Sweet Victory #4

 

Here we are.  Two weeks in a row.  And .500 on the season.  BG beat Akron 41-14 at the Doyt, on a very rainy day.  Yes, Akron is 1-7.  We will take it.

The first half was competitive.

BG took the opening kickoff and had a decent drive.  They were gifted when Akron jumped offsides in an old-school Detroit Lions moment on 4th and 3. On first and 10 from the Zip 20, BG did nothing else and Anaya finished from 36.  3-0 BG.

UA drove to the BG 27 and then three 3 straight incompletions and then missed a tough 45-yarder in the Doytelements.

BG went three and out and then UA went on a drive, including a 35-yard pass with an uncalled OPI and then scored to go up 7-3.

The first was rough for the Falcons.  Both teams ran 15 plays.  UA had 114 yards, BG had 58.

BG went three and out.  Kicking from their own 24, Kleather launched a 63-yard punt that flipped the field.  Made a difference when Jalen Huskey picked the ball and was in a position to run it to the 3-yard, from which Stewart scored on the next play.  10-7 BG.

The game settled in for a while.

UA three and out.

BG 1st down and out, punt Akron to the 1

UA gets a first down and shanks the punt.

BG goes 3 and out, failing on a 4th down and 1 at the UA 42.

So, with most of the quarter spent in UA territory, BG had not extended the lead and UA had a shot.  They were ready to go 3 and out when Fortune found them.  Their punter took a bad snap and brought the ball down.  BG had the block on and ran right by him, the left side was wide open and he ran to the BG 34.

You can feel some momentum here.  It's late 2nd, and Akron gets the ball in the 3rd.  Moment of significant danger.

UA proceeded to do way less than nothing. Howell with an 8-yard sack.  Holding on 2nd down.  Eventually, 3rd and 20 from the BG 49.  Less than :30 left. Undercuffler is rushed hard, he retreats, Ali Saad forces a fumble and Dontrez Brown picks it up.  You're praying he scores, but the big man gets it to the 13.

Momentum flips again. Balezak goes to Hilaire in the end zone.  BG has the spacing wrong, but he's still open and misses a catch he makes 99% of the time.  Anaya FG and BG up 13-7 at the half.

BG has 81 yards on 27 plays.  Akron has 157 on 33 plays.

Then the third quarter happened.

UA took the kickoff and made 3 first downs.  To the BG 37.  Then, they threw an INC pass....and after a day of uncalled UA push-offs, Morehead lost his mind on what he felt was BG DPI.  The 15-yard penalty he took was a big deal.  Watch what happens next.

It killed their drive and BG started on the 12.

And the Falcons went on their only real drive of the game.  10 plays, 88 yards, 5:34.  Only one 3rd down, a converted 3rd and 8.  Stewart with a 16 yard TD run. BG up 20-7 with 5 left in the third.

First play of the next drive, Undercuffler is sacked for a 16 yard loss and BG recovers on the 9.  BG struggles, BG fails on 3rd down but an obvious DPI is called (Hi Coach Morehead) and then Stewart scores, BG up 27-7.  3:20 left.

UA fails on 3 plays.  Going on 4th down, Trent Simms picked them and ran to the UA 36. BG is still struggling on offense and has a 3rd and 10.  Coach said after the game that BG ran a play they ran against OU, essentially running a double move with Fannin running wide open down the seam.  We didn't win the double move and Bazelak stayed with it.  We called the same play, but this time he "reset his feet with depth" and hit Fannin down the seam for the score.  34-7 :23 left.

Akron failed on a 4th in their own territory early in the 4th and BG converted for another score and it was 41-7 and the game was over....41-14 final.  (The game was over before that, I guess).

The game capsule:  BG forced turnovers, the offense capitalized and BG won easily.  The BG offense did not move the ball much, but they did not make mistakes or commit penalties and they took advantage of what the defense gave for them.  You can win like that.

BG ran 56 plays.  42 of them were runs.  Now, they ran on 11 of the last 12 plays of the game...so before that it was 31 runs and 13 passes...still a run heavy game.

Steroid Gerbil Terion Stewart had a huge game.  He is a stud. He had 19 carries for 131 yards and 3 TD.  That's 6.9 yards per carry and only ONE lost yard.  He's the #4 rusher in the MAC and #2 in yards per carry.

Overall, BG ran for 214 yards and 5.1 per carry.  And only 3 penalties.

That's good.  The passing game was just terrible.  As a team, 8 of 14 for 83 and a 36-yard TD pass.  However, no sacks and no INT, so they at least kept us in the game.  Overall, BG had 5.3 yards per play. 

The defense made a ton of big plays.  There were 2 fumbles off pressure, 2 INT, 5 sacks and 5 hurries.  Those plays decided the game.  

In between, BG held UA to 4.2 yards per play.  Sack adjusted, UA had 4.5 yards per carry, which is just an average day.  Undercuffler was 22 of 39, which is a decent percentage for 10.6 per catch.  You pull off the 58 sacks yards though and they had 4.5 yards per passing attempt.  Plus 2 INT.  Also 9 penalties for 67 yards.  So big plays and solid defense on the rest of the plays.

Darren Anders had a day.  Team-high 6 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 1 forced fumble and a hurry.

Ditto Dontrez Brown with 5 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries.

Cashius Howell, 2 sacks and a hurry. 

Ali Saad with a sack, a fumble forced and a hurry that led to the Huskey INT.

Also, good special teams.  Kleather had a huge punt and also put them on the 1.  Anaya made both FGs.

So, look.  Akron is not great.  BG did what you should do, which is win the game.  BG is 4-4 and has 2 straight wins.