Victory in Mt Pleasant....the offense.

Things are good in the Falcon Nation this morning.  Victory has been achieved.

It certainly was not how we expected to win.  Maybe ever.  In fact, it is out first win with less than 20 points since a 2001 win at Ohio in UM I.  And it really doesn't matter.

In fact, the defense is playing really well, and is improving to levels that we have not seen since the defense UM inherited.  (I haven't got any actual facts to back that up, and it has only been a few games, but this is my impression.)

The offense was not very good, but good enough.  Most of the game, we weren't really going anywhere, but when we really needed a drive after the fumble, we were able to put together what we needed.

Let's take a closer look.

First, on offense, there were some success stories.  The offensive line seemed much stronger.  We gave up only one sack and the run blocking seemed a lot more stable than it was in past weeks.  Scott Lewis came back after being injured most of the season, and was put directly into the heat of the fire, starting a center.  It did seem to settle things down, and there seemed to be fewer absolutely blown up plays.

Willie Geter also had a nice game.  He had 26 carries for 103 net yards and 4 yards per carry and a long 0f 15, which indicates a couple of things---first he was consistent, which is good to have in a running game.  While the running game was far from eye-popping, the ability to eat clock and get yardage on the ground was part of what kept the game close until the end and gave us a shot.

And when we needed to get two yards on the ground to win the game, we actually did.

Note:  Geter left injured.  We have a completely different profile with him in the game, so I hope that with the extra rest days, he can be ready to go for the Miami game.

The passing game was pretty average.  Coach said we wanted a conservative game plan, and we certainly got that.  Schilz was 22-39 with two INTs and a sack and 192 sack adjusted yards.  On 40 attempts, that is less than 5 yards a passing attempt, which also indicates a pretty conservative game plan.           Jordan had 9 for 92 receiving.

As I said, the offense was not great, but good enough to win a game like this.  When we needed a drive after the Cotton fumble, it was there.

We got it to 4-1, caught a break when CMU was offsides.  Then, we moved the chains with a 10-yard pass to Jorden and then Jorden broke a big play up the middle down inside the 5 and from there we put it in the end zone and did it without leaving CMU time to get back into FG range.

We were 7 of 16 on 3rd down, which was pretty important in keeping our offense on the field.

We'll look at the defense and special teams later today, but in the meantime, our offense certainly played well, but not as well as it can.