The Hornets opened with I-A foe Boise State on the road, losing 45-0. Game two was Sac’s home opener against third-ranked I-AA power Cal Poly. The result was a little more palatable as the Hornets stayed in the game before losing 17-10.
Next up - the Montana Grizzlies in Missoula.
“Hopefully we can continue to make progress and go in the right direction,” Mooshagian said in a Wednesday phone interview.
Going into the season the Hornets knew they had an ace in the hole with their defensive unit returning 10 starters from the 2005 squad. Mooshagian said familiarity with the system is the key when it comes to the Sac State defense.
“The guys have played together,” Mooshagian said. “They know where they’re gonna be. They have a good feel for it. They understand the defense. Any time you have experience and you’ve got five or six three-year starters on the defense it helps.
“That’s the key to building a good defense (is) having guys that are flying around and making plays for you,” he added.
The Hornets had some rebuilding to do on the offense so while the system is in place the continuity of play isn’t quite there.
“It’s more so the continuity of the guys playing together,” Mooshagian said. “The quality is there. It’s just the jelling process is just taking place with some of the new quarterbacks and offensive linemen and the running back position.”
Quarterback remains a question mark for the Hornets. Original starter Tim Brockwell, a junior, started at Boise State but will redshirt after sustaining a knee injury in practice following that outing.
Fellow junior Crosby Wehr started against Cal Poly but gave way to another junior, Marcel Marquez, a junior college All-American at College of the Canyons who hadn’t been cleared by the NCAA for the Boise State game.
Mooshagian said both will play against the Grizzlies with Marquez likely to take the first snap.
“I’d tell everybody (who will start),” Mooshagian joked. “If (Griz coach) Bobby (Hauck) would tell me I’d tell him.”
The Sac coach said both quarterbacks have strengths. Marquez is a better runner.
“They’ve both been successful at times,” the coach pointed out. “I think Marcel gives us a little bit different dimension … and added a spark I think we needed (against Cal Poly).”
Mooshagian said improved strength and conditioning has been most pleasing to him, especially showing up in the way his team has played in the second half, something that was lacking in 2005.
“In the fourth quarter (of the Cal Poly game) on our last drive we’re going in to try and tie the game,” Mooshagian explained. “We moved the ball to our opponent’s 33-yard line on a run and I saw three of Cal Poly’s honors candidates … wanting to come out of the game.
“That was kind of a nice thing to see,” he added, “that we had guys playing hard all the way from start to finish, and I think that is a big accomplishment.”
Mooshagian said the chemistry and attitude on his 2006 team is much better than in past years. He said there’s much more unity … and team atmosphere.
“It’s just a different feeling than at any time since I’ve been here,” the coach said.
Mooshagian said Montana again is displaying a major reason why the Grizzlies remain a national power - depth across the board on both sides of the ball.
“They may be young in some areas as far as the backups go,” he said, “but I think they’ve got excellent depth. They’ve got quality depth.”
Mooshagian said he especially notices it along Montana’s defensive front and the way the Grizzlies can substitute freely throughout their defense. The Sac coach also said Montana is not just two deep, but three deep, at quarterback.
“I think they’ve got a stable of receivers, a stable of running backs, big offensive linemen,” Mooshagian said. “They’re solid all the way around. I don’t see a weakness. They’ve got to be the favorite at this point, without a doubt.”
The Hornets are looking forward to playing the Grizzlies in Missoula earlier in the year than usual. Mooshagian said he can’t remember coming to Missoula when there wasn’t snow on the ground and minimal if any sunshine.
The younger Sac State players got a taste of crowd intimidation on the trip to Boise, and Mooshagian thinks his older players actually enjoy the atmosphere at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
“After going to Cal last year and playing in front of 65,000 and then going to Boise (and) playing in their opener that’s made it a little bit easier to go into places like Montana and feel a little bit more comfortable … where they don’t caught up with everything outside of the field,” the coach said.
Mooshagian still thinks the Big Sky Conference race will be wide open with Montana and Portland State fighting for the top two spots and the rest all waiting to make a move if one of them should falter.
“It’s really hard to gauge right now because of some of the schedules the teams have played,” Mooshagian said. “There have been some surprises that have made you scratch your head and then there’s been some things that are expected.”
To try to pick three through nine, he added, would mean having to pull something out of a hat.
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