Ohio preview

[Dayons_Den]

Tons of yards tons of time of possession high ypc, but guess what? Only 13 points and one offensive td. You really really really really have to throw out your old metrics of valuation with this style of play. If you can't see that I just don't know what to tell you.

[bgsufalcon24]

If this team gets in a bowl...

If?

Bowls are irrelevant. Give me a MAC Championship and I'll be very happy. Don't get me wrong, if we win what amounts to a glorified exhibition game after the season is done...I guess that's cool, but I could give a rats rear about some game against a random opponent in December or January that has no relevance.

[Flipper]

Still want this team to fire on all cylinders. Either the offense is great and the defense is bad, or vice versa. I am glad though that the defense has played great today.

What are you talking about? This was not a good effort. We played a very bad team and still gave up insane yards. If this team gets in a bowl it will be ugly and I mean Tulsa kind of ugly.

WTF do you care? I thought you decided to bail on the team "that doesn't play defense". Tell you what, you count yards...I'll continue to count the W's and actually enjoy having a winning team to root for

[gspointer]

If this team gets in a bowl...

If?

Bowls are irrelevant. Give me a MAC Championship and I'll be very happy. Don't get me wrong, if we win what amounts to a glorified exhibition game after the season is done...I guess that's cool, but I could give a rats rear about some game against a random opponent in December or January that has no relevance.

Rather be in a bowl than beat up on basically scrub teams. The MAC was bad last year. You only had to look at performance in the bowls for that measuring stick. I am a fan with higher standards than that. If you are happy with being the best in probably the worst conference in D1 then have at it.

Don't get me wrong I like wins but in real terms we are not a good team. There are not many teams outside the MAC we would be favored to beat.

[BGSU33]

If this team gets in a bowl...

If?

Bowls are irrelevant. Give me a MAC Championship and I'll be very happy. Don't get me wrong, if we win what amounts to a glorified exhibition game after the season is done...I guess that's cool, but I could give a rats rear about some game against a random opponent in December or January that has no relevance.

What's all this talk about bowls being irrelevant? I do think there are too many bowls, but they are all relevant to the teams that play in them and (most) of their alums and fans. I love bowls. Now I will agree with you on the MAC Championship, winning it last year was not only awesome, but it was a blast going to it. But the season ended on a sour note losing the bowl and that's not just me saying that, many of our guys said it too. That bowl mattered to me, to them, and to a lot of people. But it did not overshadow the overall season we had. We had a very good season but it would have been even better had we finished it off with a win and not a loss in the bowl.

[Falconfreak90]

This place becomes more like bucknuts.com every day. Outside the stupid penalties, I'm pretty happy with our effort today. We're 5-2, 3-0 MAC...I'm good. Bring on WMU....

[falconfan1]

The posters talking about using different defense metrics due to our offensive style and philosophy are right on. The focus can't be on yards, first downs allowed, completions allowed, time of possession etc. It has to be on points allowed, turnovers and….wins.

The other team- all of them- will get more possessions and have chances to put up yards etc.

Now can we tackle better in space, can we make more plays in coverage by tightening up or adjusting, can we eliminate particularly dumb defensive penalties? YES. And if we do we will win games in a slightly more comfortable fashion.

But the other team will get chances.

I liked some of what I saw today. We were moving and hitting. Ward- one handed- was a help. Confidence wise also. Our corners were better. Our LB were better. Now there were too many intermediate passes completed and too many first downs made when we could have gotten off the field. No doubt. Our line got going at times as their QB got hit and got tired.

Ohio is a PHYSICAL football team. They line up and go. Both sides. They may have injured starters- like us- but they are physical. So a road win in that environment? I'm happy!

Go Falcons!

[jg4242]

I am glad we were finally able to put together a solid defensive effort, and solidly beat a decidedly weaker team. The defense showed up for the first time this year, and the offense, although not breathtaking, was good enough to get a comfortable win.

On the flip side, OU has a run first, option offense that we've been good at stopping for several years, injuries, and one of the weakest offenses in the country. Also, the raft of penalties (particularly the unsportsmanlikes) are unacceptable, and seem to be a direct result of the "loose" attitude of Babers and his staff. I'm pleased that we're winning games, but I'm still concerned that the way we are going about our business will be unsustainable in the long term.

[BGGrad01]

First live game of the season for me in Athens.....

Offense - were off the field with a score or a punt in a hurry. I like the pace but a few drives with multiple first downs would really help the defense. Part of that was OU stuffing the run game except for the final minute and greene's td on 3rd and short. Knapke looked off but good enough to win.

