NCAAF 2020 Week 05 West Texas A&M vs Stephen F. Austin

nation welcome to this presentation to college football on espn myself lou hamilton along with john wilkowski we are certainly delighted to bring you college football here this afternoon for a four o'clock start it is the sfa lumberjacks looking to get that first win on the board this year and john you know this team very well being a part of the program in the past uh it's a division two team that's going to look very sharp on the field but sfa's had the work cut out for him the first three weeks yeah absolutely they have i think one of the big things for sfa this game is going to be third down conversions they are currently at 10 of 35 on the season and that is low and if that average was from the smu game that would make sense smu is a very tough opponent and granted sfas played three very tough opponents up front but 10 and 35 if they can find a way to get those third down conversions in this game i think that's going to really help this team we are underway as west texas a m kicks from right to left and sfa will return this one to about the 20-yard line as the struggles will end at about yes we'll have it at the 20 to get things rolling talking about a little bit about this sfa offense here coming in it is trey self in the backfield for sfa really impressive early on last year but sfa couldn't quite put it all together uh completely but under head coach colby cartel i think this sfa team likes the growth that they're seeing and uh he had a really great game here this year against utep right out of the game yeah i think having coach carthall as the head coach for trey self is going to be really good coach karthel is known to bring teams up from the bottom that's what he did at a m commerce he brought them and got them to win a 2017 national championship so i think having him as the head coach for this offense is going to be really good in the years to come head coach colby cartel certainly familiar with the division 2 level as he was a defensive coordinator for west texas a m for seven years prior to joining that a m commerce team as the head coach in 2013 and then again just took him four years to get a national championship for that group as trey self will throw out wide for the first time here today oh for one as that one will just go off of the hands of his intended receiver so third and probably manageable here but like you mentioned for sfa that third down conversion rate has been rough this year to start just 10 for 35 as we'll see what the first result is here on the day as it'll be about a third and eight maybe closer to third and seven right now tree self in the backfield with one man sent just behind dropping back and looking to throw tray self will tuck it quickly it looks like he might have the sticks and he does so trey self using the legs early on here getting about a yard more than he needed here out to about the 31 yard line and you know you look at the way the quarterback position is geared nowadays a lot of guys really need to be that two three tool athlete in the backfield trey self certainly one of those yes he is he if he gets an open fields and no no safety's out there to cover him he will be gone that's something really interesting about this quarterback he can bring that dual threat to the game trace if we'll drop back and look he'll go deep with this one along the sideline a one-on-one battle here and it's just broken up at about the 30 of the buffaloes as it's a beautiful job there defensively to lock down the deep ball so for two through the air right now are the lumberjacks and we looked at their offense overall just 207 yards i believe on the ground total through three weeks and that's not where you want to be as far as that is concerned and again a lot of teams here especially at the fcs level love to use that run game to develop a pass game and uh right now they just haven't had it if that's something they can do in this game if they can get the ball to mcgowan or one of the running backs they have in that backfield and actually get those positive yards the lane as he finds himself all the way down to the 20 the 10 and the lumberjacks are out of the gate running it's a six nothing start for sfa there you go that's what we were talking about those are the changes that we need to see for this team for them to become a successful program just a fantastic start here offensively is a beautiful job from trey self to keep the drive alive running for the first down and sfa finds a way to crawl all the way to the goal line on a huge pickup here from deleon ward and we talked a lot about deleon ward last year and he did not enter the game against smu last week all the carries coming from the depth chart other than ward and right out of the gate ward finding a way to help make this a seven nothing start for sfa that's a great start for them you know they've come off a few very tough games you know losing to smu last week losing to utsa losing to utep that's really good for their confidence to come out of the gate first drive have trey self get that first down conversion and get that touchdown get that long rushing touchdown that's what they're going to need to do against this defense oh you're just right is uh deleon ward he rushes for 69 yards on that single play for the touchdown excuse me as it'll be a seven nothing start for sfa you look at sfa's numbers here they're just averaging about 10 points a game so certainly encouraging to grab seven out of those 10 at least on your average you're right out of the gate as we talked about west texas a m being a division two team it's uh really sort of the polar opposite of what sfa has had on the schedule here so far this year is you take on a utsa and a utep team right out of the gate that are very competitive and an smu team that we've seen play brilliantly we saw smu last year play very competitively against tcu and so i think that's such a good team to schedule if you're sfa here in what has been a crazy 2020 as far as scheduling goes to really see a higher competition at a high level to develop some of your players and unfortunately ward wasn't able to get into any of those games against smu but right out of the gate showing just why he is at the top of the depth chart as far as the the halfbacks go i think this is a great game for sfa like you said coming off those three very tough games those three very competitive teams coming to play this game at home with their crowd they're granted this team nick gerber coming onto the field they're starting quarterback he's he's no slouch he's a great quarterback he gets a lot of passing yards um and so they're gonna have some work cut out for him but if they can get some of the younger guys in here and be successful it's gonna be a real good game yeah you mentioned uh nick gerber there as the quarterback for this buffaloes group 376 passing yards four touchdowns and the sfa pass defense and hasn't been very great this year 653 yards allowed through the air they averaged giving up just over 200 to 217 yards through the year per game thus far so improvements to be made here for sfa and the look to try and start those improvements here out of the gate but nick gerber he'll have other ideas as this one will be a handoff right up the middle to start and that line for sfa shuts down any opportunity to set the tone on first i think a big game plan that could be for west texas in this game is going to be passing the ball like you said sfa's let up 653 yards of past defense so if west texas a m and nick gerber can get that ball down field that's going to be key for them scoring points nick gerber will have a man do his right here in the shotgun he'll go play action and quickly flick this one over to his right but it is away from the hands of his intended receiver so right out of the gate a first down run shut down and a quick pass what will we see here from nick gerber you mentioned his arm being pretty impressive and you would think against an sfa team here this afternoon you're going to have to try and take a shot down field just looking at the numbers on paper sfa hasn't been able to stop the pass yeah i think nick gerber is going to really need to focus on that but then again don't count him out on his legs either in his first game he rushed for 60 yards including a 29-yard rush so you know if he gets out in open field just like trey self he could be gone for that first time this time as he eludes some traffic well as this one goes off of the hands of his receiver and it may have been picked off by sfa right in front as what is our call here at the moment unfortunately we can't quite see completely as we are not in the press box for this game broadcasting from a remote location at the moment but uh an opportunity for gerber to show off his legs like you just said and he did there is it was incomplete off of the hands of the sfa lumberjack defenseman so a punt here for west texas a m out of the gate but like you said gerber he's going to be a tough one to take down here today he is he is indeed but this is a great job by that sfa defense getting that three and out early on getting that touchdown by the offense this could be a good game for sfa this punts return for just a few yards maybe five at the max here as the sfa offense will come back out onto the field with great field position to say the least and trey self another opportunity to lead his team down into the red zone as they had no need for that last drive a 69-yard rush on the ground for deleon ward got the scoring started here for sfa as we'll take a quick break here we'll be right back you're watching college football on espn college football here on espn we welcome you back into this presentation as sfa will go deep with trace self right out of the gate and off of the hands of an uh an intended receiver here is sfa looking for a call there but won't get one trey self trying to drive this one all the way down field right out of the gate we already have seen a 69 rushing touchdown here from deleon ward for sfa and they start with great field position at the 49-yard line colby cartel aggressive there against his former um against his former team one thing i think sfa is going to need to work on especially in this game is consistency that is something in years past that fans have not really seen you know they may come out first or second quarter ready to go but once you get let those later parts of the game when people are starting to get tired and get cramps and things of that nature you've seen sfa start to fall off so if they can keep that consistency throughout the game and keep hammering that's going to be really successful yeah i think you're right there and i think that consistency will certainly come with what you alluded to at the beginning of our broadcast was that third down conversion rate that they're trying to improve here throughout this uh young season that we see so far even though it is a shortened season for most around the nation as traceup will have a couple of bodies in the backfield form one in motion out wide as they'll send this one out on the screen a lot of space there and in underneath the 30 now of west texas a m as that's another ted smith state farm first down for the lumberjacks here this afternoon and we talked about the offense just averaging about 10 points a game for sfa and you really can spark that up to the impressive defenses that they were facing and i don't think you'll see that caliber in the southland conference this year but again i think if you're sfa if you're this nacogdoches community you're wanting immediate results from head coach colby cartel but again he was able to turn around a program with commerce in four years to a national championship so i think it'll be slow but certainly steady with this group is this one will find the hands of an sfa receiver and another touchdown scored here early for the lumberjacks an impressive stand here from trey self getting one through the air for the first time this year his third touchdown through the air is it a fantastic reception by the number one target you'll see all year for sfa in gibson xavier gibson who had 151 yards of the year coming into this one has another grab what have you seen from this kid since he's been here one thing i've seen a lot from him is his speed he's able to get out on those corners and break away which is really interesting it's something you see it's something that is tough to see sometimes in southern conferences or in division two playing when you have a receiver that's just that far away from a corner trying to break away from a safety but that's something really interesting about him when he plays certainly is is he has been very impressive since the the start of his career at sfa we talked a little bit about gibson last year on a couple of our broadcasts john and how he was all conference uh for his freshman year here and i think the development is really going to be honed in on building a wide receiver core around this guy here this season as you know trey self can get the job done on the ground but the help that he'll get from gibson all year long is certainly going to be very impactful for this group when you don't have a run game necessarily established like you want to early in the season it's encouraging to not only see ward break off a 69-yard touchdown but having that help through the air which is something that they've been needing and it's great to see that those guys that are helped leading the team in scoring are some of the younger guys with having this new coaching staff and having these younger guys it's going to be really interesting to see these players grow through this program and through coach carthel giving them his values that he brought to commerce this kick just inside the 10 will be returned out past the 20 and on to about the 23 yard line to start things for west texas a m as they were unsuccessful on their first drive a three and out was the result no run game to start for west texas a m they were shut down on a run up the middle to start on first down and then a couple of throws from nick gerber that were unsuccessful and that last one just popping off the hands of receiver and just about ended up for a turnover the other way so we'll see the adjustments if there is any right now for this group we look at west texas a m coming into this game offensively not only is gerber going to be one of the guys you have to look at but you've got uh the likes of devin neal a wide receiver standing at six foot he'll be on the outside for gerber here today as this run is stuffed again sfa not letting up at all to start out of the gate jared compton who is one of the key players offensively for west texas a m has been shut down thus far i'm really really impressed by sfa's defensive line and their box with their linebackers they're putting a lot of pressure on this o-line and bringing a lot of bodies really into the backfield and that's the big thing is bringing bodies to disrupt the play jared compton and brandon blair's who you'll see in the backfield helping out gerber throughout this one as this one is chunked off on the quick screen to compton i believe is the lubbock product we'll get just to the outside picking up uh yards to make it about