Redhawk Recap II

Now a look at the numbers.

I was a little surprised when I looked at BG's offensive numbers, which were not as good as I thought.  I kept seeing those 37 points against a pretty good D.  (That's more than Miami and Missouri scored).  But, there were two short fields and one of those was a very short field (1 yard) that led to scores.  BG had only 15 first downs in the game.  It had felt like more.  Six of those came on that 3rd quarter drive.

The running game was very credible, if not great.  Sack-adjusted, BG was 34 for 153, which is a 4.5 yard average.  Take away 3 victory formation plays for -10 and you have 163 for 31 and a 5.3 yard average.  Which is good.  Now, to be fair, 96 yards came on one play, leaving BG with 67 yards on 30 other carries.  Big play capability is pretty important.  BG used 3 TBs, and both Martin and Samuel were effective.  Hopgood struggled a little.  Still, BG was able to have a credible enough running attack to keep the RedHawks honest.  (Also, Anthon Samuel left with an injury.  Let's hope he is able to be back soon).

The passing game was similarly effective, if not great on the stats page.  BG threw the ball only 24 times (though for much of the 4th quarter BG was killing the clock), and completed 19 of those passes.  That's 79%.  Because of the pressure, BG was going shorter and had only 9.6/reception.  BG had only 183 yards passing and a sack adjusted 157 on 28 attempts for 5.6 yards per passing play, which is not a huge number.

BG did complete passes to 9 different players (out of 19 total completions) and Jordan had 9.

Overall, BG had 5.0 yards per play and outgained Miami by 2 yards.  However, Miami ran more plays and had only 4.3 yards per play.

On the plus side, the offense only turned the ball over twice and did not turn it over again after the first quarter.  BG had 42% on 3rd down, which is very credible, and the offense provided the big play and the big drive in the 3rd quarter that put the game away.  BG also was in the redzone 6 times with 4 TDs and a FG for 5.2 points, an excellent score.

I was very happy with the defense.  Miami ended up with 19 first downs, but only 4.3 yards per play, which is an excellent result for our defense.

Miami is not a strong running team--they have not been for years.  BG' defense did control the run effectively, holding Miami to a sack-adjusted 3.7 yards per rush.  Dysert was effective a couple times early getting out of the pocket, but BG seemed to button that up as the game went along.  Neither of Miami's TBs average more than 3 yards a carry.

The pass defense was also very good.  Dysert completed 63% but he did not get a TD pass and had 2 picks.  (With six sacks and 2 INTs, Miami had a negative play on 17% of their passing plays).  Sack adjusted, they had only 4.7 yards per passing attempt.  I felt that BG's coverage was much stronger.  When Miami hit a 5 yard pass there were a BG player there to stick him right away.  There was limited YAC, and only a couple big passing plays....and Miami is going to get a couple, Harwell is a really good WR.

BG had a bunch of deflections late.  I just felt that BG played very solid defense, tackled as well as I remember them tackling, and had a very solid game plan that was executed well.  I would also like to know the last time BG got six sacks in a MAC game.

Individually, let me say this.  Dwayne Woods is a MONSTA.  Seven tackles, one sack, an INT and a forced fumble.  Devon McKoy made 8 tackles as did Paul Swan, Darrell Hunter had 4.  The 6 sacks were by six different players, and we had 2 hurries by another two guys, so in total, 8 Falcon players were involved in pressuring Dysert.

Special teams....yeah, pull collar.  Cough nervously.  We've already covered the huge kickoff return and the missed XP and the near catastrophe on the kickoff return.  BG did contribute a FG and cover some of the kickoffs well and Schmeidebusch had another excellent game.  Also, kudos to Ray Hutson, who not only caught a pass, but also blocked a punt and recovered the fumble on Cooper's kickoff return.  Hutson caught a lot of passes in 2009 but is largely out of the game on offense, so it is great to see him still making plays on special teams.

So that is the story.  Nothing is better....nothing....than walking to your car after a victory on the road.  You don't have to say a word, just walk by in your orange.  Very fun.