Chaos Reigns, Flag Flies

Man, something about Buffalo that brings out the crazy stuff.  This was, of course, the city where the Reggie-Witherspoon-Buzzer-Banging event happened...and the game at the Doyt where Gregg Brandon blew a late lead and ripped the crowd.

This one fits right in.

It is hard to know where to begin, except with the big picture.

BG responded to the EMU debacle with a strong performance and that's what I think we all wanted to see.  Getting the win was great, but BG bounced back and played a very flawed but competitive game and ended up with a win.  It was what we hoped to see and we got it.  It wasn't pretty but there was a lot that was good about it.  It was 728 days between conference wins.

Everything else was pure craziness.  It was just killing me.

Exhibit one is the offense.  BG scored 56 points....on 11 first downs!  That's a wow.  According to BGSU, since 2002 there has been only one other instance of a team getting 50 points on 11 or fewer first downs.  So that's another way we were breaking records...(more on that).  (UB had 36 first downs, a very high number, for contrast).

BG hadn't scored 50 since OU in 2015.

And no one would have thought it would have been this year, either.  Prior to BG had a high output of 27 against Murray State.

It was indeed the big play that did it.  BG has relied on big plays for offense all along, but they were generally not getting all the way to the house, which was leading to a lot of FGs.  In this game, BG converted those big plays into points, along with a couple of turnovers.

Here are BG's touchdowns:

• McDonald to Sims, 81 yards, when the UB player was ejected for targetting on a play where he failed to bring Sims down.
• Embry 1 yard run.  Drive featured a 36 yard run by Stewart and 27% of BG's first downs.
• McDonald to Sims from 6 yards, off an INT
• McDonald to Broden from 64 yards.  Two play drive, other was a 21 yard run.
• McDonald to Broden for 30 yards, first play off an INT.
• Terion Stewart 77 yard touchdown run.  One play drive.
• Terion Stewart 20 yard run after UB gave it up on downs on their own 13.
• Matt McDonald 47 yards after a fake kneel down (where he probably should not have scored.

My head is swimming.

Terion Stewart was just fantastic.  BG as a team averaged 8 yards per carry, something they have not done since 2015 (Ball State) and only 4 times since 2000.  He had 170 yards on 11 carries.  His 20 yard TD run came immediately after a TD run that was called back.  On his longer-TD run, he got to the edge and out-ran the angle from a couple of defenders.  It was amazing, he doesn't look that fast but he had another gear to be sure.

And for all the complaining about McDonald, he made the plays in this one.  He was 13 of 19 for 263, which means 20 yards per completion.  When big plays were there on over-the-top plays, he made the throws.

You could have made a lot of crazy predictions about this one.  None crazier than BG scoring 56 points, kicking no FGs and having 11 first downs.

I think this is what we needed and I'm proud of their resilience.

There is still room to improve, he says, pulling on his collar.

Starting with penalties.  Starting with the head coach, who got 2 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and became the first FBS coach to be thrown out of a game.  (Somewhere, Dakich is smiling).  After the game he said:

“It's a great learning experience for every single person involved. And you know, I gotta do

things better. But I also know exactly what was said and exactly what was done. As the leader, I got to be better, but I think it's a great learning experience for every single party involved here.”

When he said it, he emphasized the word "exactly."  And, you know he means "every single person" to include whatever ref was involved.  For my money, when I think back to epic tantrums I have seen on the sideline, (Bo Pelini, for example) that didn't even draw one flag much less an ejection, I just didn't see that.  Certainly, he deserved one for running down to argue with the ref, but I can't imagine there weren't 100 worse infractions since the rule was put into place.

He wasn't the only one.  BG had 15 penalties for 177 yards.  When UB got the ball back after the ejection, BG had four penalties on five plays, including 2 unsportsmanlike and DPI.  Two were on Devin Taylor.  It was an ugly sequence in the game.  BG is #124 in the nation in penalties (out of 130) and the only team with more in the MAC is UT. It continues to be a problem and will need to improve as BG matures.

And the defense?  They did get 2 turnovers that essentially won the game, so that was a positive.  UB ran 99 plays...that's just amazing.  That's actually 5 yards a play, which isn't an especially great number but they stayed on the field.  They were 8 of 18 on 3rd down and 2 of 3 on 4th.  They got 7 first downs from BG penalties.  BG had 11 total.

BG also had 6 sacks. (In all the chaos, don't forget that Vantrease was injured in the first half and did not return, a clear advantage for the Falcons.

It was just a different offensive profile.  Their lead back, McDuffie, had 166 yards with a long of 18.

In the 4th Quarter, though, it did seem that BG slowed down a little--probably from fatigue after so many plays against them.  (Davon Ferguson was DNP).

Also, another punt was blocked.

Just a crazy day.  49 points in the 4th Quarter.  It can be as crazy as it wants to be...this team needs wins and we will take it.