a third and manageable so far here for west texas a m and really you've been a part of games i'm sure where one offense is coming out of the gate striking so quickly that it's almost like you don't have enough time to make the adjustments before it's too late is that sort of what you're seeing right now with the sfa offense and and really just not letting up on any play so far yeah they've come out very explosive um bringing a lot of people on defense going real down real far down field on offense and that's something really interesting that we haven't really seen before and so i think west texas a m just needs to you know calm down reset reevaluate and start playing some ball a key player here for the buffaloes devin neal picks up that reception as west texas a m is finally rolling offensively here pushing up towards the 50 at the 48 yard line as we look at devin neal after that catch he had four against angelo state earlier this year in their loss that being a 21-10 loss against angelo state as this handoff will go out to the near side and is stuffed maybe getting back to the line of scrimmage there was west texas a m west texas a m is coming off their first great game with you know over 600 yards of offense winning 58 to seven and i i think one thing that's really interesting is this team this is the first time west texas is playing this high level of a team you know sfa is a division one in the southern conference so i think that's something that they're trying to prove is they're trying to prove that they can hang with the big dogs certainly are and interesting fact this head-to-head series actually dates all the way back to 1927 as sfa will get to the backfield and find a way to drop gerber there and set up a beautiful opportunity for them to get out of this situation where as gerber found a way to find neal to keep the drive alive on third down it'll be a similar situation to try and survive this drive as well as it is going to be no surprise that gerber will be by himself here in the backfield for third and long west texas offensive line is having some struggles right now taking this four-man front you know they're they're letting some people into the backfield that they shouldn't be and that's the thing playing up you know they're playing against against guys and bodies that they haven't really seen before in the past so that's something they're going to have to adjust throughout the game this one is caught just past the uh past the 50 yard line uh is where the play will result but again short of the sticks here is the punt unit will come out for the second time today for west texas a m as sfa two for two defensively and getting what they need done here as uh west texas a m a victory here would be to try and pin them in a perfect spot inside the ten we would likely see the opportunity go a nine yard reception on that last drive for gerber as we get a whistle right before and like you alluded to there it looks like it will be a possible false start here on west texas a m and when you're punting anyways shouldn't be too much of an issue here as we'll convene here at the 50-yard line between our officials speaking of penalties i think a big factor that could play into today's game is you know as we all know the whole covet pandemic that's been going around right now um homer bryce stadium where this game is being held is currently i believe at 20 capacity so they're they're having you know not many fans at the game so it's going to be a lot quieter atmosphere so i think the hard counts you know if they're on like if sfa is trying to convert one of those third downs if they could get a hard count to get somebody to jump offsides get that free play that could be something big that plays into today's game it is a different atmosphere and you really do start to see the effect of a crowd when it's not there you know you might take it for granted and not notice it as much especially you look at these places like in the sec where you take away that large crowd and places like homer bryce stadium where on a saturday night and even a saturday afternoon can get really rowdy it will really help out i would say the coordinators i think they were they would be happy welcome back a 14-0 start for the lumberjacks through the air in their most recent opportunity a 28-yard touchdown to xavier gibson from trey self who sits with 40 yards on the day so far and sfa they've showed no signs of slowing down offensively as we welcome you into this espn broadcast of college football the lumberjacks rolling right now against the buffaloes of west texas a m but a m's defense shutting down the run there to start yeah i think that play was a little bit of a miscommunication from the left tackle and the guard because you know the guard came out and i believe that might have been the center he came out to go up to the secondary and let a linebacker go through and they both went to the same person so that was probably just a little bit of a miscommunication the leon ward has a 69 yard run into the end zone that came back on the first drive of the game as sfa took the kickoff to start our ball game here tonight is another run doesn't quite go anywhere maybe about a yard or two to set up about third and eight here and like we mentioned third downs are something that needs to be improved upon and they've done that so far here today we saw the 69 yard touchdown run uh true self with a passing touchdown here as well to add to the scoring and here's another opportunity third and eight might be a neutral zone infraction here but we'll see who the culprit was first as we do have a flag on the field as our officiating crew will convene here at the moment and this could be huge either way you have a team that can't quite convert on third down as much as they want to and you're looking at possibly a third and thirteen that could be very difficult but through the year trey self has not been afraid along with this coaching staff to take the deep shot so far but of course the third and three you have a lot of different options here for sfa as it will be a third and three it looks like the five-yard penalty on west texas a m so and there comes that hard count too that we were just talking about that quiet atmosphere if trey can get that hard count get somebody to jump off and there you go you get five extra yards exactly and in third and three you know just as much as anybody else the options that you have here especially in an rpo opportunity for trey self it could be deadly here as they haven't been stopped so far west texas a m trying to change the narrative this one trey selfel just elude a couple of bodies and get enough to get the first down as like we saw nick gerber in one of the drives for the buffaloes eluding some traffic trace elf has been a tough cookie to crack here so far in the backfield he has you can see that that d-line got a lot of penetration on that last play they they bull rushed the the interior offensive line got back there but trey self was just able to squeak by just enough to get that first down trace alphas ran for quite a few yards here so far picking up a first down on both attempts on the ground as this one is a couple of fakes here in the backfield on a play action throw well down the field and off of a couple of hands west texas a m even had a chance there to pick it off but nothing going either way and so each attempt down field here sfa's had an opportunity trey self really accurate in all of his throws so far but nothing other than the 28 yard touchdown pass to gibson yeah that's a great job of that west texas secondary staying stuck on those receivers getting downfield not letting them break off the way gibson did earlier in the game so that's a great improvement from what we've seen so far in the first quarter as west texas a m will try to slow this sfa offense down and get off of the field successfully this time trey self with a couple in the backfield with them he'll hand this one off it's worked to the outside and just enough to pick up the first down so again sfa is rolling with a ted smith state farm first down here this afternoon you know you don't really got to worry about those third down conversions if you get a first down every single time you get the ball and that's something they're doing really well right now you know like we said earlier they came off three pretty tough games these past few weeks and so i'm sure sfa came in here with coach carthel you know ready you know their home first week home they got a vengeance they're coming back they're ready to play some ball that was larry jones picking up the first down for sfa here in his first rush he's also got a 12-yard pickup through the years this one will go to about the line of scrimmage maybe picking up a yard afterwards does that run on the ground coming from the backfield of sfa jaquarian turned jaquarian one rush here so far so the lumberjack's inching towards midfield here at the moment in our first quarter the handoff up the middle a lot of space here as it's up to the 50-yard line and shut down there and sfa is continuing to roll on the ground we talked about just 207 coming in to this game on the ground it's something that they want to improve on especially just game to game overall and they're doing so here early on yeah that was a great play i mean he went almost 12 yards without being touched by a single person so that's what you want to see you know i come from an offensive line background so being a big guy at heart it's fun to see those big holes open where a lot of coaches like to say you could drive a truck through exactly the aquarium turner a fantastic drive putting together for himself so far as we'll get a stoppage here for the moment we'll be right back here on espn you're watching the sfa lumberjacks and the west texas a m buffaloes this is college football on espn we welcome you as you rejoin us here for this lumberjack buffaloes match up here in nacogdoches texas as this run will go to the short side here and get about to the 31 yard line of the buffaloes at the moment as two for two right now are the lumberjacks offensively two touchdowns about as perfect as it gets so far for the lumberjacks and you look on the other side of things west texas a m a little bit of improvement on that second drive for themselves but in order to find your offensive game you really need that help from the defense to to allow you to catch up and and get your game yeah absolutely and i think you know like we've been saying sfa played three real big games and this is west texas a m to them this is a real big game you know division one there they came to they came to play so seeing them struggle a little bit i wouldn't be too concerned i'm sure they they've got a game plan for this they're they're scheming something up to to come back for these against these lumberjacks treyjon henderson the freshman getting that carry as he's a part of this one as well and you'll see quite a few a revolving door here for sfa running back by committee style it seems um but it's been working out for the most part here in this game i'd say especially with the leon ward leading that pack with a 69-yard run earlier for a touchdown as trey self will carry it on the ground for himself again and three carries for trey self have picked up three separate first downs so far yeah that's a great run by trey self that was a little option play the end bid on it he pulled outside and he didn't get touched for 10 or 12 yards so that's one thing we've been saying you know you gotta you gotta keep your eye on him because he is very well or very much so a dual threat quarterback it'll be inside the red zone here just outside of the tent so still an opportunity to get a first down without scoring a touchdown here but sfa will work this one back up to about the 10 yard line maybe a couple of inches past it here the second down situation and essentially second down and goal you know something we saw last year that sfa struggled with was converting in the red zone they were able to you know drive the ball downfield get these really great drives but once they got you know 10 15 yards away from that touchdown they started to struggle with their miscommunications with penalties whatever it may be and that's something we're not really seeing this year you know they're they've they're coming out strong in this first home game they're they're converting a lot and that's really good to see this one a pitch to the outside there's gibson trying to tiptoe his way inside the five and he does so right there at the five yard line so a good misdirection there for gibson on the jet sweep as it'll set up an opportunity here for sfa to try and strike the end zone once again as you'll see trey self out there in the backfield with them it'll be turner and watch for number 19 as i believe he's on the short side here of your screen this one a play action pass traceup will roll out he'll look to the back of the end zone and it goes well past the back of the end zone and out so a fourth down situation here just 35 seconds left in the first quarter as sfa has put pressure on offensively for the third straight time here in the kicking unit coming out to try and make it a 17-nothing game that's a great job you know we've been seeing this west texas defense struggle a little bit against trey self and you know xavier gibson and everybody and it's really good to see them have sfa drive all the way down the field but stop them and hold them to that field goal chris campos out to kick this one through the uprights the nakadochis native will get it done as it's a 17 to nothing start for the lumberjacks right out of the gate with 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter three for three on their drives it was a 69-yard touchdown run for deleon ward on top of that yet the 28-yard touchdown pass to xavier gibson from trey self and now trey self along with the halfback committee marching them down inside the red zone allowing for a chip shot field goal to get things rolling once again so coming into this upcoming drive you look at nick gerber he's been fantastic in the first quarter of games so far for west texas a m in fact the junior he's completed 13 of 14 passes in the first quarter coming into this one he racked up about 159 yards and four touchdowns in just the first quarter alone a lot of that coming in that opener where they scored 58 total but it's been a different look here and a little bit more warming to the task against this sfa defense the defense that they haven't seen necessarily this year and that you know like we've been saying nick gerber coming into this game this is a very big game for west texas a m they are very much so playing up so if we can see nick gerber and this offense start to readjust as they're playing you know start to get those first and second downs and you know don't get kicked out in three plays that's something that's going to be really interesting for this sfa defense to handle certainly will be is we look other than the smu game i think you're impressed with the sfa defense just giving up 24 apiece to those first two opponents really sfa was certainly in that game against utep to start the season off and you saw them just sort of collapse late and you alluded to it before our broadcast just a little bit about sfa in colby head coach colby carthage sort of turning this team into a four quarter team and making sure that you know how to finish a 60-minute football game yeah absolutely that's one thing that um they have struggled with in the past it's consistency and i think colby cartha coming in here having previously been with a m commerce and taking them to a national championship level type style team that's something that could happen for sfa colby cartel can come in with this new coaching staff and just revamp the whole system and that's i think what that's what's happening as we uh as we look at sfa sort of uh making their adjustments from year to year uh you know what have you seen sort of out of the southland conference as a whole as far as style of play it is usually more of a methodical uh sort of look as far as a football style it's not necessarily like the you look at the big 12 you think quick strike offense you think not a lot of defense you look at the sec it's sort of all over the place you know the southland is an interesting dynamic it really is and i think a lot of times it falls on the specific teams as well because the teams vary so much you know depending on what region they're from and how they recruit really and it depends on your recruits compared you know if you want to compare sfa to sam houston sfa likes to get a lot of high school recruits whereas sam houston in the past have gone more of that juco route getting a lot of those older guys that have experience in different systems and bringing them there so i think that's one of the things that it falls onto is what kind of athlete you are bringing to your university exactly and i think i think d1 football especially fbs and even fcs have certainly been very appreciative of the community college level and the way that is really unique to develop players is this run will go nowhere in fact in the backfield stuffed again sfa not letting up as far as the run game goes defensively just have been sound all around but you talk about the junior college level the community college level you even see it in college baseball really a lot of d1 coaches say they want those guys from junior college because there is a different sort of development that you get at a smaller school you know you might not have the best facilities but you get the playing time and the growth that you need to become a mature player coming in to a school like sfe yeah absolutely and especially at that juco level as it looks like that'll round things out here for our quarter as they'll just let the clock run out so it is one through the books it is a 17 nothing sfa lead at the moment as we'll take a quick break here back for the second quarter in just a moment you're watching college football on espn start of the second quarter here on espn is one through the books we have a 17-nothing sfa lead to start as west texas a m will go on the ground here right out of the gate in our second quarter and we just got done discussing a little bit about the junior college level development and looking at sort of how you change a culture and i think there was a lot that head coach colby carlton certainly learned from coaching at the d2 level at such a unique level and you look at a team like west texas a m what do you sort of see uh especially when they play up well something that's interesting is you know like i said earlier i'm a big guy at heart so something that's interesting when you see a team like west texas a m play up is the trenches and you know the battle that these guys are doing every play that they're sometimes you know you get those those big southland conference nose guards or big south and conference d tackles bull rushing up the middle it could be real tough to stop so it's going to be interesting to see if they can do that throughout the game we saw a similar effect there as gerber had to get out of the pocket and throw that one away so the punt united out for the third time in three drives for west texas a m is nothing quite clicking yet offensively as it'll give sfa pretty favorable field position and it really hasn't mattered so far as far as field position goes for sfa three drives and three scores in a couple different fashions the buffaloes descend this one away it's high at about the 30 and it will be fair caught there to set things up at the 30-yard line for the lumberjacks and coming back out trey self and this offense he's got himself 40 yards through the air thus far again his longest throw being the 28 yard touchdown to xavier gibson to make it a 14 nothing game as we'll see the development on the defensive side of things if any here for west texas a m so far the only improvement stopping sfa in the red zone this last drive is this one is handed off and worked along the edge and shut down quickly there was the superstar into leon ward that's a great job by the front line of west texas a m on defense you know that's really what they're going to want to start to do in this game they're going to want to put that pressure in that backfield pressure whoever's back there running the ball pressure trace yourself to you know get out and run the ball because if you can get him out there with the cornerbacks and they can get a tackle that's gonna be real good for this defense tray self he's run for it on the ground three times in this game and he's picked up a first down each time so certainly have to pay attention to him as this screen screen out wide will allow gibson to get all the way down past the 50 gibson just one man to beat will he do it on the edge and he just steps out inside the 30 yard line so the threat on the outside does it again there's a reason he was all-conference as he finds a way to turn just a bubble screen there in to a huge pickup and that's what we were talking about earlier you know him being such a young guy and bringing that kind of speed to the table if that safety that was playing high didn't have a good angle on gibson that would have been seven points on the board or six points excuse me so you know him being that young but bringing that much explosive power and speed for this sfa offense could be a game changer in seasons to come so far it has been 83 yards gibson has at the moment he averages just about 40 on a reception and a 55-yard pick up there is trey self will go to the end zone as it'll sail well over the head of his intended receiver this time along that outside remy simmons the senior i really want to give credit to this west texas a m d line especially their interior d-line because they are putting a lot of pressure on this backfield the score may tell a different story but if you watch if you watch them put pressure on these on this whole line they're getting back there and they're disrupting trace off a lot the score could be a lot different if they weren't doing the job they are trey self with a man in the backfield with him that being ward just behind his word will set up and trace elf will go with a bullet right across the middle and a good break up there from the secondary just inside the end zone as that was an absolute bullet ripped to lawton reichel in the end zone by trey self an impressive throw but another breakup there from the secondary of the buffaloes trey self has had some struggles um you know with getting completions uh being accurate on some throws depending on the throw and depending on which receiver is running it but one thing we've seen this game is he's been pretty accurate you know even if there's two corners or a corner and a safety on one of his receivers he's been able to get the ball to where it could possibly be catchable and that's really what you want from your quarterback so the penalty on sfa will march them back so that touchdown would have been negated regardless here in a 17 nothing game 12 41 left in the second quarter as this is a shovel pass up to ward he's only able to get as far as maybe seven or eight yards on that one is an interesting play call there for sfa we'll move them ahead as you've seen a couple of non-conventional plays here the jet sweep earlier in the game as well as we've seen a wide receiver i think that play that that shovel pass play they stole from patrick mahomes he did one of those in the last yeah it's just about as good as it gets when it comes to the shovel pass or really any unconventional past that is that baseball background coming out in patrick mahomes nfl career to to say the least the product at a white house texas really just about an hour down the road here from nacogdoches history self will drop back and everything will get shut down as a penalty on sfa look to be a false start i believe will march it back even more so so now you're starting to squeak back a little bit to where it's uncomfortable to kick a field goal here when you were just inside the 30 yard line moments ago yeah this is when sfa you know they've got a few penalties they're getting pushed back they need to not let the frustration take hold they need to stay calm stay collected and just try to get that ball down field and not not let these penalties get to their heads so it looks like they'll march out a similar set as we've seen with ward in the backfield behind self trey selt the drop back has a little bit of time but is flushed out of the pocket and this time he's grabbed and wrapped up and taken down for the first time in the backfield as west texas a m finds a way to penetrate the line like you were mentioning and this time they get to uh sort of take advantage of the fruits of their labor that was a great great job of that d line the the end on the left side of the offensive line shot out and they had a guy come through the b gap if the le the left tackle had to scoot down to pick up that guy in the b gap leaving that end just completely free to get up and trace self's grill so that was a great job of that d-line so two drives in a row we'll see compost come out to attempt to field goal he's one for one already the nakadochis product will send this one up into the year as this one looked to be no good i believe initially as unfortunately sfa not able to take advantage of the opportunity and those penalties like you mentioned it pushed them back into an area of the field where they weren't quite comfortable with kicking a field goal but we'll be right back here with nick gerber leading his team out onto the field the first stop for the buffaloes has occurred we'll be back on espn back out for their second drive of the second quarter the west texas a m buffaloes finally found a way to stop this sfa offense for the first time the field goal attempt no good for the lumberjacks as this reverse play will occur right out of the gate for west texas a m and will bring them all the way out for a 15 20 yard pick up and even more so all the way down past the 50 and on into lumberjack territory right out of the gate so the conventional offense not working so far here today and maybe something right out of the bag of tricks that razzle dazzle without a doubt says west texas a m across the 50 here for the first time today as nick gerber we talked about how impressive he's been in the first quarter so far this year four touchdowns coming into this one but he is put all the way back to probably the 50 yard line here that was a great blitz by that by those linebackers they came right up into the a gap and shot straight into nick gerber's face that was a great job forward progress will allow him to sit at about the 48 of the lumberjacks at the moment as it'll be second and long here to start this next sequence a man to his right three offset here in the near side as gribber will roll out that way he'll elect to go ahead and take it himself all the way down past the 35 close to the 30. so getting it done on the ground you mentioned he had 60 yards on the ground already this year in one game nick gerber yeah he's uh you know he he kind of reminds me of trey self you know he's he's got that type of ability in him where if you've got a lot of the d-line coming around your left side he's going to be able to get into that open field around the hash in the right side of the field and hopefully get you some yards patience certainly will be the key here as the sfa secondary has certainly held their own and not allowing receivers to get open as quickly as gerber would want is what it seems like so his patience and ability to get flushed out of the pocket will be something to look at as this run up the middle will pick up a few yards here and west texas a m driving into a territory where they can put some pressure on so second in probably about six or seven for the moment another great developing story that we see here in the southland conference going on central arkansas 20 to 18 on north dakota state and i think everybody here knows that north dakota state regardless of being an fcs team is a household name they take home the championship in frisco texas just about every year it seems and uh they even found a way to beat kansas state one year so the southland conference holding their own against north dakota state with such a storied history as of lately as we'll take a quick break here for just a moment we'll come back west texas a m they're driving here for the first time offensively and setting themselves up to maybe get on the scoreboard for the first time you're watching college football on espn back here in nacogdoches college football here on espn west texas a m they've been shut down and shut out here through the first quarter and some change but they're threatening on the plus side of the 50 here for the first time today as this handoff will go a counter play off to the outside a good bounce off there from the halfback to get past the 30 and on close to the 25. really good job of that running back you know he that wasn't the design play the design play was to go inside that tackle but he came up to the tackle's butt he saw that a linebacker was coming in there and decided to hop out and got him extra yards that's a great job by him jared compton on that carry there's a couple men in the backfield here with gerber will be the setup approaching eight minutes left in the half dropping back here with a little bit of time throwing over the middle and maybe a little bit of early contact there from the secondary of sfa but a swallowed up play and a dangerous play you could even almost say from gerber if he wasn't so accurate yeah if if that ball was a little bit off that could have been a pick for sure so that was a little scary for west texas a m but in this drive they're coming out it looks like you know they've they've made some adjustments it looks like they've got a new game plan and it could be could be helpful for them certainly no more uh conventional downhill running sort of drying the counters and trying to mix things up and get a misdirection going here gerber will try to walk ahead has nobody open we'll just flick this one out of play a good decision there it didn't look like he was going to have enough space or time to run for anything there and rather than risk the turnover just get it out of play great pressure by that defensive line of sfa i feel like i've been been talking a lot about both teams d-line but you know when they're