The storm of the century hit Bowling Green last night, and the football team played on.
It may not have been a hurricane, but the weather conditions were about as pleasant as an enema during BG’s 9-7 loss to Miami.
While BG’s offense struggled to move the ball, their defense had a relatively easy time stopping Miami. They held the RedHawks to just 203 offensive yards in the game.
“Those type of conditions are ideal for defenses. Its fun running around play in the mud,” said BG linebacker Terrel White. “You know what they’re mostly going to do with the run and it’s a good thing for a defense to play like that.”
White had 10 tackles to lead the Falcons. Diyral Briggs, Erique Dozier and Brad Williams each had a sack. Dozier’s sack forced Miami quarterback Mike Kokal to fumble and it was recovered by Briggs who made like a New York Giant and “shot the J.”
Unfortunately for the defense, the weather started to slow down the offense in the third quarter. The defense had to stay on the field a little longer than they did in the first half and they gave up a score with 11:24 left.
Although they had some struggles, the offense did have some promising drives. The line was affected very little by the weather.
“I guess the biggest factor was just that we couldn’t step off the ball like we wanted to. We had to shorten our steps [because] it was so muddy out there. That was the only thing different for us, we’re pretty fat so we kind of warm up quick.”
The special teams was hurt by the weather conditions as well. Punter Alonso Rojas’ first attempt traveled nine yards and he averaged just 30.2 yards per attempt.
“He’s just got to step up in these situations,” said BG coach Gregg Brandon. “He’s a freshman and he’ll learn.”
On the last play of the game, Sean Ellis felt the worst effects of the weather as he attempted a 24-yard field goal with 31 seconds.
Ellis’ could not get a good foot on the ball and his kick sailed far to the left.
“He’s a Division-I kicker, he’s gonna have his ups and downs. He’ll have some great opportunities in his career,” Brandon said.
BG’s final drive, although devastating in the end, was an impressive effort.
“The throws that we made and the catches that we made in those conditions late, that was impressive,” Brandon said. “Anthony [Turner] did a good job of engineering that and getting us down there and we just came up a play short.”
The Falcons will now turn their attention to Toledo, as they’ll take on the Rockets for their final game of the season on Tuesday.
