The offense MUST get help from defense & special teams

[BGSU33]

The coaches aren't going to come out and say it, nor will the guys on our offense, but I'll say it. The offense needs way more help from our defense, and even more from the special teams. Period. I'm listening to our coaches and offensive players say all the right things after these games (as well they should to a certain degree), but it's not fair to expect this offense to carry this team like this. And yes, before anyone says it, I know we've played a very good schedule so far. No question. But the offense, with the exception of the 4th quarter vs Memphis, theses guys have played their asses off! Even in the first half vs Maryland when we struggled to score, we were moving the ball all over them.

But week after week we hear about how the defense isn't going to have to face another opponent like (fill in the blank) the rest of the season. But we will. Toledo is on the verge of being in the Top-25 now, Ohio is undefeated, WMU has balance, UMass has the QB., etc. We are still going to see very good opponents and players come the MAC schedule.

And the special teams??? Where to even begin. They've been a joke. Even comical at times. And yesterday I feel they actually cost us the win with all the mishaps (missed kicks, horrible returns, fake punt). Our offense did its part, and the defense did manage some stops, but Memphis' special teams crushed ours. The actual punting itself (not the cover unit) has been pretty steady all season, but our kicker can't split the uprights right now on anything besides a PAT and our kick returners are simply comical right now. Any, and I mean ANY, kickoff that's headed to the endzone must left go as a touchback. If the ball is sailing into the endzone (NOT in front of the endzone because it's a LIVE ball guys - I wonder if they've even been taught this with what we're seeing), the guys need to run the hell away from the ball like it's a bomb about to explode. Just stay away from it. The less these guys touch the ball, the better. This crap of our guys running into each other, or muffing the kick and returning it 5-10 yards, or stepping out of bounds inside the 5 yard line, it must stop. And when we do actually return the ball past the 20, it's likely coming back because of an illegal block. It's beyond bad, it's pitiful. Giving our offense the ball at the 25 would be a major blessing.

And the penalties......it looks like they are here to stay. We keep hearing how they're gonna get cleaned up and they never do.

Look, no, our offense isn't perfect, but it's more than doing it's part. We all knew it was going to have to carry more than it's share of the load, but it can't carry the entire load by itself. We will not win the MAC East or a MAC Championship for that matter if our defense and special teams don't improve. A lot.

[Falconfreak90]

the penalties are very disturbing....32 on the season in 3 games costing us 300 yards. THAT must be cleaned up.

[Dayons_Den]

I'd actually argue that the offense needs to hold up their end of the deal and help out the defense. Special teams needs to greatly improve but at key times in the Memphis game our O stalled or couldn't get six when it needed to.

[kdog27]

Yep I agree Dayons, you can't just say 41 points is enough to win a game. We all knew Memphis has a great offense and most here predicted they would score 40+ points.

This game should have been won in spite of the defense and special teams. We're leaving way too many points out there. 560 yards, 700 yards and 560 yards should be leading to more than 30, 48 and 41 points in my opinion.

I'm not sure why so many are surprised. We all knew going into this year that the offense has plenty of studs and the defense is young. A veteran offense should win games like this yesterday while a young defense is coming around.

I do have no defense for special teams and how collectively bad they are. Ugh.

[Falcon137]

I thought the defense was ok. Certainly good enough to win. They got enough stops to give the offense a chance to win, which is exactly what they are supposed to do, especially in this system. Including holding Memphis to 3 points over the final 12 minutes. During the stretch the offense produced 1 first down (the DPI on the final drive), had 2, 3 and outs and only held onto the ball for about 3:30 minutes.

That Memphis offense is really, really good. That was their 7th straight game scoring 30+, 10 straight win and will likely roll into their game at Ole Miss with a 12 game winning streak and in the top 20.

You're crazy if you don't think this young defense isn't improving each week. The rush defense has grown by leaps and bounds. They played one of the nations best QBs, Saturday. They won't face anything close to that much talent the rest of the year.

The special teams....ugh. Tate left 4 points on the field..he is now 3-7 on the year. He is in a funk. In contrast Memphis' kicker had a 52 yarder and a chip shot 29 yarder.

They hit their trick play for a TD and perfectly executed a fake punt that led to a TD and then defensively dominated the 4th quarter. Memphis just won, they are good. Tip your hat and move on. BG is 1-2, with 2 losses to teams that could very well end up in New Years bowls.