Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Close Road Schedule Vs. Ball State Saturday
November 17, 2003 | Football
Nov. 17, 2003
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -
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#22/25 BOWLING GREEN (8-2, 5-1)
at
BALL STATE (4-7, 3-4)
Saturday, November 22
1:00 p.m.
Ball State Stadium (22,500)
Series Record: BGSU leads 16-8-1
Last Meeting: at BGSU 38, BSU 20 (10/26/02)
BRANDON GUIDES THE FALCONS
First-year head coach Gregg Brandon, the 16th head coach in the history of the BGSU football program, joined Don Nehlen and Urban Meyer as the only BGSU football coaches to begin their career with a 3-0 record. With the Falcons' 27-26 win at #16 Purdue, and 34-18 win against #12 NIU, Brandon is the only BGSU coach to ever defeat two nationally-ranked opponents. Brandon had more than 22 years of coaching experience at the Division I level, including the last two years at BGSU where he served as assistant head coach and directed the Falcons' record-setting offensive attack.
WINNING ROAD RECORD
A win against Ball State would give BGSU its first winning road record in the MAC since the 1994 season when the Falcons were 4-0.
FALCONS ARE BALANCED
As a team the Falcons lead the MAC in total offense, while ranking high nationally in several categories. The Falcons are second in the nation in total offense (520.0), sixth in passing offense (310.6), 14th in pass efficiency (148.3), 16th in scoring (34.3) and 15th in rushing (209.4).
WIN THE WEST
The Falcons' goal of winning the MAC West Division rests in their own hands. If BGSU can defeat Toledo to end the season, they will be the West representative and host the MAC championship game, December 4.
MAGNER, HARRIS CLOSING IN ON SOME RECORDS
With his nine catches and 88 yards receiving against Kent State, junior wide receiver Cole Magner now has 74 receptions (2nd all-time) and 916 yards (4th all-time) for the season. Robert Redd set the single -season record for catches last year with 83 receptions, while Stan Hunter is the only Falcon to eclipse the 1,000-yard receiving barrier (1,107 in 1983). Senior quarterback Josh Harris (2,769 yards) needs 231 yards to become just the second Falcon QB to eclipse the 3,000-yard mark in a season and 496 yards in the last two games to set a new BGSU single-season record breaking the mark of 3,264 yards set by Brian McClure in 1983.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Falcons are rated 22nd in the Associated Press poll, 23rd by The BCS, 21st by CBSSportsline.com and 25th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Falcons' five-week stay in the AP poll matches its longest consecutive showing in a national poll. Last year, BGSU was ranked for five weeks in the coaches poll.
NOT IN A LONG TIME
With the win against Kent State, the Falcons have posted at least eight wins in three straight seasons for the first time since the 1983-85 campaigns. BGSU was 8-3 in 1983 and 1984 and 11-1 in 1985.
ONE HOT FALCON
In the last three games, sophomore wide receiver Charles Sharon has caught 16 passes for 343 yards and 4 TD, including a 91-yard effort from Josh Harris against Kent State which was the third longest pass play in BGSU history.
HARRIS IS THE BEST IN THE WEST
Rankings - Nationally Total Offense - 4th, 330.0 Pass Efficiency - 23rd, 143.7MAC Rushing yards by a QB - 1st, 531 Total Offense - 1st, 330.0 Winning percentage as a starting QB - 1st, 78% (21-6)
HARRIS MILESTONE WATCH
Harris rushed for 70 yards against Kent State and now ranks sixth on the school's all-time rushing list with 2,174 yards. He is the top rushing quarterback in school history.
He also now has a career total of 39 rushing TDs at BGSU and needs one more running score to set a new school-record.
RUSHING TDs IN A CAREER
39 - Dave Preston, 1973-76 39 - Josh Harris, 2000-SAHarris now has a total of 42 touchdowns (three receiving) in his BGSU tenure, and is the Falcons all-time leader in that category.
TOTAL TDs IN A CAREER
42 - Josh Harris, 2000-SA 41 - Dave Preston, 1973-76Additionally, Harris now has scored a total of 254 points as a Falcon, the most ever in school history.
POINTS IN A CAREER
254 - Josh Harris, 2000-SA 247 - Brian Leaver, 1991-94 246 - Dave Preston, 1973-76Harris is now third on the all-time BGSU list with 6,459 yards passing Only three other players in school history have reached the 6,000-yard mark (Brian McClure-10,280; Rich Dackin-6,862; and Erik White- 6,072).
Harris' 45 career TD tosses rank him third on the BGSU all-time list.
TD PASSES IN A CAREER
63 - Brian McClure, 1982-85 46 - Ryan Henry, 1992-95 45 - Josh Harris, 2000-SAHarris continues to challenge for the school's all-time record of 9,774 yards set by Brian McClure from 1982-85. Harris has accumulated 8,633 total yards, which ranks eighth all-time in MAC history.
MORE HARRIS NOTES
He is 21-6 in his career as a starting quarterback, and has started the last 24 consecutive games leading the Falcons to a 20-5 mark in that time.
Harris is averaging a career-high 8.1 yards per pass, 276.9 passing yards per game, and 330.0 yards of total offense per game. His completion percentage of 64.6 percent also is a career-best, an 8.5 percent improvement over his 56.1 percent mark of 2002.