they're putting that much pressure on the quarterback so he's got to flush out and throw up throw out of bounds especially in the red zone or close to the red zone where they are that's a great job great win we've seen west texas a m hold their own in the past couple of drives in the red zone their defense that is and sfa trying to do the same thing for the first time today gerber will go ahead and take off has some space but it's swallowed up quickly there for just a few yards as sfa finds a way to stop west texas a m but we do look like we have a possible conversation yes a flag on the field on sfa i believe at the moment as sfa thought they had the stop there initially but west texas a m will march on ahead that was a great great job by gavin roland number 34 for getting that tackle he's one of the you know he's one of the veteran guys on this defense he's been here for a while he's been here under a few different coaching staff so he's a good guy to help lead this team loading the box here is the sfa defense as it is shut down quickly there on the run play but gerber pointing ahead seeing if they got the first down it was just about a couple of inches really you wouldn't even call it a yard that they had to get on that play it looks like they will move the chains ahead a great job there to get it done and you talk about changing coaching staffs quite a bit it can be difficult when really at the college level you're just trying to you're still in that development process especially if you're wanting a shot at the nfl to you know find a coaching staff that you can work with long enough to to really truly develop is this throw will uh find wes's texas a m setting up inside the 15 now as that reception will go for yet again good yards for gerber nick gerber sitting at 37 yards now through the year as long as the 24 24-yard pickup he's been sacked a couple of times here today and certainly you'll want to avoid a sack here getting close to inside the 10. gerber will hand this one off it's shut down quickly enough as harris isn't able to get up field like you'd like to this hair is still trying to get over 10 total yards in this game on the ground personnel changes here for the buffaloes to try and get set as there's a little bit of confusion here at the moment just five seconds left there on the play clock as they don't wanna get a play playoff of course here without having a conversation about it first so a time out here for the moment was 6 11 left to play here in the half as west texas a m is threatening offensively for the first time in this game and we mentioned how you've got to have your defense coming out and helping you out a little bit if it's going to take your offense sometime to get it together and uh is as much as 17 nothing doesn't look pretty it's an opportunity here for west texas a m to dig themselves out of the hole we'll be right back here after this quick break you're watching college football on espn back here in nacogdoches in a fourth and two situation for west texas a m they're going to try and find a way to keep the drive alive pushing for the priority of a touchdown here as they'll go for it at the moment rolling out is gerber he'll look back to his other side as this one is caught and worked up ahead they'll have enough almost to get the first down it looks like as they just needed two yards to pick up there and they were sitting at the 14 to begin that drive as we'll see here what uh possibly gerber would like to go to here after picking up a couple west texas a m trying to keep their prized possession offensively right now being this drive alive at the moment as they've been shut down on every drive not getting past the 50 until here is this one is uh flushing gerber out of the pocket quite quickly i still try and work up the far side but a fantastic play made defensively there and just the traction to be able to get all the way over and make that play fantastic for sfa that's a great job they overloaded the box brought a lot of pressure up the middle and were able to you know flush gerber out of that pocket and that's one thing we were talking about earlier if greber gets out of the pocket he does have the capability to get in that open grass and take off but as quick as they did it and as quick as they flushed them out there's very slim chance that you're getting away from that sack so west texas a m trying to keep that drive alive we'll turn it over on downs and trey self and sfa will march right back out there they were stopped for the first time on their last possession as this one won't pick up quite a lot but starting off gaining some yards here are these lumberjacks they haven't been on the field offensively in quite some time or the longest time we've seen here so far today it's picking up the reception there for sfa was simmons trey self will go over the middle quite quickly and right through the hands of the intended receiver there not what you want to see on such a perfect strike from trey self if you look at the uh if you look at the stats for this game gerber himself are pretty much in the same ballpark in terms of completions and attempts and really in trey self's defense that he currently sitting at five completions for 12 attempts and that doesn't really show his ability because a lot of the balls that he's thrown today have been on the money they've been they've been catchable but the receivers may have had two corners on them or in that case you know it could have just been a drop ball so he's getting the ball where he needs to carson spence was the intended receiver the tight end there on that last one is trey self will be brought down in the backfield as he elected to keep that one so sfa nothing going here as the offense stagnant the last couple of drives now will set up west texas a m to get right back and rolling again we talked about their offense getting better you get inside the red zone but nothing to show for the last drive it could be pretty deflating if you go three and out here if you're if you're the buffaloes it's really important to keep the sort of the pedal to the metal here with only four minutes left you really kind of want to drive some clock down and have the last possession of the half yeah absolutely you know four minutes left this is a good time for them to really start hammering this defense when gerber gets back on the field and try to get us some points on the board and you know they're gonna go out and have or go back into the locker room at half they're to reevaluate their game plan i'm sure they're going to make some changes probably bring out some of those more razzle dazzle plays as i like to call them because that seemed to have worked for him running up the middle doesn't seem to work against this front defensive line for sfa so i'm sure those are the changes that they're going to be make going to be made on offense it's been a difficult one to deal with certainly especially when sfa stacks the box with their linebackers west texas a m has been shut down on the run game but it looks like it might have to be a gerber show here to end the half at least as he was a really big component as far as on the ground is is concerned for this buffalo's team to get their drive rolling in the last try so from the 29-yard line a couple of men in the backfield gerber will get flushed out quickly not enough time to sit in the pocket this one thrown right over the middle and caught quickly and hit immediately as it was caught was the receiver for the buffaloes a beautiful throw over the middle and really the first time we've seen in quite some time red being able to make a catch over the middle yeah there's that passing offense that we were talking about earlier in the game uh that west texas has showed to have in their previous win so if they can keep doing that in the second half it should prove very successful 29 yards now for red after that reception as this one has walked up ahead just a bit by harris to keep pushing the pace for the buffaloes so the second time now they get across the 50-yard line on this sfa defense coming up on the half time without a doubt we'll have some updates on some other stuff going on in the southland conference as far as scores go against central arkansas last time we checked up 20 to 18 on north dakota state as well as everything else going on in college football this afternoon and into the evening as this run will get shut down at the 50-yard line harris again on the carry it's a great stop by that sf8 defense great job you know towards the end of the half stopping them and keeping them at that that long distance to get that next first down is really what you want to do to help deflate west texas a m offense a lot of bodies up at the front for sfa two safeties dropping back deep as gerber's flushed out immediately a lot the throw on the run sort of coming up and it's caught there all the way inside the 20. a beautiful job by neal to come up with the catch and it allows west texas a m to get into field goal position here with still just over two minutes left gerber and this offense will try to work quickly here as we get the chains reset sfa will rush four while loading the box as well this one play action pass swatted at the line sfa comes up with the pick it is the lumberjack slowing down the progress and finding a way to get the first turnover of the day other than on downs and it is an interception that shuts things down a minute 46 left in the half bj thompson with that with that pick that's a great job by him as you can see you know from watching this game he's a very lengthy guy he's he's tall he's skinny and that's that helps you a lot when you're coming off that edge and you're trying to put that pressure on that quarterback if you can get just a fingertip on that ball it's going to change the trajectory and help the defense out first time we really saw the hurry up pace from west texas a m the ball swatted at the line and intercepted so the first interception of our game is this one goes off of the hands there on the pass from trey self that being simmons hands as he's not able to come up with it a minute 41 left for sfa you're gonna have to work quickly certainly but only two timeouts left one thing i'm going to want to see from sfa as they come out in the second half is to hopefully bring back that explosiveness that they started with in this in the first quarter you know they came out trey self had that great first down conversion um you know they got that touchdown with with gibson so that's those are the kind of things we're going to want to see from them traceup will move it on the ground himself trying to get out of bounds but he's up ended violently there at the 25-yard line a great job of stopping self from possibly getting out of bounds as yes the clock will roll one thing that's pretty interesting about trey self in a rushing aspect is when he gets in that open field and starts running at least in in this game you very rarely see him slide you know a lot of qb's do that qb slide to help protect their bodies but he may lower his shoulder to try to get that one or two extra yards which is you know it's really good to see if you want a real active quarterback tracell flushed out of the pocket as we've seen quite a bit here today and throwing against the grain couldn't quite come up with the reception so a minute nine is all that remains here in the half at the moment as it looks like sfa will bring the punt unit out of course to send it away so just a minute nine left for west texas a m to try and get themselves on the board for the first time we'll see if they just elect to put the ball on the ground and get to halftime as this one is bobbled just a bit but still booted away successfully and not probably getting as far as he wanted without the bobble as this one will land at about the 40-yard line so what we didn't expect but now we see is a little bit more of a favorable field position here for the buffaloes and yet another attempt here to try and grab at least three in the half yeah that's a great job by west texas defense you know creating another opportunity for gerber and this offense to come out here and try to drive back down that field and get some sort of points on the board before they head back into the locker room an interception ended their last try swatted at the line and intercepted and intercepted by sfa as from the 40 we will start gerber in the backfield quickly wants to throw towards the sideline and the reception made for about six or seven yards getting out of bounds wisely so 53 now remains on the clock in the half you know with west texas struggling like they haven't before in previous games against the passing defense one thing that they might do in this halftime is they might start game planning to run quick rounds big hit you're right as uh as far as we saw another quick route there but the pickup is uh enough for the first down but a big hit there laid on neil as neal leads this group right now through the air with 61 yards receiving gerber in the backfield will drop back he'll roll out to the right a lot of bodies coming after him there quickly as he'll just throw this one towards the sideline and out and again you see that play a lot really all the play rolling out to the right normally you have a lot more time and you can sort of just jog out to the right there and sort of set your feet but not able to set his feet there and sort of throwing on the run yeah this this defense is doing a great job whenever those kind of plays are happening with gerber and he's rushing out outside the hash this d-line and these linebackers are putting so much pressure on him that he's not able to think clearly and he's he's not getting the ball exactly where he wants it a difficult task right now to find anything through the year as far as more than 10 yards here for gerber as he'll look down field for the try but just has to get out of bounds as he's forced out quickly 19 seconds remain here in the half looks like we have an injured player on the field number 54. sfa the first injury we've seen here as far as this afternoon is concerned ahmad murray the defensive end out of huntsville texas a redshirt sophomore this year six three 245 pounds of mod murray because we'll get things shut down here and it'll be interesting to see whether or not west texas a m wants to go ahead and just put the ball on the ground and end the half or take a shot here in the following moments as just 19 seconds remains here in the half i would assume ahmad murray would be done for the half and we'll certainly hope that he'll be able to return for the second half so so far sfa as far as scoring goes they came out of the gate 14 nothing a couple of uh really successful drives and then compost finished off that third drive with a field goal and then moments after they were not able to come up with a second field goal so one for two is compost in that department so far as it looks like west texas a m will have a halfback in the backfield with gerber will they take a shot downfield just 19 seconds left sometime for gerber but he's fleshed out quickly he'll look and just has to flick this one out as he's drilled at the last moment as well so nothing is able to get developed down field for west texas a m because