SFA underwhelms in home thrashing by SUU - What We Learned

"I don't even need to win all the time," I heard a man say in the elevator at Homer Bryce Stadium. He had just stepped on from SFA's Touchdown Club level and his well-dressed appearance was contrasted sharply by crestfallen body language. The home team had been beaten soundly by a final score of 51-14 and there weren't many happy people wearing purple. "I just want to have a chance. I don't want to be embarrassed all the time."

A week after being smashed by SMU in Dallas, SFA nation still managed a generally optimistic vibe when Saturday began in Nacogdoches. As Lumberjack alley filled with party goers throughout the day, a large student contingency filled up the Jack's Charge line, and players did their pregame ritual walk through tailgating areas, nobody likely would have imagined the disaster for the home team pending in Homer Bryce Stadium.

Truth be told, after just a few series, it was never a game. Southern Utah dominated the line of scrimmage on both ends of the ball, scoring quickly and often and limiting the Foster Sawyer led offense of SFA to a scoreless first half.

About as bad as you could have drawn it up, that's how it happened during SFA's home opener. On that evening, SFA didn't belong on the same field as Southern Utah.

On that night, just hours after the cheerful drinking of new season optimism surrounded Homer Bryce Stadium, those same fans left dejected. The elevator man spoke for many; embarrassment was the mood of the hour.

On what was truly a forgetful performance for Stephen F. Austin, their worst home opener in 30+ years, here are a few things we learned:

1. SFA's new defense failed emphatically in its first real test -

It's not that the Lumberjacks gave up 51 points that was so concerning last night. As poorly as the offense played all night and as lopsided as the time of possession was, the cards were mostly stacked against Jeff Byrd's new unit.

It was how they gave up 51 points.

After a 2016 season that saw stretches of solid defense followed by minute spurts of incompetence, defensive coordinator Matt Williamson was dismissed in an effort to reduce big plays. Byrd, the longtime leader of UT-Martin's defense, was brought in to implement his 3-3-5 scheme. "We gave up too many big plays," head coach Clint Conque said as he explained the rationale for the decision.

It made a lot of sense in a conference where high-flying passing offenses (see: Houston, Sam) like to take advantage of man-to-man coverage on the outside. SFA retooled its defense to allow the underneath throws but take away the big strikes on the back end.

At SMU, it was hardly a fair test. Last night, in a more legitimate examination of how far this defense has come, it could not have gone much worse.

Southern Utah scored on passes of 96 and 69 yards as SFA gave up multiple big plays with shoddy safety play, and allowed Thunderbirds' quarterback Patrick Tyler to throw for over 400 yards and four scores.

At one point in the second half, the Lumberjacks caught a break as a long touchdown strike was called back on an illegal shift. That was two snaps before the 69 yard score - on the identical play - just seconds later. In some ways, that sequence was a microcosm of the entire night.

This doesn't mean the defensive change was a mistake. It means there's a lot of work to do, and if you have a rooting interest in SFA, you need to hope that they figure something out quickly. Saturday night was not a good look.

2. Offensive line play needs to improve if SFA is going to turn this thing around  -

After the defeat in Dallas, Conque acknowledged that preparing for Southern Utah's front seven was going to be a challenge. "They might be the best we see all season," he said at the presser. It was an opportunity for offensive coordinator Gary Crowton to show up his former team and it seemed like the early game plan was to take advantage of their aggressiveness with delayed handoffs and run-pass options.

Neither were effective because the big men up front just couldn't create any room. Sawyer was under frequent pressure and the running backs were met in the hole early and often. As the deficit ballooned in the first half, the running game was all but abandoned and the Thunderbirds defenders teed off on the quarterback making his first ever start in Lumberjacks purple.

SMU dominated SFA's blockers a week ago and SUU did the same. The Lumberjacks won't face another defensive front like they did these first two weeks for the remainder of the season, but those matchups have been so lopsided that it's a big cause for concern even against lesser opponents.

Schematically, the Lumberjacks need to do a better job creating rhythm for quarterbacks with short throws and screens. This offensive line hasn't demonstrated an ability to win many battles and it might be time to start game planning as if that won't change. But it needs to change - fast - if this team is going to have any chance to escape the grips of mediocrity.

3. If you're looking for positives, the most winnable game of the year is this weekend -

People are tired of hearing about the youth of this team but it's a legitimate observation. While that inexperience is hardly an excuse for the multitudes of enforced errors over two weeks of the season, it is a reason to believe they'll get better with each passing week. It might not be enough to save the season, but the scheduling gods have gifted the Lumberjacks with likely their worst opponent of the year to open the conference season.

In the closest thing to a "tune up game" they'll have in 2017, SFA hosts Incarnate Word at home. The Cardinals were picked dead last in the league in preseason polls and have looked generally capable of finishing there through a couple weeks. As rough as the Lumberjacks have looked in that same time, what looked like a guaranteed win probably no longer can be considered that.

But if working out the kinks is really what this team needs, and it's a hell of a lot of kinks, this might be exactly what SFA needs before facing the heart of the Southland Conference.

If the 'Jacks fall to 0-3? It's probably about time to panic.

4. This team is too good to stay this bad (we think) -

While standing in the large meeting room where press conferences are conducted, a senior member of the athletics department staff expressed a certain amount of disbelief about the outcome of the past two weeks. "They looked so strong in camp," he said. "There was such a good vibe about this team. I don't get how we can be this bad."

That just about sums it up. Unless I'm sorely mistaken (known to happen), this is a pretty talented group. The positional players, especially on the offensive side of the ball, compare pretty well to anyone in the Southland Conference.

How can they be this bad? I have no answer for that.

Southern Utah coaches were complimentary of that talent in their postgame comments on Saturday night. "Stephen F. Austin is going to have a good season here," head coach Demario Warren said. "Tonight was not a reflection of how good they are."

The eternal optimist in me will point to dozens of pretty good college teams over the years who have started with head-scratchers early in the season as multiple moving parts begin to gel. Sometimes those teams rebound and find a way to make the early season meltdowns look irrelevant. Other times, teams win massive games in the early weeks only to fall apart down the stretch (anyone remember Notre Dame at Texas last year?). Overreactions to early performances are part of the sport of college football - but SFA has looked so lifeless through a couple weeks it's hard to even call them that.

Whether they figure it out in time to save the season or not, though, this team is too good to be this bad. At some point, they'll probably look like a legitimate football team. We can all hope it isn't too late to matter when that happens.

5. I'm sorry, professor. I don't have a positive note to end on -

I was always taught in English classes that an article is far more appealing when it starts and ends on a happy note. There's not positive place to begin after a 51-14 loss.

There's no positive place to end on it either.

Tune in on Saturday to watch the Lumberjacks battle Incarnate Word. Maybe we'll have something cheerful to talk about in a week.

Until then, I apologize, Mr. Parkhurst. Your English class didn't prepare me for this level of disappointment. Happy notes will wait until the time they're deserved.