Let’s get to it.

1. Overall, I could nitpick at this and that other things, but the fact is, this team, despite being 0-2, is FAR beyond what they were last year, and it’s not even close. Can you imagine last year’s team being able to do any of the things we have done on offense or defense this year? Held the 18th ranked FCS team and an FBS team without a touchdown in the first half ON THE ROAD? No. Were there mistakes? Yes, there were. Were they costly? Yes. But do you know why I am happy about that? Because those mistakes cost us the game. If we don’t turn the ball over on downs when we have it first and goal at the Aggie 5, we are driving for a WIN for sure. If Ron Peace just buys one more second, the pass is incomplete or Brooks Rigney catches it and extends a game winning drive. Last year, mistakes made blowouts worse. This year, they are costing us games against major programs and elite FCS squads. I am not saying execution is not important, because it most certainly is, and in his post game presser HC Dolezel said “We HAVE TO LEARN TO WIN.” The impression I get from that is that “Look, yes we are better than we were last year, but I am not interested in just getting better looking losses, I want to win.” An ugly win is always better than a pretty loss.
2. Offense-I know this one is up to HC Dolezel, but after we had a quarterback throw for over 400 yards for the first time since 2018 (or maybe even 2017) , that QB needs to stay put. I was told Rodriguez would be back, but Peace has the hot hand right now. 457 yards and three TD passes in your first start against a ranked opponent? That should count for something, and also Peace in a position to win this game. Take a look at how he adjusted in the second half. Yes, he threw 2 picks, but when you throw 56 passes, that will happen, the second INT was just heartbreaking because it ended the game when it looked like we were going down to win the thing or at least send it to overtime. Pass protection was little bit better but our offense finished with 448 total yards, which was one yard less total offense than UC Davis. Think about that. However, the turnovers, the penalties, that has to stop because that prevents you from winning, and even though we had negative 9 yards rushing, sometimes you can’t do something on a particular night, and Dolezel told Peace “Your arm is going to either win this or lose it for us, let’s see what you got.” Receivers had way too many drops again. You cannot do that at this level.
3. The defense for a short while opened the flood gates and allowed UC-Davis to look really good and then just shut them down for most of the game. NO touchdowns allowed in the first half and then before you know it, 3 straight scores which really hurt the Lion effort do no doubt, in addition to allowing an early 4th quarter drive. That said, they did what they had to do in order to not allow Lan Larison a huge factor, holding him to 123 yards, which is a victory because that is one elite running back. Miles Hastings had a good game, but not a dominant one and also the Lion defense dropped him twice and hurried him multiple times and picked him off early in the game. The defense just played much better than they did last week and last year and they never quit fighting. They had to make stops to get the ball back to the offense for a chance to win it, and they did. They only thing that concerns me is the touchdowns throws were wide open throws which means blown coverages and assignments. That has to get fixed.
4. Special teams-I’ve met Andy Gallegos. He is a good kid who was a fantastic player at Kaufman, but I think at this point, he is not ready to kick at this level. Last week it was a missed extra point, and this week it was the blocked field goal which had ZERO trajectory on it. In the entire history of Lion football, only 2-3 guys have been able to walk in and place kick, and those guys were Billy Watkins and Kristov Martinez. Even great guys like Jake Viquez needed work before they could reap the fruit of their labor, and look how he turned out. There is nothing wrong with that, but Aiden Martin came in an put through 2 PAT’s with no issue. Mitch McGarry had a couple of punts I know he wished he could have back, but overall he was pretty solid, and Martin was good on kickoff sans the one illegal procedure penalty. Coverage was passable. The muffed punt was just no good and set up UC-Davis for points. That is another gift The Lions gave the Aggies. Nothing wrong with a fair catch, but even sometimes the benign attempts can get you.
5. Going Forward-Next Week The Hawk finally gets a home game and what a weekend it promises to be. One thing I have noticed is that in the post game presser, Dolezel had some reasons to be upbeat, but he was not happy. He knew this was another game that was winnable that He could have and should have won. He knows his team gifted the Aggies more freebies than a Cotsco salesman, but he never lost his optimistic attitude. I see a more intense Dolezel that knows the time for winning is now and you can bet that the opponents have seen that too because for the first time in a long time I am getting messages from opponents saying “You guys are going to make noise in the Southland and beat some people.” The UC Davis ESPN Plus commentators were very classy and complimentary and they were VERY worried in the final 2 minutes because they were thinking about Dolezel not playing for the tie, but the LIons scoring and Dolezel going for the kill shot instead of playing for overtime. We are not where we want to be, but how far we have come in a year. Onwards and upwards.