Gopher Preview

So, the next game up is going to be probably BG's best opponent of the season, the Minnesota Golden Gophers.  It will also be a reunion with our old friend PJ Fleck, who is rowing the boat in Minneapolis.

Fleck is having some success.  In 2019 his team was 11-2 and ended up in the top 10 at the end of the year.  It was the most wins at Minnesota since 1904 and only their 2nd 10+ win season in modern football.  They won the Outback Bowl.  They started out last year ranked #19, but ended up with a 3-4 season.  

It is hard to believe but Fleck has been there for 5 seasons.

BG is 1-2 against the Gophers.  In 2007 BG won at Minnesota (think Sheehan to Barnes in the corner of the end zone for the OT win), but BG lost both in 1986 and in 2008 in BG, a memorable game for BG having a Big 10 team in the house.

Phil Steele has them #4 in the Big Ten West.  They return 10 starters on both sides of the ball. 

They are 2-1 on the season.  They opened playing OSU very tough before losing by two touchdowns.  They also beat Colorado 30-0....the Buffs are picked to be #5 in the PAC-12 South.

But the game we are most interested in is the middle game, against Miami.  The Redhawks were MAC Champions in 2019 and trailed against the Gophers by only 1 point with 12 minutes left in the game.  Minnesota ended up winning 31-26.

That's a close call.  Despite having a highly ranked offense, MN had only 4.6 yards per play against Miami and was actually outgained for the contest.  Miami had 2 turnovers and the Gophers none...or that game could have gone the other way.

So, I don't think BG is as good as Miami, but Minnesota did not blow them off the field.

They are a run-oriented team.  Phil Steele has them with the #3 OL in the Big 10 and they have run the ball on 71% of their offensive plays.  Their star back was going to be Mohammed Ibrhaim, but he suffered a season-ending injury in the opener.  Trey Potts has been getting the carries since then and is averaging 4.8 yards per carry, which is OK but nothing great.  He averaged 5.2 yards per carry against Miami.

They also have a top-flight QB, Tanner Morgan.  Morgan had committed to WMU and then went to Minnesota with Fleck.  Steele has him the #3 QB in the Big 10.  He is not off to a good start.  He is the #11 QB in the Big 10, based on QBR.  He had 55% completions, 3 TD, 0 INT...and 14.5 per completion which is good.  Could indicate a lower percentage, long pass game plan.  He's been sacked 4 times on 63 attempts, which is 6% and not great.  He had 112 passing yards against Miami.

Their top WR is Texas A&M transfer Dylan Wright, who has 9 catches for over 18 yards per reception.  They have another top WR, Chris Autman-Bell who was injured during camp and was back for the CU game.

On defense, they gave up points to OSU and Miami but shut out Colorado, which helps the overall numbers look good.  Their defense was not predicted to be good--Steele ranked each unit in the bottom four of the Big 10.  Miami ran for only 3.8 against them.  Clearly, this will present a challenge for the Falcons.

Their pass defense is pretty solid.  They are holding teams to 53% completions and held Miami under 50%.  They have 2 picks on the year and have allowed 6 TDs.

For special teams, their kicker is 3-5 with one miss under 30.  They are 11th in the Big 10 in net punting and #9 in kickoffs.

Minnesota is a 31 point favorite.

Men's Basketball Verbal

 The Falcons have a verbal commit for men's basketball '22.  

His name is Willie Lightfoot.  He is a 6'0" G who is from Niagara Falls, NY.  He is highly recruited.  Rivals has him ranked as the #38 PG in the country and the Nagara Gazette reports offers from  Oregon, Alabama, Minnesota, Marquette, Buffalo, Niagara, Canisius, Youngstown State and Stony Brook.

He was a metro player of the year in Niagara as a FR.  He then played at the Sunrise Christian Academy, a top prep school program in Kansas.  Next year he will finish HS at the Good Better Best Academy in Durham, NC.

Lightfoot's Coach told the Buffalo News that defense is probably Lightfoot's strength, which  made BG a good fit.  He also said that Lightfoot like the idea of being coached by a PG.

Welcome to the Falcons, Willie.

Past and Future Opponent Land

 Tennessee (2-1):  Beat Tennessee Tech 56-0

South Alabama (3-0) Beat FCS Alcorn State by 7

Minnesota (2-1):  Won 30-0 at Colorado

Kent State (1-2): Lost 30-7 to Iowa

Akron (1-2):  Defeat Bryant

Northern Illinois (1-2):  Michigan opens a can

Eastern Michigan (2-1)  Beat UMass

Buffalo (1-2): Very nearly upset #16 Coastal Carolina.

Toledo (1-2):  Terrible loss at home to Colorado State

Miami (1-2): Beat Long Island

Ohio (0-3):  Slide continues, loses to Lousiana

MAC vs. P5:  2-14 (WMU beat Pitt)

MAC vs G5:  2-8

MAC vs. FSC:  9-1

East vs. West:  Null set

Sweet Victory!

 

And there it is.  After 686 days, the Falcons are on the winning side.

Yes, you are supposed to win your FCS game.  Yes, Murray State hasn't won an FCS game in 27 years.  Yet, they were favored by 2.5 points in this game, on the road.

