Falcons Play Poorly, miss football's easiest play, Fall to Cowboys

It was a storyline that has become pretty familiar to Falcon fans, as the team lost a last second game at home in somewhat bizarre circumstances.  Overall, the team played pretty poorly, however, made a ton of mistakes, and were lucky to be anywhere near in the game when the end came.  Still, it is very disappointing not to win a game like this.

BG took the kickoff and moved right down the field and scored a touchdown, and for much of the first half was completely handling the Wyoming defense.   BG drove to the 2 yard line and fumbled on a bad exchange (losing the ball) and then on the next drive drove back down into the red zone and Schilz underthrew his receiver and was intercepted on the 7.  Two drives after that, BG actually scored to take a 14-7 lead.

From there, the offense really struggled.  The next 6 possessions ended without scoring, 3 on turnovers, one on downs and one on a missed FG.

Meanwhile, Wyoming, which had 1 first down in the first quarter, took advantage of a short field off an interception and went into halftime feeling pretty good, only down 14-7.

In the second half, the Cowboys took the opening kickoff and scored (91 yard drive) to tie the game.  BG fumbled the ensuing kickoff and the Cowboys had a short field, which ended up in a goal line stand in which BG stopped Wyoming on the 2.  As BG tried to drive out of its own end, Samuel fumbled and Wyoming picked the ball up and ran it in to lead 21-14.  Then, early in the 4th, Schilz fumbled around his own 20 under pressure and Wyoming recovered and scored off that turnover to lead 28-14.

A fairly wild sequence of events then occurred. BG's first attempt to rally ended in an interception at midfield.  The defense bailed the team out, getting another stop on downs, and BG had the ball on its 36 with 11 minutes left.  BG was showing some life and drove down to the Wyoming 13 before a pass to Eugene Cooper on 4th down was incomplete, and BG was stopped on downs.

The defense held Wyoming to one first down and forced a punt, and BG started again at its 33 with 5:40 left.  BG covered that ground in less than 2 minutes, scoring on a 32 yard pass to Kamar Jordan for the TD, and BG was within one score with just 4 minutes left.

At this point, the defense needs to get the ball back.  Wyoming started the drive at the 30 and ran it three times for 9 yards--on the last play challenging a spot that actually moved the ball back--and was faced with a fourth down and 1.  Given how well BG was moving the ball, Wyoming lines up to go for it with 1:39 left.  The crowd is going crazy...if BG can get the stop, there's a short field to work with.  Wyoming comes to the line and, in a move worthy of the Detroit Lions, falls for the hard count and jumps offsides, giving the first down away.  As Coach Clawson said after the game, "everyone in the stadium knew they were going to hard count."

There was some debate in our section as to whether Wyoming was ever going to run a play.  We'll never know.  Coach Clawson thought they would hard count and then run a play, which just seems to me to be a pretty reckless decision, but there you go.

BG did not use any time outs on that series and then used them on the second series.  BG got a 3 and out, and started on its own 11 with 1:18 left.  Which, you know, didn't seem so good.

The Falcons suddenly turn into an offensive machine.  Schilz is throwing darts, hitting everyone on the chest, and in 8 plays BG is at the Wyoming 10.  BG came to the line, deciding not to spike it to take advantage of a winded Wyoming D and threw an incompletion.  There were :08 left at this point.  Schilz dropped back, got caught up in pressure, stepped up and hit Ray Hutson at the back of the end zone for the score to make it 28-27.

I suspect most of people in the stadium considered the game already tied.  Coach sent his kicking team out, explaining that he liked our chances at home in overtime.  I mentioned last night, given our kicking game, I think we are always going to struggle in overtime, and the 2 pointer with momentum seemed like a good play, but either way, if you go for the kick, you expect to make it.  That is the virtue of it.

But we did not.  The kick was blocked using a manuever that Coach says we practiced "to death" and combined, probably, with a low kick, and Wyoming had the win.

Which is a pretty heartbreaking way to lose.  BG didn't deserve to win, but it would have been nice to get it anyway.  In the end, six turnovers and all those short fields doomed BG to lose to a team I think they were better than.  More importantly, it had chilling flashbacks to the 2010 team, something everyone is hoping not to repeat.

Coach Clawson, who is normally pretty matter of fact with the media, seemed almost angry at the performance.  He said it was "embarassing" to not be able to make an extra point.  At one point, he said something like "that simply can't happen this year."

More later.