BiG look at Falcons loss at Toledo

The Bowling Green football team lost to its arch rivals, suffering a 27-15 loss to Toledo at the Glass Bowl Saturday, Sept. 15. The Falcons struggled out of the gate offensively, struggled to stop the pass defensively all night long, and had special teams issues rise up again. It all adds up to a loss in the team’s Mid-American Conference opener as BG falls to 1-2 for the season. Here’s a look back at the contest. ...

BiG TWITTER POST: Falcons fall behind 17-0 midway thru 2nd quarter, aren't able to close gap in suffering 27-15 loss to arch-rival Toledo at Glass Bowl Sunday

BiG OVERVIEW: The Falcons fell behind 7-0 midway through the first quarter when Toledo’s Terrance Owens connected on a 66-yard touchdown pass to Alonzo Russell. Late in the first period the Rockets began what would be an 11-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a 27-yard field goal by Jeremiah Detmer at the 12:14 mark of the second quarter. On BG’s next possession Matt Schilz was intercepted by Cheatham Norrils at the Falcons’ 41, and five plays later David Fluellen scored on a one-yard run to make it 17-0 Rockets with 8:43 still to play. Late in the second quarter Bowling Green drove 55 yards in eight plays and Tyler Tate kicked a 32-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to make the score 17-3. Toledo took the second-half kickoff and raced 75 yards in four plays, with Fluellen scoring on a 22-yard run. BG took the ensuing kickoff and had a six-play, 72-yard drive that finished with Anthon Samuel scoring on a 23-yard run (the PAT kick was no good). Early in the fourth quarter BG scored on a two-yard TD run by John Pettigrew, but the Falcons’ two-point conversion attempt failed. Toledo then drove 57 yards on 14 plays, knocking 7:46 off the clock before Detmer kicked a 42-yard field goal with 5:42 to play for the game’s final points.

BiG PLAY: Toledo was facing a third-and-13 situation on its own 34 on the Rockets’ second drive of the first quarter. But a blown coverage by the Falcons allowed UT to do much more than convert the long-yardage third down: Terrance Owens found Alonzo Russell down the sideline for a 66-yard touchdown pass that got the Rockets on the board first. What’s more, that pass was a sign of things to come for the beleaguered BG pass defense, which was shredded for 322 yards by UT. It was the first of several punches Toledo landed early – punches that the Falcons never seemed to recover from.

OFFENSIVE  BiG MAN: Sophomore running back Anthon Samuel had a big game against the Rockets Saturday, finishing with 112 yards rushing and a touchdown on 16 carries, for an average of 7.0 yards per rush. Samuel scored on a 23-yard run on BG’s first drive of the second half, and also had runs of 22 yards and 17 yards. Samuel also caught three passes for 14 yards. ... Honorable mention goes to redshirt freshman WR Ryan Burbrink, who led the Falcons with seven catches for 71 yards, and junior WR Shaun Joplin, who caught five passes for 61 yards.

DEFENSIVE BiG MAN: Senior LB Dwayne Woods finished with 10 tackles, tied for the team lead. Among those 10 tackles were a pair of tackles for lost that set Toledo back seven yards. Woods also broke up one UT pass on the night. ... Honorable mention goes to junior CB Cameron Truss, who finished with 10 tackles, including seven solo stops, and also had one pass broken up; and senior DT Chris Jones, who had four tackles, two of which were sacks that set the Rockets back 11 yards.

 

SPECIAL TEAMS BiG MAN: Let’s give the nod to freshman kickoff specialist Anthony Farinella, who averaged 63.3 yards on his three kickoffs. What’s more, Farinella allowed Toledo just 35 yards on its two returns and had one touchback, giving him a net yards per kickoff of 45.0 yards per kick. … Honorable mention goes to junior punter Brian Schmiedebusch, who had four punts for 184 yards for an average of 46 yards per kick. He landed one inside the Rockets’ 20, had two punts cover 50 yards or more and had only one touchback. Even more, he didn’t allow any return yardage, so his net punting was 41.0 yards per kick.

BiG NUMBERS: For the second week in a row the Bowling Green pass defense was shredded by an efficient opponent. Toledo completed 21-of-29 passes for 322 yards, giving them an average of 11.1 yards per attempt (which ain’t good) and 15.3 yards per completion (which is worse). But the most disturbing number has to be the one that shows the Rockets completed 72.4 percent of their passes in the contest. Close behind that was Toledo’s 13 pass plays that gained double-figure yardage, including three for 22 yards or more.

BiG QUESTION: I’ve seen and heard from a lot of people who feel the Falcons came out flat, which is especially bad if you consider this is BG’s prime rivalry game. I didn’t think it was a problem of a lack of emotion … I just thought the Falcons didn’t play well. In fact, I thought the Falcons really played poorly in a game in which they couldn't afford to do that. Can Bowling Green shore up its play on both sides of the ball -- and on special teams -- in time to stay in its next game, which comes on the road against nationally ranked Virginia Tech, which will be out for blood following an embarrassing loss at Pittsburgh?

