Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Open Season at Missouri
August 27, 2001 | Football
Aug. 27, 2001
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Bowling Green at Missouri 6:30 p.m. (CDT) Saturday, September 1 Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field Series Record: Tied 1-1 Last Meeting: at Missouri 37, BGSU 0 (1998) Radio: WBVI-FM (96.7) Internet: www.bgsufalcons.com
A NEW ERA
First-year Bowling Green State University football coach Urban Meyer is the 15th person to lead the Falcon football program. An Ohio native, he brings 15 years of experience as a Division I assistant and has coached in seven bowl games. He most recently was the receivers coach at Notre Dame after serving on staffs at Ohio State, Illinois State and Colorado State. He has served on staffs guided by Earle Bruce, Sonny Lubick, Lou Holtz and Bob Davie.
After playing shortstop in the Atlanta Braves organization right after high school, Meyer played collegiately at the University of Cincinnati where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1986. He later earned a master's degree in sports administration from Ohio State in 1988.
AHEAD OF HIS TIME
Coach Meyer enters the 2001 campaign as the second youngest head coach on the NCAA I-A level.
Greg Schiano, Rutgers (36) 6/1/66 Urban Meyer, BGSU (37) 7/10/64 Fitz Hill, San Jose State (37) 3/28/64 Chris Scelfo, Tulane (37) 9/30/63 Brian Knorr, Ohio (37) 12/20/63 Rich Rodriguez, WVU (38) 5/24/63 Jack Bicknell, La. Tech (38) 2/7/63AGE THEY TOOK OVER THE FALCONS
Don Nehlen, 1968 32 Urban Meyer, 2001 36 Bob Gibson, 1965 38 Moe Ankney, 1986 43 Denny Stolz, 1977 43 Gary Blackney, 1991 44 Doyt Perry, 1955 45
FALCON TRADITION
The Falcons, who enter their 50th season as a Mid-American Conference member, rank second in MAC history in both conference wins (201) and championships (10). BGSU has finished either first or second in the conference standings in 21 of their previous 49 seasons in the league.
THIRD MEETING BETWEEN THE TEAMS This will be third meeting (all in Columbia) between the two teams. In 1995, the Falcons came away with a 17-10 victory, while the Tigers exacted revenge in the 1998 season opener, 37-0.
BGSU and MU are scheduled to meet in Bowling Green next season, with the Falcons returning to Columbia in 2009.
IT ALL STARTED HERE
Ten of the 14 Falcon seniors played their first collegiate game against Missouri. They include: WR Kurt Gerling, WR Robert Redd, DB Karl Rose, LB Garry Fisher, RB Godfrey Lewis, DB Chad Long, LB Khary Campbell, DB Sergio Lund, DL Brandon Hicks, and OL Malcolm Robinson.
OPENING NIGHT
This is the sixth straight year that BGSU will open its football season on the road. The Falcons are scheduled to open the next two seasons at home (Tennessee Tech, 2002, UL-Monroe, 2003).
BGSU will be looking for its first opening game non-conference road win since defeating Fresno State, 35-27 in 1983.
RELYING ON EXPERIENCE
The Falcons return 18 starters (9 defense, 8 offense, 1 special teams) from a team which led or was tied in five of its six MAC East Division games.
The Falcons also have 14 seniors on their roster. The Falcons are picked to finish fifth in the division.
FALCON COACHING DEBUTS
Each of the last six Falcon coaches have walked away victorious in their BGSU debut.Doyt Perry (1955) defeated Defiance, 40-0 Bob Gibson (1966) defeated Cal-State-LA, 21-0 Don Nehlen (1968) defeated Ball State, 62-8 Denny Stolz (1977) defeated Grand Valley, 17-6 Moe Ankney (1986) defeated Ohio, 21-16. Gary Blackney (1991) defeated E. Michigan, 17-6.
CAPTAINS NAMED
Bowling Green State University football coach Urban Meyer has announced that senior defensive end Ryan Wingrove, senior offensive lineman Malcolm Robinson, senior wide receiver Kurt Gerling and senior linebacker Khary Campbell were selected as team captains for the 2001 season in a vote by their teammates.
LEWIS, VAN DAM OUT
Junior running back Godfrey Lewis will be out for two-to-four weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus on August 22. He missed the final nine games of last season due to a stress fracture in his tibia Sophomore tight end Jason Van Dam will miss the opener due to a concussion. Junior Ross Durham will return to tight end after starting training camp as an offensive tackle. Durham has started 10 games as a tight end in his career.
STILL A BATTLE
Coach Meyer says that a decision on who the Falcons starting quarterback (Andy Sahm or Josh Harris) will be and who will handle place kicking chores (Sean Suisham or Nate Fry) will likely be a game-time decision.
TIGER TIES
New Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel joined the Tigers after spending 10 years coaching BGSU's arch-rival, Toledo.
Pinkel opens his MU career by facing the Falcons, after closing his UT tenure by defeating BGSU, 51-17.
Pinkel went 5-5 against BGSU during his time at Toledo.
Pinkel spent the 1977 and 1978 seasons as BGSU's wide receivers coach under head coach Denny Stolz.
Pinkel replaced BGSU graduate Larry Smith, who coached Missouri from 1994-2000.
Moe Ankney, a BGSU graduate, was the Falcons' head coach from 1986-90 and served as defensive coordinator at Missouri from 1994-2000. He currently holds the same position at Minnesota.
BGSU strength and conditioning coach Aaron Hillmann is a 1991 graduate of Missouri.
NEW UNIFORMS
For the first time in 25 years, the Falcon football team will not have the words "Bowling Green" on the front of its home jersey. BGSU will wear orange jerseys with white pants at home and white jerseys and orange pants on the road. A Falcon head logo does appear on the front collar. A recent poll on the Falcons' website, bgsufalcons.com, showed fans prefer the orange uniform over brown by a four to one margin.
THIS WEEK IN THE MAC
8/30 Minnesota at Toledo, South Florida at Northern Illinois, Eastern Kentucky at Central Michigan, Illinois State at Western Michigan, Rutgers at Buffalo, Ohio at Akron.
9/1 Kent State at Iowa, Miami at Michigan, Ball State at Auburn, SE Missouri State at Eastern Michigan, Bowling Green at Missouri, Marshall at Florida.
Top Active Receiving Leaders in the MAC 1. Kurt Gerling (BG) 1,755 2. Jake Schifino (UA) 1,480 3. Josh Bush (WMU) 1,247 4. Jurron Kelly (KSU) 1,224 5. Kenny Christian (EMU) 1,169 6. David Bautista (BG) 915 7. Matt Curry (KSU) 786 8. Kevin Walter (EMU) 721 9. Robert Redd (BG) 689 10.. Donta Greene (UT) 637
OHIO TIME CHANGE
The Nov. 10 game at Ohio will start at 1 p.m., instead of the previously published 2 p.m.
