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The other day after Ohio scored a TD right before the half with only 11 seconds remaining, I was like why does it seem like we give up a TD right before the half in every game??? Well, the reason is, we do!!! In our last 5 games, we have allowed our opponent to score a TD with less than 42 seconds to go in the half of every single game. In the only game we didn't allow a TD in the final minute (Troy), they scored with 1:17 to go before halftime. Here is a look at all the TD's we have allowed this season at the end of the first half:

Ohio scored a TD with :11 left
Buffalo scored a TD with :22 left
Michigan scored a TD with :42 left
Marshall scored a TD with :01 left
Tulsa scored a TD with :32 left
Troy scored a TD with 1:17 left

You can add the last two games of last years season to the trend as well.

2nd 00:19 IDAHO Eric Greenwood 7 yd pass from Nathan Enderle (Trey Farquhar kick)

2nd 01:18 TOLEDO COLLINS, D. 1 yd run (STEIGERWALD, A. kick)

If you noticed, against both Marshall and Buffalo, the team came out totally flat in the second half. I wasn't at Ohio, so I can't say if the same happened at that game. Gotta wonder if giving up TDs in the final minute adds to that mental funk that the team seems to be in for much of the third quarter.

The reason we give up lots of TDs before the half is because quite frankly, we don't have a 2-minute defense. Any team that gets into the two-minute offense against BG, its pretty much a foregone conclusion that they are going to score a TD. That doesn't just apply for the first half either, I remember plenty of games where last second drives at the end of the game cost us wins. Eastern Michigan 2008, Buffalo 2008, and Idaho 2009 are the games that stick out most in my mind right now. All three of those were games that we had virtually in the bag, especially the latter two, and blew it because we can't stop a two-minute offense to save our lives.

Ok, so let's take away that touchdown before the half at Ohio. The score is now...

25-42.

Giving up late touchdowns is pretty small given all of our other holes.

Agree with Drew, while this looks bad, its the least of our concerns. We simply don't have the personnel to stop teams who run the 2-minute drill, or even a no-huddle at times. It sucks. but it is what it is and hopefully it's a big learning tool for some of the younger players as the program moves forward.

I wouldn't say that it is the least of our worries. It shows that the team isn't very mentally tough. I think that is a trend that runs throughout many aspects of this team.

Drago wrote:I wouldn't say that it is the least of our worries. It shows that the team isn't very mentally tough. I think that is a trend that runs throughout many aspects of this team.

I don't think it has anything to do with mental toughness.

It has to do with the fact that for the better part of 5 years we have struggled to put more than 4-5 guys on the field at one time that should actually be starting on defense at the D1A level. For years we've had a major talent deficiency on defense, and that really starts to show up when you're going against a no-huddle offense. In fact, if I were playing against BG I'd be running the no huddle most of the time. Our defense just can't stack up. We don't have speed, and we don't have size. It's a deadly combination. Occasionally we've had some good players in the secondary, and we've had some decent pass rushers, but our LB corps has been abysmal, our DL can never stop the run, and our secondary always has at least one hole that teams exploit.

Until we start getting some athletes on defense I don't see how this will change.

Just pure speculation here, it may not be the case. It could be possible that our recruiting focus is to get the best football players available and plug them in wherever a need is as opposed to finding guys with a specific skill set on the defensive side of the ball. That being said I'm sure being at the lower levels of FBS the guys with specific skill sets are pretty well picked over by the time BG has a decent chance of landing one.

Every college coach that I have ever talked to has siad that the "top notch" defensive linemen are the hardest to find at any level. The combination of size, stregth and speed is a very hard combination to put together.

MarkL wrote:If you noticed, against both Marshall and Buffalo, the team came out totally flat in the second half. I wasn't at Ohio, so I can't say if the same happened at that game.

Nah, BG didn't come out flat at Ohio to start the 2nd half. We were flat well before that....like kickoff. We were very uninspired...no emotion. One of the coaches yelled at the team as they were going into the locker room at the half: "Kickoff was an hour and a half ago, fellas!!!"

I refer to this as our world class "Prevent us from winning defense."

-MH