Sweet Victory #8: No Contest

It is the most one-sided game I can remember with a conference opponent in a long time and maybe ever.  BG demolished EMU in every facet of the game on a frigid day in front of an announced crowd of 1,751 at Rynearson.  The final was 58-7 and in reality the game was not that close.

Having listened to the game, it is hard to believe it when you look at the stats.  People....this was a conference game!

For example:

BGSU outrushed EMU 296-61.

EMU completed only 1 pass in 18 attempts, with 2 INTS.

EMU had 4 yards passing.

Meanwhile, BG had 264 passing yards on only 13 completions.

EMU made 4 first downs, ran 44 plays.

BG averaged 7.8 yards per play.  EMU averaged 1.5.

EMU took one snap in BG territory all day.  That play was an INT.

EMU was 1-12 on 3rd down.

Hard to say much more than that.  

OK.  Not that hard.

I feel badly for EMU.  This has been a nightmare season.  They had a teammate murdered and a coached fired when his profanity-laden and incredibly demeaning and insulting diatribe was revealed, eventually for the entire world to hear.  And then to endure what happened today in the freezing cold with an interim coach and an empty stadium...long year.  I know, they could fix it, but I do feel badly for those guys.  What a long year.

BG has now gone 12 quarters without allowing a touchdown on defense.  Since halftime of the UT game, this team has been everything we said it was not before that.  The team has played virtually flawless football since allowing Owens that TD pass.  Yes, that included too very poor teams (EMU and Miami), but it also included OU and early in the year, BG was letting poor teams hang around and that stuff has stopped.

BG's defensive prowess has emerged after the team lost Gabe Martin, its star Rover.  Today, it was also down Justin Ford (the 2nd Rover) and Barimah, and get through all that, no touchdowns allowed by the defense.  And, today, barely any first downs.

The whole thing now comes down to Friday.  To date, BG has done everything it needed to do to play for a trip to Detroit.  Sometimes not as much as expected, but enough to get where they needed to go.  (In fact, even with a win over UT the Buffalo game would still be for the whole thing.)

Today, they got way more than they needed.  Let's hope that the guys who sat today are healthy Friday and BG delivers the big win on Friday.  It is the biggest game for Falcon football in 10 years, since the BG-UT game won the West for the Falcons when Gregg Brandon was the coach.  We have waited a long time to play this meaningful a game at this time of year.  Let us enjoy.