Rockets Vanquished. Jubilation Reigns.

Welcome Home, Baby.

 

In my season preview this year, I cited this situation:

BG-UT, 4th Quarter.  Defense gets a 3 and out and BG has the ball, up 6, with 5:42 left.  UT has 2 timeouts left.  A couple first downs, and the game should be over.  At a minimum, you should be able to force UT to use their timeouts by running the ball.  Unfortunately, BG has no confidence in their ability to run the ball, and goes three and out with 2 pass plays, both incomplete.  They make 0 yards and kill only 1:06.

I said we were a championship team when we put that game away on offense.

Yesterday, BG gets the ball with 8:34 left in the game, up 8. Very similar.  Fannin for 18, Stewart for 18, and little Rahkim Smith bullies the Rocket backs (#21 I see you) to get into the end zone on a 19-yard jet sweep...and BG was up 15.  That's a 5-play drive where BG executed while bleeding time.  It was a 3:23 drive that made it a two score game with 5 to play.  

That's what I'm talking about.

The defense got a four-and-out and the Falcons took the ball over with 4:23 left.  They didn't score, but they made a first down and killed 3:17 off the clock despite the Rockets using their timeouts and the 2 minute time out.  

That's what I'm talking about.

So, so, proud.  This is the team we hoped we would see.  Nothing's decided, but it was an absolutely glorious day...good weather, a big crowd, and a great BG win in the biggest game on the schedule.

Thank you to our guys.  Everyone...coaches, staff, players, families...best band in the MAC...Coach talked afterward about a week of no sleep, apparent drama within the team, putting plays into the game plan until Friday afternoon.  Winning is no accident.  Thank you from the fans for the thrill you gave us yesterday.  I can't wait to watch this team again.

 And if you have seen the stoic Coach Loeffler, have no doubt how much this game means to him.

BG played a really good game.  Starting with the offense, BG had the kind of line play they needed to win in the MAC, especially as the weather begins to turn. Reimer was not dressed, but BG got an outstanding game, especially on pass blocking.  Bazelak threw 30 passes and was only pressured on 5 of them.  PFF graded Jake Burns at 85, Pabst 79 and Padgett at 72, meaning that the up the middle rushes that were killing us did not happen.  Bazelak was sacked twice.

BG finally ran the ball effectively.  Here, I would give credit to the players, but also the coaches.  Our playcalling was at its best.  Other times, I have felt like we continued to run the ball into the line, but BG was really tough to defend....there was a great deal of misdirection...from counters to jet sweeps, and BG showed some creativity in getting its runners into space.  And we executed.

Stewart was 21-99, with a long of 25 and 1 TD.  He was productive, to be sure. We didn't win all of his carries, but plenty.  Jamal Johnson 5-54, Rahkeem Smith, 2-33 and Fannin 2-12---a combined 9-99--that is some incredible counter-production.  And, I think, largely decisive. BG also used Bazelak a couple of times on options.  It was a winning game plan executed well.

BG ran 37 times and passed 27 times.  Bazelak was 17 of 27, with NO INT.  He is playing really well.  BG had 171 yards passing.  Fannin caught 6, Johnson caught 4 and Smith 3.  Levi Gazerak, a true warrior, caught his first TD pass in his career.

(Levi is from North Baltimore, and Coach was in his first days as our coach.  His staff told him they were going to go to North Baltimore to talk to a recruit and he yelled at them that we were supposed to be recruiting locally.)

Defensively, it was a high quality game, starting with two Oladukon picks.  This is so great.  He was the guy who started the team this winter in announcing when they were staying and NOT entering the portal.  This is a guy we need.  He had two picks and one of them, a beautiful INT where he sat on a route to Newton and took it into the end zone, blunting UT just as they were getting some momentum.  He graded 90 from PFF.

Gleason was 30 of 45 for 320 yards.  Newton and Vandeross are high-quality receivers and Candle is an offensive coach and they got the ball a lot.  BG did get pressure on Gleason, as he dropped back 50 times and was pressed on 13 of them.  In particular, I felt like he was really disoriented in the last minutes of the game, when BG's defense was closing it out.  He was wildly inaccurate and made a bad decision to run for a first down on a key 4th down play.

UT came in not running the ball well.  Without Jacquez Stuart, who carried once, they lack the star power they need.  Walenzak carried 15 times for 58 yards, but 200 yards worth of praise from Reghi.

Sipp had 11 tackles and 2 for loss.  Huge game.  Brock Horne had 10 tackles and graded over 80 for run defense and tackling on PFF.

Special teams? BG's punting was not as good as normal, with net punting at 37.  We did keep their punt return from being a factor.  And Zach Long nailed two FGs, from 47 and 35, and all his extra points.  Kickoffs were good except for a weird decision to kick short twice late in the game, giving up yardage and putting the ball in Newton's hands 2 extra times.

Anyway, a complete game.  And a rivalry win.  Loeffler is 3-3 against the Rockets.  This is how it is supposed to be.  A long-time Falcon fan on Twitter noted that Loeffler is the first coach we have had in quite a while who treated the rivalry as importantly as it should be...as in, it's not life and death because it is more important than that.

Well, things look much better now.  With one loss in league play and games against WMU and Miami (two other contenders), BG is playing meaningful November football and has its fate largely in its own hands.  As Coach said, the biggest thing in college football today is winning a big game and then losing one the next week.  They are all tough.  This is why it is hard to win titles.  On to Mt. Pleasant.