Falcons Return Home; Host Bobcats In Crucial MAC East Contest

Oct. 23, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #8
Ohio at Bowling Green

Oct. 27, 2007  Doyt L. Stadium, 6:00 p.m.

RECORDS: BGSU 4-3, 2-1 MAC // Ohio 3-5, 1-3 MAC
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker and Cal Bowers
WBGU (88.1): Alex Mikos (Play-by-Play) and Pat Dougherty (Analyst)
TV: BCSN - Greg Franke (Play-by-Play), Tom Cole (Analyst) and Kevin Brechmacher (sideline)

Football Game Notes Versus Ohio
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The Bowling Green State University football team, after opening the 2007 season with five of their first seven games on the road, return home to host the Ohio Bobcats in a MAC East contest this Saturday (Oct. 27) at 6:00 p.m. inside Doyt L. Perry Stadium. BGSU will play three of their final five games this season inside "The Doyt".
Home Sweet Home
Despite having played seven games already this season, the Falcons have played just twice in front of their home crowd. BGSU, who is 2-3 on the road this season, are a perfect 2-0 this season at Doyt Perry Stadium. At home the Falcons are averaging 44.5 points/game and 436.0 yards a game, including 326.0 through the air. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Sheehan is 61-of-89 (68.5%) inside Doyt L. Perry Stadium for 621 yards (310.5/game) with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Wide receivers Cory Partridge and Freddie Barnes have feasted at home, with 16 and 14 catches respectively. Barnes has three of his five touchdowns at home this season.
Notes Following The Falcons 31-20 Win at Kent State
 Everyone was talking about KSU running back Eugene Jarvis prior to the game. Freshman Willie Geter made sure everyone knew BGSU also had a running attack, with a 203 yard effort on 22 carries versus the top rush defense in the MAC.
 BGSU was 2-for-2 in redzone opportunities, connecting on 14 points, while Kent State entered the redzone on five occasions, but came away with just 13 points, including an 0-for-2 effort in the second half. On three of those five opportunities, the Flashes got inside the Falcon five yard line.
 The Falcons' win gives BGSU the Anniversary Award ... BGSU and KSU, meeting for the 75th time, have played for the Anniversary Award since 1985.
 BGSU won at Dix Stadium for the fourth consecutive time ... KSU's last home victory over the Brown and Orange came in 1999 ... BGSU is now 29-7-2 all-time in road games vs. the Flashes.
 Following the Anthony Turner receiving touchdown that put the Falcons up 21-13 the Falcons defense allowed just seven points and held the KSU offense to a 2-for-9 effort on third and fourth downs in the final 22:23 of the contest.
 With the Turner touchdown, all three Falcon quarterbacks from the 2006 season (Turner, Sheehan, Barnes) have caught touchdown passes this season.
Geter Named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week
Willie Geter, fresh off a 203 yard rushing effort versus Kent State, was named Mid-American Conference East Division Offensive Player of the Week, announced by the league office Monday afternoon. The award is the first of the freshman's career.
It did not take long for Geter to get going as he ran for 20 yards on the opening play of the game. He capped off that same drive with a four-yard touchdown run, the first of his career.
He also had runs of 27, 44 and 50 yards, all in the second half.
For the contest, the 5-8 running back had 22 carries for 203 yards and one touchdown. He also had four receptions for 51 yards, for a 254-yard all-purpose performance.
Geter becomes the first Falcon to rush for over 200 yards in a game since P.J. Pope ran for 205 yards against Western Michigan on Nov. 6, 2004. Geter fell just 22 yards shy of the school single-game rushing record (225 by Darryl Story vs. Ball State, 1983).
Fast Willie Geter
The Miami, Fla., native entered last Saturday's contest with the Golden Flashes with 87 yards rushing on 16 carries in six games. His previous-highs were 38 yards rushing versus Western Kentucky and seven carries versus Boston College.
Those career-bests did not last long as he ran for 203 yards on 22 carries and one touchdown, all new personal-bests. According to Geter himself, he never even ran for 200 yards in a high school game.
The Falcons entered their seventh game of the season with one rush for more then 20 yards, a 21-yard run by Chris Bullock versus Minnesota to open the season. Geter himself had four runs of 20-plus yards this past weekend. He had runs of 20, 27, 44 and 50 yards, giving him the Falcons' top four longest rushing plays of the season.
In fact his 50 yard run is the Falcons' third longest play of the year, while his 44 yard scamper is the seventh longest this year.
