RedHawk Review...Closing the Casket

Well, it is a bright and sunny Autumn day in Northwest Ohio, all the brighter and sunnier for having a Falcon victory over the Miami RedHawks.  Like a typical Miami game, we just seemed unable to drive a stake through their freaking heart and (in the macabre words of John Gibson) "close the casket" on them.  Still, they had beaten us three in a row with an ass kicking in their, and last year's game hurt, so a win is a win.

In perspective, I think the Falcon Nation needs to keep in mind that this was a bad team that had been playing better, but a bad team nonetheless.  We did more against Dysert than Temple did only one week before, so that's nice, and Coach felt it was our most complete defensive performance of the year.

That's not to be understated.  Other teams that were not very good have still moved the ball all over the place on us, and even if that's not where we want to end up, it is a step forward.

One thing is that our defense seems to be better when we have a team in a position where they aren't or can't run the ball, because we can mix our fronts up and take advantage of the speed we might pick up going to a 2-man front.

Coach mentioned in his post-game that we didn't execute very well on offense consistently and left points on the field (Chris Wright and Tyler Sheehan both dropped TD passes), but in a game where we got 5 turnovers, the offense was good enough for 35 points and the win.

Some of the Falcon Nation have been agitating for more touches for Chris Bullock, which he certainly got last night.  Coach has been pining away since August for a game where we would have the lead and just run the ball down their throat and put the game away (which is indeed a very satisfying thing), and with Bullock last night we were able to get that done. 

BG made a really big play on the reverse early in the game, and Tyler threw a block on the play, which he said after the game he got "yelled at" for. 

I didn't realize Miami had played 3 games in 12 days.  That's a really tough assignment for a good team, and I think that after getting their first win against Toledo and playing a tough emotional game against Temple, they partly just gassed out in the second half.

Which is fine with me.  That's the kind of thing that usually happens to us when we play.

There is nowhere to go but up for Miami.  They had an announced crowd of 8,900 last night, and by the time they were making their final drive, the radio report indicated there were about 50 people still left.  The team has one win all year and (tough schedule notwithstanding), they are dying down there right now.  They have lots of resources and I anticipate they will turn it around, but for right now, they are a shadow of their former selves.

Coach Clawson was pretty philosophical on the replay on Freddie's touchdown, indicating that we probably got a break on the opening fumble.  He noted, correctly, that the implementation of replay in non-televised games is going to be spotty.  When you watch a big game, there are lots of camera angles and you get a shot to take a look.  In last night's case, you might not have had the angle.

He didn't say it but I will....if we had a good short running game we would have scored on first or second down and Freddie's carry never would have occurred.

We'll cover special teams more on Monday, but they were turrible last night, even with the Sanderson fumble.

So, the team is now 5-5 and I believe on a upward vector, even on defense.  We have games at home left with a struggling Akron team and an equally flawed Rocket team.  However, our team can't afford to look past anyone, and while both games are winnable, they're both losable too.  A 7-5 season would be a successful season and, I hope, reward our guys with a bowl appearance. 

One last thing...it would be great for BG to finish the year with two HOME wins and help generate the momentum for the future and close the casket on our home struggles.