Sweet VIctory: The Defense

Continuing with a wrap up of the Kent win, we now turn to the defense.  We all know the story...much maligned early and improving now and in fact spends much of the time keeping BG in the game while the offense tries to get going.

Overall, the defense had a good day.  They allowed Kent only 20 points, which would be a success in anyone's book and certainly should be good enough to win.  (Yes, one of those was on a very short field after a fumble).  They allowed 5.4 yards per play, which is slightly above average for the MAC...and probably more than you would like to see against an opponent struggling on offense like Kent...but it was still a decent day.

BG did two things very well.  First, they completely shutdown the Kent running game.  With Kent's very serious issues at QB, that forced them to carry the game with their passing attack for 60 minutes, and while there were moments of success, Kent was in fact unable to win the game that way.  The Flashes ran the ball only 14 times (including the sack) for 22 yards and their longest running play was 8 yards.

Second, BG got turnovers.  The Falcons had 4 INTs...which is a season-high and I can't remember the last time we got that many.  There was also a muffed punt, which was on special teams.  Anyway, point is BG got the four picks...one of them (the 3rd one to Ward) was a gift, but the other three required nice plays by Stephens, Martin, and then a circus grab by Taylor Royster that ended up on ESPN's Top Ten.

A few notes...

Clint Stephens is on the field a lot now at DB.  He's a true FR and he looks to me to be a player.  He always seems to be on his man and when he gets a shot at the INT, he "makes the play" as the Coaches say.  He had 2 break ups as well.

BG did not get a ton of pressure on Reardon, who was not sacked.  BG did get Strock once.  The Falcons were blitzing a lot and then got burned on a Flanker Screen for a TD and after that they seemed to back off the blitzes and play in coverage.

Kent ran only 61 plays, so tackle stats are bound to be lower.  Ward, Sutton and Royster all had 6 tackles for BG.

Anyway, the ultimate point is that the BG defense was dominating in the first quarter while the Falcons built up their big lead that was never relinquished and, much like the offense, got the big plays they needed to.  (BG leads the MAC with 4 turnovers forced in the red zone).