Banishing the Fighting Sioux

We've played North Dakota in men's basketball a couple of times and I have blogged on the incredible journey of the nickname of the University of North Dakota.  You might remember them as the Fighting Sioux--prominent especially in hockey--with the Blackhawks-like logo.  The NCAA came along and is trying to put an end to the use of native American nicknames, and they laid down the law.  After state legislative action, a statewide vote, and endless other shenanigans, the fight eventually ended.  To satisfy the legislature, North Dakota even went without a nickname for a couple of years, during which time BG played them in men's hoops.

They had five choices and ended up with the Fighting Hawks, and their new helmet was unveiled for their opener against Stony Brook.  Apparently, they are not popular back home.

The most common question I get when I talk about this is why Florida State and CMU--for example--got to keep their tribal nickname.  The answer is that the current tribal leadership could grant a waiver, which I assume is easier to get with smaller tribes than the Sioux.

International Centre for Special Teams Research

If you read this blog, you know that I started in 2009 using my own system for evaluating special teams play for Bowling Green.  It came after the end of the Brandon years, where BG special teams were regularly costing the team games.  You can read the full introduction and see the scoring system here, should such a thing interest you.  The basic idea is that you get positive points for good plays outside the middle area of the bell curve on the right and negative points on the left.  The system doesn't care if you get to the 26 or 28 on a kickoff or if you make a short FG...make a long FG or miss an easy one, now we're talking.

In fact, special teams were the highlight for BG.  We have a dedicated special teams coordinator and BG did OK.  No huge plays were given up--unlike last year's opener--and a number of solid plays were made.

BG finished +4 for the game.  OSU had +9.  Most of the points are from Davidson, but it bears noticing that BG also had a lot of neutral plays that are still good in this environment and OSU had no big positive special teams plays.

BG Positive (+6)

BG Punt to the 9 (+2)
BG net punt 53 yards (+1)
BG net punt 51 yards (+1)
BG net punt 51 yards (+1)
BG net punt 56 yards (+1)

BG Negative (-2)

BG KOR to 11 (-1)
OSU KOR to 41 (-1)

OU Positive (+9)

BG KOR to 11 (+1)

OSU KO TB (+1)

OSU KO TB (+1)

OSU KO TB (+1)

OSU KOR to 41 (+1)

OSU KO TB (+1)

OSU 48 yard net punt (+1)

OSU KO TB (+1)

OSU KO TB (+1)

OU Negative (0)

{nul set}

Jinks Presser: Saturday Can't Come Soon Enough

Coach Jinks held his presser today.  Not too much newsworthy.  Referred to the game in Columbus as a debacle and that it "didn't have to be that way," notwithstanding OSU's obvious high skill levels.

Came out health, that was a positive.

He says the players responded well, went right back to work last night, seemed ready to move on, had a positive attitude, etc.

The most interesting thing was he talked about the coaches putting players in positions that they couldn't succeed in.  He talked about it more than once, and if you put them all together, it is clear that he is referring to the coverage assignments for the D-backs.  In fact, he said that BG gave up 28 points on plays where our guys weren't in a position to succeed.  If you watched the game, I suspect you have an idea what those were.

He attributed it to coaches not knowing their players and what they could do and couldn't do.  As they learn the team better, he thinks that will be corrected and they will also challenge the players to become better as well, to want to be able to succeed in those positions.  Our d-backfield is very young (as he pointed out) and they'll get better, but they, along with the entire team, was "humbled."

Obviously, BG has a young team that is new to their roles, down to the coaches, so it would stand to reason that there was more room for everyone to get better if they're honest about what happened.

Past and Future Opponent Land

North Dakota   LOST 13-9 to Stony Brook
Middle Tennessee WON 55-0 over Alabama A&M
Memphis WON 35-17 over SE Missouri State
EMU   WIN 61-19 Mississippi Valley State
OU LOST 56-54 in many overtimes to Texas State
UT  WIN 31-10 over Arkansas State
Miami LOST 45-21 to Iowa
NIU LOST 40-34 in OT to Wyoming
Akron WON 47-24 over VMI.  Game closer than it appeared.
Kent LOST 33-13 to Penn State.
Buffalo LOST 22-16 to Albany

MAC Vs.

FBS:  3-5
P5:  1-3
FCS:  3-1

Woodshed Part II

So, the sun did come up.

A few more strays thoughts.

