I’m betting if you told BG coach Dave Clawson early last week his team was only going to lose to No. 25 Missouri by seven points instead of being beaten like an old, dusty blanket, he would anticipate singing praises about his team in the postgame press conference.

And while the former may have happened, it only happened because a flurry of miscues allowed the Tigers to rally from a 20-6 deficit to win by a count of 27-20, leaving Clawson with a tougher pill to swallow.

Inside that pill were the 99 yards his team gave away on penalties, the two red zone drives that ended with field goals instead of touchdowns, the image of Mizzou’s running back Derrick Washington and quarterback Blaine Gabbert carve their way through the defense like a Halloween jack-o’-lantern and the memory of watching his team falter under fatigue through the fourth quarter.

The side effects of that pill include crankiness, anger at the sight of yellow flags and the sudden urge to focus on finishing games and drives in practice.

And the coach isn’t the only person involved with the football program who swallowed that pill.

Senior captain Freddie Barnes said on his Twitter after the game that he puts the loss on himself because he is a captain and senior.

Another senior captain, quarterback Tyler Sheehan, said the team missed many opportunities, especially in the red zone and late in the game, and knows the team needs to focus on those areas in practice this week.

‘The coaches came out with a great game plan,’ Sheehan said. ‘We executed early, and then we started not executing later in the game. I think that’s why the end result was us losing.’

BG came into the game as a 20-point underdog so at first glance, the final score makes it look like the Falcons should be proud of themselves for a valiant effort against one of the top teams in the country.

But in the end, it was just another heartbreaker.’