Falcons win one and lose one....

Just got home from the Falcons winning a very entertaining game over EMU, 39-32 to ensure at least a six win season. Nice job, guys.

The hoopsters dropped the first game of the Orr era, by 3. Chris Knight had a double double.

We'll enjoy the football win tonight, write more on both games tomorrow.

The Orr Era Begins--Update, and the Dusan era ends, with updated recruiting scorecard

When the referee tosses the ball in between a player from Bowling Green and a player from Western Carolina at 5 PM today in Cincinnati, OH, the Louis Orr era will begin.

Let's hope it does not end until we have appeared in the Big Dance.

Update:

BGSU has announced that Dusan Radivojevic has left the Falcon program by "mutual agreement" with Coach Orr.

At the same time, Matt Karaffa, a guard from West Chester, OH, has joined the roster as a walk-on, is in Cincinnati with the team and is expected to play.

This says more about the Orr era than you might think. Dusan was recruited by Coach Dakich and was supposed to be a shooter type that seem to emerge from those European countries. Suffice to say, he never transition to division I hoops. Sometimes, he seemed to be a reliable passer/cog in the motion offense, but he never shot well and wasn't athletic enough to defend.

He continued to get minutes last year, but, reading between the lines, Coach Orr didn't think he could contribute, even a little, even on a very shallow team.

Obviously, you wish Dusan well. It would be great to see him finish his degree, if he can swing it financially.

Just for the sake of the record, below is more on the utter wasteland of our hoops recruiting.

Falcon Hoops Recruiting Scorecard, Updated November, 2007

02-03
Stephen Wright--Productive player, left prior to his senior season.
Ron Lewis--Two productive seasons, no junior year. Prominent Big 10 player.
Raheem Moss--26 games, two starts, 66 career points, left program. Contributing at Cleveland State.

03-04
Chris Hobson, 28 games, 51 points, left program.
Austin Montgomery 56 games, 189 points, transfered.
Reggie Harwell--Nada.
Matt Lefeld--A contributing senior and a true warrior. Academic All-American
Isaac Rosefelt--24 minutes, two points. Left Program for stellar DIII career.
John Floyd--Played 59 games averaging 8.4 ppg. 247 career assists Left program.

04-05

Scott Vandermeer, 60 points and 40 fouls. Transfered.
Moon Robinson, Left program after sophomore season. Transferred.
Mawel Soler, completed eligibility. Effective player, even good in spots.

05-06

Jeremy Holland--left program after one practice
Nick Wilson--left program without playing a game.
Lionel Sullivan--Sayonara. 30 minutes, 6 points.
Dusan--Minor contributions. Left program prior to Junior Season.
Erik Marschall--appears to be legit.
Daryl Clements--Inconsistent, but appears ready to be a role player at worst.
Brian Moten--high credentials, came on strong at end of sophomore season.
Martin Samarco--2nd team All-MAC, legit D1 player. Finished career.

06-07

Ryne Hamblett--Contributing player, came on strong, looking to be scorer next year.
Brandon Bland--Left the program.
Marc Larson--Getting some minutes.
Otis Polk--huge man, huge upside.
Ryan Sims--has big potential, is contributing, though he fell off the radar.
Nate Miller--All-MAC honorable mention. Great get for the program.

07-08 (Too soon to tell)
Chris Knight
Joe Jakubowski
Cameron Madlock

Permutate, Cogitate, II

Updated with OU-Akron game on November 7.

1. Can BG win the East outright.

Answer. Yes.

Miami would have to lose to Akron and @OU
Buffalo would have to lose to BG and Kent
BG would have to beat Buffalo
OU would have to beat Miami.

Under that scenario, we are only two loss team.

2. Can we win any other way?

Yes, in fact. Like this....

Miami would have to lose to Akron and @OU
Buffalo would have to lose to BG and beat Kent.
BG would have to beat Buffalo
OU would have to beat Miami.
Only BG and Buffalo are left with two losses
BG beats Buffalo due to tiebreaker.

Otherwise, I don't see it.

We have a shot if we end up in a three way tie with OU and Buffalo, but it gets really complicated. We'd all be 1-1 among the teams in the tie. Now it depends on who is fourth. If its Miami, then OU would win, since they would be the only team with a win over Miami. If Akron ends up fourth, it would probably be BG, since under this scenario Akron would have to have beaten OU and that would leave BG and Buffalo, and we would have to have beaten Buffalo.

If we end up in a 3-way tie with Miami and Buffalo, Miami has beaten both teams in the tie and would win the tie-breaker.

If we end up in a three way tie with Miami and Ohio (assuming an Ohio win over Miami), OU would win having beat us and Miami.

Miami and Akron play next Wednesday, November 14. If Miami wins, we're out. On the plus side, Akron looked good last night--better than they did against us.