the pocket is really just being collapsed quicker than these receivers can run their routes yeah absolutely that old line is struggling to keep keep that interior that box of the defense off the quarterback long enough to for gerber to get that ball down field and that's why i think you know one game plan that they're going to start to try to do is run those maybe quick slants those quick screens you know something that gerber can get the ball out of the backfield quickly enough to where he's not getting hit he's not getting pressured and he can actually make a good play so a punt here really those last two minutes so many possession changes with the quick three and outs from these two groups is six seconds now five possibly down to four is all we'll see so we would assume just a quick kneel from sfa to get to the locker room here i would uh certainly assume is it's a 17 nothing game here to end the first half sfa really impressive right out of the gate offensively a 69-yard run from the leon ward a 28-yard touchdown pass from trey south to xavier gibson who was very flashy in that first quarter and into the second early on and then of course nothing from west texas a m at the moment trey self will kneel this one down and we will see half time here with a 17 nothing lumberjack lead we'll be right back here on espn you're watching college football sfa and west texas a m we'll be back here for the halftime report on espn the buffaloes will move this out to about the 30 and again anytime you bring it out and get it past the 25 it's a net gain there so an opportunity here from the 30. one thing you may see from this west texas a m as well in these upcoming drives they could if they want to start rushing the ball a lot more running the ball they could start running those counter plays those counter plays started to work a little bit against this sfa defense sfa will bring that defense back out here they've been perfect so far how they've stopped west texas a m as far as quality opportunities go well the first time it was on a fourth and two opportunity from inside the 20 from west texas a m it was unsuccessful on the quarterback run to the outside with gerber and then again west texas a m got inside the red zone and an interception picked up on a ball swatted at the line stopped their second true opportunity to get points on the board so when your offense slowed down really after that first quarter was a great job by that sfa defense to come right back with that complimentary play and to keep it a 17 point game absolutely and i think there was there may have been an injury on that that kickoff by a west texas a m player i didn't get to see who it was but i hope he's doing all right now hopefully so as we did see ahmad murray go down for sfa in the first half but looks like he'll be alright hopefully here for sfa to return here in the second half so it'll be gerber in the backfield here at the moment as ahmad murray has returned you see there on the left side of the line defensively for sfa is he'll be flushed out of the pocket again we see not a lot of time holding looks like to be the call in the backfield as gerber is tripped up for a loss on the play i was just about to give props to that o-line too they it looked like they were holding their protection pretty good but seems like there was a there's gonna be a holding call on that uh on the left tackle well right now it doesn't really seem to be a slow process of sfa getting into the backfield it seems just all the sudden there's four or five purple shirts in the backfield and it's really why you see sort of that shock from gerber on each of these plays to quickly get himself out of the pocket is you know for a moment there he's probably thinking maybe i got time this time but it hasn't been the case it'll be one man in the backfield along with gerber for to rush for sfa it looks this run up the middle a good hold there on the left side will open up some space and west texas a m will shed a couple of tackles there what a run here to pick up the first down for west texas a m that's a great job just keep your feet moving and keep your knees moving you know a lot a lot of coaches like to tell their players especially their running backs if you get in those piles just keep chopping your knees and you may be able to get out and that's what he did you know he kept moving kept moving his feet and was able to get those extra yards harris only had 17 yards in that first half as he picks up a big one here for the buffaloes this time shut down but trying to shed a couple more tackles he does so again so harris about as difficult as it is it seems like he's been lathered in grease there in the backfield for this sfa defense a tough guy to bring down so far that's a great job by the left guard number 77 for west texas a m he is mainly the reason why that was a first down he pushed the running back and you know that's that's what you're told to do if you get behind that running back just push the pile you're the strongest man on the field so that finally picking up the first down that is uh on my correction is gerber will throw this one over the middle caught there at about the 50 a big reception here and that's sort of the short passing game that you like to see i i think if you're west texas a m here in the second half and it's already working out up to the 50 here with 13 30 left yeah absolutely that's exactly what we were talking about you know if they want to start moving these chains maybe stop focusing so much on those downplay routes where gerber's got to spend time in the backfield and just get the ball out quick so far the run game working well and gerber finds a reception here in the second half to start this one bouncing to the outside a couple of bodies there to slow and bound out to about the 45 the buffaloes will set up a second and manageable excuse me that being a first down picked up here for west texas a m so it'll set up first down again for the buffalo 17-0 right out of the gate for sfa and west texas a m trying to respond early here in the second half sfa will rush for again an option play here it's kept by gerber and worked up ahead for just a couple of yards so it'll be second in about seven sfa coming in oh and three to start the year utep utsa and smu west texas a m coming into the day a win over oklahoma panhandle state 58-7 and a loss against san angelo state 21-10 gerber quickly having to flush himself out he'll run for it well passed into sfa territory is a round down by the 26 yard line gerber will end up and the consequence of bringing everybody sort of up the middle of the box gerber's able to take advantage of the outside yeah absolutely that's what we're talking about if he if he's able to get in that open field outside the hash most likely just like trey self he's gonna he's gonna get those extra 15 yards and slide for that first down gerber to hand this one off worked ahead a lot of yards picked up again on the ground for west texas a m as they have not slowed down at all right out of the gate that being blair on the ground again he was one of the guys that we were looking at here in the pre-game brandon blair the 5-8 running back at a spring texas that was a great job he went about eight or nine yards without getting touched and that's that's credit to this o-line you know they came out earlier in the game and they were struggling a little bit against this d-line but throughout this drive you've been able to see besides that play you've been able to see exactly as uh they were holding their own but i think you know you go one too many times to the well in a row and sfa makes the adjustment to pick up the stop and this is where they've struggled at this is where we've looked at uh so far with west texas a m as far as getting into the red zone and executing that's why you do see the goose egg up there offensively for them as far as zero points on the board is because the interception and going forward on fourth and two have not been successful um for sf or rather for west texas a m so you have to give credit as far as the red zone goes to the sfa defense so far they'll see if they can keep their reputation up gerber will drop back a little bit of more time than usual but will be fleshed out he'll make this throw towards the sideline and safely it'll land out of play 10 25 left here in the third quarter as west texas a m looking to shave off about five minutes here in this drive from the 1980 18 and a half yard line essentially here for the buffaloes trying to get on the board in their first possession of the second half if you joined us late gerber looking to his left not a lot of time but fl uh flares this one off towards the sideline and the catch is me but was it in bounds it doesn't look like it was i think that dn got a hand on that ball too so i think that really helped that ball came out a little fluttered and probably wasn't exactly on the point where gerber wanted it to be so that's a great job of that d-line getting that aggressive playing in the backfield first opportunity an attempt here to kick a field goal for the buffaloes sfa started off one for one in that department they're one for two overall as west texas a m will try and get on the board for the first time here kick is up it's looking right turning back left and it is good so a little bit of a shaky kick there but it finds its way in falling and putting west texas a m on the board a 17-3 game here for the buffaloes is an impressive little comeback here right out of the gate to show that they can make the adjustments uh the buffaloes find themselves on the board we'll be right back here sfa they'll get the ball for the first time here in the second half you're watching college football on espn welcome back you're watching college football on espn a drive for the west texas a m buffaloes ends in points for the first time here this evening as their first possession of the second half is successful so finally getting to benefit from their labor here offensively they'll send it away for sfa's first try with the ball in our second half again we thank you for joining us here throughout the evening a 17-3 game here in nacogdoches in favor of sfa as this one's worked out past the 20 and on to about the 22 yard line to bring trey self and this offense right back out and sort of evaluate a little bit what you saw from this offense as far as the mixture with the recipe of the run game and uh the pass game again we talked about there could have been a couple things that went better for sfa through the year a couple of drop balls things like that yeah for sure um one good thing that we've been seeing is the running game game's been actually kind of working out for sfa uh which hasn't like you can see on that play you know this hasn't been the case in recent years uh and so now to see that we've got a running back that can go up the field and then trace self is able to you know get out and scramble and get you some extra yards it's really interesting to see sfa start to grow into that capacity not a lot on the ground in the first three weeks for sfa but again the improvements being seen here against west texas a m looking up for the future is trey self in the backfield we'll have deleon ward with him this one handed off to ward he'll chop his feet and getting all the yards so far here on two carries for sfa right out of the gate so first in 10 here for the lumberjacks and you look at the numbers for trey self in that first half over hundred yards through the year he came in with over 500 through the year into this one 105 yards so far that longest throw being the 55 yard pickup from xavier gibson mr self with a lot of time will air this one out well down the sideline this one is caught with nobody near him a touchdown for the lumberjacks it simmons all alone finding space and putting the lumberjacks up 23-3 remy simmons is one of those guys he's been on this team for a while now he was a transfer and going through the system he's one of those veteran guys on the offense trey self is sort of new to this team some of the old linemen are kind of young and so to have those veteran guys who can produce the way he just produced on that play is pretty exhilarating for this offense trey self finding a way to connect on the deep ball for the first time here resulting in a touchdown here in the second half that is as he's had a 28 yard reception to xavier gibson that led to a touchdown and now a very long touchdown pass being 63 yards for a touchdown we'll be right back here on espn you're watching college football 24-3 sfa lead i can't point touchdown as they respond brilliantly a 63-yard touchdown pass to remy simmons who was all alone and had about a 20-yard cushion it seemed from any uh secondary player for west texas a m as the lumberjacks will send this one away fielded in the end zone in knelt there to bring things out gerber he'll try to lead his team down into the red zone again and look for more success in the red zone this time as they're going to need to as they are trailing by even more so now a 21-point lead yeah i'm excited to see if gerber comes out with any new changes you know if they've game planned whether or not he's going to start to run the ball more they're going to start running those counter plays that they were running earlier that seem to get them you know those five six yards that you need to start moving the chain so i'm excited to see if he has any new things in his back pocket they're starting to find the formula to get into the red zone question marks when they get there certainly are still there as this pass was accurate enough to be caught maybe a little bit behind the intended receiver but nevertheless an incomplete pass those are the mistakes that you really hate to see in this late in the game with this discrepancy in scoring those are the mistakes you really can't make you got to catch that ball you got to move those chains that help your team get this w a lumberjacks look to be rushing four with a couple in the box as well they'll rush off of the edge on the right side and not a lot going off of the run maybe a couple of yards here picked up by blair blair coming in with 16 yards on the ground as long as being an 11 yard run if west texas can become consistent with that you know four or five yard running gain that's all you really need to start moving those chains and get down field and that will also help them convert in the red zone gerber will set things up here in the pocket stepping up a bit and throwing towards the sideline and keeping his feet in there on the edge west texas a m will pick up a first down and move the chains but the uh looks like an offensive lineman potentially down here on the field at the moment for west texas a m getting up under his own power thankfully is still head on off certainly want to conserve as much time as you can if you're the buffaloes certainly going to be going through the air i would assume you're down the stretch but again like you mentioned not a lot of time in the pocket and we'll have to get rid of the ball quickly it seems hand it off here to blair who smothered up for a couple yards on the game again this sfad line hats off to them they're being competitive and consistent throughout this game they're