PFF Report Card: Jacksonville State

I’m still processing that game, to be honest. Kennesaw State drops to 1-4 after losing the CUSA opener, an “unfortunate” defeat according to Jerry Mack. I’m already nauseous thinking about the “Did We Really Get Beat That Bad?” chart on Monday. If you’d like to check out Mack’s postgame comments, I transcribed his media session earlier this morning and posted to the site.

Not much breaking news out of the four minute presser, unfortunately, with the only questions coming from a KSU employee and the student newspaper. We gotta close out games, STRAIN, that whole deal. Mack did touch on Baron Hopson’s fourth-quarter unsportsmanlike conduct for excessive pointing:

“The play was absolutely over, then a flag comes out of nowhere, so I have no idea.”

I didn’t agree with the call, but that…seems like the textbook definition of unsportsmanlike conduct?

We’ll dive into the stats and other takeaways once there’s more time to digest and get our hands on some All-22. For now, what did PFF think of the Owls against Jacksonville State? Despite throwing a couple brutal picks, Rickie Collins still graded out as the top Owl on offense. Defensive lineman AJ Miller and LB Josh Anglin led the way on the other side of the ball on a night where KSU limited Jax State to 2.8 yards per carry.

If there was any honor left in this world, they’d also grade out the refereeing performance after some real head-scratchers last night in favor of both sides. Maybe MTSU’s Derek Mason had a point a couple weeks ago when he sent like 17 plays to the league office for review. Not a ref-blaming type of guy, but if CUSA is going to mortgage the future on national exposure at the expense of the local fan experience, let’s at least ensure the officiating isn’t completely embarrassing when everyone’s looking at us.

Programming note: Sorry about using pictures instead of sortable tables this week. My platform took away some interactive features so I am going to spend some time this weekend to find a better method to get these out the morning after games.