Success at State?

[FalconRA]

I am just finishing up my day at work and couldn't help but wonder what a succesful outing against Mississippi State will look like. Does it have to be a win? Is just hanging around with them enough? Are we still satisfied with moral victories or is it time for more. I personally believe that getting wins over BCS schools is important but am more worried about getting to the MAC title game this year.

More than anything I am asking what will we as fans be satisfied with this weekend? This in no way means that we should not believe that we are incapable of winning because I do think we have a legitimate chance provided the game starts off well for us.

BG Forever!

[jpfalcon09]

I'll be happy if we cover...current line is BG +11, so if we can hang around that and get a good showing, I think it'll provide enough fuel to get the buzz going for the Toledo game. More than anything though, Clawson needs a good showing. He's been owned by the BCS and needs something to hang his hat on.

[Flipper]

What JP said + no injuries...

[kdog27]

I really want to see us win. That being said I don't see it. I would like to see us still in the game in the fourth quarter. WVU, VT and IU ran circles around us on both sides of the ball after the first quarter and the team essentially gave up in each of those games.

You can go on and on that only a MAC championship matters but I say wake up. Looking like crap against lower to mid level BCS teams doesn't bode well for our chances against UT and Ohio, nor does it give much confidence to the team. We still haven't proved we're a good team. We have beaten 5 teams that aren't very good and got smoked by a team that quite honestly isn't great.

[moneymaker02]

We beat Northwestern, Mizzu, Kansas, and Purdue all while I was in school from 02-07 and ya it was pretty cool, the luster wore off because we never won a MAC Championship and that still stings. There was nothing like the atmosphere for the Toledo games and the 2003 Mac Championship. All I care about now is winning that MAC Championship that we haven't won since 1992.

[zete]

Too much speed. Just hoping we are not embarrassed.

[BGSU33]

If we play hard and play well, only good things can happen for us - as in a win or a respectable loss. I'm just not as excited about playing BCS schools like I used to be. Don't get me wrong, we had a run of chalking up BCS wins and it was awesome. But we did most of them with teams that just seemed, I don't know, maybe more suited to go out there and run with anyone. I wouldn't say they were better teams as they couldn't' win the MAC either, but we now just seem to be a team much more suited at beating teams built to play like us, than ones that are suited to face any opposition like we had 5-10 years ago. Back then we had teams that could score almost at will, it was never a matter of how could we score, it was a question of how much will we. We did a lot of damage through the air and could outscore teams. Now we're much more of a grind it out type of a team, scoring maybe a TD or FG a quarter and playing a bend but don't break defense.

BG hasn't won a game vs a BCS team under Clawson (0-6) but I wouldn't say there was one I expected us to win besides maybe the Indiana game this year. We let one at Missouri get away from us in 2009 but most of the others were downright ugly losses. As mentioned above, I am much more concerned about the MAC and to come away with no injuries. If we can pull out a win it would be huge, but we have much "more important" games ahead of us after MSU.

[Falcon137]

Improvement against a quality opponent.

The only decent team we've seen this year turned into a 42-10 romp.

[zete]

33, I wish i felt like you, but I don't. Actually by looking at the numbers most MAC teams have poor followings. This leads me to think MAC teams playing each other seems a drag to most. The exceptions are in place, but have been tainted somewhat. Miami is all but gone as a rival. Toledo remains, but was messed with when the divisional thing started. I, for the most part, get excited about our non league schedule. Much more so than going to the Doyt to see UMass play.

[Falcon137]

33, I wish i felt like you, but I don't. Actually by looking at the numbers most MAC teams have poor followings. This leads me to think MAC teams playing each other seems a drag to most. The exceptions are in place, but have been tainted somewhat. Miami is all but gone as a rival. Toledo remains, but was messed with when the divisional thing started. I, for the most part, get excited about our non league schedule. Much more so than going to the Doyt to see UMass play.

Agreed. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy MAC play. But, beating other MAC schools is better when you know it's because BG is good. Not that every MAC school you beat is horrible.

Going off what 33 said, about not being able to run with the big guys anymore. The one thing the BG teams from 2002-2009 (minus 06) had were QBs that could change games. Harris, Jacobs, and Sheehan. Anthony Turner didn't turn out to be, but he was probably the most sought after recruit, out of any of those guys.

