Changes to be made...

The Blade has the report from yesterday's MAC teleconference...

Coach says that while the depth chart released by the team is the same as it was before the Virginia Tech game, that doesn't mean that things are going to stay the same.

It will be based on how the players practice.  This is our ongoing theme, which is that we have enough players to divide reps and also to push guys for playing time.  So, who starts is not necessarily the most important issue.

A couple things.

First, when you think about changes, the key is that we have who we have.  We're not going to have any new guys come riding in.  The changes that is needed for these guys to play more effectively.

Second, the change everyone always wants is not (I believe) going to happen.  As long as he is healthy, Schilz will be the QB.  He needs to play better, but so does his supporting cast, especially the WRs.

Speaking of which, from The Blade....

"The thing we have to look closely at is who is making plays for us on offense," Clawson said. "We need to get the ball into the hands of our play-makers in a position for them to make plays.

"At receiver we have a number of guys who are all capable of playing at a high level. But they haven't played with the consistency we need to win."

We've used a few different guys, so I don't know who the options are.  There are a couple younger guys.

Three last things for a Tuesday.

First, The Blade also noted yesterday that all the players who were injured against Va Tech are expected back Saturday.

Second,  I don't really think we are going to learn that much about our team Saturday either.  Not to look past Rhode Island, but they are 0-3 at FCS and games have not been close.  If you believe that Virginia Tech was not revealing because of the talent differential, the same might be true of the next game only in reverse.  The Akron game is looking like an interesting road test, however.

Third, one of our players made a comment that we had played two tough defenses in a row.  I would just point you to the UT-Coastal Carolina game (and I know CC was a good FCS team) to point out that they moved the ball much better against UT than BG did.

ICSTR For Virginia Tech

We wrap up the trip to Blacksburg with the report of the International Centre for Special Teams Research.

Special teams are a key part of Beemerball and while they didn't get any huge, huge plays (TD, block) they did get enough to finish with a very healthy +6 against a even score for the Falcons.  It is the 3rd game this year where BG has lost the special teams battle, and for the year we are 10 points behind for the season after winning 8 games last season.

The big issue for BG has been punting.  The punting game was just a machine last year, and while it has been OK this year, it hasn't been winning every play anymore.  (It was windy Saturday).

The basic model here is that there we no huge plays but Virginia Tech had eight plus-side plays and only 2 negative plays.

Anyway, here goes.

BG positive plays (+5)

BG Kickoff touchback
BG Punt inside 20
BG 47 yard net punt
BG punt inside 10 (+2)

BG Negative plays (-5)

BG 23 yard net punt
BG KO return to 9 with penalty
BG 19 yard net punt
BG kickoff return to 23
BG Kickoff return to 8 with penalty

Virginia Tech Positive plays (+8)

VA Tech kickoff touchback

BG KO return to 9 with penalty

VA Tech kickoff touchback

BG kickoff return to 23

VA Tech punt 45 yard net

BG Kickoff return to 8 with penalty
Va Tech 50 yard net punt

Va Tech 50 yard net punt

Virginia Tech Negative Plays (-2)

Va Tech 17 yrd net punt

Va Tech missed XP

Benchmark Report Virginia Tech

I ran the benchmarks for the Va Tech game, even though there were not likely to be any surprises.  The game was 37-0 and normally you see stuff that reflects that kind of game.

A few notes:

BG had a decent running game. (Note the confounding effect of the big run by Givens when the game was being played out).   However, the pass game really killed the offense and was almost 2/3 of our overall plays.

Third down and red zone conversion was poor.

And so on.

As for the defense, VA Tech did not have a 37 point day on yards per play.  They ran the ball well and actually didn't have an incredible day passing.

They have good 3rd down conversions and deadly red zone conversion.

Anyway, you can see what it showed.  Nothing too surprising based on a viewing of the game.

Week 4 Blogpoll Draft Ballot

Let me know what you think...

Falcon Blog Ballot - Week 4

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
2	Florida St. Seminoles	3
3	Oregon Ducks	5
4	LSU Tigers	-2
5	Georgia Bulldogs	-2
6	Stanford Cardinal	--
7	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
8	South Carolina Gamecocks	3
9	West Virginia Mountaineers	1
10	Kansas St. Wildcats	3
11	USC Trojans	1
12	Clemson Tigers	-3
13	Florida Gators	2
14	Oklahoma Sooners	-10
15	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	1
16	Texas Longhorns	-2
17	TCU Horned Frogs	3
18	Michigan St. Spartans	--
19	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	3
20	Arizona Wildcats	-3
21	Mississippi St. Bulldogs	3
22	Louisville Cardinals	--
23	Oregon St. Beavers	--
24	Central Florida Knights	-1
25	Ohio Bobcats	--
Dropouts: Michigan Wolverines, UCLA Bruins

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

BGSU In National Stats...