putting a lot of pressure on that o-line they're holding that running back a lot of times to four or five yards unless they break out and you know it's something you haven't really seen if you're an sfa fan over the past few years or past few games so it's really good to see here yeah you give up 24 against your first two opponents and really when you look at those opponents and you evaluate them as this one is incomplete uh you you like to see that you don't like to see um you know your defense get pushed over too consistently and that was something that we saw against smu a really talented offensive team and a team that you know when you think of smu maybe four or five years ago you don't think of the same smu that you think of now um so certainly encouraging to see the way that the sfa defense has improved in some departments and they're capitalizing on on what they've learned from last week here today gerber in the backfield by himself he's flushed down and will move to the right he's going to have to throw on the run and he'll do so this one wobbling out of play along that near sideline and so nothing working out of the punt unit out for west texas a m both teams scoring on their first drive here of the half a field goal for west texas a m of course as you see and the long touchdown pass to match things for sfa the buffaloes divoted away landing there just in front of the 25 25-yard line of bouncing out at about the 20 but a flag on the field looks like that occurring near where the ball landed well after it was booted away coming out on this drive i think a big goal for trey self in this offense is going to be getting a little more cushion i mean obviously having a 21 point cushion is pretty nice but there's a lot of time still left in this game there's a lot that can change so if they can keep just raising that score little by little whether it be a field goal or touchdown it's going to help boost the confidence of both the offense and the defense when they inevitably have to get back on the field against gerber so like we were mentioning a flag on the field at the moment as there's a discussion being had as our umpire sort of keeping the teams away from each other at the moment as they're ready to go ahead and get things rolling here 708 remaining here in the third quarter as we were keeping tabs a little bit on some other south and conference action going on central arkansas who was up 20 to 18 at one point against north dakota state such a heavily favored fcs team every year ends up falling 39-28 so north dakota state becoming themselves there late in that game and finding a way to take down central arkansas yeah that's a great game for uca regardless of them losing you know north dakota state is definitely a big power in the fcs football arena so you know for them to come out and lead that game for a while and actually be competitive against them it shows a lot against how good of a team they are trey self his reception is completed there close to the ground for a five yard pickup it looks like so to the 30 they need to get the first down run up the middle nothing going as ward wasn't able to bounce off to the right side staying where he's at a third in five situation so just as similarly as other south unconference sports here just a a wacky time as far as scheduling goes here this year but evaluating the way that sfa scheduled uh sort of keeping it in the state of texas it it seems like an interesting schedule that you'd almost want to see kind of every year with the utsa and utep on the schedule certainly an interesting one to say the least this one received up the middle and it will get to about the 29 at the minimum will they give them the first down it looks like it'll be just short you're at the moment what does sfa want to do they're going to go quickly and get to the line trey self he'll take this snap and try and take it to the 30 himself did he get it is the question sfa thinks they do this trey self will come out of the pile and what looks like to be right at about the 30. looks like they'll give it to them a first down great job they're getting the ball quick exactly another ted smith steep farm first down that is is uh true self will get the information from the sideline for the next sequence at the 30. trey self play action looking rolling out and throwing towards the sideline just out of the reach of gibson there who was headed to the line at about the 45 one thing that looks a little different about this uh west texas d line they've still got you know three big guys up front and what they were doing earlier is they were bringing a guy off the edge and they're still doing that but it looks like he's playing a little more a spy if you will on trey self because as they've seen and as you've seen those legs if he gets out into that green grass he's going to be gone for you know 15 20 yards so it looks like they're starting to keep a little bit of a spy on him to see where he goes well you're certainly thinking that they're one they're going to want to keep the ball on the ground as you see how impressive de leon ward's run is there but we'll see if it gets marched back due to this flag on the field at the moment but nevertheless you do want to sort of keep a spy on trey self because if they do have to pass trace elf with the lead that they have might take the option of just taking it on the ground and running more clock off as it looks like it'll be on sfa and that run from ward is negated yeah that's a tough penalty for sfa but you know having the score cushion that's something that they can deal with whereas you know with with texas a m they can't really be getting any more penalties they can't be really dropping any more balls if they want to still stay competitive throughout this ball game three up at the top as you see out wide one down here near side on your screen history self and ward in the backfield self will drop back has a little bit of time steps up in the pocket pump fakes and rolls out to the right he'll point for asking for some blocks here so move past the 30 and about a 5 yard run here for trey self ultimately a beautiful job of tiptoeing out of bounds as well safely great job by the receiver too at the top of the screen getting a block in that corner and letting trey self get out into that flat and get a little more yards for his team 435 and counting here as it seems and needing to get to the 40-yard line for the first down sitting at 34 at the moment so just a four yard pickup that is self to drop back flicks this one over the middle and it's caught swinging all the way out wide sfa will pick up the first down in well more past the 50 here for the lumberjacks yeah that was a great play looks like it may be coming back on a flag possibly so as we do see a conversation being had here along that near side between our officials that was lawton reichel again we saw a lot and reichel be a target earlier in the game but wasn't able to come up with a catch this time getting it but nevertheless the ball at the 40-yard line here after the penalty as you see lot and rykel coming back out onto the field and swinging out to the top side trey self will put rykel in motion here at the hash dropping back has a lot of time will he go deep with it a bullet right there caught just before the 40-yard line as it's lot and rykel again having to go up there and grab that one out of the air a good strike there from trey self good for him making up for that last play you know getting those yards back that was a good job by trey self in that offense 3 30 remaining in the third quarter and rolling here west texas a m really needing a stop here in this one deleon what a great cut back there to move them up past the 35 and on to the 34 yard line there's a little bit of jawing going on between the members of the trenches like you mentioned it's been a little bit of a different story here in the second half as far as trey self having a little bit more time sitting in the pocket to throw the ball downfield yeah absolutely they're doing a lot better job handling those bulrushes taking them to the face and giving trey self those extra one or two or three seconds to make a decision to get that ball down field so wards pick up will set trey self up with an opportunity to pick up the chains again this one handed off looking to be almost a counter play but not working out at all for sfa it's a great job but number four on that west texas defense he held that edge all the way down until he got to the running back it's a great job by him so some personnel changes here for the lumberjacks as they are on the plus side of the 50 just past the 35 at the 34 yard line two down here at the bottom of the screen and it's handed off up the middle to about the 33 maybe given the 32 with forward progress as this is the type of grind game that you'll probably expect from sfa especially in the fourth quarter with what their lead is right now just work that clock here as you see 25 seconds left on the play clock in a minute 27 to go in the third yeah absolutely this has got to be you know you got to think this has got to be the game plan for this sfa offense just keep running the ball keep getting those two three four yards every single play maybe break one out for a first down but just mainly keep that clock running you don't you don't want to give west texas the time to come back on that cushion another opportunity on a run up the middle and again gaining yards will allow sfa to continue to work that process of killing some clock here in the third just past the 30 now at about the 28 yard line are the lumberjacks talk about some games at home especially with it being a different atmosphere last year with full capacity in the stands a game against nichols that they really almost found a way to win uh they play well here in nacogdoches and we're seeing it here once again in this home opener as trey self will walk back and has some time maybe a holding call no they won't call it as this pass is caught and brought right up by the tight end close to the sticks yeah with this being the first home opener and being at limited capacity in the stadium it's definitely got to be a weird feeling for these teams um you know because this is not what college football is about college football is about playing in front of a big crowd having loud you know fans getting everybody excited and so it's definitely got to be a different energy down on the field trey self will look to take this one himself and sliding as he saw a lot of white shirts coming in closing in on him around the 25 they'll spot him at the 26 yard line street self will walk off here for a little bit of a time out so that'll wrap things up here for now we'll be right back here on espn you're watching college football we'll be back lost the 20 and he's bumped out of bounds at about the 18 or 19 yard line as we have a lot going on here at the moment between a couple of bodies here that being i believe the tight end for sfa and the defensive unit number four for west texas a m as uh to say the least we certainly expected some laundry to be thrown there on that one i didn't necessarily see anything it was collins that seemed to be very frustrated with sfa's tight end that being spent says we saw spence sort of it almost looked like his face mask was being dragged a bit there at the end as we'll definitely have a discussion about this but trey self with a 208 yards through the air here to lead this offense here today and 110 yards on the ground for deleon ward and the frustrations have occurred for this west texas a m defense and certainly uh being displayed there yeah absolutely you know those two have been they've been kind of chipping at each other for a little bit this game so i i'm not surprised to see something like that happening but definitely with this sfa offense being as productive as i've been in this game i could see how frustrated west texas a m could be and you know you're playing up as west texas a m is at the d2 level we talked about head coach karthel being a part of this program for seven years as a defensive coordinator he knows just uh what he was getting really when he was able to schedule this game as what you're looking at right now with west texas a m is a the defense says we're just getting some information about both of those players uh thanks to our producer carl berry as uh we found out that both of those players are being thrown from the game so a suspension and an ejection that is uh from the remainder of the game so an interesting call there but probably necessary here you don't want anything to boil over and get any more messy as ward will march this one ahead past the 15 closer to the 10. looks like there might be an injury on all linemen looks like another uh lumberjack down here we've been fortunate enough to not see a lot of injuries in this one or at least uh the injury bug really spread around that's zach ingram the 6-7 senior from butler community college the transfer that's really something that this sfa team has dealt with in the past years is injuries you know they've they've had a lot of guys a lot of their starting guys get injured you know whether it be through practice or through games and they've towards the end of seasons have been known to have younger guys coming up younger guys playing and that's something that we haven't really seen change much in this offense and hopefully under this new coaching staff that they have these players are starting to get more healthy and understand the game better back fourth quarter of play sfa trying to make this a four score game at minimum here if they can find a way to get in the end zone as ward will work his way up for just a little bit of gain as we see a 24-3 game right now just three points in the half for west texas a m they got their only points of the game off the first drive of the second half and sfa has scored a touchdown in this half a 17 to nothing score at the halftime 24-3 we've seen now trey self with a man in the backfield with him a couple at the bottom in the top of your screen out wide this one off of the hands of rykel at about the three yard line so an incomplete pass we've seen really uh a number of those situations here for portray self hitting guys in the hands and just not quite coming up with plays especially in that first half yeah for sure you know this game granted sfas pulled ahead through other plays but if this was a much closer game like west texas was hoping it would be those drop passes that can make it or break it for this team so that's something that they're definitely going to have to work on in the coming weeks as they play more opponents certainly can add up we've had a couple of situations here where balls will drop close or in the end zone for sfa as compost will try to be two for three here today and he is to make it a 27 to three game here so far so it's a 24 point game with 13 39 left to work with for west texas a m we'll be right back here you're watching college football on espn glad to have you back here for the remainder of the fourth quarter a 27-3 game here is sfa adds to the lead with a field goal they've got 10 points here in the half so far west texas a m they've been stagnant since their first drive of the second half that