It has been a roller coaster season for the BG football team this year. People may be in panic mode after last Saturday’s 26-14 loss to Western Michigan.

Somebody must say it, so I will— don’t panic. Now is not the time to panic. Yes, last weekend’s loss to Western Michigan was a bad home loss and yes, the so called “Falcon Fast” offense was halted, but there is still plenty of football to play.

For some reason, fans have short-term memory when it comes to what their expectations were when the schedule came out in February.

If somebody were to tell me the Falcons would enter Mid-American Conference play with two losses, with a new quarterback and with D.J. Lynch missing a month of football and Ryland Ward sitting out two weeks, I would have been shocked.

Now, while the loss this weekend is hard to justify, there are two good things that came from it.

First is that the Falcons got their first MAC loss out of their system before their 16-day break. Although every loss is tough to swallow, this one is a bit easier because the Broncos are in the MAC West Division and it does not affect their run to Detroit.

The second positive is that Ohio University defeated the University of Akron Saturday. Akron seems to be the only formidable MAC East team that could take the Falcons’ MAC Championship spot.

Akron’s loss makes them 2-1 in the MAC East and knocks them down to second place behind the 3-0 Falcons.

Now, why do I say not to panic? Easy, because all roads lead to Akron on Nov. 4 when the Falcons will play the Zips. No matter what you are told, this is not just another game. The winner of that game will more than likely be the MAC East Champion.

It’s hard to think that an early November game can determine the MAC East Champion, but when you look at the remaining schedule for the Falcons, it can.

They will host Kent State after they play Akron and that will be the last MAC East team they play. With that, a win at Akron is a huge game for the Falcons if they want to decide their own fate.

Their fate is in their own hands right now and despite the loss to Western Michigan, they have improved in many facets.

I’m sure many of you remember the first five games of the season, when the defense was unbearably hard to watch. It got to the point where we would just hope to have the ball last.

That same defense is getting healthy and in the past 10 quarters, they have resembled the BG defense we all expected to see this season. They are tackling in space better and they have put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

It’s time for the offense to help the team now. The offense has visibly struggled in the past two games, but I don’t expect that to last much longer.

The Falcons have 16 days to heal and figure out their offense. This 16-day break is coming at a perfect time.

Expect the Falcons to put a full game together offensively and defensively against Akron.

I advise you not to hop off the bandwagon just yet, because if the Falcons beat Akron like I expect them to, there won’t be much room on it to catch a ride to Detroit on Dec. 5.