Quick Reaction: NT 35 - SFA 20

Oh boy that was a terrible, no good, bad win, wasn't it?

Let us first acknowledge that I would always take winning ugly over a pretty loss. Wins are what gets you trophies and bowls and money and reputation and all of that good stuff. Secondly, let us acknowledge that every FCS matchup is a trap game. SFA was stepping up in competition but as we said, that is mostly in depth. The starters usually have FBS level talent in either the past (they transferred in) or future (they will be once they transfer out).

We saw some of that in the first half. The talented Baylor transfer Anyanwu blew up Lee (58) and sacked Morris. It was a lowlight for NT, but something that will be on SFA highlight reels forever.

Speaking of sacks, NT started with like three sacks (one called back) and an interception. The RPO game that was killing South Alabama was seemingly solved by the SFA linebacking group. They stayed home, faked the rush and kept their eyes on Morris. He was picked twice on this, including one pick-six.

Outside of that he had 4 scores on the night, three to DT Sheffield. The other found new TE Oscar Hammond. Sheffield got behind the defense for the first, scored on a little arrow on the second, and was left wide open on a little switch/motion go route right before half. Hammond scored in the red zone after finding space behind the linebackers. He nearly had another as NT was wrapping things up but Morris put it behind him and he had to reach back. It was all good enough for a first down as Hammond had to slow down for it, but got enough to get to the three, and NT kneeled out the clock from there.

A good portion of the poor play can be put on the offensive line. NT broke down after losing Landon Peterson (72). Johnny Dickson (54) was playing center but even the starters looked overwhelmed by the SFA pass rush. Again, Lee was dominated on one, and the right side got burned by delayed blitzes from the linebackers.

Meanwhile the defense didn’t allow a first down until the 2nd quarter. The lone allowed defensive td came after NT couldn’t seal the deal on some near-sacks. It was frustrating but nothing unusual. NT got the ball back on some 4th downs three times, and got two other punts. Oh, and don’t forget the first possession on a short field after the interception. Held them to a field goal. Not terrible from Caponi’s crew. Tonight.

Okay let’s quickly recap:

1. Morris Was Poor

As good and efficient and as deserving of the Manning Award (robbed!) as he was, he was shaky in this one. The RPO game was figured by the SFA linebackers, but Morris missed a ton of throws. There were a lot of missed out routes, a few short long passes, and his third interception was a terrible under throw thanks to poor mechanics — he was tossing it off his back foot.

His line: 26/44 311 4 scores against 3 INTs. He spread the ball around, and we saw DT Sheffield look like he was going to score every play for a second there. Damon Ward dropped one awful one, but Morris was missing a lot of other potential targets. Setting aside his having no time on a lot of plays, and set aside him making some good moves to turn that near sack into just a pretty incompletion, he missed some that he was accurate on last week.

Right before his awful third interception, he hung out Wyatt Young on a swing pass. Young took a spearing into the belly and had to puke after. The trainers helped him keep some dignity by covering the mess. Then Morris threw a pick. Later, he nearly threw another on a wheel to Harris. Just a bad night for the QB who was so great last week.

2. The Offensive Line Is Banged Up And Looks Poor

Not all of the 15 penalties for 122 yards were offensive line related, but it sure seemed like it. Officially the accepted penalties on the offense were 13 for 97. Here they are:

• False start 5

• Holding 3

• Face mask

• Illegal Formation

• Illegal block — this was on Conwright.

• Personal foul

NT was on the third center — who is a converted guard in Dickson (54) and lost the starting right guard (72) Landon Peterson and had to play Braydon Nelson. The false starts were all on Dickson, who had trouble with the snap. The holding calls were on Dickson, Asenuga, and Lee. The personal foul — blind side block — was on Dickson and that one was probably a little unfair.

Beyond the penalties, the offensive line couldn’t open up much for Ragsdale, but allowed Harris to add up 142 on 10 carries — including that 80 yarder. As we mentioned, the pass rush was getting to Morris way too often.

There is nothing much to do beyond hope they get better and healthier over the next week. Jett Duncan didn’t play but did warm up. No word on Mercer or Peterson, who did not return.

3. The Running Back Room Has Shrunk

Juwaun Price suffered a horrific injury after a big return in the kick game. He quickly grabbed his ankle and the training staff on the SFA sideline quickly covered it with a towel. The Lumberjack head coach called over the NT staff while they looked at him. The game was paused while an ambulance came to carry him off the field.

Price, in an incredible moment, called over his team and said goodbye. The whole team came over to talk to him.

After that moment, Ikaika Ragsdale came up limping after a play. I’m purely speculating here but it seems like he tweaked something in the same way he did last year. That injury kept him out of the whole season. He did not return.

If you are keeping track, that’s RB 1 and one of the ORs in the RB 2 group. Demashja Harris seemed like he was only ever going to get short-yardage carries as the power back, but ended up with the running back highlight of the night: an 80-yarder to the house that broke it open. After that he was showing his skills in avoiding tackles and also dragged some tacklers here and there. Everyone in the stands and on the broadcast said to themselves “This looks like RB1”. Of course we have seen this before. A deep NT RB room quickly shrinks. We saw Adaway/Ragsdale/Adeyi turn into just Adeyi and Johnson. It happens. It is a tough position.

Most people have been wondering where Zach Evans is, as he is on the video game but not on the real life depth chart. The only sighting we saw was a congratulations to Harris for a nice run. I imagine we’ll see a reconfigured depth chart for next week. Harris looks good but this is a tough gig.

4. The Defense Looked Mean

Last year against Abilene Christian — a good offensive team, for sure — NT allowed 5.45 yards per play and 31 points. Tonight NT allowed only 13 offensive points — remember that one TD was on an interception return of a Morris pass.

Also the yards-per-play was 3.5 and the NT defense didn’t allow a first down until the 2nd quarter. There was one long scoring drive, and even that was about the defense not closing the deal on a couple near-sacks. Their first drive went -12 yards and resulted in FG because of the quick interception. Again, the defense played outstandingly well.

SFA had 10 points off NT turnovers — seven direct, and one after the short field. That means 10 points came on SFA drives that were on the strength of their offense.

A couple of standouts were the corners — Texada had an INT but Nelson had some big pass breakups and a couple of nice tackles that held up their guys on 4th downs. Dawkins had a sack and 5 QB hurries. NT had 14 hurries overall, and five others came from Jaylen Smith.

It’s just SFA you say. But again, we have seen improvement in this area. Last year’s team wasn’t guaranteed to get these kinds of stops all the time. You could see SFA in the second half looked overwhelmed and were happy to be done with the whole thing. They had nothing. If you say “that’s expected” then that’s good. Last year’s defense was below expectations. If this year’s squad is replacement-level? That is a win.

Overall

As good as last week was, this week was nearly as bad. The QB was way off, and that made it scarier than it needed to be but a win is a win.

Across the nation you saw some terrible games by teams that had better week one wins. Notre Dame, of course dropped their home game to NIU after being 28.5 point favorites. 16 Oklahoma only won 16-12 vs Houston. 8 Penn State won 34-27 vs Bowling Green. 17 Kansas State won by the same score vs Tulane, who had a game-tying TD called back. There were others.

16 Oklahoma State was down 21 to Arkansas then had to win in double OT. LSU was only up 23-21 before blowing it open late in the third.

College Football is a funny old game and wins are hard to get no matter who you play.

GMG