End Zone: BGSU 10-6

10/6/2011

In case you haven’t heard, BG got clocked last Saturday by West Virginia. Couldn’t stop the pass-happy Mountaineers from running the ball. Couldn’t get enough offense going to stay in a contest.

And if I’m the Falcons, I couldn’t care less about any of that.

Certainly BG wanted to win, because you want to win ALL of your games. But the Falcons needed to play their best game to have a chance to win, and they didn’t. So it’s time to move on — on to games that actually matter for a team that wants to compete for a MAC title.

This year’s Falcons should take a lesson from the 2009 team. That squad suffered a 35-point home loss to Boise State, then perhaps felt a bit of a hangover the following week and was knocked off at home by Ohio to fall to 1-4.

The lesson the 2009 team understood was that it needed to bounce back, brush itself off, and start winning again. Those Falcons, a veteran group led by a senior core, eventually earned a bowl bid because they knew that one game didn’t make a season — or, more accurately, that one loss didn’t ruin a season.

This year’s team is two wins better after five games, but the road ahead is much tougher since it includes three of the MAC’s best teams in Western Michigan, Toledo, and Temple. If this year’s Falcons can put last week’s disappointing loss behind them, they could make everyone forget the West Virginia game.

Read more from John on the Falcon Fodder blog at toledoblade.typepad.com/FalconFodder.