Game observations

[Jacobs4Heisman]

First off congratulations to everyone involved -- it was a great victory for our program.

I have been pessimistic about this game since the beginning of the season, but I managed to predict a close victory if Omar could play. Boy was I wrong. Miami came out like we did against Boise and we made them pay which as nice to see.

Offense -- OK, I'll take it. Omar looked pretty normal to me. The int to Sanders in the end zone was the right read and a good throw, it was just late which gave the corner time to peel off his man and make the play. The one across the middle was just miscommunication. Ruiz stopped and Omar led him like he was going to continue crossing.

The running game was good, but I'm not sure why we abondoned the 2-back set that was so effective. We ran a lot of plays out of the one-back under center formation and the got stuffed every time. That formation needs to go unless we use it for playaction. Maybe we were using it to set some things up for UT, but I don't want to see us run the ball out of that formation until the game is decided.

Play calling was better than it has been in big road games the last couple years. The misdirection throwback for Drob's first TD was the perfect play call. Of course there were two dog play calls from the goal line to set that up, but it all worked out. I don't know why we've abondoned the tried and true direct snap for that situation. The reverse throw from partridge was also a great call. Did anyone else notice the RB running away from the play wide oped for the throwback? I hope we use that same play but throw back to the WR against Toledo from around midfield a la the Harris throwback in 2003.

Offensive line played great in pass protection. We don't know how tender Omar's shoulder was, but the O-line made sure it wasn't an issue by keeping him clean for the most part. Great game by those guys. Congrats to Sharon on the records -- he's been a great player for us and stepped up big time. It was also nice to see Partridge give a meaningful contribution. It looks like he's finally getting healthy (maybe dad can chime in) and it's obvious he will be the next really good receiver to fill the void next year.


Defense -- Wow. Wow. For the first time I can remember, our defense was the aggressor in this game. We brought the tempo to Miami and they could not handle the pressure. I said we needed to blitz all day and we actually did. IT was obvious that Betts is a bad QB when under duress and we were in his face all night long. Kudos to the D-staff for a great gameplan.

Biggest happy point? We hit people. Every single play we leveled somebody. I haven't seen our defense play that hard maybe ever. We were showing emotion and guys were pumped up. Parks was a monster all night.

The youth -- It seems like every play Hargrove or Smith or Lewis or Dozier or another young guy was making a nice play. I feel a lot better about the future of the defense after watching those young guys shut down a very good offense. We will still be undersized in the front 7, but it looks like we've found a few guys who are willing to fly around and make some plays.

Secondary played well -- they let guys get behind 'em a few times but other than that they made the plays that were presented to them. Lewis and Smith are going to be good ones for us on the corners.


Special Teams -- Well they handed this one to us one a silver platter. Timchenko's field goal almost made me cry from happiness. The 2 missed xp's did the opposite. Kick coverage was the best it's been by far, especially against as good a return game as Miami has. Chuck had a couple of great returns also. The one to start the third really set the tone for the half.


Overall, I'm blown away by the performance. Our guys played with purpose, something we haven't seen since the first half against Wisky. We are finally getting healthy, and it shows in the performance. I don't think we can overestimate the effect Omar's return had on this team's confidence level. The guys were ready to play. We get on the coaches when they aren't so I'll applaud the coaches for this effort. It was a good gameplan on both sides of the ball for the most part. If this team comes out the same way the rest of the year, I think we'll have three more nat'l TV victories under our belt.

The season comes down to the big game, as it should. Time to focus on beating Toledo, and winning the East.

[bgsufn]

What he said

Well done Falcons!

[HappyBG]

I'm glad that the game was a blow out win. It looked to me that Jacobs needed to shake some rust off and this was a great game to do that.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

I'm glad that the game was a blow out win. It looked to me that Jacobs needed to shake some rust off and this was a great game to do that.

Yep -- the most important thing was watching him absorb a hit or 2. He looked to have no ill effects. Hopefully he'll hit his stride along with the rest of the offense and put 50 on Toledo.

[Falconfreak90]

I'm glad that the game was a blow out win. It looked to me that Jacobs needed to shake some rust off and this was a great game to do that.

I agree....I didn't expect Omar to throw for 400 yards after missing almost 3 whole games. He managed the offense like a true veteran and we picked up many important 3rd down conversions. We were 12-19 on 3rd down and SIX FOR SIX in the Red Zone. Freakin eh!

One more to go....on our turf. Against that school up north. I think we'll be OK. NEVER GIVE UP...it didn't look good 2 1/2 weeks ago but I wrote in a column that you never jump ship when things are going badly. I'm so happy this morning I think I could cry.

BEAT "Them"!

[Rightupinthere]

I would like to add to this.

I have been Brandon's biggest critic of late but I must say that bringing the guys to warm-up well before he needed to proved to be a major motivator of the team. My hat (and what's left of my hair) is off to him on what proved to be a game winning decision.

