One minute, 38 seconds. Four minutes, 17 seconds. One minute, eight seconds. Two minutes, 53 seconds. Two minutes, 29 seconds. Two minutes, nine seconds.
Those are the times of Bowling Green’s six first-half possessions, all of which resulted in some sort of score for a 34-14 halftime lead over previously unbeaten Missouri Saturday night at Doyt L. Perry Stadium.
Add to that three scores in the second half of six seconds, two minutes and 23 seconds and no time, and you have a pretty efficient night at the office for the Falcons’ offensive unit.
Gary Pinkel, Missouri’s head coach, who used to be an assistant in BG and the head coach at Toledo, was impressed by the Falcons’ offense.
“Their offensive execution was outstanding,” Pinkel said after the game. “They executed play after play; we couldn’t get off the field. They run a good offense, and we worked on everything they do. Harris is a good player and Redd too, and they were clicking on everything. They made great plays, and great throws. They had a couple third and 10 situations, and third and long, and they converted. We could not switch the momentum in the game.”
There were the spectacular individual numbers in the win. Josh Harris, for the second time in four games dating back to last year, passed for, caught and ran for a touchdown. Joe Alls ran with authority, finishing with 119 yards and a touchdown. Receivers Robert Redd and James Hawkins had 209 and 112 yards receiving, respectively. Receiver – yes, receiver – Cole Magner threw for two touchdowns.
But more impressive than the individual numbers, the cohesiveness of the unit as a whole led them to their success.
Harris spent most of his time in shotgun formation, but by no means were he and the offense predictable. They ran options.
They ran draw plays. They ran reverses. They ran short passing routes. They sent Hawkins and Redd down the field. They even had the Alaskan Assassin, Magner, try his hand through the air. It was a memorable performance.
“Before the game, I had every intention of deferring to the second half,” Falcon head coach Urban Meyer said. “The offensive line and the quarterbacks convinced me to take the ball. Our offensive staff and defensive staff will get game balls tonight. … I had every intention of running the spread offense here; they had a great defensive line, and we had to neutralize them, and the key to the game was our first drive. That first drive was perfect.”
Harris, the leader of the Falcon offense, may have just furthered himself on the national landscape with his performance. He agreed that the first drive, in which he caught one of Magner’s touchdown passes, set the tone for the game.
“What a great game,” he said. “This game impressed me, and impressed all of us. Everyone had a great game, and we came out on that opening drive and set the tone for the game.”
Perhaps most ironic about the Falcons’ offensive arsenal was that Missouri and redshirt freshman Brad Smith were supposed to be the explosive offensive team. They had, after all, beaten the defending Big 10 champs, and Smith has already been mentioned among the elite quarterbacks in the nation. He had a strong game statistically, but his team was never in the game.
“They hit on so many big plays and made play after play after play, we just couldn’t get off the field, we couldn’t stop them,” Pinkel said. “They kept making plays to keep their drives going. … That’s the best execution I’ve seen in a long time.”
