Bowling Green State University Athletics
Football Ready For Eastern Michigan
October 10, 2006 | Football
Oct. 10, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
EASTERN MICHIGAN (0-5, 0-2) at BOWLING GREEN (3-3, 2-1) Saturday, October 14 • 4 p.m. (Homecoming) Doyt L. Perry Stadium (23,724) RADIO: BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker, Cal Bowers and Jason Aldrich) TV: BCSN (Jim Oswald and Josh Harris) SERIES RECORD: BGSU leads 21-10-1 LAST MEETING: at BGSU 41, EMU 20 (10/30/04)
BGSU and Eastern Michigan will battle for the 33rd time as the Falcons celebrate Homecoming for the 2006 season. BGSU has won the last seven meetings between the two teams since the 1990 season and have won five in a row at Perry Stadium during that time frame. By some odd scheduling quirk, this will be the sixth time in the last eight meetings that BGSU has hosted Eastern.
BGSU is 52-22-10 on Homecoming after defeating Temple, 70-7, last season. BGSU has won its last five Homecoming games.
The Falcons are second in the MAC in rushing offense gaining 200.2 yards per game on the ground. BGSU also is second in third down conversions (44.0). BGSU is third in the league in first downs (114), pass defense (164.0), total defense (313.7) and opponent third down conversions (35.7). The Falcons rushing total is 15th nationally among Division IA programs and its pass defense is 25th.
The Falcons boast three of the top pass rushers in the MAC in senior defensive end Devon Parks, senior defensive tackle Brad Williams and sophomore defensive end Diyral Briggs. The trio has combined for nine sacks this season.
BGSU is coming off its first-ever contest against a top-ranked team in the country, when it played at Ohio State. It is the sixth time BGSU has faced an opponent in the top 10. The Falcons played at #2 Oklahoma in 2004, at #4/5 Ohio State in 2003, at #4 Michigan in 2000 and at #9 Ohio State in 1997.
Redshirt freshman running back Chris Bullock became the third Falcon to rush for more than 100 yards in a game this season when he gained 114 yards on 21 carries against Ohio. In the last three games, he has rushed for 285 yards after gaining 99 against Kent State and 72 against Ohio State. BGSU, Clemson, Michigan State and Navy are the only schools to have three different 100-yard rushers this season. Redshirt freshman Freddie Barnes had 158 yards rushing against Wisconsin and sophomore quarterback Anthony Turner had 127 yards rushing against Buffalo.
Last year, the Falcons posted their fifth straight winning season with a 6-5 record. BGSU was nationally ranked in one or both major polls in 2002, 2003 and 2004. They finished 24th in the final BCS poll in 2003.
The Falcons boast one of the youngest teams in the country having played 25 true or redshirt freshmen. Eighteen players have made their first career start this season.
BGSU's .697 winning percentage since 2001 (46-20) is the best among all MAC schools during the last five-plus seasons.
The Eagles are coming off a bye week after losing at UL-Lafayette, 33-14 on September 30. This will be their fifth road game of the season.
Saturday's crowd of 105,057 at Ohio State was the third time in BGSU history that it played in front of more than 100,000 fans. The Falcons played at Michigan in 2000 before a crowd of 110,585. BGSU and Ohio State played in front of 104,358 on the Falcons' last visit to the Horseshoe.
Each of the last two times the Falcons have played two Big Ten teams in a season, they have gone to a bowl game. In 1992, BGSU played at Wisconsin and at Ohio State before winning the MAC and playing in the first Las Vegas Bowl. In 2003, BGSU won at Purdue and played at Ohio State before winning the MAC East title and the 2003 Motor City Bowl. In that game, the Falcons defeated another Big Ten foe, Northwestern, 28-24, the MAC's only win over the Big Ten in a post season football game. This year, BGSU hosted Wisconsin in Cleveland Browns Stadium and played at Ohio State. The MAC has bowl berths to the Motor CIty Bowl in Detroit, the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama and the International Bowl in Toronto.
Redshirt freshmen Freddie Barnes (402 yards) and Chris Bullock (307 yards) have a chance to be the first freshman to lead the Falcons in rushing since the 1999 when Joe Alls gained 592 yards. In 1998, another freshman, Godfrey Lewis, led the Falcon ground game with 753 yards.