[MarkL]

Long post with analysis alert.

The past two years we have had a defense suited to destroy MAC offenses that was good enough to keep us in the game with big offenses. Last year against VT there was a pattern. If our offense got at least one first down on a drive, our D got a three and out the subsequent drive. As our O became more ineffective as the game went on, our D wore out. The loss to Florida last year had nothing to do with the D. This year our D really played well vs an Indiana offense that will probably lead the Big Ten in total offense until key injuries and exhaustion set in. The common denominator in these losses? An offense that was nowhere to be seen.

In the Brandon years, the offense could hang with anyone. It was simple - QB takes the shotgun snap, drops back two steps, finds the first open guy, throws a bullet. The offense was designed for easy quick passes. We also had quicker receivers, like a team full of Burbrinks and Ronnie Moores. Problem was if the drive went nowhere, the O puts the D back on the field faster.

I do wish we had more pop on offense, so long as we maintain a grind it out ground game when needed. I hope Johnson is able to stretch the field more this weekend. We can grind it out on the ground vs just about any MAC D but if the ground game was ineffective against Indiana, we are in big trouble Saturday. The pass can be an equalizer to allow quick but less talented offenses to hang with more talented defenses. See Louisiana Tech last year. The run doesn't work the same way.

[MajorFalcon92]

Good offensive start in the first half with points on the board.

[kdog27]

If we play hard and play well, only good things can happen for us - as in a win or a respectable loss. I'm just not as excited about playing BCS schools like I used to be. Don't get me wrong, we had a run of chalking up BCS wins and it was awesome. But we did most of them with teams that just seemed, I don't know, maybe more suited to go out there and run with anyone. I wouldn't say they were better teams as they couldn't' win the MAC either, but we now just seem to be a team much more suited at beating teams built to play like us, than ones that are suited to face any opposition like we had 5-10 years ago. Back then we had teams that could score almost at will, it was never a matter of how could we score, it was a question of how much will we. We did a lot of damage through the air and could outscore teams. Now we're much more of a grind it out type of a team, scoring maybe a TD or FG a quarter and playing a bend but don't break defense.

BG hasn't won a game vs a BCS team under Clawson (0-6) but I wouldn't say there was one I expected us to win besides maybe the Indiana game this year. We let one at Missouri get away from us in 2009 but most of the others were downright ugly losses. As mentioned above, I am much more concerned about the MAC and to come away with no injuries. If we can pull out a win it would be huge, but we have much "more important" games ahead of us after MSU.

I see this this as a problem. If we want to win this Illustrious MAC title then we need to be competitive in these games. You think NIU loses by 32 to IU? If they were playing MSU the line would probably be a pick em. We need to show we belong with these teams if we want to have a shot at a MAC title.

Just because we were beating BCS teams and not winning a MAC championship doesn't mean it was a bad recipe. Let's not forget that our only appearance in one of these games was by a team that was great against BCS teams. I'll take that anyday over beating bad MAC teams, losing to most of the better teams and forgetting to get off the bus at BCS schools.

[zete]

Maybe our staff has been instructed NOT to recruit 4 star players knowing it is a waste of time. Im sure our coaches all have stories of how they thought they had one roped in when Big Ten or others would swoop in with a simple phone call and all the hard work be for nothing. The league was a hotbed for good QBs a while back with a half dozen getting significant looks from the NFL. The momentum departed from the scene about like Don Treadwell has.

[Falcon137]

Maybe our staff has been instructed NOT to recruit 4 star players knowing it is a waste of time. Im sure our coaches all have stories of how they thought they had one roped in when Big Ten or others would swoop in with a simple phone call and all the hard work be for nothing. The league was a hotbed for good QBs a while back with a half dozen getting significant looks from the NFL. The momentum departed from the scene about like Don Treadwell has.

I don't know why you bring up recruiting. I don't think, Harris, Jacobs, Gradowski, Fry, Lynch, Harnish, Roethlisberger were 4 star guys. Anthony Turner was a top 25 QB Nationally (3 star recruit), Omar was ranked 52 (2 star). Who would you rather have under center?

BTW, Fred Coppet was a 4 star recruit via ESPN.