In a nowhere-to-go-but-up season, this was up.

To be honest, I was traveling and following the game on the game cast.  There's an un-bylined story in The Blade that recaps the effort pretty effectively.

Some things I like....

BG winning the second half 17-0.  That's a shutout for the defense and enough from the offense to put the game away.  BG had the ball for 21 minutes in the 2nd half.  That's the game plan.

Taking away victory formations and sacks, BG had 146 yards on 37 carries, almost four yards per carry.  Of the backs, only Mosely averaged over 5 yards per carry.  The total was augmented by two 16-yard runs by the WRs.  Coach said after the game that more work is still needed here, but that it was a step in the right direction,   And it was, but more will be needed elsewhere on the schedule.

The defense did an excellent job against the Racers.  The RBs averaged about 3 yards per carry and the passing game was under 50% completions, 132 yards, 3 sacks and 2 INT,  including a key one to set the tone for the game. I think we are clearly benefitting from our new DC and the transfers who came in.  Taylor made a key play and both he and Ferguson had 5 tackles, multiple break ups, etc.

Matt McDonald had another productive game.  He is #5 in the MAC in passing efficiency.  He did throw a pick, finally.  He is clicking well with Osborne, his HS teammate.

BG did make a switch on the o-line, starting Alex Wollschlager in Jordan Murphy's spot.

Villapiano was in the house.  Seems to work out.

Mostly, I am happy for our players.  These guys that are here have stuck it out through some tough times (that are not over) and they deserved to celebrate.  A lot of sweat and work goes into it and I am glad they got to leave the stadium as a winner.

Love the attendance figure, too.  Glad to see the fans rewarded with a win.

Preview: Murray State

Next on the schedule is Murray State, BG's FCS opponent in 2021.

This, however, is not your normal FCS game.

Last year, they went 5-2 for only their third winning season since 2005.  They were ranked in the Top-25 of the FCS polls last season, finished 17/18.  They have not beaten an FCS team since 1994 and they are 1-29-1 all-time against the FBS.  They lost to BG in the only meeting between the two teams.

They return all 22 starters from that team and are picked to win the OVC.  They are not ranked right now in FCS.

This year, they beat MississippiValley State, an FCS team from the SWAC.  

Then, they played #8 (FBS) Cincinnati to a 7-7 tie in the first half before losing 42-7.

Their coach is Dean Hood.  They were 4-8 before he arrived and he upgraded them to 5-2 (as noted above).  Before that, he was on the staff at Kentucky for 3 years and at Charlotte for one year before that.  For 8 years before that he was at Eastern Kentucky, where he won 2 OVC titles and earned 3 FCS tournament bids.  He was OVC Coach of the Year once.  He did coach at OU for a couple years.

Dean Hood....appearing here as sales manager
Of the local Chevy dealership

They placed 13 players on the All-OVC team last year.

The pre-season OVC team includes the following Racers:

QB Preston Rice

WR LaMatrez Brooks

WR Jacob Bell

OL Levi Nesler, Jacob Vance

DE Ethan Edmondson

LB Scotty Humpich

LB Eric Samuta

CB Marcis Floyd

PR Malik Honeycutt

Racer1.

Offensively, they were very effective.  They were #13 in scoring offense in FCS last and #2 in total offense (yards).  They were first in passing yards and #5 in pass efficiency.  Obviously, everyone is back from that team including the top 2 WRs.  However, they did not run the ball, finished #85 in the country.

Defensively, their specialty last year was interceptions.  They had 11 picks in 7 games, #5 in the nation and #1 in the conference.  They were also listed as the #5 defense in the country in pass defense efficiency.  They did not have a great rushing defense.  Which doesn't make a great matchup for the Falcons, who'd prefer it to be the other way around.  

On special teams, their kicker has missed both of his FG attempts and the punter is kind of below average.

This is one of BG's better chances to win a game but this is not a gimmee.  Let's hope they put it together.

Class of '11

Neverov Ends Wild Ride

It’s been wild ride. #ayziggy pic.twitter.com/9vYwjPnqD5

— NEV (@samuelneverov) September 15, 2021

And that's the story on Sam Neverov who is medically retiring from football.  Nothing but the best to Sam and thanks for the years of effort and service.  Best wishes for a long and healthy life.  You are a Falcon forever. 

Loeffler Presser

 So Coach Loeffler did his presser yesterday.  Not a ton of new stuff, but here goes....

The biggest thing that was interesting was the talk about the trick play.  Coach says that BG was "90%" going to get the right defense to run that against and that they came out in a "two-fire" which I have no idea what it is, I assume it's a two-high fire blitz, which is a zone blitz.  He says that the last time this coach called that defense was when he was at Indiana.  Anyway, Loeffler I think hit on the key point which was that was an impossible position to put a true FR in.

Also, I know there was some debate on Twitter about who is calling plays.  Loeffler said he should have "killed" the play.  From that, I am guessing that the playcaller is making the call upstairs and Loeffler can kill it or send it on.

The other thing was the offensive line.  Coach says there are not a ton of missed assignments.  The issues on the line are youth and size and strength.  That's actually not great news.  You can fix missed assignments, but you can't fix strength overnight.