resulted in the field goal as you see as sfa will send this one away this one landing just short of the 20 grabbed with one hand there for west texas a m to roll out at about the 19-yard line so they'll start inside the 20 to begin this next drive you know we talked earlier in this half about how we think or we thought that the game plan should have switched for west texas a m to more of these quick out routes and quick screens and maybe counter runs and you know things just to throw the sfa defense off their toes and they they've tried to do some of that and they've been successful but as you can see the score discrepancy is still pretty large so you know in these last 13 minutes of this game they're really going to have to start putting that ball down field to hopefully become competitive against this sfa defense west texas a m they are in the second of three straight road games that they'll have to deal with here on the schedule as another south unconference opponent they'll have to meet here in the upcoming schedule on october the 17th against abilene christians so a couple of southland opponents it doesn't get much easier for west texas a m here scheduling a couple of scs opponents down the stretch as they'll also face angelo state for the second time in the same season later on as well so an interesting lineup there for west texas a m down the stretches sfa will re-kick this one it looks like as we'll reset everything unfortunately not able to get you the information on as to why that was but nevertheless here we go to try again here with the 27 to 3 lead the lumberjacks will pooch this one around the 30. and it'll be fair cut there to start the drive instead of inside the 20 at the 30 yard line for the buffaloes you know it's that's much better field position than they had before so hopefully they can take this fuel position drive the ball down the field get some more points on the board and make this game a lot more competitive and hopefully try to get the w we'll see if it is possible a lot of work to be done here with 13 and a half minutes left to play here in the fourth quarter is you look at west texas a m and it's encouraging to just get the three points right out of the gate in the half but now you're really not looking for any type of field goal situations you really need to get in the end zone here as gerber will drop back not a lot of time he'll have to get rid of this one it's high and it's off of the hands of his intended receiver kicking off of his hands fortunately incomplete that being the hands of red as sfa already won interception on a batted ball here today yeah the reason that ball was so high too is because that d-line got in the face of gerber again so you know that could have been a batted ball type play once more again that just goes to show how much growth this d-line and this box of a defense have this one handed off and worked onto the outside by harris i'll work right back up to the middle and a guy who was difficult to take down early in this half proved to be a little bit difficult there as well clock will run here as west texas a m will try to work as quickly as they can here and get set and even if you don't come out of here with the wind it's not looking good here obviously for the buffaloes there's certainly things uh you know with any good coaching staff they're going to want to find ways to grow on these last 13 minutes and find ways that they can take positives out of a loss especially you know you ask yes some guys about some nfl coaches especially when players are already developed and at the nfl level they're down 27-3 sometimes they'll just shake their hand and they don't really care what play is called or what uh what's really going on hey let's let's let's try it next week let's just get to the locker room but when you're developing guys especially at the d2 level you want to see if you can find a way to get these guys to learn here in this last 13 minutes and and we'll see sort of what their scheme looks like as far as that approach goes as you see a little bit of a personnel change here in the backfield yeah absolutely i i think that you know this west texas team they're d2 and they're coming up to play this division one sfa but there's still no joke they came out in their first game against oklahoma panhandle and won 58-7 so you know they've they've got some real talent they've got some real dudes on their team that can convert and make touchdowns i think that today they've just struggled against this real potent sf8 defense certainly have so in sfa they're looking to get their first win of the year here this evening as it is their first home game on the schedule as well as sfa has the likes uh along with west texas a m pittsburg state on the schedule so you'll see some interesting teams that you may have never seen before on the schedule a really exciting one that i think a lot of people are going to be excited about at memphis on the road against memphis and we saw how well they played against smu here today 27-27 was the score last time i checked so certainly an impressive slate of teams and an interesting mix of teams to say the least that sfa and west texas a m will be able to see on the schedule yeah absolutely and i think that just has to that just has to do with the whole covet situation that we're all as a country dealing with right now you know it's it's throwing a wrench into college sports and they're trying to bring it back and there's some funky schedules going around but at least we get to watch some football certainly so is smu found a way to beat memphis here today 30 to 27 was the final in that one as we'll give you a few updates from around the nation of course tulsa and ucf getting started here in the first quarter those are uh those two were locked at zeros 52-24 was the final alabama over texas a m florida 38 24 win over south carolina the big one i think around these parts certainly 33 to 31 tcu over number nine texas great game this afternoon a good one to watch if you missed it you'll want to watch those highlights later uh concluding this sfa west texas a m match up 27-3 we have right now uh north carolina acc matchup against boston college a 26-22 win for the tar heels in that one cincinnati over south florida 28-7 and oklahoma state rolling a big 12 favorites 47-7 over kansas the likes of tennessee and missouri 35 to 12 tennessee win north carolina state barely squeaking one out against pittsburgh 30 to 29 in auburn georgia of course later tonight is a big game going on arkansas mississippi and ou iowa state all coming at you here this evening it's a good slate of college football here tonight as it has been a good day and night for sfa this four o'clock start working out for the lumberjacks at the moment trey self in the backfield for the lumberjacks we'll see the approach here with the 27-3 lead for sfa they'll throw this one out wide it's caught and handled there for a first down and muscling for more there sfa picking up the first another ted smith state farm first down great job by simmons who has a touchdown already today to pick up the first down that being that 63-yard reception where he had about a 20-yard cushion between anybody defending him i'm excited to see how this west texas defense starts to play you know in this later part of the fourth quarter see how aggressive they get to try to do something like that and take trey self down trey self having a lot of space getting out of the pocket outside but a great job of tracking him down and an opportunity here for west texas a m to try and slow this offense down right out of the gate of first down and then trey self getting dragged down sfa they'll take their time certainly the clock in their favor yeah no surprise you know they're up 27-3 might as well take your time get everybody set make sure you don't make any mistakes and get some more first downs for yourself to fling this one over and it's picked off by the west texas a m defense the first turnover of the game from trey self and it's grabbed here late in the game west texas a m they match in turnovers with sfa a pick for each of these programs here tonight great job you know we just got done finished saying we wanted to see some more excitement out of this defense we wanted to see what they would do aggressively and change to beat this sfa offense and you know we we just saw it getting a pick letting your offense get back out there letting gerber get the ball back in his hands that's going to create the most opportunities for you to get points on the board hayden dennis on the interception for the buffaloes as he sparked some life into this defense and maybe sparked some life into this offense here for west texas a m on the plus side of the 50 for the first time in a while this one outside for harris he bounces out and has an edge harris might go all the way here he just might have one man to beat he'll have to be slowed down and all the way to the 10. a big pick up for harris right out of the gate here for west texas a m and they're inside the red zone for the first time in a while last time they were a field goal was the result that all west texas a m fans are have a smile on their face that's exactly what you want to see you want to see a turnover get that pick have gerber get on the field and get as many yards as you can as quick as you can maybe the momentum slowed down a bit here with a false start to going against the buffaloes but like we were mentioning earlier it's things that you want to be able to build on if you're west texas a m you're probably not going to get the win here today unless a lot happens in your favor but it's things like the interception maybe that boosts your defenses you know locked next time around their confidence next time around and you allow this offense to not go quietly into the night you know you allow this offense to get a chance to maybe score a touchdown for the first time today yeah absolutely i guarantee that gerber wants to go down swinging 100 gerber will drop back and he'll go deep into the end zone a touchdown attempt is swatted away by the sfa secondary as some drawing will be occurring right after that one good defense there to make sure uh he was sticking on him like glue yeah it's a great job playing the ball if anybody watched any earlier games today there was a play in the tcu texas game where a corner was you know playing the receiver on him like glue just like that but he didn't turn his head and didn't play the ball and that's one thing that these corners have to do and that's exactly what he just did that's a great job it's a great point right there to say the least is gerber will have another try here a lot to step out of the pocket quickly just eluding traffic as he'll work this one to the sideline and flick it safely out of play as there comes that sfa front again to disrupt gerber's timing we were talking about it earlier in the game with actually the sfa offense with converting in the red zone and it's west texas time to shine in that aspect this is when you want them to you know however they think they can do it with the counter player with the quick outs or anything but get in that end zone and get some points on that board under 10 minutes now at 9 50 remaining in regulation here in the fourth quarter gerber with a man to his right in the backfield he'll be flushed out quickly and he goes nowhere in fact that's the last thing you wanted to see from gerber taking that sack there and not giving yourself not only a chance to get a touchdown to get a field goal but really you just pushed yourself so far out of field goal range it's going to be a difficult task yeah absolutely that was a great job bringing all the pressure they can he didn't have gerber didn't have a any running backs in the backfield to help protect against that extra man so i believe that sfa just overloaded that old line and if you get enough people in there it's definitely going to be a sack so that's a good job it'll be a 40 plus yard field goal attempts here rather than what they would have seen more of a chip shot as this one is sent up it looks good initially and it goes off of the upright and in so bar and in for west texas a m and they are two for two in the department of field goals so they chip away here a little bit of life from the uh west texas a m defense with the interception allows this offense to get on the board again 27-6 and it looks like we'll be right back here in the fourth quarter you're watching college football on espn welcome back here as west texas a m will boot this one away they find a way to get on the board again a couple of field goals in this one all coming in the second half as we thank you for joining us here with nine minutes and five seconds left to go in the fourth as this one will land at the 25 yard line and be fair caught trey self and this offense will come right back out and what was a beautiful day and still truly is from trey self most recently the interception thrown for the quarterback for the lumberjacks yeah those are that's that little mis those little mistakes that start to pile up on you you know and if they didn't have this big 21 point cushion that they still do that could have been game changing it really could have been and it almost got them more point west texas a m more points on the board unfortunately only got him a field goal but those are the type of opportunities that this west texas a m defense is going to have to look for throughout these last nine minutes ryan you sort of look at things that sfa can look at in film things like that and of course we're uh at least myself not an expert in the film room as you would be you look at things like if this was a closer game you know how have we evaluated ourselves in the red zone you know where would we where would we gauge ourselves as far as finishing on third down things like that yes you do have a 27.6 lead but did you improve or necessarily do things in specific areas like you'd like and i think head coach colby cartel the reason why he won a national championship at commerce is because he he wants to perfect every aspect of the game not just look at the scoreboard at the end of the day and how can i develop these guys as uh gibson will have a big pick up there for sfa as trey self will find him and boy he's found him all year and all night here tonight yeah gibson's one of those guys you know he's he's got very sticky hands and he's got a lot of speed and explosiveness so if he breaks on a route and gets a couple yards on a corner he's a very v he's a very viable option rather for trey's self to target but yeah like you were saying with colby carthall and developing these players he is new to this university so it's going to take some time to truly develop the team that he's looking for but after seeing the performance tonight it looks like he's on his way to do that right and uh coming into the game preston weeks was the man who threw that one to gibson earlier as tray self his night looks like it's done and getting weak some reps here is uh certainly uh a measurable decision here from from karthal i i personally like to see a guy maybe get some cracks at it here late in the game yeah absolutely it's something that you we haven't really seen from this sfa team in