@Kent State (10/2)

[jpfalcon09]

MAC play opens Saturday, October 2nd against Kent and a familiar face in Sean Lewis. Their only win has come against VMI, but the Golden Flashes have been competitive in games against A&M, Iowa, and Maryland.

This expects to be the toughest conference game for the Falcons against what used to be "Falcon Fast". The BG defense will get a stiff test, and I suspect the corners will have their hands full all game.

Biggest key will be getting stops and extending drives to keep Kent's offense off the field.

Falcons opened anywhere from a 15.5 to 19.5 dog in the books.

[BGSU33]

Yeah, extremely tough opening opponent here to start conference play. To say Kent State has shredded BG the last two years would be a major understatement. They have scored 62 points in back-to-back years vs BG and have won the last three matchups. Honestly, I would rather open the MAC slate with any other team in the conference right now, and for sure would rather face any other team from the East over Kent State. I'd love to catch Akron right now because I think we'd beat them if we were playing them this week. Yes, you have to play the entire East at some point, I would just much rather face a weaker foe to start conference play over the team picked to win it all. Kent State is capable of exploding on offense and has played a really tough non-confernce schedule, which has limited them from what you're going to see out of them vs the MAC - if they stay healthy. We limited Minnesota to 10 points for the game, which was beyond outstanding, but I wouldn't be surprised if we struggle to limit Kent State to 10 points in any quarter. That's not a knock on our defense as this is the best I've seen us play during a stretch since 2013. I just know how potent Kent State can be when they're facing teams they are more suited to compete with. And our offense really needs to start mustering more for this team. The level of competition will be a little more balanced out now that we're starting conference play, but the offense really need to somewhat start complimenting the defense. Even when we're able to move the ball, it takes a ton of effort. We often walk a fine line between sustaining a drive and having it end in disaster. I know that's where we are right now, but if we can make a day-to-night jump on defense like we have, it would be nice to see our offense at least take a step or two forward now too.

[mbenecke]

After last week's win, we have to get focused right away for this one. Kent is really good and might be the MAC favorites. They've dropped 62 on our heads 2 years in a row now, so it's imperative that our defense works hard to get stops in this one so we can be competitive. Guess we'll see.

My wife and I (along with my in-laws) are doing some house work this weekend (painting the bedroom, reflooring the bathroom, etc.) so I may not get to actively engage with this one. Just hoping for a competitive showing against a MAC team for the first time since... November 2019.

3:30pm on ESPN+. Go Falcons!

[jpfalcon09]

MAC East POW Honors:

Matt McDonald, Offense
Brock Horne, Defense
Matt Naranjo, Special Teams

Clean sweep.

[MarkL]

Kent State's brutal schedule makes them hard to evaluate. I know their offense is supposed to be outstanding, but against FBS competition albeit Texas A&M, Iowa, and Maryland, they've scored a combined 33 points.

Now I know from watching them the last couple years just how potent they are. So I know they can light up a scoreboard. Just haven't seen exactly what the 2021 team can do.

So what I'm saying is this should be a tough game. And a win would surprise me exactly as much as a bad loss. I just don't know what to expect.

[jpfalcon09]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUhFaD2TMSc

Sean Lewis' press conference from yesterday.

Highlights of their Maryland game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UBD1NRvtW0

[BillyLP]

Kent State's brutal schedule makes them hard to evaluate. I know their offense is supposed to be outstanding, but against FBS competition albeit Texas A&M, Iowa, and Maryland, they've scored a combined 33 points.

Now I know from watching them the last couple years just how potent they are. So I know they can light up a scoreboard. Just haven't seen exactly what the 2021 team can do.

So what I'm saying is this should be a tough game. And a win would surprise me exactly as much as a bad loss. I just don't know what to expect.

I'm sure it was due to some financial reasons along with weird scheduling these days, but that seems like such an unnecessarily brutal OOC schedule. Most P5 teams aren't playing that level of competition 3 times in four weeks, outside of the SEC, maybe. Selfishly, I hope that they are worn out to the point that BG can take advantage, but I could also see the game moving a lot slower for them this week after seeing three big time programs.

