Falcons Escape from Akron

OK, the sun came up.  BG had a tough game against Akron....certainly tougher than many people anticipated.  We expected an angry team raging at their performance against ODU and playing the way we envision we can play...can't we get the Texas A&M team against Akron?

Odd note...do you think maybe Penn State and A&M were looking at the logo?

Anyway, perhaps that was unrealistic.  It clearly did not happen.  Let's at least acknowledge this...the first step to getting to Ford Field is not to lose your way out of the race.  It's a little like the Big Dance...not single elimination, but there is a win-and-advance kind of feeling.

So, we gutted out a win we had to have.  And that's worth something.  As Urban says, "we will never apologize for winning."  More later, but we have a guy who wins games on his own and we had enough to get the job done with the opposition in the red zone at the end of the game.  We will take it and go on to next week.

As we do that, though, it's important that we don't take the wrong lesson from winning.  John Wooden talked about the difference between winning and succeeding.

Consider this.

If the ODU QB trips over the 15-yard line as he is running for that big play, we are talking about grit and closing the door.

If the Akron TE catches that 3rd down pass where he was open and the ball was in the right place AND IT BOUNCES OFF HIS HEAD...and we're talking about looking at logos.

I think Coach knows this.  He identified three of the five things I think we need to do to improve.  You have the opportunity to get better after winning.

Unless your players and coaches take the wrong lesson from winning.

See what I mean?

Coach mentioned a few things we need to sharpen up. First and foremost in the running game.  It isn't getting it done and anyone can see that.  Not having Stewart is a problem...sure...but he didn't have any room to run against ODU when he was in there.  We are not getting the run blocking we need.

PFF has us #10 in run blocking.  Reimer doesn't help but it's not the only problem. We just are not blocking effectively.  I feel like you can see it...there isn't a lot of room to run.  Our top blocking lineman is #22 in the MAC, by PFF grade.

We had 154 yards gained rushing.  81 of them came from Fannin, Anderson, Smith and Pegeus.  The backs had 70 on 21 carries.

It's not all the players...we ran 16 plays between the tackles.  7 of them were middle left (left of center, right of guard) for 2.9 yards per carry.  We were over 5 to the left.

Coach said that he thought Stewart felt pretty good by game time but hadn't practiced all week and "he's the kind of player that needs to practice to be effective."  Take that for what you will and let's hope he's back for NIU--but that's only part of the issue.

The second thing was special teams.

BG has had really good special teams...best in the MAC, in fact.  But a critical mistake cost BG 7 points, without which the game is over before the final drive.

Pegues let the ball hit on the 15.  It was rolling pretty fast and probably headed for the end zone.  He decided to try and field it....it glanced off his hand into the end zone where Akron recovered for a TD.  It wasn't the first time this has happened....he's had some nice returns but something similar happened in the Fordham game and I felt like he let a punt hit earlier in this game that he could have caught and saved yardage.

Obviously, that's how a winning effort becomes a losing effort. 

Coach also said that BG needs to keep the QB in the pocket.  I feel like this has been our kryptonite since time immemorial.  I recognize that mobile QBs are a problem for everyone, but this seems to be ridiculous.  Part of it is off the pass rush, but we were gashed on the option plays by the QB as well.  I cannot imagine why there isn't a priority for us.  Especially as it cost us the ODU game and nearly cost us this one.

NIU QB Ethan Hampton is ranked as the top scrambling QB in the MAC...for example.

Now, a couple the coach didn't mention.

We are historically weak at WR.  We have recruited plenty of WRs during the Loeffler era, and had precious little success.  RJ Garcia is due back and that will certainly make a difference.  Our top pure WR is #12 in the MAC.  Of course, Fannin is probably the top overall receiver...and Jamal Johnson is top ten in receiving RBs.  But when you see Akron drop 8 and give Bazelak all day to throw, it's because our WRs don't get open even with that kind of time.

Last thing...last year, BG manufactured its big run on turnovers.  For all the talk of prioritizing getting the ball back we heard last year, BG is #131 in forcing turnovers this season.  We have 2.  Without turnovers, you play with a far thinner margin of error.

In many ways, Fannin won this game almost single-handedly.  He had a 63-yard catch that led to a TD, converted a 3rd and 2 on an end around that led to a FG, and scored the decisive touchdown on a critical 4th and 2 play.  Coach says that was a check at the line by Bazelak, which is interesting.

If football comes down to a couple plays, that was one of them.

Special teams, absent the Pegues mistake, was pretty good.  Akron's punter had a career day.  BG made two FG, including from 45, and had a strong punting game, We gave up literally zero return yards and had one decent KO return.

So, BG picked up an ugly win.  It's hard to imagine it happening 7 more times like that, but who knows?