RedHawks Beat Falcons at Doyt as season slides away

So, the Falcons lost again at home Saturday, as the one-week flash of hope that came out of the UT game disappeared in the wind and BG lost again, this time to a Miami team that also had one win coming into the game.  It was a game of two programs that seem to be heading in opposite directions...the RedHawks finally turning things around and the Falcons watching their championship run disappear with disturbing speed.  I would guess that the hunter and the hunted will soon have switched places for a while.

Coach focused post-game on the number of mistakes we made---and that was certainly an issue.  But it wasn't the only issue.

Miami came into the game 124th in the nation in points per game.  They left with 40 points on their side of the scoreboard.  They entered 9th in the MAC with 5.1 yards per play and left with 5.3 for this game.  They came in running the ball at 2.7 yards per carry, which is second worst in the country, and finished at 4.7 yards per carry against BG.

Meanwhile, BG ran the ball for 2.5 yards per carry...and didn't seem to stick with the run.  Coppet had 49 on 10 carries, but it seems odd to me that you wouldn't get him more touches than that in that kind of wind.

And, then the mistakes.  BG turned the ball over 4 times.  Three were Morgan throwing picks and one was a messed up lateral to Ronnie Moore that only Miami seemed to realize was a live ball.  BG performed a miracle turning that into a safety...it could easily have been a touchdown.

Yes, and then BG had 10 penalties for over 100 yards.  Frankly, though, that wasn't a relative difference in the game.  Miami had almost the same numbers on penalties and the drive for the Skattebo TD was greatly aided by RedHawk penalties.  Yes, BG had some very poorly timed penalties.  There was an interception in the end zone by Bozeman turned back by a roughing the passer call...and a Miami TD on the next play.  And there was Will Watson going the distance with a KOR....only to have it turned back by a penalty.  In fact,  the Morgan-Moore lateral happened on the very next play.

And that is a trend with this team.  Bad things tend to happen in combination.

James Morgan had an up-and-down game.  Coach Jinks said after the game that Morgan is the QB for the remainder of the season.  Which is the right thing to do.  The offense is clearly more effective with him in the lineup and the change probably took too long to happen.

Miami does have a strong pass defense.  Each side won their share of the battles.  BG completed 61% of its passes at almost 13 yards per completion, both of which are solid numbers.  There were three TDs...and then those 3 picks...all of which came on consecutive possessions in the 4th quarter.

Look, this was an evenly matched game of two teams, both of which are young, both of which have holes and neither of which played a great game.  Miami is on the upward track, led by a Coach with 22 years of college coaching experience and his coordinators, not one of whom has less than 10 years collegiate experience, and Miami was the better team on the field at the Doyt.

After the game, Coach said what he always says...our team is trying to do too much, shooting themselves in the foot, they don't trust the process, there are mental lapses on both sides of the ball.  After 8 games, that has to be in some way attributable to coaching.  Again, not to minimize the challenges we faced this year, but it seems to me the coaching has failed to make it better and might well have made it worse.

Coach was asked how you fix the penalties.  He said you have to hold guys accountable.

One last thing.  Coach was asked if he would sub the seniors out now to get experience for the younger players.  He responded that there was no one left to sub in.  We're down to the last guys.

The team gets a long week now.  No game Saturday, and next up is NIU in Dekalb.  The Huskies are struggling, but they destroyed Buffalo 44-7, and Buffalo at this point is the only team in the MAC that is likely as weak as BG is.