There is not a lot to say about this one. As Coach said after the game, BG was flat. In retrospect, they might have practiced well during the week, but it was too much to expect the team to come out of the gate and play emotionally after such a tumultuous week. Ohio U did exactly what would you expect, which is run over the Falcons with relentless focus and it was a 49-14 victory.
The Falcons came out looking OK. They started on their own 8 and then scored 4 plays later and then on their third drive they went 9 plays for a sustained drive for another TD. At that point, it was 14-14 in the early second. From that point on, BG had only 7 first downs and didn't score again, turned the ball over twice, etc.
BG finished with 6.3 yards per play, which is a decent result, as far as that does. They struggled to run the ball, with 3.8 yards per carry. Doege was effective at 19 of 24 and 11.3 yards per completion, which is good but not "passing game carries BG to victory" territory. The Falcons were committed to running the ball and ran it 26 times.
Denley, Frye and Hargrove carried most of the load, with the first two being fairly effective in spots. Andrew Clair did play, but carried the ball only once.
Scott Miller continued to be a great one. He had 6 for 145 and scored once. Quinton Morris also had 4 catches.
Meanwhile, Ohio U just rolled over the Falcon D. They had 7 TDs on 8 drives, which is the kind of thing we have gotten used to seeing. They ran 50 running plays and 13 passes. With 392 net yards, that's 7.8 yards per rush, a staggering number. Of their 7 ball carriers, AJ Oulette had the lowest yards per carry at 5.8.
Rourke was 8 of 12 passing...but of those 8 completions, 4 were for TDs. OU had 8 passing first downs with 9 total completions. (Maxwell had 1).
Anyway, there's not a lot of say. It was a one-sided game. BG was playing a good team on the road in the week after the coach was fired, and we're not good to start with.
So, one thing to note. BG has a long way back. A coaching change was needed, but it isn't like that's going to make it all better. We saw that yesterday and I think we needed to.
This program has a long road back. You face the prospect of losing a recruiting class and you could see some transfers. We had a program that was humming and we turned it into a turnaround that didn't happen and now you have to do it again. It's going to take a while.
As much as I admire how Coach Pelini has taken on this difficult role, I'm 100% supportive of a comprehensive search. If that yields Pelini, then fine. But we need to get someone who can build a program and who has done it before. See Lance Leipold as an example.
In the meantime, this season is unfolding on the worst case scenario. BG has zero FBS wins and has their best chance on October 30. Kent feels the same way about us.
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