Finally, you might wonder if 3 losses could get you in. Answer is no: Either BG (by beating Buffalo) or Buffalo (by beating BG and at worst losing to Kent) will end up with two losses in the East.

Eagle Preview

I don't really know how good EMU is--you generally don't go wrong by saying they aren't very good. They just usually aren't. The only argument is over degree--how not very good are they? The answer appears to be...kind of not very good, but not really not very good. Let's look at the season.

9/1/2007 Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pa. L 3-27

9/8/2007 * Ball State Rynearson Stadium L 16-38

9/15/2007 * Northern Illinois DeKalb, Ill. W 21-19

9/22/2007 Howard Rynearson Stadium W 38-15

9/29/2007 Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn. L 7-30

10/6/2007 Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. L 22-33

10/13/2007 * Ohio Athens, Ohio L 42-48

10/19/2007 Northwestern Ford Field - Detroit L 14-26

10/27/2007 * Western Michigan Rynearson Stadium W 19-2

11/3/2007 * Toledo Toledo, Ohio L 28-52

You've got a road loss to a BCS team--Pitt--but the Panthers are terrible this year, so a good MAC team might have been able to compete with them. Then, they lose to a decent Ball State team. They then beat an awful NIU team and I-AA Howard. So far, no real evidence, but at least they are capable of winning a game.

Next, they head on the road and lose to an OK Vanderbilt team and put a scare into UM at the Big House. They lost a shootout to OU on the road, and then lost to Northwestern on a neutral field. In their biggest win of the season, they look out a disappointing WMU team in Ypsi. Finally, they lost big to UT.

What does this tell us? This team was good enough to win two conference games, which is not normal, and actually has no bad losses on its track record. They are pretty much won what you might expect and lost what you might expect. But, as I think about it, any wins at all might be more than you expect.

Let's head deeper into the numbers.

QB Situation--EMU has two QBs, R-so Andy Schmitt and t-Fr Kyle McMahon. McMahon actually got the start against UT, but Schmitt finished the game. By all account, Schmitt appears to be the better QB--and a pretty good one. McMahon may be the better runner, and if so, I would expect him to get snaps Friday.

EMU has an average TB, Pierre Walker, who is in that Ontario Sneed-Garrett Wolfe-Eugene Jarvis little squirt running all over on us mode. He had a big game against UT and will probably get his yards against us, but he's only averaging 3.5 yards per carry. He's not a terror. We have to tackle average players.

I looked at how the Eagles stack up in the MAC stats.

• They are 2nd to last in pass offense. Given their poor TB play, this team has trouble scoring, except against UT. They are 11th in total offense.
• A +5 TO ratio has helped them to the success they have had.
• They are 7th in total defense
• They are 3-6 on onside kicks!!! WTF. Who's tried 6 onside kicks so far.
• Their net punting game is #2 in the country.
• They have the worst 3rd down defense in the MAC
• Their kicker is pretty good and his hit from 50 yards.
  

Mostly, in the middle of the pack in almost all MAC stats--somewhere in the 5-8 range. They are, therefore, an average MAC team that is partly riding a good turnover wave to some decent records. This is on the road, and you never look past anyone, but we should win this game.

Another note--this game doesn't actually count except for being bowl eligible.

Weekly Brandon presser

Here comes the presser!! Here come the wise ass remarks, in orange!!

HEAD COACH Gregg Brandon
What can you learn from watching what Toledo did to Eastern Michigan?
"Toledo has been real good the last couple of games. As far as looking at Eastern [Michigan], their defensive line is real good. We are going to have to block them. (Excellent strategy, I agree 100%). That might be one of the best defensive lines that we have faced (hmmm). Their inside guys are hard to block. It will be a great challenge for our offensive line."

Can you talk about the depth that your team showed last Friday?
"All the kids have been practicing hard all season. They have just been waiting for their opportunity. Injuries do occur and those backup kids have to come in and do the job. Without Partridge and Geter in the game that is a huge impact offensively. We were still able to crank out 500 yards of offense. The backup kids were able to step in and do a nice job.

Oh yeah, this was huge. AT, Chris Wright, Glen Stanley (see below), we have showed some depth I don't think we had. And don't forget PJ Mahone, who was MAC East Defensive Player of the Week and wasn't even starting with Jarrett Sanderson went down.

"Defensively, it is the same situation. Glen Stanley has been a backup all season. We have been bringing him along and he has been getting reps and now it is his time. You just hope when those kids get in and get their opportunities they perform."

What have you seen about Stanley to say this true freshman can play?
"He is a very explosive and an instinctive player and instincts are important. To have those instincts along with his speed and quickness makes him that much better. Glen just needs to get in and see more live reps. He will get better and better."

This was a great player for us to get. To date, our two best freshmen are both Floridians. But, hey, people still think we should recruit Ohio harder.

