Bowling Green State University Athletics
Postgame Notes From the Miami Game
November 05, 2003 | Football
Nov. 5, 2003
For the seventh straight year since Divisional play began in the MAC, no team on the West side of the loop will be undefeated in league play. BGSU, Toledo and Northern Illinois all enter the final three weeks of the season with a 4-1 conference mark. If BGSU or Toledo wins their remaining league games, they will host the MAC Championship, December 4. NIU must win its final three games and have BGSU lose one of its three remaining games to represent the division in the conference championship. NIU will play at Toledo on November 15 (3 p.m.), while the Rockets visit the Falcons on November 28 (11 a.m. or 6 p.m., depending on television).
With announced sellout crowd of 28,023 in the first-ever nationally televised game at Miami's Yager Stadium, the Falcons have played in front of 20,000 or more fans on the road in the MAC in five of its last seven games dating back to last season. (Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo, Western Michigan and Miami).
The Falcon defense held Miami to a season-low 20 first downs.
The Falcons forced three turnovers against the Redhawks. Sophomore Jelani Jordan had his second career interception. Junior Keon Newson forced his MAC leading fourth fumble of the season. Junior Jovon Burkes had his first forced fumble of the season. Senior Mitch Hewitt recovered his third fumble of the season, while Will Teague picked up his second loose ball of the season.
The Falcons rushed for 183 yards and their 4.9 yards per carry was the highest total yielded by the Redhawks which entered the game with the MAC's top rated rush defense (95.8).
Senior Mike Malone led the Falcons with 10 tackles.
The Falcons could not overcome the 23 points (3 TDs and a FG) that Miami scored on four drives of 32 yards or less after BGSU turned the ball over a season-high four times.
Sophomore P.J. Pope rushed for 75 yards on just nine carries and now has rushed for 754 yards on the season. He needs to average 82 yards per game in the final three games to become the first Falcon to rush for more than 1,000 yards since Zeb Jackson rushed for 1,016 yards in 1993. The Falcons have had just three players rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season since 1976 (Jackson, 1993; Bernard White, 1,036, 1984; and Bryant Jones, 1,051, 1981).
Junior Cole Magner had 11 catches for 76 yards and now has caught 65 passes for 828 yards on the season. He needs 19 catches for 280 yards to break the school's single-season record in both categories. Robert Redd had 83 receptions last season and Stan Hunter had 1,107 yards in 1983.
Sophomore Charles Sharon caught his third TD pass in two games and fifth on the season on a 24-yard strike from Josh Harris.
Harris now has a total of 8,239 career-yards of total offense (second on the BGSU all-time list) and has thrown for 42 TDs (3rd at BGSU). He also moved into third place on the Falcon all-time passing list with 6,135 yards, becoming just the fourth Falcon signal caller to surpass 6,000 yards. He also ranks second all-time in BG history completing 59.3 percent of his passes. His 64.2 % completion percentage this season ties him with Brian McClure (1982) for the highest mark for quarterbacks with more than 100 passing attempts .
In five MAC games, Harris has rushed for a MAC QB-best 391 yards and has averaged 78 yards per game on the ground. He had 71 yards rushing against the Redhawks.
