Clawson Presser--The Dangers of November

So Coach's presser was on Tuesday this week, as the team prepares for a  Friday game coming up this week.

First, Miami.  Coach feels like the defense is making progress and the offense was sloppy in spots but was good enough on that day.  Special teams remain inconsistent, especially FG kicking.  The defense was helped because for once our opponent couldn't run the ball, and that made them one-dimensional and allowed a lot of sacks and QB hits.  Coach feels like we are tackling much better and that the defense has truly shown improvement.

From there, he turned his attention to the Akron Zips.  Akron has had a tough year.  They were supposed to be pretty good and with the excitement of opening their new stadium, they had to feel like it was going to be an exciting year.  Their starting QB was suspended and then the second guy ripped his knee up.  So, they are the third team we are facing this year with a FR QB, in this case, true FR Patrick Nicely.

The upshot is that they have only one FBS win....over Kent.

They have been solid defensively all year.

And this time of year you throw out the records.

Every team is dangerous in November.  Etc.

He talked a little bit about Nicely, who was a BG verbal who switched when the new coaches came in.  Coach said he really liked Nicely, but he decided to commit elsewhere.

He also said that he believes if we get to 7 wins, our high-powered offense will help our bowl appeal.  He joking said he was waiting for The Rose Bowl to call.

While he said that Chris Bullock could continue to get touches in situations like the one in Miami, it sure didn't sound like he is even close to getting more regular action.  He apparently practices inconsistently, though he has been better lately.

Finally, one of the media asked about whether he would watch "The Big Game."  He joked that he thought he meant EMU-UT.  Anyway, he had a nice little riff about how he will be watching our game film at noon on Saturday.  People don't understand the focus it takes to coach college football.  He noted that he rarely sees any game that isn't part of his job.

Anyway,  a quiet presser as the team prepares for the game this week.

Ouch...that's gonna leave a mark

Well, Bowling Green and Xavier played in hoops tonight, and it was a pretty serious mismatch, as Xavier shot 65% for the course of the game and beat BGSU 101-57.  Their 3-point shooting was almost as good, if you can believe that.

The second half was almost as bad as the first.

I listened to Coach's post-game, and he certainly complimented Xavier, but clearly, our team has to be able to improve from that performance.  The defense was very disappointing and Coach felt we didn't "compete" and need to work on some intangibles.  You give a team that good an opening, and they will slice you open, which they did.

We can afford to learn from game's like this, because Xavier is better than the MAC teams we need to beat to win our conference.

Some positives, it sounds to me like Otis Polk really improved his game over the summer and made some nice moves.  Scott Thomas led the team with 13 points and 6 boards.  We need Scott Thomas to be a productive player once the conference starts.

I think Dee Brown showed some things today and our Jordan Crawford, while clearly the second most productive Jordan Crawford in this game, got some quality minutes as well.

Free throw shooting was dreadful, a recurring problem for the Falcons.

I'm surprised Goins only got 10 minutes.  I expected him to play a bigger role--and he still may.

I guess my impression is this.  Xavier is clearly better than us.  I don't think they are THAT much better than us, though.  Put a few wins under our belt, and this one will be nothing but a memory.

Musketeer Preview

The basketball team takes to the floor tonight against Xavier, in what should be a very good test for our team.  I'll have more extensive basketball previews as the season gets rolling, but for now, a few points about Xavier.

First, I love their nickname.  Always have.  Xavier was the first BG football game I ever saw, waaayyy back in the day.  We lost.  Should have been a sign.

Anyhoo.  They were a sweet 16 team last year, and despite losing their coach and considerable talent, they are still picked to finish 2nd in a very strong conference.  This is among the better teams BG will play this year.

They are very strong and deep at guard, and while they are not expected to be as deep down low, they expect to have the ability to get the ball to their big men using the guard play.

Their only win this year was over Youngstown State.

Their comeback is being fueled by Jordan Crawford, a very highly touted recruit who is a refugee from the Kelvin Sampson debacle at IU.  And since BG has a player with the same name (albeit spelled differently) it will be an official oddity when they are on the floor together.

Their center, Jason Love, will present a nice challenge to Otis and is on the pre-season A-10 All-defensive team.

XU was 8th in the country last year in FG% defense, meaning that they win the same way the Falcons do.

I'll be listening closely.  As I said, a nice test for our team,  on the road, early in the season.

International Centre for Special Teams Research

So, after spending the weekend on a foreign fact-finding mission, I'm back with the latest report on the International Centre for Special Teams Research, Miami of Ohio Style.

It was a game where Bowling Green dominated the typical plays, with a steady drumbeat of punts inside the Miami 20 and a nice punt return, etc. However, the overall performance was marred by BG giving up two blocked kicks. Miami's special teams have been poor all year and they were true to form out there in Oxford, as they failed to make even one play beyond the two blocks. This is strictly as results-based analysis, so it is possible that both blocks were not even good plays on Miami's part...

Anyway, BG did pick up the big fumble early in the game, which set the tone for the contest. I would say this...the special teams failures by BG were part of the team's overall inability to put Miami away, the same as with the offense. However, the fact Miami didn't come back was partly due to BG's consistent control of the special teams play.

