3 Biggest Problem Areas?

[Rollo83]

1. Offensive Line...Schilz has no time to look downfield. Passing game at Troy in no longer an option because line can't give us enough time to complete anything vertical.

2. Defense...They do look like they have given up. Other than Woods and Leacock, don't see any pride or intensity. We can't control the line of scrimmage and get pushed around way too much up front.

3. Kicking Game...We are now leavi gpoints on the field because we won't even try a 40 yard FG. Hell, even extra points are an adventure. Punting had been OK but had a few problems today. Recruits needed. Pull a couple scholarships if you have to.

[VDub26Falcon]

1. Offense
2. Defense
3. Special Teams

Fix those three areas and we will be a great team!

[FalconTurf]

The defense is far from great but the Kent game indicates to me that the kicking game and the offense is the defense's worst enemy. The 3 and outs combined with mediocre net punting put the defense in undesirable positions all day long. And throw in turnovers for good measure.

My question is: What can the defense do if we start to see a better game of field position?

[Falconfreak90]

Completely agree, Rollo. And FalconTurf makes an excellent point about the kicking game and Offense. I'm surprised the D has held this well considering all the time they've been on the field.

Very disappoining to see BG 1-7....We knew it would be a challenge this year. We could easily be 4-4 as well but we're not. I just don't like seeing a lack of intensity at times on the sidelines. That is a major concern for me. It appears we haven't had enough leadership stand up.

I'll be at the MU, tsun and WMU games. Always have a great time tailgating and throwing the ball with Jake (and Josh).

GO FALCONS!!!

[takeoffeh]

One big thing I noticed was the lack of intensity by many of the players. There were too many guys just standing and watching on the field, instead of making another block or running after the ball. I know our team is young, but that's no excuse. The coaching needs to fix this quickly.

[jpfalcon09]

The biggest areas that need help are on the lines and the running game. We need some beef up front on both sides of the ball, and we need a powerful runner who can crash at the line and make things happen. Bullock's been about as close to that as the program has come in the last 4-5 years.

[factman]

jp.......Coach Clawson agrees with you about needing a BIG running back, and from what I hear there "may" be help on the way in January.

[BillyLP]

Our biggest problems are definitely the offensive line, quarterback maturity, and the kicking game. The O-line is just inexperienced and undersized which isn't giving Schilz a whole lot of time in the backfield. That said, Schilz has the tools to be a great quarterback physically, but mentally he is no where near being ready yet. Granted, I don't have 260 lbs men running at me as I type this, but he panics too quickly and makes bad throws/decisions. As for the kicking game...God help us. I know 1-7 sucks but our defense has a good core and a lot of potential, as well as our receivers on offense. Rebuilding years are never any fun but with MAC schools they are going to happen every few years and I really do think Clawson is building something here.

[transfer2BGSU]

1. INJURIES
Just take a look at the Offensive Line and you see that we have been hit by the injury bug

2. YOUTH
I thought I heard/read that we have 44 freshmen/red-shirted freshmen on this team. They need to get experience under their belts.

3. TOO HIGH OF EXPECTATIONS FROM THE FANS
This is a young team. They need time to gel and to grow. We knew this season was going to be a rough season. And guess what? It's been just what we expected - a rough season. Yes, we were excited when we played decent against Troy and Tulsa and beat Marshall (always love beating Marshall). But then the injuries began to pile up and take their toll. If you thought we were going to be bowl contenders, then you need to quit drinking the Orange Kool-aid.

SOLUTION - ONE
Get your butts out to the stadium and cheer these young men on. Be loud. Be proud of your alma mater. Don't call out a player and state that you can do better (because you can't - no matter what you might think about our kicking game, even when Brian Wright has a poor punt it is better than what 99% of the people on this board can do). This year is going to be a struggle, but we have some talented young men out there and they are going to better next year because of the adversity they are going through this year.

ROLL ALONG!

[toddpav]

1. INJURIES
Just take a look at the Offensive Line and you see that we have been hit by the injury bug

2. YOUTH
I thought I heard/read that we have 44 freshmen/red-shirted freshmen on this team. They need to get experience under their belts.

3. TOO HIGH OF EXPECTATIONS FROM THE FANS
This is a young team. They need time to gel and to grow. We knew this season was going to be a rough season. And guess what? It's been just what we expected - a rough season. Yes, we were excited when we played decent against Troy and Tulsa and beat Marshall (always love beating Marshall). But then the injuries began to pile up and take their toll. If you thought we were going to be bowl contenders, then you need to quit drinking the Orange Kool-aid.