I give BG's coaches credit for not sugar-coating what happened.  Yes, OSU is much better than BG, as they should be.  Other MAC teams have hung with them, however, and it didn't have to end up like it did.  I suspect everyone has a lot to look at this morning, from the players to the coaches, head coach on down.  It can still be just a memory, though.  BG had a similar loss to Wisconsin and then ended up at Ford Field.

In other words, it was expected to be bad but it didn't have to be that bad.

I don't think OSU ran the score up.  I'm kind of against that kind of thinking anyway, because you are supposed to stop them.  Meyer said after the game that the score wasn't the objective, but he put his backups in and BG put their backups in and OSU kept scoring.  Nothing requires them to just run out of bounds.

BG's style of offense excaberates the issues in a game like this.  BG had 6 possessions were they held the ball for less than one minute, and until the game's very last drive, BG had never held the ball for longer than 3 minutes.  When you are on and off the field that quickly, you give OSU an incredible amount of time to exploit a clear offensive advantage.

The result of that is OSU ran 94 plays at an average of 8.3 per play.  BG ran 72 at 3.4 yards per play.

Coach said that third downs were big in the first half.  BG was 3 of 16 for the game and OSU was 11 of 13.  Let's not dodge the second number there.  OSU ran 94 plays and only 13 of them were a third down play.  That's all you need to hear.

OSU made 41 first downs on 94 plays.  OK, now that's all you need to hear.

BG scored no offensive touchdowns and had only 16 first downs.  There were inaccurate passes and drops....a couple of them in space where big plays were available.  Remember, the preview here talked about Knapke but he also needed help from the receivers and I think both of them missed plays that were not caused by the opponent being OSU.

Anyway, how many ways are there to describe something like that?  I think we hit enough of them.  Just one last point...teams are supposed to improve the most from game 1 to game 2.  We might not learn that much after game 2, but BG has two very difficult games following that against Middle Tennessee and Memphis, and the performance you saw out there yesterday will result in unfavorable results again.  Middle Tennessee in particular has a high octane attack and BG needs to get the backfield in order before that game, for sure.

Last notes.  First, Will Watson has been suspended for the first 6 games of the year for something that happened in 2014.  This is a very unfortunate development, when piled on top of the Clint Stephens injury.  If there are details on what happened, I haven't seen them.  Watson was dismissed by Babers and then worked his way back onto the team with Jinks.

It didn't appear that the injury situation was too bad.  Terrence Bush was injured and that would be at an area of minimum depth for the Falcons.  The participation report says Schweiterman played, but those are often inaccurate right after the game.

Finally, let the name David Bautista never be uttered in these quarters again.  Ever.

Woodshed

"We pretty much got taken to the woodshed today."

Mike Jinks








So, I didn't expect it to be close.  I also didn't expect OSU to set a total offense record and score their most points in 66 years.

That was a surprise.

A couple things.  First, that was certainly no fun.  BG was destroyed in every phase of the game.  It was just incredibly difficult to watch.  As far as I can see, it was the most points BG has ever allowed.  I don't know about the yards.

It most reminded me of the Wisconsin game in Dino I.  When you have :45 three and out possessions, a team like OSU has a shot to run up huge numbers.

I thought the o-line played pretty well.  Valdez and Greene seemed to play well.

Beyond that, there's not much to look at.  Knapke made some nice throws and a bunch of inaccurate throws.  There were a lot of drops.  BG's young defensive backfield--playing without Will Watson who was suspended for the first six games for something that happened in 2014--was shredded for big plays time and again.

Here's the thing.  OSU is a lot better than BG.  Even with that, you'd like to make a better showing than that.  BG simply had nothing work.

Well, Davidson was good.  And we made a FG.

Now, if your despair is high, I'd advise you to pump the brakes.  This was awful.  Nothing redeeming.  It also doesn't impact a single one of our goals and we don't build our team to win this game.  Put the right season together, it could mean nothing.

Still true:  as of today we are not better than we expected.

Anyway, more later.

25 Questions about the Big Nut

What is their body of work?

Look, there's no other way to put it.  This is one of the top 3-4 most successful football programs, year in and year out.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

This is a very young team.  They have 24 juniors and seniors on a depth chart that is more than 44 guys.  There are 6 seniors and 16 Fr.


Who are their returning statistical leaders?

Amazingly, they return no players who were top 20 nationally in any category.