Defense - OU had no one that could scare a defense with athleticism so thy got everything 5 yards at a time and did a good job on 3rd downs. I thought adjei-barimah and hunter were outstanding and having ward back really helped. Also, our punter did a great job pinning them back all day so they had a longer field to go, which also helped in adding up the total yardage.

Everything else - I know that some of our band alumni on here have expressed their feelings on the OU marching band 110. I find it entertaining and they put butts in the seats. Not 1 time in the first half (granted, mostly because we got out so fast) did I feel like their crowd was in the game. Band comes out and no one left their seats and everybody was up for 12-15 minutes. Good for them to get some attendance at $35 a piece to watch a fun band.

Peden's men's rooms could use an upgrade from the troughs and 2 sinks.

Great atmosphere in Athens for the parade and homecoming festivities (wife is an alum) and a great falcon win. All in all, it was a good way to spend a Saturday!

[FalconTurf]

Everything else - I know that some of our band alumni on here have expressed their feelings on the OU marching band 110. I find it entertaining and they put butts in the seats. Not 1 time in the first half (granted, mostly because we got out so fast) did I feel like their crowd was in the game. Band comes out and no one left their seats and everybody was up for 12-15 minutes. Good for them to get some attendance at $35 a piece to watch a fun band.

I know it's the wrong thread but,..................... $35 a ticket in Athens based on their long tradition of losing football and less than ideal travel location for alums and fanbase and people complain about parking, parking fees and ticket prices in BG where we have a very good MAC football program consistently. On the other hand the athletic department needs to focus on the event end of the their production. It is building but the effort must be consistent and relentless.

[jg4242]

OU is in a very different market from us. They have a larger, more concentrated alumni base, and they are the only game in town for a very long drive (only competitors are OSU, Pitt, Marshall, and WVU, none of which are nearby). We have to compete for casual fans with UT, OSU, EMU, and Umich, all of whom are within a couple hours drive, and we have a smaller student body and alumni base.

[FalconTurf]

And what I mean is we can get to the game easier with 80/90 crossing 75 in the region. We have ample parking. It's just simpler to attend a game at BG than in Athens. Both are small towns with charm. Both play mid-major football. And they lose fans to television. Survey area schools for teachers that graduated from BG as well as many in the business fields and you'll find comparable numbers I'm sure. We make too many excuses.

[kdog27]

I admit to being completely frustrated with this team after the first month. Are they still frustrating? Yep, at times. But they are getting it done. Don't really know how good the last 3 teams they have beaten are and there is reason to suspect they are awful, but this is the conference we play in. I would be interested to see how they would fair if they played WKU again. They aren't very good and that was probably the least talented Wisconsin team BG has ever played. But that's all over, and it's all about winning the conference now. As far as that goes we can't be sitting any better than 3-0. If they win this Saturday, they will be 4-0 and have 17 days to prepare for Akron. I'll take it.

[Globetrotter]

The posters talking about using different defense metrics due to our offensive style and philosophy are right on. The focus can't be on yards, first downs allowed, completions allowed, time of possession etc. It has to be on points allowed, turnovers and….wins.

The other team- all of them- will get more possessions and have chances to put up yards etc.

Now can we tackle better in space, can we make more plays in coverage by tightening up or adjusting, can we eliminate particularly dumb defensive penalties? YES. And if we do we will win games in a slightly more comfortable fashion.

But the other team will get chances.

I liked some of what I saw today. We were moving and hitting. Ward- one handed- was a help. Confidence wise also. Our corners were better. Our LB were better. Now there were too many intermediate passes completed and too many first downs made when we could have gotten off the field. No doubt. Our line got going at times as their QB got hit and got tired.

Ohio is a PHYSICAL football team. They line up and go. Both sides. They may have injured starters- like us- but they are physical. So a road win in that environment? I'm happy!

Go Falcons!

We can compare all of those statistics your saying we can't use to other teams using our offense.

[Flipper]

To what end? I can kinda see using a lot of comparisons to other teams early on as a means of trying to benchmmark what you have and how you might fare going forward, but as the season wears on I don't really see the value in it. I'm far more interested in what we do on the field on a week to week basis...have we improved or not...vs looking at teams that play our style. I really don't care what Baylor or anyone else does.

Our defense has now played six qtrs of fairly decent defense. I'll take 20pts over a game and a half any day of the week
The offense continues to struggle a bit...particularly away from the Doyt. Big games at UT and Akron coming up, that's a bit of a concern.