Bowling Green State University Athletics
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Kansas
Falcons Take Out Kansas, 39-16
September 21, 2002 | Football
Sept. 21, 2002
By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Josh Harris had 236 yards in total offense and scored three touchdowns, and Joe Alls rushed for a career-high 161 yards in Bowling Green's 39-16 victory over Kansas on Saturday night.
Linebacker Mitch Hewitt scored a defensive touchdown for the second straight game for the Falcons (3-0), who made it two in a row against Big 12 schools following their 51-28 victory against Missouri.
In the past two seasons under coach Urban Meyer, the Falcons of the Mid-American Conference are 5-0 against schools from BCS-affiliated leagues.
Harris was 7-of-18 for 138 yards passing and rushed 15 times for 98 yards, including scoring runs of 9 and 2 yards. The junior quarterback also caught a touchdown pass from Alls, his second TD reception in two games.
The Falcons, who'd averaged almost 450 yards and 46 points their first two games, punted on their first three possessions and had just 15 total yards in a scoreless first quarter.
Then they got on track, compiling 149 yards and a season-high 22 points in the second period and scored the first two times they got the ball in the third, taking a 36-9 lead on Harris' short run.
They finished with 503 total yards
Kansas (1-3) took a 9-7 lead with 6:32 left in the half on Johnny Beck's 22-yard field goal after Bill Whittemore's 1-yard plunge into the end zone was wiped out by penalty.
Four minutes later, Alex Glantzis knocked the ball loose as Whittemore went back to pass from his own end zone and Hewitt fell on it for the go-ahead TD.
Greg Heaggans, whose school-record 195 yards in kickoff returns last week included a 100-yard TD sprint, then fumbled the ensuing kick and Mike Malone recovered on the Kansas 22.
Three plays later, Harris pitched back to Alls and then drifted out into the flat and was all alone to gather in the running back's 15-yard TD pass.
The Jayhawks, who got their first win last week against Division I-AA Southwest Missouri State, drove 54 yards in just four plays to take a 6-0 lead in the second quarter. Whittemore shook loose from a tackler and then hit Marcellus Jones on the run for a 16-yard TD pass. The extra-point attempt was no good.
Harris finally got the offense untracked with a 44-yard pass to Charles Sharon to the Kansas State 17. Then he capped the 80-yard march with a 9-yard scoring run.
The Falcons opened the second half with an 80-yard drive in just four plays. Alls picked 15 yards, Harris hit Robert Redd for 39, then Alls carried twice more for 15 and 11 and the score.
Hewitt, who had a 27-yard interception return for a touchdown against Missouri, recovered Whittemore's fumble on the Bowling Green 34 a few minutes later. Alls picked up 52 yards on three carries and then Harris ran it in from the 2, giving the junior quarterback two or more rushing TDs for the fifth straight game.
Whittemore's 37-yard pass to Jones set up Dan Coke's 2-yard TD run late in the third. Shaun Suisham had a 39-yard field goal for the Falcons in the fourth quarter.
