Falcons Top Troy, 31-14, to Open Clawson Era

The Bowling Green State University football Falcons rallied from a two-touchdown deficit, scoring 31 unanswered points to post a 31-14 victory over Troy University Thursday night (Sept. 3) at Perry Stadium. The game was the 2009 season opener for both teams.

* BGSU 31, TROY 14 - Game Statistics
* BGSU Coach Clawson Press Conference
* BGSU Players Press Conference
* BGSU-Troy Photo Gallery

The victory was the first in the Dave Clawson Era, and continued a successful run for first-year Falcon coaches. BG bosses have gone 9-0-1 in their opening games, and no Falcon head football coach has lost his first game since 1935.

On Thursday night, Tyler Sheehan threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns as the Falcons outscored the Trojans by a 31-0 count over the final 39 minutes of the game. Freddie Barnes had a school-record 15 receptions for 157 yards, and was on the other end of both of Sheehan's TD tosses.

Chris Bullock added a touchdown run, and Adrien Spencer put an exclamation point on the victory with a 64-yard interception return for a score with just over two minutes left in the game. The Falcons scored 17 fourth-quarter points to break a 14-14 tie.

Sheehan completed 32 of his 44 passes for those 339 yards. His counterpart, Troy quarterback Levi Brown, was 28-of-44 through the air, for 263 yards, one TD and two interceptions. Brown was nearly perfect in the first half, completing 18 of 20 tosses, but the Falcon defense limited him to only 10 completions in 24 second-half attempts, including just a 3-for-13 effort in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons had 389 yards of total offense to the Trojans' 304, and held a 21-17 edge in first downs.

The night did not start off well for the BG defense, as Brown led his team down the field in quick and efficient fashion. Troy took the opening kickoff and promptly put together a seven-play, 80-yard drive in under two minutes. DuJuan Harris carried the ball the final two yards for a touchdown with 13:06 still remaining in the first quarter.

The teams exchanged punts before the Falcons put together a drive that got the home team down to the Troy 25-yard line. But, Bryan Willis picked off a first-down pass to end that threat late in the first quarter.

After another exchange of punts, the Trojans went 89 yards in 11 plays to take a 14-0 lead. Brown went 8-for-9 for 91 yards through the air on that drive -- the only two rushing plays lost one yard each -- with his final pass going to Jerrel Jernigan for 12 yards and a score. Sam Glusman's PAT gave Troy that 14-point lead with 9:29 remaining in the first half. But, the BGSU defense would not let the visitors score again.

In fact, over the final 39-plus minutes, the Falcons would allow Troy only 115 yards, including only 94 total yards in the second half.

Following Jernigan's TD, the Falcons responded with their first scoring drive of the night. BG went 83 yards in 12 plays to cut the deficit in half. Sheehan was a perfect 7-for-7 through the air on that drive, for 82 of the 83 yards. Five of those completions went to Barnes, for 76 of those yards. Jerry Phillips tacked on the extra point to make it a 14-7 game with 3:48 left in the half.

Troy immediately responded with Jernigan's 47-yard kickoff return, giving Brown and his offense the ball at the BGSU 38-yard line. The Trojans picked up a first down with two running plays, but the Falcon defense then held. On a third-and-two play, P.J. Mahone and Jerrett Sanderson stopped Harris after a one-yard gain. Then, on fourth and one at the BG 17, Mahone and Cody Basler teamed up to tackle Harris short of the first-down marker. The Falcons took a knee to run out the clock.

The Falcons received the second-half kickoff, and picked up a first down, but the drive stalled and BG was forced to punt. Troy picked up one first down as well, before their drive sputtered near midfield, and the Trojans punted the ball back to the home team.

The drive started at the BG 11-yard line, but Sheehan immediately lofted a pass to Jimmy Scheidler down the right side of the field. The play went for 40 yards -- a career-long catch for Scheidler -- and BG had a first down just over midfield. On the next play, Sheehan and Barnes just missed connections on what would have been another long gainer.

Back-to-back passes to Tyrone Pronty gave the Falcons a first down and the ball at Troy's 34, but a rush for no gain and an incomplete pass left the BG offense facing fourth down and six yards to go. BG, however, would respond with a seven-yard Sheehan-to-Barnes connection. In addition to keeping the drive alive, the play also enabled Barnes to tie the Perry Stadium record with his 13th catch of the night.

The Falcons handed off to Willie Geter on each of the next four plays, and two of those plays went for double-digit gains. Geter had a 15-yard run and a 13-yard jaunt during that stretch, giving BG the ball at the Troy three-yard line. A false-start penalty was only a temporary setback, as Sheehan completed an eight-yard pass to Barnes for their second TD connection of the night.

The catch was also Barne's 14th of the game, tying the school record. Phillips' PAT was good to tie the game with 3:49 left in the third quarter.

Troy's next drive put the Trojans in the red zone, but the BGSU defense held once again. BG pressured Brown to force three consecutive incompletions -- with QB hurries by Kevin Alvarado, James Schneider and Andrew Johnson -- and Glusman's 36-yard field-goal try was wide left.

The final quarter was all BG. On the first play of the quarter, Roger Williams picked off a Brown pass, setting up a drive that culminated with a 21-yard field goal by Phillips. That kick gave BGSU a 17-14 lead, their first of the night, with 10:45 left.

