Close the Deal, Part II

Just watched Coach's presser.....and yeah, the glow hasn't worn off.  That was a great win last night, not just  it was a big win, but because it lets us all know that the project is working, we are playing our way back.  We were told Clawson was great at rebuilding programs, and it appears that he has done it here.  Our team last night was well prepared...we kept Tettleton in check, had spies on him, controlled his throwing on the run, pressure him in the pocket...it was a thrilling defensive performance against a great offense.

I was also impressed by the resilience we showed.  Jack Carle asked this in the presser.  OU took the opening kickoff and marched right down the field and a lot of our teams in the past would have continued to try hard but without confidence, and it could have been a rout (Think UT and WMU in '10).  That didn't happen.  Coach said there were no adjustments, our guys just played better and after that initial drive, OU got only 7 yards the rest of the half.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, but this was done without Boo Boo Gates who was injured early with an ankle sprain.  Josh Pettus game in, and all of a sudden you are seeing #22 all over the field (He led the team with 11 tackles).  Boo Boo went down, as Samuel went down in the UMass game, and BG did not miss a beat.  That's great for Josh Pettus, but let's not forget that he was recruited here by our Coaches.

OU finished the game with 2.2 yards per rush and 4.3 yards per pass.  BG had pressure on Tettleton all night, sacked him 4 times and hurried him a bunch, often result in him going out of bounds for a short gain.  If you wondered if BG's defense was for real based on who we had been playing, let me say this.  They are for real.

We had a great plan on special teams as well.  I'm sure the OU fans are pinning their defeat on their punting mistakes, but Coach said BG had a strategy for getting blocks.  We got close once, got one, and roughed the guy once, and you can argue that BG got into the punter's head, which led to him trying to run for 18 yards instead of kicking the ball in the open field...which only got him racked up like a tackling dummy.  That led to them bringing Weller in and he got a bad snap, but if he was their regular punter, maybe he handles it, and, yeah, there was another block, too.  Those are game-changing plays on special teams, and now our guys are making them.

Also, BG had a great day punting the ball.  When you are going to play the way we play, punting is important, and Schmeidebush was just fantastic last night.  Good yardage, great placement...as Coach says, when they have to drive a long field, you have to like the odds that our defense delivers.

On offense, it was what we have come to expect.  First, Anthon Samuel carried the load (we didn't rotate as much as early because Coach says Samuel "should have been rested.") and had career highs with 29 carries and 181 yards, a 6.2 yard average.   This was the whole game for BG, who had only 13 first downs in the game.

The offense was blessed with short fields, but, to their credit, and in contrast to some of our previous teams, made them stick.

How about a 15 yard TD run on 4th down for Samuel after a blocked punt?
How about a Tate FG off the muffed snap/return?
How about converting a 3rd and 5 on a Samuel run to score off the other blocked punt?

Then, how about one of BG's 7 completed passes, which was a fake statue of liberty and pass to Chris Gallon--a trick play I do not recall ever seeing anywhere--where the Falcons got a big play TD.  Coach said afterwards that BG needs to do that because the passing game is not moving as it should right now.  (I applaud this, you have to find a way to win).

The passing game was terrible, but we aren't going to belabor that right now because anyone can see it and we are winning anyway.

The point is the team executed the game plan and won the game.  I'd like to score more and I'm sure Coach would too, but he is taking what we have and we're 7-3 and playing probably for the MAC East title next week.  From where we were, I'd take it all day.

It was the best performance of the season just when it was needed.  Also, after using last year's game as motivation for the past year, it has to be sweet to face a similar situation and to slam the door on the Bobcats in 2012.

This is turning into a great season with the potential to get even better...a big hand to the Coaches and players who have put in the time and effort to making it happen.  Everyone else is working hard too, and we're beating them.