the in prior games because they've been pretty pretty tough game so having this big cushion is allowing them to get those younger guys in that don't usually get the reps but game time reps are a lot different than practice reps so it's real good for what we said that development certainly trying to develop the future here in this wild season that we've seen so far from everybody around the nation is not just the southland conference being an interesting conference but really all over the nation from every level from d3 up through f uh cs and fbs here this year 650 and rolling here on the clock to try and wrap this one up here from nacogdoches the 27-6 lead here for sfn their first home game of the year 0-3 to start the year looking for their first win this one run to the outside and it might break all the way down inside the 20 maybe inside the 15 a great run there to set sfa up for a red zone opportunity here late it's a great job by this offense it seems like they're just keeping the pedal to the metal and just they're they're going to continue to hammer this defense for as long as they can just keep putting points on the board sanders crawford with a huge pick up there for sfa excuse me corbin white that is for the lumberjacks is this one will go on the outside with the screen chopping his feet a bit there not getting much farther was wedman so under six minutes now left you're in regulation gerber wasn't able to necessarily get it done on the ground because this sfa defense did such a great job of collapsing the pocket for him as we saw similar aspects from the west texas defenses this one is in the end zone a beautiful touchdown for sfa just a fantastic job of sort of putting the nail in the coffin of this one here with under six minutes to go a 33-6 lead yeah that's a that's a great job you know just they're gonna keep hammering keep putting points on the board looks like we've got a o-lineman injured looks like we do so as uh sfa will hammer one in once again another six points maybe seven here with the extra point coming up it should be a 34 to six lead here soon but we'll be uh taking a break here with the timeout on the field we'll be right back you're watching college football on espn welcome back here in the fourth clinton lapik was the sfa lineman the center that went down uh causing our injury timeout and unfortunately carted off of the field but giving some some fist bumps and some handshakes to a couple of his teammates he's certainly encouraging as he exits as sfa will look to tack on the extra point and they will do so so a 34-6 lead here for sfa rolling late into the night in this one with 5 25 left to work with we talked about the interception picked up by west texas a m uh adding some life for themselves but uh for that defense unfortunately couldn't respond and keep the consistency is sfa did a little responding of their own there on that stretch yeah absolutely sfa again has also done great with time management and clock management you know they they're down to five and a half minutes now there's no way west texas a m could really come back in this ball game but what they can do is they can come out and they could be still be aggressive and keep hammering this sfa defense and try to put some points on the board and go down swinging and that's really what you can hope for as a west texas a m fan right you got no points in the first half and you picked up six here in the second half so a little bit encouragement um offensively but again i think the best thing that obviously could happen for west exit and texas a m in any scenario of course would be a touchdown but specifically this one can you find a way in the red zone again and then can you find a way to execute fully in the red zone for the first time here tonight we'll see as this sfa defense has been tough to stack up against especially in the trenches up front sfa to send it away caught at the 15 and worked ahead along that sideline and shoved out a flag behind the play as a result of the kickoff as the defense for sfa will march on out here looks like it'll be a holding on the receiving team so it looks like it'll be half the distance at least near and this offense will start out with not favorable field position but still some work to do here with time 519 hearing what is all sfa trying to grab and what looks like they'll grab their first win of the year man in motion on the near side handed off up the middle and worked ahead for about four yards for the buffaloes gerber is still in the backfield here as the quarterback for west texas i think gerber's going to start looking for those uh those deep balls downfield trying to get some more points on the board he'll toss this one out it's caught at about the 20 and a good step move there to get back to the sideline we'll move the chains for west texas a m if kerber is going to start trying to get down deep field down deep into the field rather what he may have to start doing or this offense may have to start doing in these last four minutes is keeping a running back back there to help protect gerber like we've said the whole game s phase d line has been getting a lot of penetration back into that backfield so if he can keep a running back or somebody back there to help him stay up for a few more seconds that might be the key blair will swing out on a screen play he'll make the catch here as the intended receiver and move up ahead for some yards so a couple of options there for gerber he elects to go to his halfback approaching four minutes you're remaining gerber to hand this one off to blair blair will move outside gets past the 40 and walks on ahead so sfa seeing west texas a m march ahead a little bit here late in this ball game and an opportunity for head coach colby carthall to get some a different mix of personality in on on the secondary and up front for sfa yeah absolutely this late in the game with this this sort of scoring karthul or the defensive coordinator will be able to put in any freshmen or sophomores or whoever they really want to put in to give them that game time experience great play defensively there from the secondary of sfa to break up that pass and keeping the clock at 3 24. personnel changes on the side of the buffaloes here at the moment we've talked a lot too about you know obviously the d-line of these linebackers getting a lot of penetration but some people who need some props for those gamers the secondary for sfa you know they came into this game allowing i believe over 200 yards in passing offense a game and you know after watching this they've kept on the receivers a lot closer they've they've you know played the ball a lot well haven't been getting as much p as many penalties rather um and have really made their secondary a competitive force against this offense certainly have done so here today improvements against an opponent that they haven't necessarily got a chance to play this year one that they were favored in is utsa utep and smu have been on the schedule beforehand 0-3 where the lumberjacks coming into this one a 1-1 west texas team will look to be going to 1-2 after this one in a 34-6 game 239 left as that pass had no one in the area but it might be past interference on sfa as to why that was the case we'll wait to see as two flags were on the field it looks like it was a penalty on the defense of sfa moving west texas a m up you know if this was a a lot tighter of a score game those late game penalties like that past interference can really change what's happening you know can really change the flow of the game so if west texas a m was up to 28 points or something sfa gets that pi that could be a big issue kerber will take this one well inside the 30 on the run so yeah certainly when you look at a coaching staff that wins championships karthel has been a member of one of those and is trying to change the culture here at sfa he's certainly not going to be looking uh to just get his team to the locker room he's going to be making sure that everybody is not only chipping in and doing their part but really learning the mental side of the game i think that's what a lot of head coaches are wanting to do today is making sure that their players are mentally checked in for all 60 minutes especially here in this what looks like to be the last offensive possession for sfa in a big hit there to drag down gerber to maybe round uh wrap this thing up here from nacogdoches as a great defensive play sfa keeping the throttle on yeah you know we talked about it earlier in the game about what we would like to see sfa do and one of it one of the things we brought up was consistency we really wanted them to be consistent throughout all four quarters because you know historically they may come out and be very explosive in the first or second quarter and then after half time start to decline and that's what we've seen from both the offense and the defense they've come out and they've consistently been aggressive and tried to make big plays this one caught up past the 40-yard line and right around the 36 maybe 35 here with a minute 15 remaining so sfa looks like they'll cruise on to their first win of the year 34-6 the score and if you had to say maybe one or two big things that you saw in the improvement from both sides of this matchup what would you say you know for sfa like we said that the consistency of being able to even when something bad happens you know if there's an interception like trey self had earlier if there's so you know there were some false starts earlier on the game that can cause frustration and that can cause an offense to become inconsistent that can even cause the defense to become inconsistent and so seeing that sfa has been able to keep the nose to the grindstone and and keep hammering this west texas team it's been a real improvement in my opinion and on west texas side you know throughout the game at the beginning this west texas o-line was struggling big time against this d-line of sfa and you know throughout the second half they they've had their struggles as well but they've definitely grown throughout the full four quarters and become a more aggressive and consistent line certainly i've seen many things throughout this one as we've appreciated you joining us throughout this one 35 seconds remaining in it his sfa will climb to one in three as their improvement on the season west texas a m will be one and two on the year their win over oklahoma panhandle state was 58-7 a loss 21-10 to angelo state and then a loss here today to sfa 34 to potentially six or more depending on how gerber and this offense want to try and finish out the legacy of tonight as sfa will move on and look ahead on their schedule as we got a bit of a stoppage of play before that one was able to to get off as a conversation will occur here between our officiating crew again central arkansas in the southern conference falling to north dakota state earlier today uh that was a real doozy of a one to keep an eye on for quite some time with a 20 to 18 lead at one point for central arkansas and then things sort of folded late in that going from 18 to 39 points for north dakota state was quite impressive to see down that stretch but again the southland conference i think once we get back where the south and conference is playing each other again of course i think we'll see a very fun conference to watch as far as you take sort of a year off of playing against each other how much uh change can you see you know it's sort of like it'll be a peak behind the curtain of all the development as far as south and conference matchups go this season yeah absolutely i mean as we've seen sfa has played some tough teams but they've showed great improvement throughout this game uca as we were talking about showed great playing against north dakota state who is arguably one of the best fcs teams there is yes in the last decade yeah at least absolutely and then hbu in their first game went out against tech and you know were almost got that win so that southland conference is definitely something different this year and and the years to come could could be a force to be reckoned with a shot towards the end zone doesn't quite come up for west texas a m but uh certainly like to see them trying to sort of get the last laugh here in this one if they can with 29 seconds remaining i would assume that you know certainly we won't see any field goals out of west texas a m here trying to grab that touchdown here late gerber in the backfield with amanda was left that being compton and this one ends up being caught just inside the 15. 18 seconds left on the clock as i believe that one was caught and a time out here called by west texas a m trying to just grab some points at the very end if they can it seems you know all in all like we were saying earlier this is definitely uh and west texas a m playing up you know they're playing up against a division one team this is going to be a very big game for them and they they struggled they they truly did struggle against this sfa offense and defense and you know you could argue maybe one of the reasons they struggled is because they didn't really game plan for this type of an sfa offense and defense you know seeing their last three games you could see how you could make the mistake of maybe game planning for a lesser of a team but for them to for sva to come out and be aggressive and want to get their first win at home against this team it was a great game yeah certainly a fun one to watch as uh it was a 17 nothing lead at the half for sfa and then they rolled on for another 17 in the second half staying consistent in that department and west texas a m just not quite getting the gears rolling offensively in time here in this one is it'll click down to 12 seconds remaining here for west texas a m as they try to just take a shot there gerber well out of the pocket so one last try here it seems for the buffaloes coming all the way from amarillo just outside of amarillo texas about a nine hour bus ride for this group here out to the punny woods of nacogdoches it's gonna be a long drive home certainly well the sfa has won three straight now four straight in this all-time series between these two programs as this one is lofted up to nobody there in the corner of the end zone eight seconds on the clock as that one lands incomplete in fact west texas a m all the way back in 1927 grabbed the first two wins in this series between these two programs sfa has rolled on throughout the years to now four straight as sfa will be four and two overall all time against west texas a m as sfa will bring the offense out after the turnover on downs and kneel this one to finish it off sfa they will climb now to 1-3 an all-important first win of the year to slow down the steam of the loss column west texas a m there's some things that they can improve on but certainly things that they did right here in this game as a division 2 program as it is a final of 34-6 we thank you for joining us here on espn for myself luke hamilton and john wilkowski you've been watching college football on espn you

Channel: Wally the Bronco Too

Views: 3,979

Keywords: West Texas A&M, Stephen F. Austin

Id: RvL6m-7cyOo

Length: 141min 36sec (8496 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020