Play calling. Eh, still trying to force a square peg into a round hole most of the time. I want one day - JUST ONE DAY - to shuffle the pages of that phucking play book. It seems as though the thing just falls open to the single back set running strong side off-tackle.

But MAN! That D! Was it just that Miami was so out of sync, our defense adapting to a new scheme, or a combo? Don't know and frankly, I don't care. They looked very stout.

[bgsufan1970]

Although I didn't watch the game on TV, I'd like to think that we have actually made real improvement. That is the most important thing for the program. Winning the MAC East and the the MAC Championship after the roller coaster year we've had we make this year more gratifying than our previous four.

[Bleeding Orange]

Winning the MAC East and the the MAC Championship after the roller coaster year we've had we make this year more gratifying than our previous four.

I have been saying this for weeks. It is nice that some of us "Kool Aid" drinkers can say "I told you so" for a change.

[San Diego Falcon]

Great observations!

I'll chime in with one more (unfortunately, it's a negative one).

This was the 1st time I've seen us try to defend an onsides kick since the 2003 Toledo game (that of course was a much bigger moment in that game than last night's situation). Both times we've lined up in a strange looking formation in which the other team has more players lined up on the side to which the ball went than we did. Both times the other team recovered the ball. Our formation seems to increase the chances of the other team pulling it off - I've never seen another receiving team line up so few players to the side to which the kicker is pointed.

If I'm a scout for Toledo, I'd tell Amstutz to go onsides every single kickoff until we adjust our formation.

[PGY Tiercel]

I have been saying this for weeks. It is nice that some of us "Kool Aid" drinkers can say "I told you so" for a change.

Make some more, I'm drinking the "kool aid" with you. I knew they would win this game. Just check out the prediction I made last week. A damn good one I say.

How many times has Shane Montgomery beaten us?........NONE
BG 38
Preppy Tech- 17

[Rollo83]

Great win for the brown and orange last night. I thought the defense stepped up last night and played a complete game. It was a perfeect setting for Omar to get back under center and knock some of the rust off. We didn't need him to be perfect.

I wouldn't say this was the slam dunk confidence buidler we were looking for...but it was close.

The deep balls over the top of our DBs concerned me a little. Brucie will be even more of a challenge than Betts...luckily he won't have Nance and Robinson catching for him.

We didn't really win this game...rather Miami gave it to us on a silver platter. We probably won't get 5 turnovers and 3 safeties from Toledo next week. None of our touchdown drives were more than 47 yards long last night. The good thing is that I have more respect for the Miami defense that I do for the Rockets defense. We should be able to move the ball on Toledo.

When BG and Toledo play its always a higher scoring game on the turf in the Glass Bowl. At the Doyt on natural grass, its just the opposite...the weather seems to slow the game down a bit and make it more of a defensive, ground control game. I think that plays into our favor this year.

Lets hope the home cooking continues in this series.

[truth]

i think the reason BG abandoned the 2 back sets and plays was not to show UT scouts too much.

One thing i havent seen commented on much is the weather. What a shitty mess, but holy crap could there have been better timing for the wind to completely change direction? once the first quarter ended and the teams switched sides the wind direction pulled a 180, and the rain eased. All shifts in the weather were HUGE breaks for BG.

i was still nervous at half because of BG's history, and from my observation i wasn't sure the team felt like the next half mattered. Thankfully BG didn't make many mistakes in the 2nd half.

Every time the longsnapper for MU got into his stance the wind picked up as us BG fans taunted for more missed snaps. In hindsight i feel really bad for the guy, but after 2 F ups, i'd start aiming for the punters feet instead of the hands. That was unbelieveable. I sure was wired for the late night drive home thats for sure. Also, I finally get to jar my sister ,who goes to MU, a bit.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

i think the reason BG abandoned the 2 back sets and plays was not to show UT scouts too much.

Good point. I was hoping the same thing. I'm also hoping the vanilla play calling in the second half from the under-center formation was to set up some playaction for Toledo. I think that look could be devestating if used properly.

[RossfordFalcon]

One other thing that i noticed about the defense was how much steming they were doing before the play started. They did a really good job confusing their O-line and that resulted in a lot of bad passes and big plays.

[orangeandbrown]

I would like to add to this.

I have been Brandon's biggest critic of late but I must say that bringing the guys to warm-up well before he needed to proved to be a major motivator of the team. My hat (and what's left of my hair) is off to him on what proved to be a game winning decision.

Play calling. Eh, still trying to force a square peg into a round hole most of the time. I want one day - JUST ONE DAY - to shuffle the pages of that phucking play book. It seems as though the thing just falls open to the single back set running strong side off-tackle.

But MAN! That D! Was it just that Miami was so out of sync, our defense adapting to a new scheme, or a combo? Don't know and frankly, I don't care. They looked very stout.

Don't forget that much of that time we were playing with a big league when you will sometimes be more conservative.