What was their turnover ratio?

They were +3 last season.

Offense:

 How is their QB play expected to be?

Real, real good.  JT Barrett will start at QB.  You might remember him from the year he stepped in as an injury replacement, set 17 school records and was the Big 10 QB of the Year as a FR.  You all know that he's a clear run-pass threat as well.  Actually, that's an understatement.  He was their 2nd best rusher last year.

What was their scoring and yards per play?

They scored 36 ppg which was #28 in the country on 6.3 yards per play.

Can they run the ball?

Well, obviously, Ezekiel Elliott has moved on to the NFL which leaves them with a lack of proven RBs.  Of course, Barrett was their #2 rusher this year.  They feature Mike Weber (freshman from Detroit Cass Tech) and a couple lesser used guys on their depth chart.  My expectation is that they will run the ball effectively.

Did they pass the ball?

Their passing was good but not great last year, at #39 in the country.  Barrett's efficiency was 139, which is also about 40th.  Barrett completed 63% of his passes and had 11 TDs over 4 INT, all of which is good.  The biggest thing is he had only 9.9 yards per completion, as compared to Matt Johnson with almost 13.

How was their run/pass balance?

They ran on 64% of their plays last year.  I'd expect something similar Saturday.

Did they convert on 3rd Down?

They weren't great on 3rd down, ranking 58th in the country.

Did they score in the red zone?

They were pretty good.  They scored 5.1 points per red zone trip, and were held by back whiffing 18% of the time.

Did they protect the quarterback?

It's average.  They gave up sacks on 5.8% of passing attempts.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

This is where things get real.  OSU was a monster defensive team last year, allowing about 15 ppg, #2 in the country.  They allowed 4.5 yards per play, which is really good.

Yes, they lost a ton of people from that defense and they are young.  In fact, they are starting precisely ZERO seniors, based on their depth chart.  Still, they are expected to be very good.  For example, their line is #15 in the country in Phil Steele and linebackers #10.

Did they defend the run effectively?

They were very good (3.4 ypc) and Phil Steele ranks their d-line #1 in the Big 10 and their linebackers #2 in the conference.

Could they be passed on?

They were 6th in the country in team passing defense efficiency last year.  Steele ranks their Dbacks #4 in the Big 10.

Did they get off the field on 3rd down?

They were good, though not by their standards.  They allowed 35% conversion, which was #29 in FBS.

Did they defend in the red zone?

They were good but not show stopping at this, with 4.9 points per trip.

Did they pressure the QB?

Yes.  They were 9th in the country in sacks...getting sacks on 9.2% of opponent passing attempts, which is very high.

Special Teams:

Punting?

Their punter is really good.  They were top in the Big 10 in net punting.  He averaged almost 44 yards per attempt, 18 over 50, 26 inside the 20 with only 7 touchbacks.

Punt Return?

All their punt returners are new, but you know Urban and special teams.  With the players they have, you would have to expect them to be good at this.  They blocked two punts last year.

I'd rate every President of BG over this dope.

Placekicking?

The depth chart lists Tyler Durbin as the PK and he did not try any kicks last year.

Kickoff?

Again, the kicker is new.  Last year, teams started on the 21.  This is a danger area for BG's return unit.

Kickoff Return?

They returned only 17 kickoffs last season...!!...and, started at the 26 with no TDs.  Dontre Wilson is back from that unit...they were serviceable here but nothing special.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

Look, OSU is a 28-point favorite and probably should be. Every single player on BG's roster would have gone to Ohio State if they had the opportunity.  OSU has not lost to a team from Ohio since 1921, and that was Oberlin.  They have never lost to a MAC team.

The biggest mitigating factor is that they have come close.  Last year they beat NIU by 7 and in 2011 only beat UT by 5.  So, sometimes they win but they haven't always delivered the blow out.

OSU is young and they are playing a team that has nothing on tape to prepare for.  That works in BG's favor.  However, the youth of OSU's defense is mitigated by the youth/inexperience of BG's offense.  The best chance for BG to win this game is for the offense to be way better than expected and set a fast tempo for the game and keep OSU on its heels.

Let's not forget, though, that OSU may not have any seniors on defense, but they came from the top recruiting classes in the country.  They still have JT Barrett.  This is a very good team that has a chance to make the playoffs again.  They are really good at home.  This is a tall assignment from the jump and taller given the graduation losses from the BG offense from last year.