Sweet Victory #5--Overview

Well, back at home again after another day at the Doyt.  BG moved to 5-1 on the season with  28-7 victory over Massachusetts.  Certainly the Falcons are always glad to win, especially in MAC play.  And let's not lose sight of the fact that the game was never in doubt after early in the 2nd Quarter.

Having said that, it was not the dominant performance that we had hoped for.  The defense certainly dominated, but on the offensive side of the ball BG was pretty sluggish, especially early.  UMass has been averaging giving up 37 and they gave up only 28 to BG.

The numbers were better than I expected while wading through the mud pit that passed for parking at the Doyt Saturday.  BG did get 6.9 yards per play when all was said and done, which was pretty good.  There were a couple of big plays in there,

BG punted on its first five possessions and then didn't punt again after that.  So maybe the whole is being colored a little by the slow start.

It was slow.

BG's first drive got out to the 49, but that was aided by a personal foul after the Minutemen had a 3rd down stop.  Then it was 3 and out and 4 and out and then a possession where BG failed to convert a 3rd and 1.

Things finally started to break in the 2nd Q.  BG downed a punt at the UMass 4 yard line.  Looking to use its defense to create a short field,  BG gave up a 51 yard run to the Minutemen and suddenly the field was flipped.  UMass stalled out at the BG 40 and downed the punt on the BG 9.

The Falcons finally found their stride.  There was an 8-yard run by Greene, then a nice pass to Joplin and a 20-yard completion to Bayer.  From about midfield, Johnson got the ball to Ronnie Moore.  He's the kind of player that when the first guy misses, he can score, and that's what happened and BG finally had the lead, 7-0.

The defense got a 3 and out and the Falcons had the ball on their own 30.  The Falcons then went on their only real sustained drive on the game, with a 5:03, 11 play, 70 yard march down the field.  The drive came almost exclusively on the ground, with 10 rushes in the 11 plays.  Travis Greene had 56 yards on the drive, which was finished up on a William Houston run to put BG up 14-0 with about 1 minutes left in the half.

Coming out of the locker room, BG kept cranking.  The defense shut the MM down and BG got TDs on its first two drives, which made it 28-0 and put the game away.

After the game, Coach said that were are not an explosive offense and we are basically a running team.  We are better at passing then we were last year, but we remain a running offense.  As such, he said UMass was playing to keep everything in front of them and forcing BG to make a bunch of plays to move the ball.  I have a feeling we will see more of that as the season rolls on.  Until BG's receivers can make a big play upfield, that's what makes sense.

The first team defense pitched a shut out again and really were never threatened.  Looking at the time before the game was 28-0, UMass was never inside the BG 38.

And, BG finally got an interception.  Ryland Ward did the honors.

More to come tomorrow on all of this.

BG is 5-1 and that is probably right where they should be.  BG still has two struggling teams left on the schedule--EMU and Miami--but has its key games ahead--UT, OU and Buffalo.

At the midway point, I'd say BG is good but not great.  This is a good team with a very good defense, good special teams and a good offense and not a great offense.  Frankly, given the competition in the early games, it is very hard to tell how good this team is.  They have only played one high octane offense, and those guys lit us up.  Tulsa lost again today.  We didn't face Dri Archer.  We haven't played one team that can really spread it out and fling it around.

Now.  All that can get itself sorted out when BG plays UT and OU in particular.  Those games--both at home--will present every opportunity for BG to prove themselves to be a championship team.