BG vs Miami: Gameday

[Falconwriter]

Miami should have won & probably wins 8/10 times you play that game... BUT, today was BG's day. Lucky, miracle, yes.. but alas, we got the monkey off our backs & the smiles were beaming on those kids faces. Happy for them!

Freak or not, it would take about 100 more of those to make up for all "lucky" bounces I think I saw Miami get in football during the 1960s and 70s. At one point, BG even called it the "Miami Whammy" because they couldn't beat the Redskins (yes that is their real name) no matter how good BG's team was or how bad of a team Miami had. Just weird. And it wasn't just in football.

Think I'm over-exaggerating, former BGSU (and later WVU) head coach Don Nehlen was fired as BG's coach because of one of those freaky losses. In a driving rainstorm, the head coach and his staff somehow lost track of the downs...and what they thought was a third and goal from something like the 5 yard line was actually 4th Down. And all it would have taken was a FG by BG to win as time ran out. Instead, they ran another running play, got stuffed, and lost the game. The legend is that then President Hollis Moore and his wife were in the stands, soaking wet, and watched that debacle live and in person. BG lost 9-7.

Nehlen didn't last very long after that.

So Miami losing because of a 99 yard fumble return is NOTHING, when it comes to the "freaky" stuff.

[hammb]

I'm somewhat surprised that Harris wasn't hit by lightning, set upon by locusts or swallowed by the earth as he began his rumble to the end zone

I was wishing he would have. God I hate players taking that play to the end zone...so stupid. It's either a selfish play, or more likely, a lack of awareness of the situation.

Either way it was great to get a win regardless of the circumstances. Now let's build on it rather than be content to have the monkey off our backs.

[Schadenfreude]

I'm somewhat surprised that Harris wasn't hit by lightning, set upon by locusts or swallowed by the earth as he began his rumble to the end zone

I was wishing he would have. God I hate players taking that play to the end zone...so stupid. It's either a selfish play, or more likely, a lack of awareness of the situation.

Falling on the ball would have been the smarter play, but once Harris had the ball and was running with it, I think it's tough to expect a player to stop and take a knee instead of just scoring. I totally see where you and Jinks are coming from on this, but I think that's a lot to expect of a defender to know with more than 90 seconds still to go whether your opponent has used up enough time outs so that your offense can just take a knee on the off chance you get a turnover and have a chance to score.

A decision I didn't care for was the decision to go for two (which failed) early in the fourth. It seemed too early in the game to be worrying about whether we had a two- or a three-point lead. Had we just gone for the extra point, Bowling Green would still have had a two point lead and the fumble return for a touchdown would have put the game away.

Anyway, it was an exciting finish for a change.

[Rightupinthere]

I'm somewhat surprised that Harris wasn't hit by lightning, set upon by locusts or swallowed by the earth as he began his rumble to the end zone

I was wishing he would have. God I hate players taking that play to the end zone...so stupid. It's either a selfish play, or more likely, a lack of awareness of the situation.

Either way it was great to get a win regardless of the circumstances. Now let's build on it rather than be content to have the monkey off our backs.

You’re only up a point on a winless team. Get that insurance, man!

[ZuluWarrior]

Congrats, Falcons! Job well done.

[threestooges]

I'm somewhat surprised that Harris wasn't hit by lightning, set upon by locusts or swallowed by the earth as he began his rumble to the end zone

I was wishing he would have. God I hate players taking that play to the end zone...so stupid. It's either a selfish play, or more likely, a lack of awareness of the situation.

Either way it was great to get a win regardless of the circumstances. Now let's build on it rather than be content to have the monkey off our backs.

You’re only up a point on a winless team. Get that insurance, man!

I agree. If Harris had gone down, with the way this season's been going, who's to say we wouldn't have fumbled the snap on one of the kneel-downs? I was not nervous at all during Miami's last drive, knowing the best they could do was tie the game.

[Flipper]

Our D was exhausted. If Miami had tied it...we would have almost certainly lost in OT. They drove the field before fumbling and were knocking on the door when time ran out. He should have run down the field and sat down inside the five.

