For about 53 seconds, it looked as if the Falcons had hope. Two plays later, that dream died.
The Falcons took the road not likely taken for victory. That road made sure the Falcons got down 23 points before they actually looked like they had life.
After being down 23, the Falcons were finally able to put something together. Roger Williams Jr. was able to put BG in good field position by returning a kickoff following a Miami touchdown to the BG 41.
The Falcons proceeded to march down the field in nine plays and were able to find the end zone when running back Dan Macon capped off the drive with two rushes combining for 23 yards, the second one finding the end zone.
It looked as if the Falcons set themselves up to get back in the game in the second half. The RedHawks were starting backups at quarterback and running back so the Falcons could get back in the game with a strong performance in the second half.
Unfortunately the Falcons could not even make it to the second half. Miami started the following drive on its 27 yard line with 1:58 to go in the first half. After an Austin Sykes rush for no gain, it looked as if the teams would head into halftime with the score at 23-7.
The RedHawks had other ideas. Quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh rolled to his right and threw a deep ball up to Eugene Harris.
There was one problem for the Falcons, however. There was no one within 20 yards of Harris, which made it easy for him to catch the ball and gallop into the end zone for a 73-yard score.
That killed any momentum the Falcons had, and the RedHawks went on to win 47-14.
“That was one of the most embarrassing games I have ever coached in,” said BG coach Gregg Brandon. “For all Falcons and everybody that loves BG, that’s not who we are. Somewhere down the line we have lost our confidence. We are going to have a gut-check week.”
This performance hurts a lot more than that loss to BC a week ago. With Miami still undefeated in league play, the loss for the Falcons essentially puts them two games behind the RedHawks because Miami now has the tiebreaker.
It was a very frustrating day for the Falcons on offense. Williams had seven kickoff returns for 152 yards, but BG could do nothing with the outstanding field position given to them. It was that way from the start. Williams returned the opening kickoff to the Miami 35-yard line. The very next play, Sheehan was sacked for a 14-yard loss, and the team punted two plays later.
“It is definitely frustrating,” said BG wide receiver Corey Partridge. “At the beginning of the year it seemed like we could go down the field at will, but these last two weeks have been frustrating, especially when we work so hard in practice.”
The offense was held to just 232 yards on the day. Usually the passing game alone goes off for more than that total. Tyler Sheehan was held to just 140 yards, and the running game was only able to muster 25 yards on 26 carries.
“They did a real nice job of getting their hands on the receivers and not letting us get down the field,” Partridge said. “They really did not do anything that we have not seen all year, we just did not execute. That is something we have to work on.”
