Military Bowl by the numbers

"We didn't produce enough yards."  Dave Clawson.

And there you have it.  BG had 264 yards of total offense in the Military Bowl, with 4.1 yards per play and that was not enough to win the game.  They really mounted only two effective drives in the game, and while the defense did a great job, SJS was good enough to get the points they needed to win the game.

No part of the Falcon offense was consistently effective.  BG struggled badly running the ball.  This is not a terrible surprise--I think that defenses are going to lock onto Samuel and try to make BG pass to beat them, and that is what I would do, too.  They were certainly successful with that.  Samuel had 17 carries for 32 yards.  BG did get some production with Pettigrew in the 4th, and he had a great 34 yard run, but for the game the Falcons were (sack adjusted) 28 for 112 and 27 for 78 if you take the Pettigrew run out.

When asked about this after the game, Coach said that BG had trouble effectively blocking the very active defensive front for the Spartans and that led to the troubles in the running game.

The passing game was not much better.  They had their moments here and there, but the total body work is really poor.  BG was 16 of 35 for 159 passing yards.  They did a decent job protecting Schilz, giving up only 2 sacks, but both of those sacks ended up playing a role in the final result.

After the game, Coach said that Schilz was "way too inconsistent."  When you watch a game on TV, you notice that Coach is working Schilz every time he leaves the field.  Anyway, he was inconsistent, but I also think that he really only had two receivers producing anything and that didn't make things any easier.

Anyway, 12 first downs, 4.1 yards per play and two missed red zone opportunities--one inside the 10--and you have an offense that did not produce enough to win.  BG scored 20 points with 7 on an absolute gift.  The BG offense produced only 1 TD drive.

The defense, for its part, was very good.  SJS had 5.8 yards per play, which was below their average.  The Falcons completely shut down the running game.  The stats are a little skewed by lost yardage on the two botched reverses, so when you see that SJS had -15 rushing, it isn't quite that good.  On the other hand, Eskridge had only 2.5 yards per carry and he wasn't involved in the losses.  SJS had a long run of 11 yards.  The BG defense did an excellent job making San Jose State one-dimensional.

However, that one dimension is pretty good.  Fales was 33 of 43 for 395 yards, and, in fact, that kind of production would usually be worth more than 29 points.  That's 12 yards a reception on 75% completion % and that's getting it done.  BG had only one sack and no INT.

Coach Clawson said it was the best passing offense we have played all year, and it is pretty hard to argue with that.  The BG defense contained them and limited the damage, but they were going to get their yards and they did.  They were hampered by the two reverses and maybe helped by the fumble call on the replay, but they were good enough to do enough to win this game.

Oh and one last thing.  BG held SJS to 3 of 13 on 3rd down.  That's getting it done.

Special teams for BG had good and bad.  BG made 2 FGs in the same game for the first time since last freaking October, which we are thankful for.  (I believe Tate will be a very solid kicker for us).  The punting game was very sub-par.  BG had a net 24.8 yards per punt with a block.  As Coach said, Schmiedebusch is an all-conference punted who "had a bad day."

BG did an excellent job controlling the SJS kickoff return game and had a very strong return game, so that was a positive as well.

And so it concludes.  It was an exciting game and I was pleased to see our guys battle a very strong team.  Heading to the off-season, I think the Falcons have to solve the riddle of offensive production.  Everyone is back, but how does that change anything?  The defense should be very good again, and how can the offense be good enough to create a special season?