BGSU football kept things simple during their 26-7 win over Lafayette on Thursday to begin the Eddie George era. They ran the ball.
The Falcons rushed 44 times for 156 yards while graduate student quarterback Drew Pyne attempted only 18 pass attempts for 109 yards.
Much of this game plan is due to not having much tape on the FCS opponent and not wanting to unleash the full playbook at this stage in the season.
“It was tough to really scheme anything up. We didn’t know what we were going to get, from a philosophical standpoint…We wanted to keep everything vanilla, the things that we really worked on during camp. We didn’t want to come in with a smorgasbord of plays,” George said. “We had to get really good at a couple of things. I feel like we did that. It was our run game, elements in that. I saw some really good things up front.”
The Falcons were especially run-heavy in the first half, rushing the ball 31 times compared to just nine pass attempts.
However, the Orange and Brown did not have many long runs, with their longest rush being 14 yards and averaging and 3.5 yards per carry.
“We got a lot of mixed pressures; it disrupted our run game. We missed opportunities. We were one or two steps away from those home runs,” George said. “As we move forward and we get more information on our opponent week-to-week, we’ll be able to dial up some things.”
The rushing game was by committee, with five different tailbacks getting carries.
“We didn’t have just one guy to lean on. We just feel like all of them bring something unique to the table, whether it’s a slasher or a pounder, or a guy that can go in and hit the home run,” George said. “It feels good that we can have that talent in that room.”
Senior Kaderris Roberts led the team with 66 yards on 12 rushes. Meanwhile, junior Chris McMillian picked up 45 yards on a team-high 14 rushes.
Additionally, the trio of redshirt freshmen Cameron Pettaway, Nakai Amachree and Mar’Kel Porter combined for 50 rushing yards on 13 attempts.
“Last year, our whole running back room was basically seniors, so we lost a lot of guys, and that opened a lot of opportunities for us younger guys,” Pettaway said. “With them being gone, it just gives us extra reps.”
Although George enjoys having depth in the running back room, he does eventually want one or two players to separate themselves from the pack.
“They have to get better, and I’m curious to see which backs are going to step up and take the lion’s share of the carries,” he said.
