After the first 2–0 start of the SFU football team’s time in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), things have been anything but perfect for the Clan.
The team has dropped three straight games since their win over Central Washington on the road — all in different ways.
The Clan had a shot in their 30–9 home-opening loss to Western Oregon University in late September. The score was tight until late, but big penalties and mental errors plagued the team all game long, and finally caught up with them in the second half, as the Wolves added a few late touchdowns that the Clan couldn’t answer.
Already missing star receiver Lemar Durant, starting quarterback Ryan Stanford was forced out of the game with a shoulder injury, compounding the Clan’s offensive woes in the game.
Stanford would miss the team’s next game, on the road against Dixie State, a game in which the Clan were simply swept away by the Red Storm. A team that SFU has traditionally had some success against in the past led the Clan 39–0 before the third quarter was done.
The final would be 39–12 after a couple of late SFU scores and, while there’s no doubt the offence struggled, the defence allowed 344 yards rushing and another 251 through the air — it likely wouldn’t have mattered if the offence had been on fire.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, the Clan lost a heartbreaker at Azusa Pacific. There were positives: Runningback Chris Tolbert had a monster game, rushing for 172 yards and four touchdowns. Stanford returned from his injury, and helped the offence get back on track. He built a 23–3 lead for his team at halftime, and put up 36 points total — but the Cougars scored 41 second-half points to steal the game with a 44–36 win.
But head coach Dave Johnson isn’t about to let the blame fall on his players’ shoulders.
“We made some adjustments and called some different things in the second half,” said Johnson. “Personally, I did not handle playing with the lead very well. I felt the effort and execution our players gave was outstanding and we (the coaches) did not do a good job playing with the lead.
“We let them back in and the next thing you know the wheels are turning and we couldn’t get them stopped.”
What Johnson and his team accomplished in the first two games of the season — knocking off the top-two ranked teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in consecutive games — lends hope to the idea that he and his staff can stop those wheels from spinning before they get out of control.
The Clan will have returned home for just their second game at Terry Fox Field this past Saturday, and the result of that game will go a long way in determining the outcome of the season. The team is a commendable 2–2 away from its home field, and their only home game, a loss, was played in some of the worst weather Metro Vancouver has seen all year.
If they can get on the winning track at home, and keep up the competitiveness on the road, the Clan will survive. If they can get fully healthy, with Stanford continuing to heal and if Durant can return soon, the team could prosper. But if the Clan can’t find some consistency and find a way to slow down other teams’ offenses, it won’t matter who’s under centre or catching passes.
