Well, Miami had a 3-0 lead, so that was scary!
But this was the Falcons' best game of the season, no question. Rhode Island was decent, if sloppy, but MU has played great teams all season and BGSU's performance looked like one of them.
Anthon Samuel was fantastic. 22 carries for 171 yards, but no touchdowns ... I'm always excited to watch him run the ball behind that O-Line. John Pettigrew got credit with two touchdowns, and he was useful as well, which is necessary Samuel can't do it all — he gets dinged up too much to carry it 30 times a game.
Alex Bayer had a good game for missing all of the second half ... not sure about his injury status. All the receivers pitched in, which is what this group has to do, and great to see Ryan Burbrink back in the saddle as a possessions receiver.
The offensive line? Excellent. The defensive line? Six sacks and five QB hurries ... yep, they were terrific. The rest of the defense got made stops, and Boo Boo Gates even returned at pick for a touchdown (video above).
Which brings us to the quarterback. I'm still not sold on Matt Schilz, even though his numbers were quite great. What bugged me was, following an interception by Jude Adjei-Barimah, BGSU had great field position and quickly got into the red zone. They're up 19 points and Schilz tried to force a pass which got intercepted. That took three points off the board and there was no reason for that.
As for Miami ... Nick Harwell got his numbers, Dayonne Nunley made some plays at corner and Zac Dysert just didn't have a chance to do more than 198 yards and a touchdown, given all the pressure.
With UMass and EMU coming up, I have great faith that BGSU can be bowl eligible heading into the OHIO game on Wednesday, November 7. Circle that one.