The morning after....

Yep.  Still feeling good.

I'm going to give a few impressions of the win last night, and then I'll do a more analytical look later today.

Looking back at the game, there were some remarkable elements to the game.  Let's place ourselves in the 3rd Quarter.  Schilz has just been sacked and fumbled on his own 1.  Further, he leaves the field injured.  Marshall ties the game with a TD and has all the momentum and we are down a starting QB.

Standing right at that point, you have to think we are in trouble.  You can just feel Marshall asserting themselves, and they had to feel like they were going to grind the game out from there.

But that isn't what happened.  BG scored the game's last 16 points and ended up with a comfortable victory.  For that, we should be very proud.  Our team, 0-2 coming in, faced with those obstacles, got a win anyway.  It was a great night to be a Falcon.

Aaron Pankratz came into the game.  He has played only a few snaps in the Boise game last year, but is in his 3rd year here.  One thing was clear right away.  Coach Clawson put the game on the shoulders of Willie Geter.  And Willie carried the offense to victory.

We ran 27 plays after Schilz went down.  Willie got the ball on 20 of them and accounted for 113 yards on those 20 plays, including a game breaking jolt out of a pack on a screen pass, and a key third down play when he appeared to be down by all accounts and yet squirted free for more yardage.

Willie is a very dangerous player when he gets open in space.  Much of the yardage he earns tends to be on his own.  It seems like he is dodging players in the backfield much of the time.  But he is a very tough and downhill runner.  How a little guy like that carries a pile is beyond me.

The other amazing thing from last night was the defense.  We are very young on that side of the ball, but Coach has said we are talented.  We just got a great performance from those guys.  In the 3rd quarter, Marshall was picking us apart pretty good, mostly with patterns that seemed to be building off of slants.

But when Schilz went down, the defense actually came to life.  We made some adjustments, locked down onto receivers and (by the way) picked up two more interceptions including a pick-six.  Marshall completed only one pass after the injury and made only 1 first down.  Our defense really rose to the occasion out there last night, and I'm really proud of them too.

I remember another time when we had a QB knocked out of a game.  It was Omar Jacobs against WMU at the Doyt.  Our team collapsed on both sides of the ball and WMU routed us.  '

Which brings me to my next point.  I just don't think we win this game in the Brandon era.  I know that is kind of a dead horse, but I only say it to point out how well I think the program is growing under Coach Clawson, who clearly is able to put his team in positions to win even under less than ideal circumstances, and that's thrilling for me as a fan.

We were getting killed on the pass rush.  We adjusted.
We were getting killed on slants.  We adjusted
We had a new QB who was coming in cold.  We adjusted.
We had all the momentum blowing in our face.  We turned it back.

A few other notes.  I thought the offensive line gave a pretty heroic performance.  Yes, there was a period where Marshall was getting to the QB, but prior to that there were a lot of times when they couldn't get anywhere near us.  Marshall has a very strong D-line, and our guys, patched up and makeshift, were part of us bolting to the big lead and I think they played really well, all told.

Two last things, for now.  Remember in the good old days when BG would get the ball when we had a lead with, oh, 5 minutes left?  You would just know that the opponent wasn't getting it back.  And then remember some times more recently when we would go three and out and leave the door open to a comeback?

Last night, we had the former.  BG took the ball with 4:58 left, and ended the game with the ball.  Willie got the ball every time, and we made 3 first downs and killed the clock and put a stake in Marshall's heart.  That is great to see.  It is one of the things missing in our program over the past few years, and it was just fantastic.

Finally, the crowd.  I was so happy to see such a big and enthusiastic crowd out there.  I was also happy to send them home happy.  In the past, we've had some big crowds (Minnesota, Boise) where we sent them home disappointed.  It would be great to think we at least ensured they'll be back for Buffalo in a couple weeks.

It was a thrilling win for the Falcons and a credit to everyone involved.  More later.