BG forced a three-and-out, capped by Sanderson's third-down sack of Brown. The Falcon DB forced a fumble on the play. A Troy lineman fell on the ball, but the visitors were facing a fourth-and-18 situation and were forced to punt.

The ensuing drive started slowly, with a one-yard loss and a holding penalty. But, Sheehan found Scheidler and Bullock for back-to-back seven-yard gains, and the latter play saw a 15-yard personal-foul penalty tacked on, giving the Falcons the ball at Troy's 30-yard line.

On the next play, Sheehan spotted Adrian Hodges cutting right-to-left on a slant pattern, and hit him for a 29-yard gain down to the one-yard line. Bullock capped the drive with a TD run on the next play, and the Phillips kick gave BG a 10-point lead with 7:19 left.

The Falcon D forced another three-and-out by the Troy offense, but the visitors returned the favor. The next Troy drive saw Brown pass on all six plays. He completed two of the first five pass attempts, setting up a fourth-and-four play from BG's 41-yard line. On that fourth-down play, however, Spencer jumped in front of a Troy receiver with nothing but open field ahead of him. Sixty-four yards later, Spencer had his first career TD, and another Phillips PAT gave BG that 31-14 lead with just 2:14 remaining.

One more defensive stand by the Falcons sealed the deal, and a pair of 'kneel-downs' ran out the clock.

Geter led all rushers with 49 yards on the night, while Jernigan had a team-high 30 yards on the ground for the Trojans. The teams combined for just 91 yards rushing and 602 yards passing.

Barnes had a game-high 157 receiving yards, while TU's Tebiarus Gill also had a triple-digit game, with 102 receiving yards on eight catches. Pronty tied his career high with six catches, while Scheidler had four receptions for a career-high 72 yards.

The Falcons hit the road for the next two games, beginning with a trip to Missouri on Sept. 12. After a trip to Marshall (Sept. 19), BGSU returns home to face Boise State on Saturday, Sept. 26. That game will begin at 7:00 p.m. at Perry Stadium.

FALCON NOTES
* As mentioned, Freddie Barnes set the school record for receptions in a game, with 15 ... he broke the Perry Stadium record (13 receptions by Mark Dowdell vs. Central Michigan, 1983) in the third quarter, then tied the overall school record later in the same drive.

* The old school mark of 14 catches in a game was set by Robert Redd (vs. Northern Illinois in 2002) and tied by Corey Partridge (vs. Toledo in 2006) ... Barnes made his 15th catch of the game early in the fourth quarter.

* In addition to his receptions total, Barnes also set a personal career best in receiving yards, with 157 ... his previous best was 113, in the 2007 win at Buffalo ... Barnes tied his career high with two TD catches (the 2007 Temple game).

* The Falcons were a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth-down conversions, while Troy was 0-of-3 on the night ... the teams were an identical 4-of-13 on third-down conversions.

* BGSU was also perfect in trips to the red zone, scoring on 3-of-3 opportunities ... the Trojans were 2-of-4 in red-zone scores-chances.

* The Falcons had the ball for 34:39 of the game's 60 minutes ... in the second half, BG dominated the time-of-possession battle, holding the ball for 20:25 compared to Troy's 9:35.

* Tyler Sheehan had the third 300-yard game of his BGSU career ... his career best came in another season-opening win, as he had 388 yards in the OT win at Minnesota two years ago.

* Sheehan's completion total fell just two shy of his career best ... he had 34 in that same win over the Golden Gophers in '07.

* Jimmy Scheidler tied his career best with four receptions, and had a career-high 72 yards ... he shattered his previous best of 47 receiving yards in last year's Kent State game ... as mentioned, his 40-yard catch was a career long.

* Tyrone Pronty tied his career best with six receptions ... he also caught six passes in last year's game at Boise State.

* Jerry Phillips connected on the first field goal of his collegiate career, hitting a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter to break a 14-all tie ... Phillips also was a perfect 4-for-4 on extra-point attempts.

* As mentioned earlier, no first-year Falcon head coach has lost his opening game since Harry Ockerman in 1935 ... BG bosses are 9-0-1 since then, including Robert Whittaker (1941), Doyt Perry (1955), Bob Gibson (1965), Don Nehlen (1968), Denny Stolz (1977), Moe Ankney (1986), Gary Blackney (1991), Urban Meyer (2001), Gregg Brandon (2003) and Dave Clawson ... in case you were wondering, the tie came under Whittaker in '41.

* Roger Williams had a pretty good night ... he led the team in tackles, with a career-high 10, and had his first career interception.

* Additionally, Williams became BGSU's all-time leader in kickoff return yards ... he entered the game needing only nine yards to pass Reggie Thornton (1,222 yards from 1986-89), and had a total of 61 KOR yards in the game ... Williams now has a career total of 1,275 yards.

* Barnes moved up several spots on the BGSU list for career receptions ... he passed Kurt Gerling (152 catches from 1998-2001) and Steve Sanders (156 from 2002-05) to move into eighth place on that list ... Barnes needs just one reception to tie Thornton for seventh place.

* Nick Torresso recorded the first sack of his career in the game's opening quarter.

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