MSU game thread...

[Flipper]

Speaking of Toledo....what time is the fricking game going to be? Let's hope they don't keep us in the dark another week

[Globetrotter]

The Toledo game is pointless. As long as we beat Buffalo we can go to the championship game and win the MAC. I'm looking forward to that November 29th matchup.

If we lose to Toledo we can still achieve all of our goals for the year. I just hope we play somewhat well in a few weeks and compete.

[falcon83]

We lost because of the first quarter. why aren't we prepared to start games? Adjustments are fantastic but for whatever reason, we are not ready to play. it happens every game.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

Speaking of Toledo....what time is the fricking game going to be? Let's hope they don't keep us in the dark another week

Saw on twitter that the time should be announced on Monday

[Class of 61]

agree on call.. he hit him and immediately started pea-cocking.. stupid & unfortunate.

Defense needs to keep the pressure up and WRAPPING UP!!! (ton of missed tackles that 1st half)

Offense.. still think we need to get the ball Moore

within 8 though.. so lets GO BG

I don't think he was "pea-cocking" at all...Looked to us like he was trying to distance himself from the hit and pleading his case more than showing off. He knows the rules....

[Class of 61]

Not in anyway saying that the refs cost us the game or a no call on this play did, but on the 4th down play where Burbrink dropped the ball, how is that not a helmet to helmet or targeting call. Shouldn't that be called, especially since they are trying to take that stuff out of football at all levels

Funny you should say that as I said exactly the same thing when it happened. Admittedly, the hit came after Burbrink had dropped the ball, but he was definitely hit helmet to helmet right after it. But overall, I felt the officiating was fair...not like when we get to the B-10-11-12 games (or whatever the heck they are).

[Class of 61]

I don't care if you're on the road against an SEC team or playing UMass. No excuse. That is Gregg Brandon-esq playcalling.

DING DING DING DING!!! You win the prize my friend. Exactly right. But everyone wants to sit here and "baby" this team and say how proud we are of them. Give me a break. They choked!! This is a game they should have won. They choked! Playcalling down the stretch was god awful. Nobody could make a play. We are a good MAC team who obviously can't win the games against the big boys like we could before, and that my friends is Dave Clawsn. Good MAC coach but can't win the bigger game. Never could with us. But if your content with competing in the MAC and losing to inferior teams in the out of conference schedule every year, then this is your team. Another opportunity WASTED under Dave Clawsons watch!

Sorry, but this team didn't "choke".... played hard, made some mistakes, probably wished they'd gone for 2, but still had a LOT of time left at the time. The decision to go for it on 4th down with about 7-8 minutes to go took guts...we could've punted and possibly pinned MSU deep... that we didn't make it doesn't indicated a "choke" job to me.

[Mr_Sweets]

agree on call.. he hit him and immediately started pea-cocking.. stupid & unfortunate.

Defense needs to keep the pressure up and WRAPPING UP!!! (ton of missed tackles that 1st half)

Offense.. still think we need to get the ball Moore

within 8 though.. so lets GO BG

I don't think he was "pea-cocking" at all...Looked to us like he was trying to distance himself from the hit and pleading his case more than showing off. He knows the rules....

It is what it is.. he wasn't helping him off the turf though either. He is a great player and it was unfortunate the way it went down.

[BGSU33]

Really sucks to come that close. Sucks even more to now have to sit on it for two weeks. Damn.... It sure would have been huge to have gotten this win and go into the bye week before Toledo on an incredible high. I just hope they can regroup and come back even better our next game out. Go BG!

[BGWriter]

This team has a personality under Clawson that has persisted since he got the job: they don't win close games against "bigger" competition, even though they arguably have more talent.

Whether that's because it's in their heads, or it's coaching, or a combination, who knows? But Clawson has zero wins against BCS competition and has also lost some games (at the end, typically) that should never have happened.

I'm not into moral victories, either.

They should have won this game. Period. It was a golden opportunity to make a statement for the program, and they couldn't do it -- again.

I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps having the same coaches for all these years is totally a good thing. I'd like to see some new blood offensively with the play calling; some more creativity and imagination.