SOLUTION - ONE
Get your butts out to the stadium and cheer these young men on. Be loud. Be proud of your alma mater. Don't call out a player and state that you can do better (because you can't - no matter what you might think about our kicking game, even when Brian Wright has a poor punt it is better than what 99% of the people on this board can do). This year is going to be a struggle, but we have some talented young men out there and they are going to better next year because of the adversity they are going through this year.

ROLL ALONG!

Well said.

This forum was starting to sound like the hockey forum.

[BGGrad01]

1. Offensive Line Play - the injuries to Bojicic, Lewis, and Walker and the related line shuffling have made things very difficult, but we weren't exactly running the ball down people's throats in the first couple weeks when everyone except Lewis was out there. Hopefully the experience that the underclassmen are getting coupled with the time that Hopgood has received will help us next year.

2. Lack of Creativity (all areas) - it's pretty obvious at this point that we don't have the experience and/or talent to get the job done and we don't seem to do much to minimize that with creativity. I missed Saturday's game, so if we were creative then somebody should call me out. Look at the Browns yesterday - no way on Earth should they be close to the Saints no matter how poorly Drew Brees plays, but they got a big play on trick punt return, a huge run on a fake punt, a big first down on a halfback pass, etc. Now maybe those plays don't work and the Browns lose, but at least they tried something.

3. Recruiting from 4-5 years ago and/or Player Development - unfortunately, we are extremely young across the board, but we haven't had big years from the upperclassmen that we do have. It's either a case of these guys were highly recruited and not developed or they came in as 1-2 star recruits and haven't developed into all-MAC guys. I hope it's an issue of not getting high end talent in those recruiting classes (and the talent we did get has flamed out for a variety of reasons) and not that the combination of Brandon/Clawson have not been able to develop that talent. I was hoping to see a big step in playmaking out of a couple guys over the last couple years and it has not happened. Hopefully these young guys can make that step up and become all-MAC guys and get us back to title contenders.

It's not fun to suffer through a season like this and I can't imagine how awful it must be for the seniors, but I'm really hoping that this experience combined with an offseason can get some of the young leaders like Schilz, Hopgood, linemen, Woods, etc. to get us back to competitiveness.

[NWLB]

It is obviously a painful thing to see a record this bad. But even in the depths of this horror, I don't feel remotely as bad as I did under Brandon's leadership. That is exactly because what I see out there are indeed the mistakes a young team makes. I don't see panic. I may not see "intensity" either, but then they are 1-6, now 1-7, they know what the outcome of the season is. I've seen enough intensity at times to feel that issue isn't a lasting one.

I see a team that has played beyond their age early in the year, been whittled down the bone with injuries, and yet been within a matter of a few points from winning several games. I see a defense which I actually think has played exceptionally well given that they play seemingly the entire game. That will pay dividends in the future. I see a coaching staff that didn't panic and try to go the JUCO or gimmick route, and seems intent to build a foundation for long-term stability rather than "win and get out of town."

This year is a write-off, and has been for a month or more. The early games did get my own expectations high, and I'm not alone in that. I do not think it was unfair to expect good things from what we saw. But it is also not fair to dwell on those same expectations now and be bitter about them. I'm looking forward to next year, hoping for what might still come out of this year. There are certainly areas for improvement though, and a lot of them. Frankly, if I won the lottery, I would endow a full-time coach, whose job was strictly to recruit kickers all year long. Kicking isn't exactly great in the college game these days. Which leaves me wondering where can you find a decent kicker these days? BGSU produced two All-American kickers. The MAC used to produce some real gems. It would be nice to have a few now.

[Redwingtom]

The only thing that concerns me is the utter lack of imagination of our offense. It is painfully obvious that we do not have the talent to run the type of offense we are trying to run with our offensive line in the shape (or lack of shape) that it has become.

We don't have a running back to run between the tackles and we don't have the line to allow for a drop-back pocket passing attack.

I sincerely hope what we are seeing will pay dividends next year if the talent comes around. If not, I feel Clawson may not be long for this job...and certainly Ruggiero won't be!

[factman]

RWT.....you should find a way to sit down with Coach Clawson for a few minutes and talk offense.........you would be amazed. He took the time to do that with 3-4 of us a week or two ago and I think we went thru about a dozen napkins drawing diagrams etc. Our offense will be fine, given time to get people in place and establish some depth. Some of the things that people have complained about, including some of your concerns, just happen, because a player(s) makes a mistake, and he is not a "throw them under the bus" type coach.

[Falcon Fanatic]

This forum was starting to sound like the hockey forum.