BG Positive (+9)

BG Recovers Miami fumble on kickoff (+3)
BG Punt to Miami 11 (+1)
Miami punt 20 yard net, with 12 yard return (+1)
BG Punt to Miami 15 (+1)
Miami kickoff returned to BG 37 (+1)
BG Punt to Miami 17 (+1)
BG Punt to Miami 11 (+1)

BG Negative (-7)

BG Punt blocked/fumbled (-3)
BG Field goal blocked (-3)
BG Missed 37 yd FG (-1)

BG Neutral

BG XP
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 25
Miami Kickoff returned to BG 23
BG xP
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 29
Miami Kickoff returned to BG 28
BG Punt 41 yard net
BG xp
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 23
Miami punt 36 yard net BG, -2 return
BG XP
BG kickoff returned to Miami 30
BG xp
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 34

Miami Positive (+6)

BG Punt blocked/fumbled (+3)
BG Field goal blocked (+3)

Miami Negative (-7)

BG Recovers Miami fumble on kickoff (-3)
Miami punt 22 yard net (-1)
Miami punt 20 yard net (-1)
Miami kickoff returned to BG 37 (-1)
BG Punt to Miami 15, 12 with penalty (+1)

Miami Neutral

BG Kickoff returned to Miami 25
Miami xp
Miami Kickoff returned to BG 23
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 29
Miami xp
Miami Kickoff returned to BG 28
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 23
Miami punt 36 yard net
BG kickoff returned to Miami 30
Miami punt 43 yard net
BG Kickoff returned to Miami 34

For the season, it is BG's second straight plus performance, and in that sense is another positive step forward.

Positive	Negative	Net
Troy	+3	-5	-2
Missouri	+10	-5	+5
Marshall	+2	-6	-4
Boise	0	-4	-4
OU	+8	-12	-4
Kent	+7	-11	-4
BSU	+6	-9	-3
CMU	+2	-5	-3
@UB	+13	-9	+4
@Miami	+9	-7	+4
Total	+60	-73	-13

When looking at opponent's plays, this is the second straight week a team has had a negative score when playing Bowling Green.

	Positive	Negative	Net
Troy	+7	-2	+5
Missouri	+8	-8	0
Marshall	+7	-3	+4
Boise	+5	-7	-2
Ohio U	+13	-9	+4
Kent	+13	-3	+10
BSU	+7	-3	+4
CMU	+7	-1	+6
@UB	+6	-12	-6
@UB	+6	-7	-1
Total	+79	-55	+24

CBSSports.com Blog Poll Draft

The PAC 10 is causing problems, they are getting into those A beat B but B beat C and C beat A kind of love triangles that make it necessary to put a team behind another team they beat. This is what I came up with.

As I look at it, I think Wisconsin belongs where they are but cannot for the life of me figure out how they went up so much. More thought will be given on this prior to final balloting.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Florida	1
2	Alabama	1
3	Texas
4	TCU	2
5	Boise State	1
6	Cincinnati	1
7	Georgia Tech
8	LSU
9	Oregon	1
10	Ohio State	6
11	Iowa	2
12	Penn State	9
13	Wisconsin	6
14	Pittsburgh
15	Stanford	9
16	Houston	4
17	Utah	4
18	Oklahoma State
19	Southern Cal	8
20	Arizona	3
21	Oregon State	1
22	North Carolina
23	California	2
24	Virginia Tech	1
25	Brigham Young
Last week's ballot

Dropped Out: Miami (Florida) (#15), South Florida (#22).

Permutations, Part V

So, here are the standings and the road home for teams in the East.  Essentially with the Temple win over Akron, things get even slimmer.  Temple would have to lose out, and then OU would have to lose at NIU and beat Temple, and BG would have to win out, and that would create a 3-way tie for first.  Head to head is supposed to be the next qualifier, but I am not sure how that would work, since BG didn't play Temple.

Anyhow, eventually that question will be answered...for now, that's too many steps to worry about it.

Non-Witness Men's Hoops Report

I was going to call this my observations, but since I wasn't at the game, technically the word observation is a little misleading.

First, I think we got a pretty good idea how the rotation will work this season, even though this game was a blow-out.  McElroy and Crawford were the only freshmen to get significant minutes.

I was surprised Goins didn't start.  I wonder if Dee Brown is the guard equivalent to Marc Larson....somebody we like out there for what they do but who doesn't do much that shows up in the scoresheet.

Obviously, Otis going 7-8 is a great thing, and everyone is raving about how good he looks.  He will get tougher tests than Wayne State, and I'm looking forward to him being a force in the middle, which will be critical to our team.

He still got four fouls.

Perhaps most exciting was Scott Thomas, who I think is set up to be a really good MAC player, something he showed against Wayne.  He just combines a lot of variables for us at forward.

Calhoun only got 3 minutes which kind of surprised me.

So, anyway, that's what I saw from looking at the box score.  The team is away against Xavier, which will be a really tough test.  As I said before, I look forward to watching this team develop.