FalconBlog--Triumphs and Trials in the BGSU Falcon Nation

Brandon Presser

Coach Brandon held his weekly presser this week. The Coach of the 2-1 Falcons had little to say this week, but here you go! As always, wise ass remarks are in orange.

It must have been nice to get Corey Partridge back on the field for the Florida International game.
"Yes, it's pretty big. Corey is a proven player. I like him back there as a punt returner as well; I think that is very important for us. It is very encouraging he played well down at Miami and now the key is that he sustains that."

Having Corey back made a big difference to our team. With Ruiz and Brantley, we get three pretty solid targets for young QBs.

How is Anthony Turner doing?
"He is day to day. We will see how he does tonight and see the things he can do. He separated it when he hit the ground, and I don't know exactly what grade it is, because they have different grades on how bad."

"We are going to evaluate him, and if he can't go, we will go with Freddie like we did with Wisconsin, but open the passing game a little bit more than we did with Wisconsin. Right now we are game-planning with both of them."

I think we can go either way. We are better with AT, but this team can win with Freddie. I think he is rapidly improving his air game.

Chris Bullock got some carries down at FIU. Was there anything wrong with Dan Macon at that time, or was it just a good chance to get Chris on the field?
"It was a chance to get Chris in the game at an important time. We are going to need both Dan and Chris throughout the season. To put Chris in when the game was still on the line, for him to run the ball and have a couple good carries, I think that was something. We have to continue to work Chris Bullock into the game."

I wondered this myself. Macon was not there when the chips were down. I think Macon has had trouble getting untracked, and the coaches don't seem to have confidence in him. I even wondered if he was healthy. But, we need Bullock for the future, too.

What concerns you about Kent State?
"Their quarterback (Julian Edelman). He is a good little player."

What did the films from the Miami game show you about Kent State? What did they do to win that game?

"Well, they played very well defensively. They put great pressure on Miami's quarterback; they hit him a dozen times and sacked him five or six times. Ultimately, though, their quarterback won that game for them. He had some big throws and he made some scrambles. He is a legitimate play maker. That's always a concern for a defense, to control a running quarterback."

"They are doing some things that we have been doing with some designed runs that they did against Army. Other than the Minnesota game, they have been in both of the other games. They beat Miami and had a chance in overtime against Army. Kent is a much improved football team."

Edelman is dangerous. He will present problems for us. Mobile QBs generally do. Kent has to be improved--a win at Miami would have been unthinkable before. The game Saturday will be a challenge, and we will have to play well to end up winning, in my opinion. It will be especially important to keep the ball and convert on third down.

Jerett Sanderson, obviously, seemed to play well on Saturday.
"He did a nice job on the kickoff. Loren Hargrove knocked the ball out and Jerett scooped it up; it was great hustle by those two. And then, Jerett had the two interceptions late in the game, with the last one coming on their Hail Mary, to seal the win. He is in the right place at the right time most of the time.

Sanderson was the MAC East Defensive POTW. Obviously, Falcon fans are ebullient at their freshman DB (who does have a year in prep school under his belt). With him, Smith, and Lewis, we could have an absolutely lock down, turn out the lights d-backfield in three years.

How big is Saturday's game vs. Kent State?
"We have to win the game. It's a MAC East game, and we only have two more home games after this. The weather is supposed to be nice and you never know what the weather is going to be like late in the year. It should be a great day for the students and the community to come out and support us. It should be a good crowd; I know our students will come out. They do a good job of supporting us."

We'll be there!

What improvements need to be made if you want to win the MAC?
"Well, we have to find a way to keep from giving up the big plays in the kicking game. We still let a kickoff (run back for a TD) Saturday night, and that allowed them to stay in the game. One thing that was disappointing was that defensively, we pretty much contained Wisconsin and Buffalo from big plays. Well, we got 'big played' on defense Saturday night with a run that was almost 80 yards -- which is unacceptable -- and then a screen play that went 40 or 50 yards. So, they had 130 yards on two plays. If we are going to be in the hunt in November, we have to fix that. We can't give big plays like that. We need to limit the explosion plays and keep from turning the ball over; if we continue to work on improving those things, then I think we have a shot. I think to continue to run the ball like we are doing will help us, and time of possession which we are doing a nice job in will help us. We have to keep doing those things."

Seems like a good analysis to me. Trick is to keep winning while you do it.

Are you worried about giving Freddie Barnes too much too soon?
"I think he can handle it, but it is something that makes you think. I think, as the season progresses we have to think about putting too much on him. For us to be in the hunt, I think it's going to be execution down the stretch, so if those guys have a lot on their plate you just set yourself up for more mistakes. But, Freddie has demonstrated to us that he can handle all this. And, as long as he keeps doing it, I am going to keep pouring it on him because he is a playmaker."

Another good call. Hopefully, AT will be healthy enough to keep the pressure off.

What have you seen from Kent State defensively?
"I think the Muir kid (Daniel Muir) is one of the premier defensive linemen in the league. He was good last year, and they had a couple good guys there last year that were hard to block. Those guys are gone, but the kids in there now play just as hard. Muir is a force; he is one of the better guys in the league. Their secondary is experienced; I like the way they run back there. Their safeties are very athletic. They have a pretty salty defense. We have to block well and make sure we take care of the ball."

Their defense is "salty." Interesting phrase, I guess I know what it means. I think we can block and move the ball on these guys.