Comments

[Michael Henry]

It seems that BG just can't catch up to the top teams in the MAC. On paper, the Falcons look like a major contender but in reality they may be a pretender. The defense has been an issue the whole Clawson era and now the offense has become inconsistent. Don't get me wrong, I like Dave Clawson and it seems like he is doing things the right way. For some reason, he just isn't getting the results. BG keeps finding ways to lose big games.

[A Facebook User]

The talent is there...on offense the coaching staff doesn't seem to have much faith in it. Schilz has the ability to power the ball downfield. We're throwing way too many short balls...opposing defenses aren't respecting the seep ball one iota, so our WR's have little space to work in.

The defense payed great when we were able to slow the game down. They looked totally unprepared to handle the "fastball" tempo from UT. That's a game prep issue in my mind.

A kicker..a kicker...my kingdom for a kicker. We have 3-4 PK on scholarship. Is it that hard to find one that can hit a FG consistently?

[Jeremy]

Clawson likes to recruit pro-style QBs but he runs the spread, which makes no sense. You need to have a mobile QB to be able to efficiently run the spread and have teams respect that aspect of your game.

As far as the playcalling, its been that way for 3 years now. Warren Ruggiero has done a poor job of letting the talent shine. The first quarter was an exercise in futility with three straight three and outs.

[John_Wagner]

Gentlemen: Interesting comments, but not sure I agree.

I really haven't heard many people -- ANY people, actually -- give UT credit for playing well. I thought they played REALLY well.

Is this completely on BG? Should they have beaten Toledo, but they made too many mistakes, etc.?

I don't mean this as a criticism. Just something to think about ...

[Orangeandbrown]

John, I think UT did play well, but fans are wondering when BG will be able to beat a team that plays well. Coach said after the game that Owens is a good QB, so why can't BG win a game against a good QB.

[Isabel Adams]

Toledo was definitely prepared for Saturday’s game against Bowling Green. Bowling Green may have felt prepared but obviously in some areas there is room for improvement. This loss wasn't a single positions fault and it wasn't just a coaching issue as well. The coaching staff needs to get more organized with their communication and plays. Not only that, they need to better the chemistry between themselves and the players. Contributing factors to the loss were things such as thrown away passes, false starts, two missed kicks. For thrown away passes, Matt needs to keep his eyes keyed in on his receivers and he needs to also be aware of possible gaps in the line. I understand he has a great arm with power, but it’s those moments when he doesn’t put that into play. To defend him though, it’s also up to our receivers to juke properly so that they can get to the proper place so that the route can be completed. When it comes down to false starts, I feel as though this is an issue that is continuously happening at the games. At the Toledo game, it was Alex who had two false starts which put the Falcons behind even more. Maybe timing should be practiced at practice? Then for the kicks… Kicking in Florida was one thing, which were two kicks missed consecutively. Kicking in Toledo was two kicks that were separated by a decent field-goal. We have two people who can kick FGs without a problem. The only difference is one has experience and the other does not. The kicker for BG vs. UT is new to the away game environment. He made all 3 extra points against Idaho. I feel as though just because he missed a field goal and an extra point at Toledo that doesnt makes him an inconsistent and unreliable kicker. The Falcons lost by much more than 4 points which should help illustrate to fans that it’s not just the kickers fault. I just wanted to clarify that in response to the Facebook User’s reply. The Falcons need to get their act together and stop being so comfortable in their confidence. Being confidence is of course a necessity to being a successful athlete, but also the ability to live up to it is needed as well. Physically I think our team is fine, it's all about the mental aspect of sport now.

[Jeremy]

John:

UT deserves all the credit in the world. They were prepared, motivated and executed their plays. With BG, we've seen this story too many times...not able to execute key plays, poor special teams, issues on defense, vanilla playcalling. The coaching staff said this year would be different, but so far I'm not seeing that difference. It worries me that perhaps the coaching and/or the talent on the field isn't translating well from practice into in-game scenarios.

They have 9 games left, and they theoretically now have to go 6-3 the rest of the way to become bowl eligible. We'll see what happens.

[John_Wagner]

Interesting comments, everyone.

One ticky-tack I want to address: Isabel, some of those throw-aways by Schilz are actually good plays. No one is open, so throw the ball away to "live for another play" instead of trying to force the ball or taking a sack.

I think that's something Schilz is doing better this year.

Jeremy: I hear what you're saying, but a question about 6-3 to become bowl eligible ... isn't that still do-able? Beat Rhode Island, Akron, UMass, EMU and Buffalo (and BG probably will be favored in all five), and you're almost home.

[Jeremy]

I think it is, but again it all comes down to execution and hoping you don't let one of those games slip away from you. I still shudder at the thought of the loss to EMU a few years ago at the Doyt.

[Isabel Adams]

I understand that those some of the throw-aways were needed, however, I recall one throw-away that was almost caught by Toledo... which obviously wouldn't have been a good thing for Bowling Green.

Bowling Green still has the potential to become bowl eligible, they just have to get mentally in shape and know that they've got it in the bag. Need to stop worry about football, and just play.