Sweet Victory

 Oh, sweet victory.  Man.  It is just the best.  And that team, on the road, beating Miami of all people.  Was a good day to be a Falcon.

How good.  Let's ask Chuck Martin. "Obviously, 'disappointing' is an understatement,' said head coach Chuck Martin. 'That's a game we've got to win... we should win that game, and we didn't get it done."

HA HA HA.  F*ck Miami.

Or...

And congrats to everyone involved, players, coaches, and staff.  So much hard work finally rewarded. They have proven to be resilient, to be improving, and now be a team we can expect to be competitive.

Great job.

This one was won where two others were lost--in the last 2 minutes.  The game was tied 24-24.  MU was 2nd and 7 from the 8 with 1:54 left.  BG had already held them to 2 FGs and 1 TD in three previous red zone trips, and they stiffened up again, forcing incompletions on two well-covered throws to the end zone, but the short FG gave them the lead, 27-24.

BG had 1:47 left, all its timeouts, and the ball on the 25. We have certainly been here before.  Missed some key throws last week that Coach called out in evaluating our QB.  This was different.  Kastantin was great.  Miami was gangbusters rushing, but Kastantin moved in the pocket, stepped up, and threw darts to WRs who had, glory be, created some space.  Playcalling was good: short passes, higher percentage.

And we were playing for the win not to be in field goal range.

Ridley for 14.  Scoby for 18. Incompletion, and then Amarchee for 9 and out of bounds.  Third and one from the 34 with:47 left. Jacon-Duffy for 8 and BG timeout.  Winn Sharp for 9 to the MU 17 and out of bounds. Incompletion, 3rd and 1, and Kastantin scrambles for the first, and BG calls timeout on the 14 with :22 left.  Incompletion.  Frankly, still looking like a FG to tie the game.

Then, BG spotted a mismatch, with Scoby lined up against a smaller safety.  BG went to the right corner, and Minich was forced to interfere with Scoby to prevent the TD.  Never saw a less-protested DPI in my life.  

From the 2 with:12 left.  Let us stop to recall the pivotal 4th down play last week against USF.  BG lines up in an I-formation...old-school...but instead of going to the TB, they handed it to the up back, Leo Kemp, who powered and stretched his way into the end zone for the TD.  

That's what I'm talking about.

So.  A few things jump out here.  First, BG's yards per play.  Our previous high was 5.5 against Tarleton, but 3.6 against Iowa State was the highest against DI.  Here, BG put up 6.1, a significant improvement.  The key appears to be something that many of you have been asking for.  BG was unable to run...again. They averaged 3 yards per carry, sack-adjusted.

So BG adjusted.  They ran 60 plays, and 37 were passes, plus the sack and any dropback-scrambles.  And that was a key in this game.  Coach said Kastantin had to get better, and he did.  68% completions, 12 yards per catch, 2 TD and 0 INT is a hit in any league.  And when the pressure was on, he delivered.

BG also converted on 3rd down---this makes a huge difference.  And that's on an average of 5.7 yards to go.

Lastly, BG made good use of explosion plays.  They had fewer than Miami...but they were very explosive.

The defense was outstanding again.  The Falcons controlled the rush.  MU's QB is their third QB, but he looked pretty solid as well.  As with the USF game, the defense kept BG in the game and then got the huge stop that led to the winning drive and then the sack to close the door.  If we keep playing defense like that, we're in every game.

Special teams went Miami's way...a couple long FGs and three punts inside the 20.

Last key.  Miami had 12 penalties for 103 yards.  That's not going to sit well, for sure.

Metric	Bowling Green	Miami (OH)
Yards per Rush	2.7	3.1
Yards per Completion	12.2	11.6
Completion %	67.6% (25/37)	70.8% (17/24)
Yards per Play	6.1	5.2
3rd Down Conversions	50.0% (6/12)	27.3% (3/11)
Red Zone Efficiency	100% (3/3)	100% (4/4)
Turnovers	0	0
Penalties	6-64	12-103
Explosion Plays	4 — 155 yards	7 — 143 yards
Special Teams Index	+1	+7

Kemp was our leading rusher...with 25 yards on 3 carries and a long of 17. Brennan Ridley was 9 for 95, long of 48 and the first big grab to get the winning drive started. Winn Sharp was 5 for 63.  Dorian Pringle is back--he had 10 tackles. Eriq George had 8 tackles and 3 sacks. Cashmire Lewis had 7 tackles and 2 sacks. (Bradley did play with a big club).

So everything looks different.  Now, good games have to be stacked onto one another.  We will be favored next week for the first time in a long time.  I was especially excited to see our WRs start to be productive, along with the hybrid TEs.  

Let's go!