The updated stats are out....

BG is 119th in scoring offense, ahead of only Tulane.
BG is 118th in pass efficiency, ahead of Army (19 passing attempts so far) and New Mexico.
BG is 103rd in rushing defense, but that's in yards per game.  The fairer yards/carry has BG 71st.

Former and Future Opponent Land...

Florida: (4-0) Defeated Kentucky.
Idaho (0-4) Lost to Wyoming
Toledo (3-1)  Defeated Coastal Carolina
Rhode Island- (0-3) Lost 32-7 to James Madison
Akron (1-3) Played Tennessee very tough before losing
Miami (2-2) Defeated UMass
UMass (0-4) Lost to Miami
EMU (0-4) Lost to MSU but played them tough
OU (4-0) Beat Norfolk State
Kent (2-1) Beat Buffalo
Buffalo (1-2) Lost to Kent

2012 MAC vs:

All out of conference: 20-21
All FBS: 11-20
All FCS: 9-1
All BCS: 6-17

Yesterday may have been the best day for MAC football since the day day way back when NIU beat Alabama (2002?)...I don't remember the specifics but there were a bunch of upsets out there on one day.  I believe it was also the day BG could have beaten Ohio State.

Anyway yesterday wasn't quite that good because some of those wins were over ranked teams, and this year's weren't.  However, a conference that won only 3 BCS games last year won 4 yesterday.

Ball State beat South Florida
NIU beat Kansas
WMU beat UConn
CMU won @Iowa

And....

Akron played Tennessee very, very tough in Knoxville
EMU also played very tough @MSU

In fact, only one team laid a complete egg, and that was our beloved Falcons.  We were playing a team that was better than any of those teams, to be fair.

Anyway, a couple notes.

First, I think that football in the MAC is starting to improve after some very poor years.  We won some bowl games last year, and we're beating BCS teams this year.

Second, yesterday's results make a point that has been stated for years--simply, that one problem for the MAC in beating BCS schools was that the games were always on the road.  However, yesterday 3 of those teams were playing in the MAC stadium, and the MAC picked the win up in all 3.  Even that little levelling of the playing field can make a difference.

Finally, how about the Big 10, huh?  Pretty underwhelming day and season.  It happened late, but Illinois lost 52-24 at home to Louisiana Tech.

Clawson: "What struggle didn't we have?"

So, some more.

There's no point in going through with an extensive analysis of the game like we normally do.  This one was a pretty bad mismatch which in a way was expected.  Still...

So, a couple notes and then some quotes from our Coach.

• It is our first shutout since 1998....when Gary Blackney was our coach.
• The 50 points for the first four games is the lowest since 1990...when MOE ANKNEYwas the coach. (And we played @VATech). (ht to @statmanmatt).

The 1990 team was 3-5-2 and the 1998 team was 5-6.

And the quotes...say what you will, Coach Clawson isn't sugar coating anything here.

We didn't play well.
We couldn't sustain anything on offense.
Obviously, when you get shut-out, it is not a good day

We are not where we need to be.  We've got a lot of work to do to get there.

We are not making plays [on offense].

We don't have receivers getting open, we are not throwing the ball accurately and we had a couple of procedures again....

They beat us up front, they covered us in the secondary, we didn't play well at QB.

What struggle didn't we have?

We did play well across the board.

We didn't get open against them.  We had one on one matchups we didn't win.

We tried to throw the ball short and they covered us.  We tried to throw it behind them and they covered us.

I can't remember a receiver making a play today.  We didn't get open.

Those times we did get open we dropped it.  There were times we were open and we didn't throw the ball accurately.

We were running it in bits and pieces, but we were not creating big plays.

(Coach was asked to evaluate Schilz)

Our offense didn't score and we lost the game.  When you don't score and you lose the game your QB didn't play well enough to win.

(About the switch to Johnson)

We were behind by a lot...we wanted to give him a chance and try to get a little spark.

He gave us a little spark but we didn't score.

(Asks about the benefits of a payday game).

1.  Financial
2.  If you team is mentally tough, it helps prepare you for conference play.  (I found this an interesting choice of words).

It has been a tough 4 weeks for us.

On defense, he said McKoy, Hunter, and Gabe Martin had made some plays.  Also called out Taylor Royster at the end.

On offense, it is easy to say guys aren't trying.  (Which I don't).

He says that since we couldn't protect, a lot of he playbook, including pic plays, were not available.

Send that missing the end zone pass to Stokes was painful.  You scheme something, it works just the way you want and you throw it a second late and instead of a TD it is an incomplete pass.