Sweet Victory #7: The Defense

As good as of the offense was, BG's defense was completely dominant.  That's kind of obvious when you see that BG got their long sought-after shutout, but the numbers inside the numbers are pretty impressive.

First, for the game OU had 9 first downs and 2.8 yards per play.  They rushed for 1.9 (3.3 when you take the sacks out), completed only 55% of their passes (many of which were high-percentage passes to the flat) and therefore averaged only 6.4 yards per completion.  If you deduct sack yardage, OU's 37 pass attempts and sacks netted the Kitties 90 yards.

Not to pile on, but that includes some garbage time.  When BG went up 42-0, OU had 2 first downs, 52 yards and 2.4 yards per play.

Beyond that, BG forced one fumble, had an INT and four sacks.

Oh, and that INT return?  That was Boo Boo, in his last home game.  He was determined to take it the whole way and almost did, ending up with an 82 yard return, 3rd longest in school history.

It was a great team effort on defense, which is playing without Gabe Martin, we might be reminded.

One other player who is emerging for the Falcons is Taylor Royster.  We talked quite a big about BG not having huge numbers on the d-line and Royster has become steadily more productive.  He had 2 TFL, a half sack and a hurry.  Royster is from Lima and came to BG as a preferred walk-on, which I assume has been remedied or will be remedied.  He has made a real difference.

Cam Truss had 7 tackles in his last game at the Doyt.  I will do a post on the seniors later, but he is truly a standout player.

Anyway, here's the ultimate point.  BG's defense is playing dominant football right now.  That's after the Gabe Martin injury.  Big credit to everyone on the team for their continually improving play and credit to our defensive coaches, led by Mike Elko.

We are heading into the two biggest games our program has played since BG closed out Ball and Toledo to win the West in 2003.  That's 10 years ago.  We are doing it playing our best football of the year and at high confidence.  Enjoy the ride, Falcons.