Oct. 19, 2002
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
Some notes from Saturday's (Oct. 19) football game between #23/25 Bowling Green and Western Michigan...
The Falcons have started the season with a 6-0 record for the first time since the 1985 team was its first 11 games of the year.
The game marked the third overtime contest in BGSU's history, and the second at Perry Stadium ... the Falcons are now 2-1 in OT games, with that one loss coming to WMU ... on Nov. 9, 1996, the 0-9 Broncos came to BG and posted a 16-13 OT win over the 4-5 Falcons ... BGSU's other previous overtime contest was a 33-30 win at Central Florida on Nov. 20, 1999.
WMU is now 2-2 all-time in overtime contests, with all four games coming on the road ... in addition to the two games vs. BGSU, the Broncos lost a 10-7 decision at Toledo (1996) and won a 40-37 game at Eastern Michigan (1999).
The BGSU win broke a five-game WMU winning streak in the all-time series between the teams ... the Falcons' last win over the Broncos came in 1992, a 29-19 decision at Perry Stadium ... WMU had won the last two meetings in BG ... BGSU now leads the overall series by a 29-14-3 margin.
The game marked the first home game the Falcons have ever played as a ranked team ... BGSU is now 1-1 all-time when ranked nationally ... the Brown and Orange broke into the rankings after an 11-0 start to the 1985 season, but then suffered a 51-7 loss to Fresno State in the California Bowl.
The Falcons now have a nine-game winning streak dating to last year ... that is the longest streak for BGSU since the 1994 team also won nine consecutive games ... Oregon's 11-game win streak ended with a 45-42 loss to Arizona State Saturday, meaning that BG now has the second-longest active winning streak in the nation, behind only Miami (Fla.).
BGSU has scored 39 or more points in each of the last eight games dating to the 2001 season ... the Falcons entered the game averaging an NCAA-best 49.6 points per game this year ... BGSU came into the WMU contest ranked second in the nation in total offense, averaging 500.8 yards per game ... the Falcons had "only" 492 yards of total offense vs. the Broncos.
BGSU had the ball for 34:57 to WMU's 25:03, and the Falcons ran 92 offensive plays to the Broncos' 72.
One trademark of Urban Meyer's Falcons is the team's ability to score points on defense and on special teams ... last year, the Falcons scored six touchdowns unconventially -- four on defense and two on special teams ... BGSU struck again Saturday, as Janssen Patton returned an interception for a score ... BGSU has three defensive TDs and one special teams TD in 2002.
For Patton, the interception was the ninth of his career, the most among current Falcons ... the TD marked the second career interception return for a score, and the third overall touchdown of his career ... he returned a pick for a TD at Kent State in his freshman year, and ran back a Temple onside kick for a score last year.
Sophomore Cole Magner threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to D'Monn Baker in the third quarter ... for Magner, the TD throw was his third of the season and the fourth of his career ... for Baker, the scoring catch was his first of the year and the second of his career.
Junior Josh Harris entered the game as the nation's leader in two categories: scoring (15.60 ppg) and points responsible for (24.80 ppg) ... Harris scored 12 points, including the winning TD, and was responsible for 30 points (two rushing TDs, three passing TDs) vs. WMU.
Harris has rushed for at least two touchdowns in each of the last eight games.
The Falcons are now 6-0 at home under their newly-installed permanent lights (since the beginning of the 2001 season) ... BGSU is 10-2 all-time in night games (starting at 6:00 p.m. or later) at home, and the Falcons now have a six-game winning streak under the lights at Perry Stadium.
BGSU now has an overall record of 14-3 in the Urban Meyer Era, including a home record of 8-1 ... the Falcons are averaging 43.3 points in the nine games at Perry Stadium during that time, and BG is averaging 53.6 points per game over the last five home contests ... this season, the Falcons have scored 212 points in four home games (53.0 ppg).
