Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Kent State
Falcons defeat Kent State, 24-7
October 06, 2001 | Football
Oct. 6, 2001
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University football team improved to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference's East Division with a 24-7 win over Kent State University Saturday (Oct. 6). The win came at Perry Stadium in the school's 80th Homecoming celebration.
The Golden Flashes fall to 1-4 and 0-2, respectively.
The BGSU defense allowed the Golden Flashes just one touchdown on the day, in part because the Falcon offense spent the bulk of the day chewing up the clock. The Falcons held a 28-9 advantage in first downs, and outgained KSU, 414-197, in total offense.
Bowling Green ran 100 plays to Kent's 45, and held the ball for nearly three-quarters of the game (43:34 to KSU's 16:26).
The Brown and Orange got on the board first, scoring on the team's second drive of the game. The final play of the drive saw junior quarterback Andy Sahm roll right, then throw back to his left to a wide-open D'Monn Baker. The five-yard pass, coming with 3:42 left in the first quarter, gave BGSU a 7-0 lead. Baker's first career TD capped a 14-play, 63-yard drive which took 4:19.
The Falcons forced KSU to punt on the ensuing possession, then drove down the field again. Sophomore quarterback Josh Harris directed that drive, and picked up much of the yardage himself. Back-to-back carries of 22 and 15 yards, respectively by the QB put the ball at the KSU 10-yard line. After two rushes by Godfrey Lewis, Harris toted the ball the final yard himself, and Shaun Suisham's extra point gave the Brown and Orange a 14-0 lead with 13:27 left in the first half.
On the game's next drive, Ryan Wingrove forced a fumble by KSU's David Alston, and junior Chris Haneline recovered at the BGSU 41. Sahm drove the Falcons inside the KSU 10-yard line, moving 51 yards in 12 plays, but the Brown and Orange settled for a 25-yard field goal by Suisham. The FG, Suisham's second of the season, made it 17-0 with 7:33 left in the half.
Alston fumbled on each of KSU's next two drives, but the Falcons could not capitalize, turning the ball over on downs each time.
Late in the half, Kent took over at the Flashes' own nine-yard line and drove the length of the field. KSU quarterback Joshua Cribbs capped the drive with a nine-yard pass to Matt Curry with just 40 seconds left in the half, cutting the BGSU lead to 17-7.
KSU moved 91 yards in eight plays on that drive, but gained a total of just 106 yards in the rest of the game.
The final score of the contest came on the Falcons' second drive of the second half. BG used nearly seven minutes of the clock, moving 65 yards in 14 plays. Harris was 4-for-4 passing on the drive, and his final completion of that sequence was a five-yarder to senior Kurt Gerling. That throw, the first TD toss of Harris's career, and the subsequent Suisham PAT, gave the Falcons a 24-7 margin with 3:27 left in the third quarter. From there, the Falcon defense kept the Flashes from getting back in the game.
Of Kent's final three drives after that BG touchdown, the Flashes turned the ball over on downs once, went three-and-out before punting, and saw the final drive end on a Karl Rose interception. After that pick, which came with 5:12 left, the Falcons ran out the clock.
For the fifth time in as many games this year, the Falcons held the opponent to under 100 yards rushing. KSU had 54 yards on the ground in 21 attempts. By contrast, the Brown and Orange used a balanced attack, with an even 200 rushing and 214 through the air.
John Gibson had a game-high 85 yards rushing, while Harris had 73. KSU's Chante Murphy had a team-high 62 yards rushing, with 57 of those yards coming on one play.
Sahm completed 21 of his 34 passing attempts for 173 yards, with a TD and one interception. Harris was 6-of-8 for 41 yards, also throwing one TD and one INT.
KSU's Cribbs had 143 yards passing, completing half of his attempts. He had the one touchdown and was intercepted once.
Robert Redd had a game-high nine receptions, matching his career-best total which was set last week at Marshall, and 63 yards. David Bautista caught six passes for 58 yards, while Baker and Gerling each caught five balls.
Kelly had five catches for 69 yards for the visitors.
BGSU was 9-of-20 on third-down conversions and 3-of-5 on fourth-down conversions in the game, while holding KSU to 1-of-10 on third down and 0-of-2 in fourth down.
The Falcons are on the road next Saturday (Oct. 13), heading to Kalamazoo for a cross-divisional game with Western Michigan University. Kickoff time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
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