It was a beautiful day with a nice crowd for the BG opener. BG had opted to bring in a top FCS team for the opener. More on that later. BG's young team paid the price for that decision, falling behind 17-0 and ending up misexecuting a couple of comeback chances and then taking the defeat.
Everyone here knew what we were facing. The world did not, and we are unfortunately featured on the "can you believe this" part of the highlight shows. Which hurts the pride, to be sure. And it might not have been surprising that this Falcon team lost yesterday, but there is also the question of how we got this Falcon team.
BG came out flat. They got the ball to start the year and did not score a touchdown on the return. Four plays into the drive, they did what they could not do, which is turn it over. Dendy fumbled, Tarleton took the ball, and nine plays later the Texans were up 7-0.
BG went 3 and out, and Tarleton--who punted only once--turned it over on downs at the BG 42. BG took it to the TS 37 (and into the 2nd quarter) before punting a touchback.
Coach mentioned the defense giving up explosive plays as a problem, and we saw it here. TSU completed a 38-yard pass (net 28 due to a holding penalty), ran for 13 on the next play, passed for 20 a couple plays later to the BG 2. BG bowed up and made the stop and TS made it 10-0.
BG took the next kickoff and drove to the 50 before punting TSU down to the 1. Here is one of the key plays of the game. Situationally, when you have a team on their own 1, you are looking to score, either on defense or when you get the ball back. Down 10-0, this is a shot.
What happened was BG gave up a 72-yard run that led to a TD five plays later, and from, say, 10-3, it was now 17-0.
There was 3:43 left in the half. BG hooked up a 23-yard pass followed by a 29-yard pass, a 15-yard penalty, and then a couple of plays later a badly needed TD to at least keep the conversation open at 17-7, with TSU getting the ball.
BG's defense did what they needed...they took the Texans 3 and out to start the 3rd. BG then went on a drive that I think illustrates how they want to play, with one exception. Starting on their own 15, BG drove methodically upfield. They converted third downs in the first 3 series (one on DPI). From the TSU 24, however, they ran into a familiar problem, which is converting drives into the end zone. We lost a yard on a run, made two on a pass and threw incomplete on 3-9 and the FG made it 17-10.
13 plays, 68 yards, 8:09 elapsed. 3 points.
It illustrates why explosive plays are so important. Driving the ball that far in that fashion is hard. You're more likely to not be able to continue to execute.
TSU started on their 20 off the kickoff and went 42 yards on first down. From the BG 38, the Falcons tightened up, with a sack on 4th and 3 to get the ball back.
There is 2:16 left in the 3rd and a chance to tie it up. BG fumbled it on the first play and TSU had the ball right back. They got to the 9 before BG forced a FG and made it 20-10.
BG's offense was clicking now. A nice pass to Scoby and then a game-high 17-yard run for Dendy, and BG was at the 22. Again, though, BG could not take it farther and ended up with a FG to make it 20-13.
TSU took the ball back with 10:45 left. They drove to the BG 43 and had 4th and 2. They made an idiotic decision in my opinion. That's a clear punting situation. They went for it and BG got the stop.
The next 7:49 is crazy.
Kastantin hit Sharp for 15 and Scoby for 20, and then there were two nice runs and BG was 3rd and 1 on the 8. So, when you ask why do we have this team, you have to realize we had two shots to make 1 yard inside the 10 and we didn't do it. As Coach said after the game, you have to be able to make it.
Still, field position, right? We could get another shot. There's 2:08 to play.
Except TSU went 83 yards on first down. Credit to the defense, they kept working and BG used their timeouts. On 3rd and goal on the 7---even a made FG is game over--Cade Kostus forced a fumble that BG recovered in this end zone.
We actually did get another shot.
There was 1:40 left. I know BG wanted to move controllably up the field, but I think this drive was poorly executed. There was:38 left when we finally got to midfield. With :24 left BG was on the 42 and no timeouts. A nice hook-and-ladder took it to the 23.
Kastantin threw a jump ball to the corner that was broken up. Then with :09 left a short pass was luckily broken up. And then on the last play BG threw it short of the end zone entirely (to the 8), which the Texans made the stop and won the game.
Even if BG scores either of those two drives, there's work to do, either a 2-pt conversion or OT.
And clearly not one play away from winning.
Every year, it seems, we have a vow that we are going to run the ball. And every year, it seems not to happen. BG ran 67 offensive plays, and 37 were runs. And on those plays, BG averaged 2.8 yards per carry. Bad math there. Dendy ran for 4 yards per carry (15 for 60), but the other 22 plays were 2.5 per carry.
On the 30 passes, Kastantin was effective. He was 24 of 30, no INT and no sacks. That's 10.9 yards per completion, not too bad. On the last drive, I'm not sure who was behind the short passes, but we should have been trying to score from the 10, not the 23, and probably should have thrown the last one in the end zone. Overall, he kept the offense afloat when we couldn't run.
He clearly has chemistry with Jeremiah Scoby, who caught 10 on 11 targets, 102 yards and 89 after the catch.
The defense was victimized on big plays. Defining an explosive play as 10+ on a run and 20+ on a pass, both teams had 7 explosive plays. But BG's were for 144 yards (39% of total offense), and TSU's were for 290 yards, or 63% of their offense. Coach promised to address what he called a "disappointing" part of the game. The defense won its share of the battles, held the opponent to 20 points, but did not play complementary football when TSU was pinned deep.
The Texans had 7.8 yards per rush.
Special teams seemed decent. TS was pooching the kickoffs, so not much there. BG's 3 punts were solid, with one to the 1yard line. We nailed 35 and 40 yard FGs.
Last thing. To read an interesting critique of why we were playing Tarleton State at all, read @JamesNahikian on twitter last night. According to him, last year (as in, when you knew they had a good program) we put them on the roster and paid them $360,000 to make the trip. His question--why did we play these guys at all?
To illustrate, Miami is playing Holy Cross, 3-9 last year and 0-2 this year, aggregate score of 70-20.
Vibes are not good right now. The honeymoon with George ended with last year's losing streak and picked up where it left off this year. We could be 0-5 before Sacramento State comes to town.
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