Now on to the Toledo game: even though it's not as critical in the MAC East chase as the Buffalo game will be, it's TOLEDO, so they have to find a way to play better early in the games (this is a coaching issue, folks), and sustain it to the end. A win over your rival is always wanted, needed and desired, regardless of what the standings say.

Roll Along!

[Redwingtom]

The Toledo game is pointless. As long as we beat Buffalo we can go to the championship game and win the MAC. I'm looking forward to that November 29th matchup.

If we lose to Toledo we can still achieve all of our goals for the year. I just hope we play somewhat well in a few weeks and compete.

Not if we lose to Toledo and OU and OU runs the table, correct?

[kdog27]

This team has a personality under Clawson that has persisted since he got the job: they don't win close games against "bigger" competition, even though they arguably have more talent.

Whether that's because it's in their heads, or it's coaching, or a combination, who knows? But Clawson has zero wins against BCS competition and has also lost some games (at the end, typically) that should never have happened.

I'm not into moral victories, either.

They should have won this game. Period. It was a golden opportunity to make a statement for the program, and they couldn't do it -- again.

I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps having the same coaches for all these years is totally a good thing. I'd like to see some new blood offensively with the play calling; some more creativity and imagination.

Now on to the Toledo game: even though it's not as critical in the MAC East chase as the Buffalo game will be, it's TOLEDO, so they have to find a way to play better early in the games (this is a coaching issue, folks), and sustain it to the end. A win over your rival is always wanted, needed and desired, regardless of what the standings say.

Roll Along!

This sums up how I feel. Yeah we played hard.... yeah yeah I'm tired of not winning close games. I don't get these first quarters. We survived it but wtf! Why is our first quarter game plan so awful? This team should have been beaten.

[kdog27]

Oh and our receivers never make a dang play. If it ain't a perfect pass, they aren't catching it. Make a freakin play once in awhile, the QB isn't going to make a perfect pass every time. You never see these receivers bail out the QB.

[BGSUFanatic7]

Everyone blaming the coaching staff is very dumb in my opinion. We lost because of play calling? Give me a freaking break. We lose by 1 point. We miss a FG. We drop a perfect pass on 4th down. And I thought the draw play on 3rd down was smart. Greene had been gashing them all night on that play. It was obviously 4 down territory. Why not possibly get a cheap first down and if not, still have another play. And if we don't drop that pass, that strategy works.

The fact is, if Burbrink catches that pass we probably/or at least have a damn good shot at winning. I don't see how you can blame a coach for that. We had a damn good game plan in my opinion. And we should have won. Clawson isn't responsible for missed FG's and tipped passes that go for INT's (Florida last year). When you play an SEC team on the road, it's up to your coaches to give you an opportunity to win, but its up to the players to make the big plays. Like honestly, we've gone into 2 SEC venues the past two years and probably should have won both if it were for a couple plays. I'll take that any day. Criticize all you want for play calls that don't work or whether or not we should go for 2, but the fact is we win both those games if our guys make the big plays. When a game is that damn close, you can look at almost any play and say, "Well, Clawson should have done this." Bottom line, we have to make the plays. We didn't.

I mean, we played this game without Gallon and Gates for the vast majority of it as well. Arguably the top players on both sides of the ball gone extremely early in the game. And then we actually compete and essentially outplay in the second half a team the caliber of Mississippi State on the road? That in itself tells you everything you need to know about how far this coaching staff and how far Clawson has taken this program in his time here.

[Warthog]

I completely agree that kicking the XP was the right thing to do. It was was too early in the game to be chasing a single point. And the way MSU moved the ball on us in the first half, I certainly would have expected them to score more points in the second half. So it was more shocking to me that we shut them out in the second half than us kicking the XP there.

But I do see one gigantic coaching blunder that no one has mentioned yet. After we turn it over on downs, why for the love of God did we not just let MSU score??? Even if we stop them three and out, a punt leaves us with the ball around the 10 with like 40 seconds to go. And then after they got a first down it was even worse. We got the ball with 3 seconds and 70 yards away from winning. If we let them score on the first play, we will get the ball with a minute left with a chance to tie the game. I like those odds a heck of a lot better then the way it played out. Why don't coaches understand how to play the game when trailing by one point late in the game????