Clawson Presser--Wrap Up Edition

Coach Clawson had his presser yesterday.  He had a few comments on Troy and Tulsa.  He also talked about 9/11 a little bit.  He was coaching in NYC at Fordham when it happened, and had special people--including his sister--in the Twin Towers that day.  I'd recommend you go to bgsufalcons.com and watch the second video clip, about mid way through to check it out.  Compelling stuff.

Now, football.

Straining out the talk about how good Troy and Tulsa are, here is some information which should be of interest to Falcon fans.

He said we missed 21 tackles.  (I guess I figured we counted, but I never heard a count before).  Overall, it was a poor job tackling, and we worked on it in practice Wednesday, as we have during the summer.

Coach said that in close games, every play could be the game.  Coach said he has coached 14 games at BG, and 12 of them have come down to the last 4-5 minutes.  In those situations, you have to do everything right.  About half the time we have made the plays and half the time we have not.  To be a winning team, we have to tilt it to the first one.

Anyway, in the last minutes, the turnover, the penalty, and the missed tackles cost BG against Troy.

He said we were not in the moral victory business, but there were positives to take from the game.

He said Matt Schilz was steady if not spectacular, and exactly what you would want out of a guy starting his first game.

Finally, he really liked our special teams play on a return basis, but the kicking was less than stellar.  Wright had a tough day punting, plus put a kickoff out of bounds and missed a FG.  Coach said that he has been very steady throughout the pre-season, and just had a bad day.  He would be "shocked" if something similar happened again.

Finally, Tulsa.

First, he doesn't believe in using the GMAC debacle as motivation.....it wears off after a couple of minutes.  (I really believe this.  How many times have you gotten all fired up and then lost the energy.  Focus and commitment to the long haul are the key).

He cited Damaris Johnson as a great player who catches, run, and returns kicks.  GJ Kinne is a dual threat.  They play a 3-3-5 stack like West Virginia did and Michigan does under Rich Rod.