[kdog27]

Yea they are probably pretty pumped to not be staring and 3/4 star players at every position. We’ll see. Going be a good evaluation on where we have improved in all facets of the game as well as coaching.

[jpfalcon09]

I think we'll really get to see just how improved the defense is this week. Obviously we've seen this offense at work during Dino's time, and the 60+ outings the last two times these programs have met. The corners and safeties are going to have to play exceptionally well, and the front seven will need to generate a consistent push.

[Beaker]

I'm of course, hopeful for a win and will be making the trip up to the game on Saturday, but I actually don't have any more confidence in a win this week than I did last week. That doesn't mean I've got a glum outlook for the long term. Last week's game solidified my opinion that the program is moving in the right direction and I'm optimistic we can compete for division and league championships in the near future, provided we find the right QB.

That said, Kent is familiar with us, they have confidence from the last 2 drubbings they put on us, they have a much more dynamic offense that can attack all over the field, vs the bland, convention game plan Minne was running (without their top RB and top WR) and unlike Minne last week, we're sneaking up on Kent. After this win, we will have their attention and I have to believe there's more of an edge to their preparation than there would be if we had lost in Minneapolis 44-6. I'm sure the Gophers' thought they were going to have an easy walkover and their minds were only on the good time they were going to have at their homecoming party with their girlfriends. But hey, it's Kent's homecoming to, so maybe boys will be boys. I guess when you have been as bad as we've been for this long, just about every road game you play is going to be someone's homecoming.

This team had South Alabama beat but didn't know how to finish off a win. They bounced back from adversity the next week to beat Murray State. Last week they learned what it takes to hold a late lead and actually looked like they got stronger and played even harder at crunch time. Now we'll get to see if this young team has the mental toughness to come back from a huge win and not let the past success diminish their preparation for the next opponent. At least following this team has gotten a lot more interesting.

[Flipper]

I predict the winner of this game will win the MAC east

(I realize this is kind of a "no s**t" prediction since Kent is now a pretty heavy favorite for this game and the MAC east

[Schadenfreude]

I predict the winner of this game will win the MAC east

(I realize this is kind of a "no s**t" prediction since Kent is now a pretty heavy favorite for this game and the MAC east

You could be right. But Buffalo might have something to say about this.

[jpfalcon09]

I'm of course, hopeful for a win and will be making the trip up to the game on Saturday, but I actually don't have any more confidence in a win this week than I did last week. That doesn't mean I've got a glum outlook for the long term. Last week's game solidified my opinion that the program is moving in the right direction and I'm optimistic we can compete for division and league championships in the near future, provided we find the right QB.

That said, Kent is familiar with us, they have confidence from the last 2 drubbings they put on us, they have a much more dynamic offense that can attack all over the field, vs the bland, convention game plan Minne was running (without their top RB and top WR) and unlike Minne last week, we're sneaking up on Kent. After this win, we will have their attention and I have to believe there's more of an edge to their preparation than there would be if we had lost in Minneapolis 44-6. I'm sure the Gophers' thought they were going to have an easy walkover and their minds were only on the good time they were going to have at their homecoming party with their girlfriends. But hey, it's Kent's homecoming to, so maybe boys will be boys. I guess when you have been as bad as we've been for this long, just about every road game you play is going to be someone's homecoming.

This team had South Alabama beat but didn't know how to finish off a win. They bounced back from adversity the next week to beat Murray State. Last week they learned what it takes to hold a late lead and actually looked like they got stronger and played even harder at crunch time. Now we'll get to see if this young team has the mental toughness to come back from a huge win and not let the past success diminish their preparation for the next opponent. At least following this team has gotten a lot more interesting.

Honestly, the program is playing with house money at this point. Yeah, it'll be disappointing if they lose this week, but given the low expectations (1.5 wins in Vegas) I think it makes it a little bit easier to enjoy the games the rest of the way out. As long as there's a consistent effort and there's continual improvement week over week, I'm good.

[bgdodgeball4]

What a terrible roughing the passer call to bail Kent State out again. I’m not sure who has been worse this year - refs or ESPN plus announcing crews.

[Hammer]

That was an insane roughing the passer call.