So the dust has settled.
It was, of course, a very good night to be a Falcon. Tulsa is projected to be a very good team, they are defending C-USA champions and I thought would be a very tough challenge for the Falcons. BG had a number of question marks--and with an injury and a suspension and an administrative leave they got bigger as the day moved on.
But, BG answered the bell. Yeah, the game was probably closer than 34-7, but BG was clearly the superior team and you can quibble about the numbers, it was a very strong performance against good competition and something everyone should be proud of.
You can't talk about the game without talking about the defense first. BG obviously had a dominating defense last year, but lost its two best players and an NFL draft pick, and then a couple guys on attrition over the off season. The question I posed in my preview was not whether they would be good but HOW good they would be. From this small sample, it appears to be VERY good.
Our game plan was clearly to make them one-dimensional and force their QB to beat us throwing, which he struggled with last season. This plan worked.
Tulsa, who averaged over 250 yards per game last season, was held to 51 rushing yards...and the defense only had one sack, so there's no distortion of the stats. BG was simply dominant in stopping the run. They tackled well, they were in position and they played strong when they had a guy wrapped up. It was total domination.
They brought a FB in and that did open things up a little, but in the end they got nothing going.
Coach Clawson has said that all those swing passes and bubble screens are essentially run plays, and BG did very well on those. There were a number of plays where our d-back just destroyed his blocker and took the blocker right into the ball carrier.
All that forced Tulsa to look upfield for room to operate, something they were clearly unprepared to do. When they did, BG brought, in the words of Tulsa's coach, "every blitz known to mankind," got pressure on the QB and he made a bunch of poor throws. Our coverage was good and there was little available for them, save for one play when a DB fell down in coverage.
They did not scrimmage a play inside the BG 12. (In the second half, the first team allowed penetration only to our 38). They missed a couple FGs, and then the other time they were close Boo Boo Gates forced a fumble on the edge and got the ball back. It was only 3-0 at the time, so that was a pretty huge play in the swing of a football game.
Even the fake punt that Tulsa ran deep in their own territory was a tribute to the BG defense. It was only 13-0, and the fact that such dramatic measures were warranted is a reflection of how big that 13-0 deficit looked on the Tulsa sideline.
Here are the numbers. Tulsa had 4.2 yards per play. Take out that garbage time drive, though, and it was 3.7 yards per play, a total that it is very difficult to win with. They held the ball for only 21:13. They had six possessions of less than 90 seconds.
It was impressive. To the point that even at a 6-0 halftime lead, you felt like we were in control of the game.
Charlie Walker, who plays on the d-line, was injured early and I haven't heard more on that. It looked serious, but we will wait to here more.
Big picture: the defense is back and very strong again this year.
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