FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

Special Teams Review...."The Horror"

Yeah, it was. More than any other part of our game, this segment was an absolute embarrassment...virtually without redeeming qualities. Let us look at the facts..

We were last in the MAC in kickoff coverage. That's a bad fact, on its own. But, it hides the true picture--how last we really were. Obviously, we gave up the most yards per return (23.6). We also gave up 3 TDs in 40 returns. The utter futility of this number is that the rest of the MAC--yes, the entire conference--allowed only 2 TDs in 418. Ouch. No stats are available for touchbacks, but you can be sure we didn't get too many of them.

We were last in the MAC in punting. We gained only 29.4 yards each time we punted. Now, that's a net number. The actual punt--the distance the kick traveled--yeah, that was last, too. Our goofy punt formation (which we are sticking to like grim death), is supposed to prevent returns, but our 3.8 return was 7th in the MAC, so not such a big advantage, in fact. Our punter, Mr. Rojas, supposedly the #1 punter in the country in HS, has left the program.

We were 11th in the MAC in kickoff returns. Candidly, I could care less about the five yards between us and the top in this category, I'd just prefer to see us never fumble.

We were 10th in FGs and 10th (tied) in Xps. Again, that may not tell the real story. The true story is we went and got a scholarship kicker (a rarity) all the way from Florida, and we still only had the confidence to try nine FGs and were among the league leaders in going for it on 4th down. Only Kent made fewer FGs (2). Most MAC teams were in the mid-teens. Even one more FG would have given us a 5th win. At 90%, our Xps were also subpar. The kicker who produced those numbers has left the program.

The MAC doesn't keep blocked punt stats, but we had 4 punts blocked, to go with 3 blocked FGs.

We were 7th in punt returns. So that is something to build on.

The sad thing is that under UM special teams were, well, a specialty. UM used to say that we couldn't have the best offense or defense in the country, but we could have the best special teams. We blocked punts and FGs all the time, protected our punter, and made game changing special teams plays in almost every game. It was an incredible addition to what amounted to an absolutely fearsome offensive attack.

Sadly, it is not as if this team did not have warnings about special teams. In fact, they were awful last year, too. We mentioned it here. There was time to fix it, and no progress was made in the meantime--none. We even recruited a kicker and a punter...no progress, and they both left.

We simply must improve this part of our game before we compete for a MAC title. To not fix such a glaring error from one year to the next is the biggest indictment I can make against a coaching program that I support, in general.

We have new blood coming in--even the special teams coach has left, too. We don't need game breakers....we need to cover kicks, punt respectably, and make easy FGs when we need points. Not being able to execute these elements of the game changes our strategy in every other part of the game.

For 07 (and 06), horror.