He's probably been SFA's best runner through the first four weeks of the season, but Jamall Shaw has had limited opportunities to find a real rhythm. Against an ACU front that slaughtered HBU a week ago, and running behind an offensive line who hadn't won many battles before this Saturday night, Shaw looked like a man possessed.
In some ways the forgotten guy during an offseason that saw Josh McGowen light up the spring before Juan Day was added to compliment presumed starter Kijana Amous, Shaw has quietly seen a bigger role each week as the season has progressed. Against ACU, he ran hard, fast, and effectively in easily the best overall performance for the Lumberjacks ground game this season. His 15 carries for 69 yards do not really do justice to the kind of night he had.
All together, SFA's runners combined for a total of 191 yards on the ground - easily a season high - and lifted the burden on Jake Blumrick who was thrown into the action after Sawyer went down in the second quarter.
With defense playing the way they did on Saturday, the Lumberjacks didn't have to put up a whole lot of points to win. But that shouldn't take away from the way Shaw shined his way into very possibly the lead role at running back. If he can continue to show what he did on Saturday, SFA's offense got a lot better this weekend.
During the second quarter, on fourth down, quarterback Foster Sawyer attempted to scramble for the sticks after rolling out to his right. He was hit shy of the marker, low, and it was immediately clear that something was wrong.
Sawyer limped to the sideline, unable to put weight on the knee he injured during a water skiing accident in July, and his night was finished. Although SFA won't have any official indication of his status until further evaluation is done on Monday, the odds of Sawyer playing against McNeese look shaky at best.
Jake Blumrick, who started SFA's opener at SMU while Sawyer was rehabbing the same knee, handled the situation with poise. He wasn't brilliant but he managed the game effectively and used his mobility on multiple occasions to keep his offensive unit on the field. In the end, it was exactly what you hope a backup quarterback would be able to do.
It might be, though, that he becomes SFA's starter for the foreseeable future. How he is able to handle that load, with teams game planning against him, while he takes first-team reps in practice, is really anyone's guess right now.
But if you want one major story line that could seriously make or break this entire season for SFA? That's it. It's a lot of pressure on a redshirt sophomore who had attempted just two passes prior to this season.
But how Jake Blumrick, and the offense around him, responds to the crisis at quarterback, is quite possibly the tale of the 2017 season.
If the Lumberjacks are going to make any kind of push for a playoff berth (can you believe I'm even mentioning that after the way we talked about this team last week?), it's going to have to survive maybe the most merciless schedule in the entire conference over the next three weeks.
SFA faces McNeese at home this coming weekend but that's only the beginning. The Cowboys are, once again, a playoff-caliber team and will be favorites on the road. From there, it's Sam Houston State in the Battle of the Piney Woods, a game SFA hasn't won since the year 2010 and against a squad that just shredded the Southland Cinderella story Nicholls team by a score of 66-17 this weekend. From there? No big deal, just a trip to Conway, Arkansas, to face a team that SFA hasn't beaten since Conque was the leader of the UCA Bears.
If the Lumberjacks can win just one of those three, they'll actually be in a decent position down the stretch. If any of those look remotely winnable, though, it's probably this weekend in the lone game at home. It's what made this past weekend at ACU such a must-win, and why the long odds were so depressing for fans who, for legitimate reasons, didn't expect much.
But SFA did what they had to do: gave themselves a chance to play meaningful games deeper into the year. The real test, these next three against McNeese, Sam Houston State, and Central Arkansas, begin now.
What can you really say when a defense goes from allowing an average of 47 points per game to completely locking down a talented team on the road in the span of a week? Yes, we know SFA has struggled to tackle through the first month, but how do you really fix that? "Tackle better!" isn't enough.
Somehow, at least for one week, something worked. The Lumberjacks haven't been terrible in coverage this season (save a handful of busted plays against Southern Utah) but I'll be darned if they haven't made every running back look like the reincarnation of Rashaan Salaam.
The young trio of Ryan Woods, Teddy Britton and Anthony Jacobs had the game of their lives against ACU. That, right there, was the difference. Corners and safeties got their noses dirty in the box, and it was impressive all night, but it was the linebackers who frustrated the Wildcats' runners and quarterback Dallas Sealey.
When a team is tackling well, it's amazing how much better the pass coverage looks. When SFA has the luxury of rushing three or four and still putting pressure on the quarterback because they know the running backs won't gash them, Jeff Byrd actually has a unit that can win football games.
They might not hold another team to 10 points all season, but they showed a glimpse of a high ceiling on Saturday. It all starts with tackling. How the coaches and players managed to improve that one aspect so significantly in seven days is a mystery to me.
If it sticks, look out.
We've moaned and complained for the first month of the season that this team looks undisciplined and jumpy. There have been bad snaps, crushing penalties, blown coverages, missed blocking assignments, turnovers - name a football mistake and we've seen SFA commit it in games against SMU, SUU, and UIW.
Well, there were plenty of errors in Saturday's game too. Only thing is, it wasn't SFA making them.
On that night, the Lumberjacks were by far the better coached team. They were focused, confident, forced takeaways, drew so many offsides penalties on special teams against the home team that I have to think there was some strategy in that, and they let ACU self-destruct without contributing to their own downfall as in weeks past.
With so many young players in new roles, there haven't been a lot of weeks we could confidently say the Lumberjacks played like the more veteran team.
On Saturday, they did. If SFA is going to have the season they want, that will need to repeat itself more than once between now and the end of the regular season.
For now, they should enjoy one of their bigger wins in recent memory. By tomorrow morning, though, the daunting task of taking down McNeese will loom large and in focus. A win over ACU gave the program life. What they do with that, now, remains to be seen.
