When asked what positives he could take away from a 27-20 loss to No. 25 Missouri, BG coach Dave Clawson said just one thing before further elaborating on things his team needs to improve on.

‘We played with one of the best teams in the country for three quarters,’ Clawson said.

But by the time Clawson spoke publicly again yesterday, he did take notice of the improvements.

‘I did think we got better from week one Troy to week two Missouri,’ Clawson said during the Mid-American Conference teleconference yesterday. ‘Even though we didn’t win the Missouri game, we clearly made progress on both sides of the ball and special teams. And now we just want to continue that upward trend.’

Sophomore receiver Ray Hutson stepped up big in place of the injured Tyrone Pronty by catching five balls for 49 yards and his first career touchdown. Senior Chris Wright also saw increased action, making seven receptions for 57 yards.

Senior Freddie Barnes also continued where he left off against Troy, grabbing another 10 balls for 70 yards. He currently leads the NCAA in receptions with 25, holding a six-catch lead over Minnesota’s Eric Decker. His 227 total receiving yards also rank 10th in the country.

BG’s running game was also able to get going again as Willie Geter ran the ball 20 times for 99 and a touchdown. That is a vast improvement from week one when he only had nine carries for 49 yards. Barnes also took a couple of direct snaps and added a pair of designed quarterback runs for 23 yards.

And all of BG’s offensive playmakers took good care of the ball as BG did not commit any turnovers. Defensively, BG forced and recovered two fumbles.

Freshman Jerry Phillips continued showing strong accuracy in the kicking game, nailing two field goals from 37 and 32 yards while adding a pair of extra points.

And so long as BG is able to capitalize on these positives and fix the majority of their negatives, the team could be on to something special.