays. That is way too many plays to be on the field. Yes, we had some injuries over the past two weeks, but that is part of the game and it has to be a next man up mentality. Kyle Williams will look at this tape and prepare for a McNeese team next week.
4. Special Teams-Ill start by saying this, Mitchell McGarry, Emmanuel Adagbon, and Aiden Martin did their jobs. The coverage teams for kickoffs and extra points and field goals, did not. They played poorly, and I mean poorly. 4 points left off the board because of poor protection for Adagbon, and the coaching staff surely knew that Colby Carthel was going to try an onside kick at least once, well they did it twice and really should have gotten it twice, but thankfully they only recovered it once. This specialists did their jobs, but the coverage units have got to be better because last night was just horrific.
5. Overall-We are finally out of murderer’s row. Now, we start play for the Southland Conference, and to be honest with you, I have no idea how it’s going to shake out. If the offense plays like it did yesterday and the defense shows out like it did last week, we have a good shot at making some noise in the Southland, and if not, it’s going to be a long and hard season. Like I said, it could go both ways, but right now, the main focus needs to be on winning a game. That may sound pathetic, but right now, its the way it is. Welcome to being a Division I school in year 2, it could got a lot bumpier.