How much were you expecting Anthony Turner to play at the beginning of the year compared to now?
"There was a lot of discussion to if he was not our starting quarterback, was he the backup quarterback, which would limit what we could do with him. The development of Anthony Glaud allowed us to move Turner around and give him the ball, which you saw last Friday night. He is a guy we can hand the ball to, a guy we can snap the ball to and run and he is a guy that can catch passes."

Yeah, he does all those things. Call him Slash...though I don't know if Slash ever played RB. AT is a quality player and much more valuable to the team doing what he is doing rather than being the backup QB.

Was the move of Freddie Barnes to wide receiver and how well he has done there a factor in the Turner decision?
"No, not really. It was just his pure athletic ability. He is just to good of a football player to be standing next to me. We just had to find ways to work him in. With Willie [Geter] and [Corey] Partridge going down we had to get him involved. He is such a good athlete and you saw that on Friday night."

Same thing.

Does this show a player's character when he changes positions like that?
"He is a kid that has accepted his role. It was hard on him being the starter last year and not being the guy this year. We talked over the summer about that and all through camp and said that you have to be a team guy and appreciate your role and help the team win. I am really proud of him for that."

Me too. And I'm proud of our coaching staff having enough imagination to get him involved, rather than leaving him pigeon-holed.

Can you talk about the extended role of Chris Wright?
"He keeps getting better and better. He just had to learn the position. Some people learn and adjust faster than others. As coaches we have no patience. In Chris' case we wish he would have matured quicker, but hey, better late than never. He has three games left this year and two more years at wide receiver. He is going to be a good player for us."

And Jermiah Kelley?
"He is a tough kid. He will get out there and block. He can catch the ball and is a physical guy. He is a player that did not have spring football. He comes in and has to learn the system in camp. It takes a while for those guys to learn to play at this level. It was good to see him emerge."

Can you talk about preparing for Eastern not knowing who their QB will be?
"Friday night surprised me. I did not know until after the game that he was suspended. Eastern started a true freshman last week -- he is a good player. I have watched him on film and he is a talented player. They moved the ball on Toledo. The other quarterback we have seen before as he played against us last year."

I heard this on the post-game and it surprises me. You'd think that you would want to know that. I mean, wouldn't that change your game plan to know they couldn't take the other guy out and bring the regular starter in. And if the media in the press box knew, then why didn't our coach. If EMU has a mobile QB, I'm going to assume they are going to use him, because we have shown that we have trouble with a player with those skills.

Do you have any thoughts on the EMU and Toledo games only counting in the MAC standings as a tie-breaker?
"To win the East you have to beat the teams in the East. To have a shot at that we are going to need some help. It is still out there. One thing I noticed is that there are only two teams in the league that can win eight games and only four teams that can win seven and we are one of those two (with a chance to win eight). If we can get that done we will have something to say. We are still fighting to win the East and still fighting to get a bowl game. Our program goals are still out there and going into November with three weeks left, that is nice to be able to say that right now."

I preferred where all the MAC games counted, but this is fairer. Each team in the division is being evaluated on the same schedule, as opposed to having a year when you had, say, NIU and UT on your crossover games. It is just dumb to have two games in November that don't count. Having said that, if this team can win 2/3 coming home and finish 7-5, that's a good step for our team, even if no bowl game is the result.

What does EMU do well offensively?
"Offensively they are very similar to us in style of offense. They use the shotgun run game. (I thought we spent most of the early part of the year saying that we were a shotgun PASS team, and that was BG football). They have been explosive at times. They have searched for answers with different players and you can see that with the quarterback situation. They have speed and quickness and anytime you play a team like that you have to have your defenders in position. We have to be sound in our assignments defensively."

Yes we do. We'll look at EMU later in the week, but this is still a game we should win, even though they seem to be getting better.

Injury Update

From the Sentinel....

Safety Jerett Sanderson (quadriceps pull)); defensive ends Joe Schaefer (foot) and Jacob Hardwick (ankle); and running back Willie Geter (ankle) could be ready for this Friday’s game at Eastern Michigan.

Haneline could be back this season, foot is not broken.

Meanwhile, getting these guys back would be huge.

This week's Blog Poll

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	--
2	LSU	2
3	Oklahoma	--
4	Oregon	1
5	West Virginia	1
6	Missouri	2
7	Kansas	2
8	Southern Cal	2
9	Texas	2
10	Arizona State	3
11	Boston College	9
12	Clemson	1
13	Auburn	1
14	Georgia	2
15	Florida	--
16	Michigan	3
17	Virginia Tech	--
18	Kentucky	2
19	Alabama	1
20	Tennessee	1
21	Connecticut	1
22	Boise State	2
23	California	3
24	Arkansas	2
25	Hawaii	--

Dropped Out: South Carolina (#20), Wake Forest (#23).