Cowbell Land, Part II

Looking now at the numbers and the performance of the various units...

BG had a very good day on offense.  This is certainly something to be taken as a positive.  Our offense has been much improved but not always great, but BG moved the ball against an SEC defense with NFL players and it bodes well for the future.

You can run right down the list:

• BG had 6.1 yards per play.
• BG's only turnover was on the last play of the game.
• BG rushed for 5.5 yards per carry and both the TBs were over 6.
• BG completed 58% of its passes with 11 yards a reception and only 1 sack.
• BG punted only twice.

That's a pretty good day for the offense.  Travis Greene continues to impress.  Guy is just a player.  He had 99 yards on 15 carries and Givens contributed 24 on 4 carries.  Hopgood also had a key 9 yard run.

As noted above, it was a good day for Matt Johnson, who continued to play efficient football, adding 6 rushes for 29 yards to the numbers you see above.  In fact, his numbers would have been better if (as Coach says) "we catch the balls we are supposed to catch."  WR drops are probably the only fly in the ointment for BG's offense yesterday.

Jared Cohen--a JUCO transfer in his second year here--led the team with 5 catches for 51 yards.  He was replacing Gallon.  Burbrink was 4 for 66 and Joplin 4 for 40.  In all, 8 Falcons had receptions.

As for the defense, certainly the numbers are not great but certainly representative.  MSU had 6.4 yards per play and 6 per rush.  They complete 78% of their passes, but for limited yards--9 per reception, which is typical of a spread team.  The defense got an INT and 2 sacks and did it without its second best player for half the game.

Just as importantly, BG shut them out in the second half and held MSU to 124 yards in the 2nd half to keep the Falcons in the game.  Coach has said before that you want to win your share of the battles, and it is clear our defense did that.

Individually, Royster and Montgomery both had sacks for BG, Truss had 2 break ups, BG had 7 hurries in total (2 from Ouellet), and held an SEC team to 21 points...below their average.   They scored 26 the week before against LSU.

On special teams, Schmiedebusch buried both his punts and Tate was 2-3 on FGs and 1-2 from outside 40.  Kickoff coverage was solid and no major mistakes were made.  I think special teams will grade out pretty well.