Bowling For Soup: A Look At Virginia Tech’s Next Foe
By Ty Hodges
The Bowling Green Falcons are going to bring some hot MAC-tion to Lane Stadium this Saturday. But what do we know about Bowling Green? Let’s take a look…
They Almost Beat Florida…
…At “The Swamp” I might add. Let’s be honest, the first game of the season can always be a crapshoot for whomever plays. Florida found that one out the hard way as, with one quarter remaining, the Gators lead the Falcons by a mere three points at home. MAC > SEC? Well, not quite. The Gators scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to win 27-14, but the fact still remains that the Falcons gave a very good Florida team all they could handle at home. This team has some spunk and the Hokies need to do a better job of not overlooking Bowling Green like they did Pittsburgh.
They Can Be Really Good, Or Really Bad
Bowling Green looked really good at times against the Gators, and for good reason. The Falcons return 20 starters combined on both sides of the ball (10 on offense and defense). An experienced team should be very talented right? Well – yes, at times. Others, not so much.
Following the Florida loss, the Falcons beat then 0-2 Idaho by eight points at home, and lost to rival Toledo by 12 on the road. Bowling Green hasn’t looked so hot since that Florida game, huh? What’s been going wrong?
Their pass defense is absolutely BRUTAL. Against Florida, the Falcons gave up only 145 yards. However, Florida’s quarterback Jeff Driskel only threw the ball 16 times, and he completed 10 of those. Against Idaho and Toledo, the Falcons have given up a combined 674 passing yards. That, my friends, is not good at all. These aren’t even particularly talented teams either. Since Virginia Tech seems to be more pass happy as of late, this should bode well for the Hokies.
One thing that Bowling Green’s defense should hold their hat on is the fact that their defense is very much a bend, but don’t break group. Despite giving up all those yards through the air, Idaho only scored 13 points and Toledo only scored 27. The Falcons even held Florida to 27 points, which is a pretty impressive task for such a seemingly overmatched defense.
They Don’t Complete Drives On Offense Effectively
After doing some number crunching on Bowling Green’s offense, we know some things about their offense and their inability to score.
Bowling Green has had a total of 36 drives this season. In 15 of those drives, the end result was a punt. In 12 of those drives, the end result was a turnover of some kind (three interceptions, one fumble, five turnovers on downs, and three missed field goals). In eight of those drives, Bowling Green capitalized on points (one made field goal, six rushing touchdowns, and one passing touchdown). And two other drives ended a quarter and a half.
Simply put, Bowling Green only scores on 22% of its drives. Simply put again, Bowling Green punts on 41.6% of their drives and turns the ball over 33% of the time. That’s a combined 74.6, or 75, percent fail rate by their offense. If Virginia Tech’s defense comes out and plays as pissed off as I hope Bud has them, Bowling Green could be in for a long day.
And because everyone likes pie charts, here’s a pie chart to break down those numbers: