by Head Coach Kelley Beckner

Friday night the Bulldogs faced the Bison from Buffalo losing 42-0. It is never easy losing a game and losing by 42 does not make it any better.

They were a really good football team. Physical, well coached, and able to maximize opportunities. I believe watching the game, you could see a team which has had a system in place for a few years versus a team still getting adjusted to a new one.

There were opportunities for the Bulldogs to attack Buffalo but were unable to effectively execute. Offensively, we were able to move the ball, at times very well, but were never able to hit the pay dirt (score).

Football is not just a game of hitting and throwing a football, in a lot of ways it is a glorified chess match. When the opponent lines one way, we have to change how we attack to fit within our scheme on both sides of the ball. Along with that, when you cannot match score for score it changes play calling on both sides of the ball.

Clayton Collins did a better job of throwing and trusting his reads, which led to a higher completion ratio (highest this year going 15/23 for 121 yards).

Coming into the season, I knew there was going to be a learning curve as we progressed each week. There are still obstacles we are facing and trying to correct and learn from. I do not believe this one loss to a good football team will define our season; however, how we respond from this game will be a good measure of the character of this program.

We are a good football team, we just have not been able to put it together for four quarters of play. We will learn, we will progress, and most importantly we will get better. When you are playing your best football week three it is hard to maintain that all through the end of season. We want to be playing our best football week 7,8,9…into the post season.

I was extremely proud of the team’s attitude and effort throughout the game. It would have been very easy for them to quit playing hard or start pointing fingers when mistakes happened. I believe that shows the culture change within the program that myself and the staff has worked extremely hard in establishing. It does not matter the outcome of the game, we will win or lose with class. Learning these habits are something that carries with the young men on the team when they have left our program after graduation. Yes, the goal every game is to win; however, the glorious thing about football are the things that you can learn that carry with you through life. I believe that we saw some of that come to fruition.

This Friday, we have our first home game against Cole Camp. We are very excited for the opportunity to play in front of our home crowd. We will be trying to do a ‘Red-Out’ meaning everyone in attendance for the game, please wear a red Bulldog/ElDo shirt. Come out, be loud and show your support for these young men who are sacrificing all that they have.