Sweet Victory #1: Special Teams

Wrapping everything up now...the special teams.  They were a horror in Nashville, and they were flawed in College Park, for sure, but they were improved and they didn't lose BG the game and in fact generated a very big play.

It didn't start out very well.

Joe Davidson boomed another punt inside the 20, but William Likely was able to field it near the sideline and go 85 yards for a TD.  After the game, Coach said that it was "heart breaking."  The plan was to kick it OB, but the punter just missed and that gave them the chance to put it away.  Coach said that he went over to the punter and the special teams coach and "motivated" them to make sure Likely didn't hurt us again.

And he didn't.  BG did some rugby style stuff to limit returns and, in fact, even generated a fumble that was recovered inside the MD 20.

BG also missed 2 FGs inside 40 yards, as Tyler Tate starts the season off in an unusual slump which we are confident he will work his way out of.  On the plus side, he had 6 touchbacks in 8 kickoffs, helping to keep Likely from hurting us.

The only issue on kickoffs was a bizarre squib kick that went out of bounds and gave MD good field position.

Joe Davidson has got some leg on him.  He punted 3 times and averaged 50 yards per punt.  BG is going to rank low in net punting due to the return issues, but if that gets sorted out BG has a real weapon in the Long Tall Punter.

Nothing particularly great was done on returns.  BG's KOR return game has not generated much at all and we're generally thankful for the touchback.  Ryan Burbrink did have one nice punt return.

Anyway, point is that the special teams kept us on our ass for the Tennessee game and it was less like that against Maryland.  Having said that, there were still issues with the kicking game and it could still stand to get better.