The Aggies are going into the locker room with the lead, but that wasn’t exactly the greatest half in the world. There’s a lot to work on on both sides of the ball.
I know some of you will be outraged by the very idea of this comment, but Marcel Reed was very ordinary for large parts of the first half. He started off great, going 5-6 for 62 yards and a touchdown, but then went 1 for his next 6 for 1 yard. Then he he hit three in a row. But he’s missing a lot of wide open receivers for big plays and is a little too willing to pull the ball down and run. He forced the last pass to Noah Thomas in the end zone and it was nearly picked off. That’s to be expected by a guy making his second start, but it shows he’s mortal and has work to do. 9-17 for 99 yards isn’t setting the world on fire.
Bowling Green essentially has put 8 guys up in the box and has dared Reed to throw. Until the last drive, the offensive line wasn’t getting much push at all. But an 18-play drive is a pretty good indicator that they started to do something right. They’ve still got a lot of work to do, because the backs still haven’t really broken loose.
I do want to give some serious credit to Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels. Both of those guys made fantastic blitz pickups in the first half to give Reed time to throw. You know their teammates will appreciate that kind of effort when they see it.
Theo Ohrstrom made another fantastic touchdown catch. Tre Watson has been open repeatedly and Reed either hasn’t seen him or went for the option further downfield. Noah Thomas got some catches late in the half and it looks like he’s someone they want to get the ball to more. Jabre Barber had a couple of catches early and then vanished.
The best play calls of the half were the fourth down calls. The first one, the pass to Terry Bussey, almost didn’t happen because Bussey slipped while he was in motion. But he got up and made the play anyway. Thomas did a great job on his shallow cross to get the second one.
The offensive line needs to be challenged at halftime. They’ve given up a sack (Reed’s fault for holding onto the ball too long), and two tackles for loss, but they have not gotten solid push against the 120th ranked rush defense. That should embarrass them. It doesn’t matter if they have 8 guys, 9 guys or 12 guys up. Do your jobs.
There have also been way too many penalties for false starts or illegal formation. These are discipline issues. That can’t be considered just part of the game.
Defensively, A&M has a sack and 4 tackles for loss, but they’ve done a lousy job fitting runs to the right again. Bowling Green did a solid job running the ball in the first half, matching Florida’s game total of 52 yards. They got better as the game went on, but there were too many instances of Bowling Green sliding their line to the right and Will Lee being the only guy out there.
The Aggies are getting some decent push up front, but they’re leaving lanes for BG’s backs to run through. Everyone has to stay home, and you can’t allow by runs on cutbacks.
Bowling Green hadn’t given up a sack before tonight, and the Aggies have gotten one of those and have put on some solid pressure. But if you blitz and you don’t get home, that’s an issue. A few times, the Aggies blitzed and Connor Bazelak stood in just throw it in the intermediate zone where there wasn’t anybody.
The defense has bowed up when Bowling Green gets on A&M’s side of the 50, but they were on that side of the 50 way too much for comfort. They can’t play two good plays and a bad one, or it’ll eventually bit them. If they’re going to blitz, they’ve got to do a better job of getting home.
I know some of you will be outraged by the very idea of this comment, but Marcel Reed was very ordinary for large parts of the first half. He started off great, going 5-6 for 62 yards and a touchdown, but then went 1 for his next 6 for 1 yard. Then he he hit three in a row. But he’s missing a lot of wide open receivers for big plays and is a little too willing to pull the ball down and run. He forced the last pass to Noah Thomas in the end zone and it was nearly picked off. That’s to be expected by a guy making his second start, but it shows he’s mortal and has work to do. 9-17 for 99 yards isn’t setting the world on fire.
Bowling Green essentially has put 8 guys up in the box and has dared Reed to throw. Until the last drive, the offensive line wasn’t getting much push at all. But an 18-play drive is a pretty good indicator that they started to do something right. They’ve still got a lot of work to do, because the backs still haven’t really broken loose.
I do want to give some serious credit to Le’Veon Moss and Amari Daniels. Both of those guys made fantastic blitz pickups in the first half to give Reed time to throw. You know their teammates will appreciate that kind of effort when they see it.
Theo Ohrstrom made another fantastic touchdown catch. Tre Watson has been open repeatedly and Reed either hasn’t seen him or went for the option further downfield. Noah Thomas got some catches late in the half and it looks like he’s someone they want to get the ball to more. Jabre Barber had a couple of catches early and then vanished.
The best play calls of the half were the fourth down calls. The first one, the pass to Terry Bussey, almost didn’t happen because Bussey slipped while he was in motion. But he got up and made the play anyway. Thomas did a great job on his shallow cross to get the second one.
The offensive line needs to be challenged at halftime. They’ve given up a sack (Reed’s fault for holding onto the ball too long), and two tackles for loss, but they have not gotten solid push against the 120th ranked rush defense. That should embarrass them. It doesn’t matter if they have 8 guys, 9 guys or 12 guys up. Do your jobs.
There have also been way too many penalties for false starts or illegal formation. These are discipline issues. That can’t be considered just part of the game.
Defensively, A&M has a sack and 4 tackles for loss, but they’ve done a lousy job fitting runs to the right again. Bowling Green did a solid job running the ball in the first half, matching Florida’s game total of 52 yards. They got better as the game went on, but there were too many instances of Bowling Green sliding their line to the right and Will Lee being the only guy out there.
The Aggies are getting some decent push up front, but they’re leaving lanes for BG’s backs to run through. Everyone has to stay home, and you can’t allow by runs on cutbacks.
Bowling Green hadn’t given up a sack before tonight, and the Aggies have gotten one of those and have put on some solid pressure. But if you blitz and you don’t get home, that’s an issue. A few times, the Aggies blitzed and Connor Bazelak stood in just throw it in the intermediate zone where there wasn’t anybody.
The defense has bowed up when Bowling Green gets on A&M’s side of the 50, but they were on that side of the 50 way too much for comfort. They can’t play two good plays and a bad one, or it’ll eventually bit them. If they’re going to blitz, they’ve got to do a better job of getting home.
