Wallowing in Wyoming, Part II

So, now we can look at how the team performed.

I'll start with the defense, because actually they were pretty good.  Wyoming runs Brandon's spread pretty effectively, and as we all know, when the spread is cranking, it is very hard to defend.  The ball always moves quickly, which makes it hard to generate pressure, and then when you do blitz, you leave huge mismatch issues out in the field.

Still, our defense performed really well, in total.  The only gave up 3 TDS, and only one (the one to start the second half) was a real drive--the other two were 38 yards and 22 yards.  Wyoming was only 5 of 16 on 3rd down and 0-2 on 4th down.  (1-3 if you count the penalty).  BG certainly lacked big plays---there were no sacks and just one turnover--but held Wyoming to 3.8 yards per rush (and no run longer than 17 yards).  Wyoming did pass effectively, but overall got 5.4 yards per play against the Falcons.

As Coach said, the defense played well enough to win.

The offense, well, that's a different story.  5 of the 6 turnovers are on the offense.  Overall, the numbers look good.  BG had 28 first downs.  However, 14 of those were in the 4th quarter, when BG ran 34 plays (!!) and had 215 yards in passing.  (Schilz completed 21 passes in the final quarter).

The running game was solid if not great.  Sack adjusted, BG had 31 rushes for 95 yards and there was another play where Schilz tripped on his own feet which counted as a non-sack rush, leaving BG 30 for 103, which is not great but it isn't awful.  Our longest run of the game was 9 yards.  The running backs averaged 4 and 3.7.

I thought the O-line was pretty spotty.  BG gave up 3 sacks and 3 hurries, (on 58 adjusted attempts), but it just seemed like a bunch of the time Schilz was scrambling around as soon as he dropped back.   I especially thought Josh Biezuns was in our backfield a lot.

Schilz did have some very strong parts of the game, but he also had some very average parts.  In addition to the interceptions, there were times I thought he had lots of space to run and didn't.  He is throwing on the run much better, but there were times when there was space available and he threw the ball...thinking especially of the stop on down in the 4th quarter, but also the play that ended up being an INT in the first half.

The special teams...well, let's start on something positive.  Brian Schmiedeibusch is killing it as a punter. He punted only 3 times yesterday, but averaged 58 yards and put two of them down inside the 20.  His long was only 61, so the average isn't inflated by a fluke.  His punts are essentially unreturnable and it wasn't wind-aided yesterday.  Very impressive.

The placekicking game continues to suffer.  Not only was the extra point blocked, but there was a field goal blocked as well.  Both kicks seemed to be low to me.  The FG was a long FG--it had to be lower.  Anyway, despite having a scholarship kicker, BG is using the kickers from last year and the production is pretty poor and cost us a shot at the game yesterday.

On kickoffs, BG's net was 38 yards which is on the low side of not bad.  All the kicks did stay in bounds.

The conference season now starts, and BG has some pressure on it.  We start with last year's MAC champs (Miami) who have played Missouri and Minnesota tough on the road.  BG is a young team (it is important to remember), but as a fan, you're looking for signs of progress, and yesterday's game felt like a repeat of last year.  So, we keep an eye on the big picture, and continue to look for those signs.