Story by
The Huntsville Item, Texas
Change needed for Bearkats after brutal loss to NMSU
- Story byThe Huntsville Item, Texas
- Change needed for Bearkats after brutal loss to NMSU
Ahead of the seventh game of the season, Phil Longo thought any questions of change were "puzzling and not something I'm thinking about."
In the seventh game, his Bearkat squad logged 13 total yards in the first half against New Mexico State. The loss to the Aggies saw the Kats fall to 1-6 on the year, and 3-16 in the season and a half Longo has been the head coach.
Advertisement
Phil Longo discuss if the program needs any changes ahead of the seventh game
Somehow, the Bearkats were in the game until the end, and potentially could have gotten the ball back in a six-point game with under a minute to go.
But clock management in the early second half changed that. Sam Houston called a timeout with 10:41 on the clock on defense in the third quarter, its second timeout with 9:03 remaining in the third quarter and the final timeout came with 12:08 remaining in the fourth quarter.
The first timeout was with the Kats on defense, as they were trying to get the right personnel on the field. The next play was a five-yard passing touchdown to AJ Williams III for the Aggies.
Advertisement
The second timeout was perhaps the most puzzling. Sam Houston lined up on fourth and a mere inch, looking to draw a hard count and get the Aggies to jump. The ball was on Sam Houston's 27-yard line, so failing to convert gives the Aggies tremendous field position. So Longo called his second timeout to allow the punt team to come out.
Cal Joseph ripped a 55-yard punt to give the Aggies the ball on their own 18-yard line. Had the Bearkats not called the timeout, it would have been backed up five yards for a delay of game and still allowed Joseph to flip the field.
"We called the timeout to get the punt team out there, and we didn't have enough time to run them out," Longo said. "I suppose, looking back at it, we could have taken the delay. I wanted the timeout to make sure everything was good in regard to punting the football. That's my answer. I wanted to make sure we were good with our 11. We had some injuries; I just wanted to make sure we were secure."
Saving the timeout would have allowed the Bearkats to stop the clock at least once on the Aggies' final drive. NMSU faced a fourth down with 1:11 on the clock, which seems like the ideal spot for that timeout.
Advertisement
That was one of many puzzling things in the seventh game for the Bearkats.
For a team that has struggled to establish any sort of ground game, Sam Houston didn't even give it a chance.
Excluding quarterbacks, Sam Houston used four running backs to rush the ball 12 total times.
The Bearkats ran 53 plays.
No rusher logged more than four attempts or more than 20 yards. With sacks taken out from the rushing total, Sam Houston totaled 36 yards. In seven games this season, the Bearkats have crossed over the 30 rushing attempt mark twice, and have crossed 100 yards rushing once this season against FBS opponents.
Advertisement
While the offensive line continues to get shuffled around with injuries, this team struggles to get anything going on the ground.
"We are trying to get the run game going, but it wasn't happening," Longo said. "I didn't like where it was going, but we were making some hay throwing the football. At some point, you have to do what you are doing well to win the ball game. Until we get that fixed, it's gonna be tough to play one-dimensional football."
While they were down on the scoreboard, it wasn't like they were in full-fledged passing mode down by multiple scores. Sam Houston never trailed by more than 13, and did that with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.
Yet, an injured Landyn Locke was tasked with throwing the ball 31 times. Locke went out in the first quarter with a left leg injury, and after the game, Longo said the training staff thought it was a fibular fracture that could sideline him for the year.
Advertisement
After an X-Ray, he was taped up and able to reenter the game.
"He couldn't move laterally," Longo said. "We held him out a little bit, and ran him around the sideline to see if he could move. When he proved to me he could do that, and the trainers gave him the OK, we put him back on the field. For playing hurt, he played fairly decent in the second half."
With Locke out, DJ Bailey entered the game for a single series. Bailey went 0-2 with a sack on that drive. Freshman Brett Holloway was in for a few packages, but never logged a throw and had three rushing attempts for minus-one yard.
One of the Bailey incompletions was a dropped ball, which has been a struggle of this offense for a bulk of the year. The Bearkats totaled 246 yards of offense, but if you eliminate three plays, that drops by 151 yards.
Advertisement
The Bearkats had three pass plays of 15 yards or more. One of those was an 81-yard touchdown to Tim Burns Jr. to open the second half. It sparked the Bearkat offense and gave them some life, but still the offense struggled.
Sam Houston had 15 drives, seven of which were three-and-outs. Eight drives ended in punts, but the biggest thing is only three drives netted more than 10 yards.
Another three drives ended in negative yardage for this Bearkat offense.
The best drive Sam Houston put together was at the end when they took 11 plays to travel 84 yards before turning the ball over on downs at the NMSU nine-yard line.
Advertisement
"We talked about the brotherhood at halftime, and I am proud of the fact we flipped the script in the second half. I am tired of putting ourselves in a hole offensively," Longo said. "We have to start the game better. We need to set the tone early. We have struggled to do that the last three weeks, and we are struggling as a team."
After the 30-24 loss to New Mexico State, Sam Houston has seen its record fall to 1-6. In order to get back to a bowl game, the Bearkats will have to win out. That will start with another CUSA Midweek game against Missouri State on Tuesday.
