It is hard sometimes to bring yourself back to the moment at hand after a terrible action of violence happens literally in your own neighborhood. For adults, it becomes a difficult task to bring themselves to come to work and act as if nothing has changed and their reality remains the same as it was the day prior. For young adults, some would even say children still, it becomes a little harder. The Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks football team will travel this week to UC Davis for another battle in the Big Sky as they look to try and collect a winning record within the conference. How quickly they can put aside the fact that the shooting of October 9th just outside of Mountain View Hall actually occurred and wasn’t just a dream is a completely different subject.
Focusing On The Game
Given normal circumstances, a football team is expected to be prepared for all challenges that face them on the football field. That changes when an act of violence like the shooting on the school’s campus come into play. There are no rankings to determine if they will be able to focus themselves on the sixty minute contest that awaits them in Davis, California. There are no statistics that allow me or any other sports writer to even contemplate a guess as to whether or not these young men will be able to get the situation out of their minds for the three hours that the game will take them to complete. The only way that happens is if the team can rally behind their coach Jerome Souers and the rest of their teammates in this dark time.
Taking UC Davis’ Defense Seriously
Looking at the game itself and the teams involved, the Aggies have struggled early on this year to say the least and it shows in their so far winless record at 0 – 5 to start the year. Already having played Montana at home last week and traveling to North Dakota the week before, the team looks at their 0 and 2 record in conference with some disapproval. The fact is however that they are still holding games relatively close with strong defensive showings thus far this year. While the record wouldn’t show it the Aggies hold the sixth best ranking in total defense and a stout second in passing defense by only giving up 895 yards through the air after five games. Where their defense lacks however is in the trenches as they have given up 1081 yards on the ground, ranking tenth in the Big Sky. It will be up to Casey Jahn, the conference leader in rushing yards, and the rest of the running back platoon that the Jacks have on their side to tire out the Aggie defense and force them to commit six, perhaps up to eight men to stop the run game and open up things in the passing lanes.
Keeping the Aggies One Dimensional
The Aggies this year have not found success in handing the ball off to start the year to say the least. Having yet to break the 500 yard mark as a team running the ball, they have been leaning on their quarterback Ben Scott to lead the offense and for the most part he has. The Aggies rank sixth among Big Sky schools in passing offense. However Scott has faced his fair share of issues being clean in the pocket as he’s been sacked 7 times in conference play including a five sack game against Montana at home. It is going to be up to the Northern Arizona defense to keep the offense to just Scott and not allow their ninth ranked run defense to become a target in the battle against the Aggies. If they can do that, they may just find themselves getting a lot of three and outs that would allow Case Cookus and the Lumberjack offense to get back onto the field.
This game starts at 4:00 PM this Saturday at Aggie Stadium in Davis, California.