25 Questions about Bears

1.  If you and I are running from a Bear, do I have to out run the bear?

No.  You just have to out run me.

2.  Does a bear shit in the woods?

Yes.  Here is what it looks like.

3.  Are bears in the wild becoming tamer?

Yes.  See below.

Little hint:  he likes everything.

OK...so maybe I am trying to divert myself from my normal 25 questions about our opponent because there is not the normal amount of information to work with.  So, I will do what I can with the Morgan State Bears.  However, I will indulge one more space-killing picture.

What is their body of work?

Well, they have been an average team in their conference over the past five years.  Their past five records were 4-7, 6-5, 6-5, 5-6, 5-6.  They are on a 5-game losing streak and were picked 5th (in the middle-ish) of the MEAC.  Howard, which lost to EMU, was picked last, as a point of reference.  They lost their opener 42-3 to Towson State.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

27.

Who are their statistical leaders returning?


2010 MEAC Rankings....

David Brown, #9 Rushing
Reshaude Miller, #4 INTs
Nicholas Adams, #2 Punting
Andre Nelson, #4 KO returns
Tyrone Hendrix, #6 KO returns
Allen Stephens, #5 Tackles for Loss

What is their turnover ratio?

It was -1 in the Towson game and even steven last year.

Offense:

How is their QB Play?

Their starter is Junior Donovan Dickerson of Detroit.  (Love alliteration).  Anyway, he was 6-10 passing for 40 yards and 1 INT before he left the Towson game with back spasms.  Last season, he completed 38% of his passes and had 8 INTs and 1 TD.  He was spelled by Robert Council who was actually pretty good in relief.  He is a r-FR.  Neither one of them appears to run much.

What is their scoring and yards per play?

Last year, Morgan State was the worst offensive team in FCS.  They scored 18.8 PPG and 3.6 yards per play, both which are pretty anemic.  They made 6 first downs against Towson.

Can they run the ball?

Against Towson, they rushed 28 times for 48 yards.  Last season, they averaged 2.9 yards per rush.

Do they pass the ball?

Last year they were 90th in pass efficiency in FCS, and they ended up 10-20 with an INT and 160 yards in the Towson game.

How is their run/pass balance?

Despite their struggles, they are committed to running the ball.  Last year, they ran the ball on 60% of their plays and against Towson it was 58%.

Do they convert on 3rd Down?

Last year they converted on 25% which is pretty low.

Do they score in the red zone?

Not available.

Do they protect the quarterback?

Last year, they were sacked 26 times, which is about 10% of their passing attempts, which is pretty high.  (They gave up a sack or an INT on 16% of their passing attempts.)

There is no way to cut it....this team is just struggling on offense.  Coach said they had some talented playmakers, and I don't doubt that, but there is nothing to suggest from last year or this year, that this team can move the ball.  BG fans should expect a shutdown performance on Saturday.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

They gave up 7 yards a play and 42 points to Towson.  For last season, it was 30 points a game and 5.2 yards per play.

Do they defend the run effectively?

Towson had 4.8 yards per carry but they allowed only 3.9 yards per carry last year.  They are starting a true FR at nose tackle, although the rest of the line are Srs and Jrs.

Could they be passed on?

Towson lit them up---18 of 22, 3 TDs, 1 INT and 279 yards.  That is a ton of yards on only 22 attempts.  Last year, in fairness, they were pretty good, allowing only 53% completions and with 14 Ints against only 18 TDs.

Do they get off the field on 3rd down?

Last year, they held opponents to 30%, which is pretty good.

Do they defend in the red zone?

nada.

Do they pressure the QB?

They had 19 sacks on 268 attempts which is 7% and pretty reasonable.

Last year, the fact they got to 4-7 at all was because of strong defense.  It absolutely 100% was not present on the field against the Towson, as they were positively torched.  They did lose six defensive starters, so perhaps that is the source of the problem.  Coach said they played in multiple defenses and with all the new players, perhaps they are still getting adjusted.

Special Teams:


Punting?

The punter is the pre-season All-MEAC punter.  He's a strength.

Punt Return?

Towson only punted once and there was no return.  Their returner from last year is gone.  They seem to have good return guys, so it would not be a surprise if they were good here.

Placekicking?

Their kicker is a good story, Abraham Mercado, who is a caucasian jew playing at Morgan State, which is a HBCU.  He is responsible for 100% of their points this year, and was 1-2 in the game.

Kickoff?

Relatively short kicks with short returns.  Towson averaged starting at the 30.

Kickoff Return?

Yeah, this was the high point against Towson.   They had an 85 yard return, a 41 and a 36.  No TDs.  Last season, with pretty much the same guys, they averaged on 22 yards per return.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

Here's a fun fact.  Morgan State's coach is in his 10th season.  He is 0-9 in road openers with an average margin of defeat of 20.5 points.

Yeah.  Here's the thing.  This is an FCS team...and not a good one.  If Towson beat them 42-3, you'd like to see BG come up with a pretty good beat down.  Honestly, if we're going to make the case that the Falcons are back, then this game needs to be wrapped up and wrapped up early.  If the weather is nice we should have a nice crowd and we will be under the lights.  I hate to talk like this, but I just think BG should win this game easily.