Distractions come in many forms, and they might be in two different forms this week for Saint Mary’s.
There’s the whole question of looking past one opponent to focus on another. And now that the Gaels are safely past a game but outmatched Grand Canyon team, the Saint Mary’s players and coaches would be forgiven for thinking ahead to Cal.
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But there’s another distraction, that of thinking you’ve got a team solved; sussed out. Saint Mary’s has beaten BYU twice so far this season, can #3 be far behind. Maybe, maybe not.
Saint Mary’s head coach Tim O’Brien isn’t above thinking a little about Cal. How can he not? The Bears were the Gaels’ last opponents before this past weekend, and turned a 19-10 deficits into a 29-19 Cal win in about ten minutes.
O’Brien remembers that.
“We were up 19-10 and after that we had 56 seconds of possession,” the Saint Mary’s coach said. “Cal is amazing. There were six or seven points in the game when Cal just turned things around. We struggled in the lineouts, and we’re a 90% lineout team this season.”
Morale after that loss was “not good” for several days, said O’Brien. But they have pulled themselves out of it, and looked at times unstoppable against GCU.
Leading 52-0 at halftime the Gaels seemed ready to roll, but a 22-12 second half showed that maybe they still have some things to work on.
“We went from two penalties called against us to 10; we went from two turnovers to 10,” said O’Brien. “So there’s some stuff to work on. GCU has some very good players and you can’t give them an opportunity. But we had some good moments, and we won a lot of ball, which is good.”
Saint Mary’s played the game without prop Payton Telea Ilalio, who is carrying an injury but should be back soon. Scrumhalf Sean Yacoubian started but played only 20, which was by design. O’Brien wanted Yacoubian back on the field after suffering a nasty cut against Cal, but didn’t want him playing too much.
Tavite Lopeti came in off the bench and was electric, but he is being eased back into full playing mode also. But, the regulars, such as Aaron Matthews, Marcus Viscardi, Vili Helu, Ronan Murphy, Ethan Waller, Brandon Calk, and Derek Ellingson all did the job.
Now comes the next job, beating BYU a third time.
“It is remarkably difficult to beat a team three times in a season,” said O’Brien. “I know both teams have gotten better. The first time we played BYU they were kind of green in their season. The next time there were a few strange bounces of the ball that went our way. I think it’s going to be a much tougher test this time around.”
And with all that, the Saint Mary’s players have to forget that, likely, the reward for winning I to play Cal. That will be tough to do since Saturday’s