The Rockets did what we all expected. They marched down the field, going from their 29 to the BG 4 in five plays. They had a false start on the 4 and then on their next play, unbelievably, they fumbled an exchange and Falcon senior Nico Lautenan gobbled the ball up.
BG started at the nine and converted two third downs. Then, from the 34, Loy threaded an absolute needle to Bryson Denley, whose defender went for the pick and must have felt the ball graze his hands as it went by. Denley had opened field and took the ball to the house for a 66-yard scoring play, giving BG a 10-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, the UT player muffed the kickoff on the 1-yard line and fell on it. As Coach Candle noted, the success rate on 99 yard drives is not good. The first Rocket drive had featured a McKinley-Lewis against Caleb Biggers long gain...they tried him again from the 1 with Mitchell, and Biggers had it locked down. In fact, they would try it repeatedly all day and Biggers and Hudson had the edge locked down. Mitchell finished with 2 catches for 10 yards.
Anyway, the key to this story is that BG got a 3-and-out. UT boomed a huge punt to put BG inside its own 40, the Falcons made a first down but punted and UT started at the 25 with 3 minutes left in the first.
The Rockets went on a 14-play drive that covered over five minutes, extended into the second period and scored a TD to make it 10-7.
At this point, the game is afoot. How will the Falcons respond? Will it be a "remember the first quarter" situation...or will BG pop them back?
The Falcons did the latter. BG moved the ball 82 yards on 9 plays in about 5 minutes and converted in the red zone with a touchdown by Grant Loy. The Falcons felt the adversity and marched the ball right back down the field to take a 17-7 lead with about 8 minutes left in the half.
Next: BG took them three and out and the UT punter shanked his kick and BG had the ball on the 33. Clearly, this is a huge opportunity...but alas, BG failed on a 4th and 1 and turned the ball over. (I believe this is the play that Coach Loeffler was referring to when he said he was "kicking himself up and down the sideline" for not calling a play-action pass.)
BG's defense got another 3 and out and the punt was blocked, but Loy threw a pick on the next possession and UT had the ball back with 1:15 left. The Rockets executed their drive against the clock very effectively and had the ball on the BG 6 with :02 left. They lined up for a FG to attempt to close the half out with momentum (they would get the ball to start the second half) and they had to feel good about their shot.
The FG was blocked by David Konowalski...senior playing in his last Toledo game. And BG went to the locker room with the momentum.
In fact, after the game Nico Lautenan said that it was halftime where the team realized what was happening...that BG was in the game and it wasn't a fluke...in fact, they were out playing the Rockets.
It was evident right away. UT took the kickoff and moved to the BG 40 where they had 3rd and 2. Now, given BG's run defense over the past few years...and knowing UT was something like 9th in the country in running...you'd expect them to convert that and keep the chains moving.
But they didn't. They got one yard on first down and then lost 3 on fourth down and BG took over.
BG made a first down before a punt touchback. UT again moved back down the field, sparked by a 31-yard run by Guagdani. On 3rd and 7 from the BG 15, true freshman Jordan Anderson--replacing Jerry McBride III, a senior who is now out for the season--came on a safety blitz and sacked Guagdani. UT linked up for the FG....and missed it into a strong cross wind. Additionally, Guagdani did not return to the game after the hit.
Here, in my view, BG proved this wasn't a fluke. With the game clearly in jeopardy, UT had an opportunity to "turn it on." BG had a chance to fold. Didn't happen. Grant Loy ran for 26 yards on the first play. A couple plays later, he hit Ortega-Jones for 26. BG stalled out inside the 10 but Needham hit the FG and BG led 20-7 with 4 minutes left.
Again, UT has to feel some urgency now. But on 3rd and 2 the BG defense AGAIN shut the Rockets down and forced a punt.
So, BG had the ball and a 2-score lead to start the 4th. BG didn't score, but they did make 3 first downs, milk 3:30 off the clock and punt UT down to its 4.
BG went deep against Hudson, but he had the coverage. They made one first down and punted from their 23. BG took over with 9 minutes left and a two-score lead. BG ran five plays...IN FOUR MINUTES...made a first down and then punted UT back inside their 20.
UT got the ball with 5:21 left and was forced to play in the air. They drove to their 44, converting a 4th down on their 25. Konowalski sacked Bradley with 3:14 left...forcing two things. First, UT had to call a time out to bring the WRs back to the formation, but also Bradley was knocked from the game and Eli Peters came in. Three straight incompletions--one of them which should have been a pick 6--gave BG the ball with 3:08 left and UT having one time out.
BG worked to kill the clock, UT got the ball back with 1:19 and no timeouts left from their own 34 and they moved against prevent defense but eventually had a hail intercepted in the end zone and the victory was secure.
More to come...BG played as well as it can play and UT certainly made more mistakes than they are used to making. That's how winning and losing is decided. The point is...on this given Saturday, the best team was wearing Orange.
and BROWN!
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