BG @ WKU Thread

[BGSU33]

Only two weeks until kickoff! Let's start talking about the game.....

[mscarn]

When WKU promoted Brohm the reaction was some variation of "They'll be OK...he learned offense under Petrino...things will stay the same..."

Arkansas thought the same thing when he left in 2012. They hired a head coach who'd been on the staff and kept his brother Paul Petrino as the offensive coordinator to keep everything the same for their returning starting QB.

They went 4-8.

[kdog27]

They do return just about all of their offense though. That is always dangerous.

[jpfalcon09]

They're a solid team and moving from the Sun Belt to CUSA is a step up in terms of competition. They like to throw the ball and run a little bit of a hurry up. Very experienced on offense which is always something to be worried about. They also took down Kentucky last year which while UK isn't the greatest football powerhouse, its always a feather in the cap to take down an SEC school.

From BG's perspective, plenty of question marks in terms of running the offense in real game action for the first time. How will players react if things start off slow or bumpy? It'll be interesting to see how confident the players feel about everything after the first couple of series. I also have a feeling the secondary will be tested in this game as its the biggest weakness of the defense.

Should be a good game, BG is a 7 point favorite in the sports books which doesn't mean much this early, but its a sign the oddsmakers like BG's chances in this one. I do too, however WKU shouldn't be taken lightly.

[kdog27]

I don't think this is an easy game at all. Too many unknowns on our side. Offense is definitely their strength, while they about completely turned over on defense. I can see both teams scoring a bunch of points. I would expect them to have a nice crowd opening night.

Hopefully things are clicking as well as the players seem to be saying they are in those post practice interviews. Less than 2 weeks!

[Flipper]

Exactly..this isn't gimmie...It's a road game, it's he first game with a new staff and system and we're generating some preseason buzz. WKU has a chance to really build some momentum by knocking us off right out of the chute.

[BGSU33]

I agree, I think this game will tell a lot. We do have some unknowns with our new systems and staff and there's only one way to see how it's all gonna pan out - and that's to play someone. Our players are saying all the right things, but those are the exact same kind of things every player and team say each year. Everyone is starting fresh and is eager to get out there.

I'm most concerned with the flow and effectiveness of our offense. We return a lot on that side of the ball but we've also made a significant change with how we're running it. The pace of it, coupled with a couple new OL and WR's has me anxious to see us perform against someone else. I remember several years ago (when we were still pretty bad) Clawson was trying to implement some changes early in the season on offense and we essentially pulled the plug on them and scrapped them and went back to what we used to run. I hope we don't have to resort to that this year and that we can go out there and run it.

On defense, I'll be curious to see how the interior DL looks and if we can finally get some pass rush from our DE's this year. We need more production from our ends and they are seniors now. Most of our sacks the last two years have have come from our guys inside (like Chris Jones). It's time Thomas and Walker take that next step and that we see something from Montgomery as we've heard about how effective he is in practice but haven't really seen that carry over to a game. I can only hope Martin has recovered to his old self because he was arguably our best defensive player before he went down. Getting Hunter back healthy softens some of the losses with our DB's but we still have a couple fresh faces stepping in back there as well as some turnover and some guys have moved around.

Special teams, if we can get similar production from our place kicking again it would be huge. Tate stepped up and gave us the kicking last year that we desperately lacked and needed for years! We were set the last few years at punter and hopefully Davidson can step in.

As for WKU, they were picked fourth in the CUSA East (just missed out on third) and I have seen them picked as high as second in their division in some of the preseason magazines. They are moving into a new conference (left the Sun Belt) and also have a new head coach but hired from within. The did lose a few stud players (RB, LB) and a DB who left early but return a solid core and hit the JUCO's pretty hard with this last class. They have a nice stadium and it should be a good crowd and atmosphere to open the season.

I think this game could tell us a lot. And I actually like that we open on the road because if we're gonna win the MAC East again and get to Detroit, we're gonna have to do it by winning on the road as we have to play at both Ohio and Akron (who were picked right behind us), at Toledo (who has beaten us four consecutive times) and we even open the MAC season on the road at UMass (who is playing back in campus in their renovated stadium for the first time in several years).

[MarkL]

Our defense will be as good as ever. With the new attacking scheme, there will be some busted coverage predictably but there should be more sacks and turnovers. WKU is a solid offense no doubt and if they were playing the 2011 BG defense, I'd say they score at will. Now, I think we hold them pretty well.

It all comes down to the offense. If what we've heard from all the player interviews is true and the offense really is coming together, I think we wear them out and pull away in the second half. WKU's defense is not bad by any means but we'll play equivalent or better defenses in conference play. If the offense looks out of rhythm, there will be big time problems because they may go three and out in less than a minute and force a tired defense to go back on the field.

My gut says the offense will click for a good chunk of the game and the defense will do their job. Multi possession BG win where we put it away in the third quarter.

[kdog27]

From their neck of the woods...
http://m.wkusports.com/m/sports/m-footb ... 14aaa.html" target="_blank

[Beaker]

I'm in agreement with those that see this as a tough game for us. When we played them at our place some years back, that game wasn't quite the walkover a lot of folks thought it would be and their program has come a long way since that time.

In a prior inverview that was posted, Brohm said their focus was squarely on BG and it would be their toughest game of the year. They have been game planning this one for a long time. With the coaching change, move to the new conference and last year's success, there seems to be a lot of buzz around that program and you know Brohm really wants to make a statement in getting a big win in his first game at the helm. I think it will be a high energy game for both teams and should be a great one to watch. We will definitely be challenged. Hopefully, the experience from last year's team will help and our guys can stay calm and focused and not get rattled if we find ourselves down on the scoreboard.

[jakehovs23]

For any students out there, the BGathletics twitter said there will be a watch party will be held at the Stroh, with more details to come. Not sure if they open those up to the public or not...

[BGSU SID]

The watch party will be open to the public and there will be lots of activity going on that evening in the Stroh Center. Volleyball plays at 5 pm against Dayton and men's soccer is home at 6 pm, so everyone should come out to support the Falcons and stay for the football game on the video board at 7:30 pm! We'll have more details soon!

[Class of 61]

Called the ticket office today re: where are my WKU tix? Answer: "We'll be mailing them out tomorrow(Tues.)....not sure why they can't mail things today when I mentioned we'll be going out of town by Sunday (to Tenn. on vacation) - then on to BG, Ky. for the game. They DID say they'd sold out their whole allotment of tix, stopped selling them. As to the Indiana game, it's NOT a sellout at this point (hard to believe), but they anticipate it will be due to family day etc.

[kdog27]

Yeah when I ordered mine almost 2 weeks ago, they said they would mail them this week. Great to hear we sold all of ours.

[Falconfreak90]

I do expect the Falcons to win but WKU will be a test...The Hilltoppers have 8 starters back on O but only 4 on D and finished 8-4 last season.

10 days to go...

GO FALCONS!!!