More on the Herd Game..."WE ARE....BEATEN"

A large and perhaps obsessive number of observations from last night's game.

1.  You cannot talk about the game without talking about the turnovers.  Certainly, that is what ol' Doc Holliday talked about post-game.  Marshall turned the ball over five times, with 4 ints, and BG turned it over only twice, which means that BG was +3 and you're gonna win a lot of games like that.

BG also had two defensive touchdowns.  I'd like to know how many teams get two defensive touchdowns and lose.  I suspect it is pretty rare.

On a couple of the turnovers I felt Anderson was being pressured.  He seemed to be throwing high and our guys were getting the ball after they had been overthrown.  Anyway, our d-backs made the play--caught the ball--and then in a couple cases were good enough players to turn that into a touchdown.

2.  A lot of times, there is a certain sequence within the game where the game really turns.  In my previous post, I focused on the time between when Schilz was injured and when the game ended.  Now, I'd like to focus that a little closer.

BG had a 3 point lead and was driving for more.  The Falcons were in the red zone and Pankratz tried to get the ball to a double-covered Jorden (there did appear to be a little separation).  Marshall intercepted, and at that point, Marshall has the chance to regain the momentum,  starting on their own 20.  Their true freshman corner tried to run the ball out of the end zone and only got to the nine.  After a penalty they were on the 4.

BG got a 3 and out, and then after a weak punt, BG started on the Marshall 33.  With that field position, a touchdown followed a couple plays later and now it was a 10-point lead.  BG then got a huge touchback on the kickoff, and when Anderson threw his next INT, he was deep in his own territory and Gates was able to get it into the end zone, and the game was over.

3.  BG had over 12 minutes of time of possession in the 4th quarter.  Pretty hard to lose that way, too.

4.  BG continued to struggle in the red zone.  We generated 7 red zone trips, which is really good, but scored only 2 TDs and 1 FG.  This is just over 2 points per trip.  (I don't know if the final possession that ended in the red zone counted or not.)  Even if you discount that one, we need to do better when we get down there.

5.  We missed 2 FGs, kicking---missed FGs, one of the inside 40, which you should be made most of the time and then one from 44, which is pretty makeable too.  Wright certainly has the leg to make those---the ball explodes off his foot, but he is having trouble finding the target.  The other points of his game are good.  He's the 3rd best punter in the MAC to date and his kickoffs are good when they are in bounds.

6.  Special teams, however, were really pretty good.  The ICSTR will issue its report later in the week.

7.  Statistically, the game was very even.  BG won first downs 21-19, and yards 393-376 and plays run 77 to 73.  Marshall had a slight advantage in yards per play 5.2 to 5.1.

8.  Certainly, there was a huge difference in play mix.  Marshall threw the ball 47 times and only ran it 26.  That cannot have been what they had in the game plan and is a by-product of BG's 21-0 lead.  By contrast, BG ran it 40 times and only threw it 37 times (Sack adjusted).

9.  BG's running game did allow the team to run the last five minutes out, the running game was pretty average for the game.  Sack adjusted, BG had a per rush average of 3.3 yards.

10.  Marshall's running stats, on the other hand were strange.  Booker ate us alive with 7 carries and 121 yards and a 68 yd TD.  Even without that he averaged 8.8 yards per carry.  Yet, Martin Ward got 14 carries and averaged less than 3 yards.

11.  Marshall really struggled with accuracy in their passing game.  They only completed 43% and were intercepted on 9 percent of their passes.  While BG did not get any sacks, they did get pressure, including 4 QB hurries.  Also, BG's defenders had 10 pass break ups, which seems to me to be a lot.  (Not to go overboard, but that means that with interceptions and break ups BG's defenders impacted 14 of the 44 passes).

12.  I thought we tackled a lot better.  I don't have any numbers for it, but it seemed like we did.  Cameron Truss, in his first start, had 9 tackles, eight of them solo with 3 break ups and a blocked kick.

13.  Finally, we did much better getting off the field than Marshall did.  BG was 50% on third down, while the Herd were 5 of 14.

That's about all for the game, which was a very nice win for the Falcons.....