[gmartin]

Our D was exhausted. If Miami had tied it...we would have almost certainly lost in OT. They drove the field before fumbling and were knocking on the door when time ran out. He should have run down the field and sat down inside the five.

They interviewed Harris after the game and he said they are taught in practice to 'Scoop and Return for Score' and not to jump on the ball. He said Jinks was he returned it for a TD but he only did what he was taught to do. Obviously in that situation you need to know how much time remains in the game and how many time outs were opposition has but he is just executing what he learned in practice.

[It's the Journey...]

I would think you are trying to put point on the board every time you have a chance. If you worry about this or that happening why snap the ball in the first place.

[Schadenfreude]

When Miami lined up for the play, there was still more than 1:50 to go on the clock. Miami let the clock run down close to 1:30 before snapping. Given that amount of time, I think it's asking a lot of a defender to know the best course is to take a knee if they recover the ball. So I disagree a bit with Jinks here. I'm with rightupinthere -- getting the points is good football. Sure, *maybe* BG could have run the clock out, but that's a lot of math to ask of your defensive players.

If we were under 30 seconds, then that would be a different story. I would expect a player to know at that point that a change of possession is enough.

[Clubber]

Just be happy he ran into the correct endzone.

99.9% of players are running that into the endzone. Jinks would have ran it into the endzone himself if it was legal.

[Beaker]

Miami should have won & probably wins 8/10 times you play that game... BUT, today was BG's day. Lucky, miracle, yes.. but alas, we got the monkey off our backs & the smiles were beaming on those kids faces. Happy for them!

Freak or not, it would take about 100 more of those to make up for all "lucky" bounces I think I saw Miami get in football during the 1960s and 70s. At one point, BG even called it the "Miami Whammy" because they couldn't beat the Redskins (yes that is their real name) no matter how good BG's team was or how bad of a team Miami had. Just weird. And it wasn't just in football.

Think I'm over-exaggerating, former BGSU (and later WVU) head coach Don Nehlen was fired as BG's coach because of one of those freaky losses. In a driving rainstorm, the head coach and his staff somehow lost track of the downs...and what they thought was a third and goal from something like the 5 yard line was actually 4th Down. And all it would have taken was a FG by BG to win as time ran out. Instead, they ran another running play, got stuffed, and lost the game. The legend is that then President Hollis Moore and his wife were in the stands, soaking wet, and watched that debacle live and in person. BG lost 9-7.

Nehlen didn't last very long after that.

So Miami losing because of a 99 yard fumble return is NOTHING, when it comes to the "freaky" stuff.

I love it! I'm hoping this will lead to a string of bizarre Falcon victories in this series and the Miami fans can start to refer to this rivalry as "The BG Beguile" or some such thing.

[Bassdrummin]

I would have run it to the 1” line and downed it. Let’s you run out the clock and probably still punch it in. That being said, can’t blame him for running it in. Had to be pretty exciting to go from thinking you’re going to lose to being up by 8

[hammb]

I totally get why he ran it in. I'm not even sure I can fault him.

It's still a major pet peeve of mine. I have a lot of them. But on the whole, when it comes to these late game situations, I think the average fan is actually more in tune with what should be done than the players and coaches are.

I know it's probably asking too much of a defensive player to take a knee, but I have seen guys wisely go down after securing a turnover. If you put any stock in the metrics of win probability, I would bet scoring the TD (thereby giving them the ball back) our win probability went down.

Totally get that it's asking a lot to expect anything different than taking it to the house, and if that's what he was coached, then certainly he's not going to go down. If I were a defensive coach I'd be inclined to remind my guys at the previous timeout to just go down if they secure the turnover.

In the end, just a pet peeve. It didn't cost us the game. No real complaints from me. Just a game/time mgmt pet peeve. Know where else my pet peeves land, I'll say...had they gotten the snap off cleanly I would have instructed my defense to LET them score in that situation. And no coach ever does that.

[Mr_Sweets]

Miami's fumble against BG was on C'MON MAN on Monday Night Football. LOL!