Falcons Look To Get Back on Track, Travel To Kent State on Saturday

Oct. 16, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #7
Bowling Green at Kent State

Oct. 20, 2007  Dix Stadium, 4:00 p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 3-3, 1-1 MAC // Kent State 3-4, 1-2 MAC
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker and Cal Bowers
WBGU (88.1): Ryan Gasser (Play-by-Play) and Kevin Vilch (Analyst)

Bowling Green Football Game Notes versus Kent State (32 pages)
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The Bowling Green State University football team, after starting out the 2007 season on a tear and a 3-1 record, have dropped back-to-back games and sit at 3-3 overall and 1-1 in Mid-American Conference play, as they travel to play the Kent State Golden Flashes this Saturday. Opening kickoff is set for 4:00 p.m.
Falcon Role Reversal
After leading the MAC with 176.7 yards on the ground and 41 rushing attempts per game last season (BG threw the ball just 29 times per/game) the Falcons have returned to the air attack, averaging 327.8 passing yards/game this season (48.5 attempts/game), while running the ball just 155 times (25.8) in six games for a 76.0 yard average.
Sheehan Impressive In His First Year
Making just six career starts, Tyler Sheehan is having an impressive start to his Falcon career. The sophomore quarterback is completing 65.4% (170-260) for 1,719 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also has two rushing touchdowns and even has one 24-yard catch for a touchdown as well. He opened the season (his first career start) with a fourth quarter comeback win over Minnesota, tossing two touchdowns and 388 yards. The following week he was 32-of-50 for 295 yards versus Michigan State, throwing for one touchdown and rushing for another. He had a career-high four touchdown passes in a win over Temple (also threw for 351 yards). He also had 270 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of action versus Western Kentucky.
Sheehan is 12th in the country with 286.5 passing yards a game and 25th in the country in total offense with 282.5 yards a game. He also ranks 1st in the MAC with the 286.5 yards a game and third in total offense.
Fastest Show on Turf
With the installation of FieldTurf at Doyt Perry Stadium, the Falcons have played five games on artificial surfaces, after hosting Temple and Western Kentucky, and road contests with Minnesota and Boston College and Miami. In those five games the Falcons have scored 159 points (31.8/game) and have posted 2,081 yards of offense (416.2/game), including 1,672 yards through the air (334.4/game). From here-on-out the Falcons will play on some sort of artificial surface the rest of the season.
Falcons' Dynamic Duo
Batman and Robin have nothing on the Falcons' dynamic duo of pass catchers in Corey Partridge and Freddie Barnes. Partridge, who missed the entire Michigan State contest, has 40 catches in five games this season, 8.0 a game, which ranks sixth in the country. He also has 367 yards receiving and one touchdown. Barnes is 21st in the country with 6.8 catches a game, while he leads the Falcons in catches (41), receiving yards (472) and touchdowns (5). Combined, the duo averages 14.8 catches a game, 152.1 yards a game and has six touchdowns in six games.
In fact the Barnes/Partridge combo ranks third in the country with
14.83 catches combined a game: Players (Team).............................................Average Michael Crabtree/Danny Amendola (Texas Tech)....19.71 catches/game Casey Fitzgerald/Brandon Jackson (North Texas)..17.00 catches/game Corey Partridge/Freddie Barnes (BGSU)...........14.83 catches/game

Show Me The Money
The money catch is defined as catching a first down or touchdown, and the Falcon dynamic duo of Freddie Barnes and Corey Partridge are "showing the money." Of Barnes' 41 catches, 29 (24 first downs and five touchdowns) of them have either resulted in a Falcon first down or touchdown. Partridge is not far off that pace, catching 22 (21 first downs and one touchdown) money balls of his 40 receptions.
More on the Pass Catchers
 Barnes, who opened the 2006 season as the Falcons' starting quarterback, had 20 catches for 203 yards and two touchdowns last season. He has posted career numbers in all three of those categories this year with 41 receptions, 472 yards and five touchdowns. He has five touchdowns in his last four games. He also had his first career 100-yard receiving game with 112 yards versus Boston College.
 Partridge led the Falcons in receptions (55), yards (658) and touchdowns (3) last season. He had six catches for 52 yards in the first quarter versus Minnesota before leaving with an injury (he also missed the MSU game), so his 40 catches and 367 yards has been in just 17 quarters of action. He also caught his 100th career reception on his last catch of the game versus Western Kentucky and had his first 100 yard game of the season versus Boston College (12-100).
 Marques Parks had five catches for 30 yards in the entire 2006 season. 2007 has been a bit different as the junior nearly as many touchdowns (4) this year as catches (5) all of last season. His 21 catches, 283 yards and four touchdowns are all career-bests this season. He also leads the team with a 13.5 average per catch.
 Tyrone Pronty also had just five catches last season. This year his 11 catches, 101 yards and two touchdowns are all career-bests.
 Derek Brighton, filling in for an injured Partridge at the Michigan State game had seven catches and 67 yards. He has eight receptions for 84 yards on the season.
 Zach Charles had a career-long 49-yard reception versus Boston College, nearly doubling his yardage output for the year. For the season the sophomore has 10 catches for 102 yards.
Even With the Miami Game...
So the Miami game did not go as planned for the Falcon offense, posting season lows in first downs (14), rushing yards (25), completions (19), passing yards (207), total yards (232) and points scored (14), but even with the low offensive output, the Falcon offense still ranks up their in the national ranks, as well as most MAC offensive categories.
The Falcon passing game still ranks seventh in the nation with 327.8 yards a game, 47th in total offense (403.8) and scoring (29.3). Those same numbers rank first in the MAC in passing yards a game, third in total offense and fourth in scoring offense.
Passing, Rushing and Receiving Record
After much research, and several discussions with all Division I schools, the Falcons are the lone school to have two players on their team that have recorded a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in their career. Both Freddie Barnes (1 pass, 5 receiving and 9 rushing) and Tyler Sheehan (10 pass, 2 rush, 1 receiving) have accomplished this feat, making them the lone duo in the nation with this record.
Falcons Go the Distance
Of the Falcons 27 scoring drives this season, 18 of them have gone for 50-plus yards, while 15 of the 20 touchdown drives have also gone for 50-plus yards.
Williams Takes Command of Return Game
The search for a Falcon kick returner looks to be over as sophomore Roger Williams has taken the reins of the Falcon kick return team. This past weekend he had four returns over 30 yards, including a career-best 56 yards on the opening kickoff of the game. On three different occasions this past weekend versus Miami, Williams got the Falcons out past their own 45 yard line. The sophomore is averaging 24.4 yards a return (19-464), while the other 12 returns by a Falcon are averaging just 16.9 yards a return (12-203).
Hands-On For Haneline
Mentioned above is that junior linebacker John Haneline leads the team with 68 tackles, and his 11.3 tackles per game ranks second-best in the MAC, but not even that tells the story how consistant the junior has been this season. The outside linebacker has recorded double-figure tackles in all but one game, including a career-best 18 stops this past weekend versus Miami. He also had 15 tackles versus Minnesota, 11 versus Western Kentucky and 10 versus Michigan State and Temple.