More on the Rockets

Still soaking in the glow from the victory last night.

Checking in....Eric Page's fumble.  Nope, still don't care.

A few points.

BG had some real defensive stars out there that I neglected to mention last night.  Roger Williams had 2 INTS, Jerrett Sanderson had two fumble recoveries, Magnone had a sack and a fumble recovery, James Schneider had 13 tackles to lead the team, and PJ Mahone had 11 tackles, a TFL and broke up a pass that was nearly an INT.  Clearly, we struggled on defense and only stayed alive because our guys made some big plays, so they should be noted.

It was clear to me that BG's defensive strategy was to stop the run by keeping guys in the box, and then blitz to get pressure on Dantin.  UT has a lot of weapons, and I think that dropping into coverage would have been deadly.

The first couple possessions we seemed to rattle UT with the blitzing, but they got their coverage put together and for most of the game we had a hard time getting home.  When we did, Dantin slipped out of the pocket.  Of course, when you blitz and don't get home, you have guys like Williams and Page running around in an undermanned secondary.

BG did put together a 4th quarter stop when they needed it.

The Williams INT at the end of the first half was pretty critical.  UT gets that score, and its hard to know what could happen after that.  Still not sure what happened on that play, except that they threw the ball directly to Williams.

In the midst of all of Freddie's records, I think Tyler Sheehan has some career accomplishments that have been lost.  He is now our career leader in passes attempted and completed, as well as in total offense.

He has also thrown a TD pass in 21 straight games.

UT clearly was working hard to keep Barnes from beating them.  While he didn't get the numbers we'd expect, but he did score twice and was a clear difference maker in the game.

Overall, BG's offensive numbers were way down, although that was partly due to the short fields they had to work with.

At the end of the day, as much as UT raced around the field, you cannot make what amounts to seven turnovers and expect to win, and as much as BG struggled, they only turned the ball over once and took enough advantage of the UT mistakes to win the game.

As a Falcon fan, of course, beating UT is very, very satisfying.  I will have more to say reviewing out season in the coming days and weeks, but suffice it to say that I am very pleased with the first year under Coach Clawson.  UT has some fine young players and their program is clearly getting better.

So is ours.  And ours is being run by a proven winner at the helm.

Only about a year until we get the chance to beat Toledo again.