And in a flash, he was gone again.
For the sixth time this season, an opposing player rushed for more than 100 yards against the Falcon defense. Against Central Michigan Saturday, it was quarterback Dan LeFevour.
Following in the tracks left behind by Missouri’s Derrick Washington, Marshall’s Darius Marshall, Boise State’s Doug Martin, Ohio’s Chris Garrett and Ball State’s MiQuale Lewis, LeFevour torched the Falcon defense for 128 yards on 22 carries.
Coming into the game as the team’s leading rusher with 394 yards and a career total of 2,629 yards, it wasn’t a surprise to see the senior quarterback take off on his own so often against an inexperienced, undersized BG defense.
As one of the few veterans on defense, safety Jahmal Brown, said the team came into the game prepared but didn’t execute well enough to stop LeFevour’s attack.
‘We had a pretty good defensive gameplan,’ Brown said. ‘It was a matter of going out and executing. We missed a lot of tackles today.’
Missing blocks and tackles has been the case all season, as first-year coach Dave Clawson has put forth that excuse several times this season after a weak performance against the run. These problems have caused his defense to fall to 112th in the country.
‘We have not really defended the run well all year,’ Clawson said on Saturday. ‘We’re a little undersized up front, we’re not getting off of blocks and we’re missing too many tackles. The film’s out there, and people see it.’
And unless something changes, the Falcons will likely continue to get run over as they still have to face Buffalo’s Ike Nduka (81.1 yards per game) and Toledo’s DuJuan Collins (81.4 yards per game) this season.
Miami quarterback Zak Dysert is also a threat to run, but not as much of one as LeFevour was Saturday. But against a Falcon team allowing 208.9 rushing yards per game, that could change.
But at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, the Falcons likely won’t make the same mistake they did Saturday against LeFevour.
‘The big thing with LeFevour ‘hellip; you don’t really realize the size that he has until you see him in person,’ Brown said. ‘That was the biggest thing, trying to tackle him. He’s a big guy, and he runs hard.’
Listed at 6-foot-3, 238 pounds, LeFevour certainly possesses the size of a typical running back, which makes up for what he loses in quickness and agility because he is a quarterback by nature.
After the game, an unselfish LeFevour didn’t give himself credit, instead commending the team’s true tailback, Carl Volny, and his offensive line to their success.
‘It was very crucial. I think you saw a few times when I tried to take shots deep that the ball just died,’ LeFevour said. ‘It was very crucial to be able to move the ball. Carl stepped up big. Our offensive line, a few times he didn’t get touched for 7 or 8 yards, so hats off to them.’
But for BG, watching opponents run the ball has become a trend, as teams have rushed the 291 times this season while only attempting 207 passes. That disparity ballooned in the last two games when Ball State and Central Michigan combined to run the ball 86 times while throwing only 52 times.’