Sheehan Impressive In His First Year
Making just seven career starts, Tyler Sheehan is having an impressive start to his Falcon career. The sophomore quarterback is completing 64.6% (184-285) of his passes for 1,903 yards and 13 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 throwing for 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 19th in the country with 271.9 passing yards a game and 29th in the country in total offense with 265.3 yards a game. He also ranks first 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 six of their seven games on artificial surfaces, after hosting Temple and Western Kentucky, and road contests with Minnesota, Boston College, Miami and Kent State. In those six games the Falcons have scored 190 points (31.7/game) and have posted 2,462 yards of offense (410.3/game), including 1,856 yards through the air (309.3/game). From here-on-out the Falcons will play on some sort of artificial surface the rest of the season.
Less Yards, More Gains
Despite the Falcons second lowest offensive output this season with 381 yards, the Falcons had a season-high nine offensive plays of 20 or more yards. BGSU's previous-best was eight plays of 20-plus yards versus Minnesota and Boston College. Willie Geter had five of those nine plays, while Freddie Barnes, Corey Partridge, Anthony Turner and Roger Williams all chipped in with one.
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 44 catches in six games this season, 7.3 a game, which ranks 14th in the country. He also has 428 yards receiving and two touchdowns. Barnes is 32nd in the country with 6.3 catches a game, while he also has 44 catches, and leads the team in receiving yards (504) and touchdowns (5). Combined, the duo averages 13.6 catches a game, 143.3 yards a game and has seven touchdowns.
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' 44 catches, 30 (25 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 27 (24 first downs and two touchdowns) money balls of his 44 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 44 receptions, 504 yards and five touchdowns. He had his first career 100-yard receiving game with 112 yards versus Boston College back on October 6.
 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 44 catches and 428 yards has been in just 21 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 22 catches, 291 yards and four touchdowns are all career-bests this season. He also leads the team with a 13.2 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.
Passing, Rushing and Receiving Record
After much research, and several discussions with all Division I schools, the Falcons are the lone school to have three players on their team that have recorded a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in their career. Freddie Barnes (1 pass, 5 receiving and 9 rushing), Tyler Sheehan (13 pass, 2 rush, 1 receiving) and Anthony Turner (13 pass, 11 rush and one receiving) have accomplished this feat, making them the lone trio in the nation with this record. In fact, prior to this week, Sheehan and Barnes were the lone duo in the country with this feat. Turner joined the duo after catching a throw-back pass from Sheehan for a 31-yard touchdown versus Kent State.
Anthony Turner = Slash?
While seeing most of his 2006 action as the Falcon starting quarterback, the emergence of Tyler Sheehan has forced Anthony Turner into a much different role this season. While still playing some quarterback, the junior has also lined up at running back and wide receiver on numerous plays. On the year Turner has attempted just one pass, but has 26 rushes for 117 yards and a team-best three rushing touchdowns. The Dayton, Ohio, native even has one reception (versus Kent State) for a 31-yard touchdown, his first catch of his career.
Falcons And Third Downs
Conventional wisdom says the longer the third down the more difficult it is to convert. That could never be so right when looking at the Falcon defense. On third downs where the opposition has less than three yards to go the opponent is 26-of-35 (.743) this season. On yardage between four and six yards the opposition is 11-of-22 (.500), seven to nine yards they are 4-of-17 (.235) and on third down with 10 or more yards to go the opponent is 2-of-17 (.118).
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. Versus Miami he had four returns over 30 yards, including a career-best 56 yards on the opening kickoff of the game. On three different occasions versus Miami, Williams got the Falcons out past their own 45 yard line. The sophomore is averaging 24.0 yards a return (21-503), while the other 15 returns by a Falcon are averaging just 15.5 yards a return (15-232).
Mahone Making Moves
While serving as more of a nickel back for much of the 2007 season, sophomore defensive back P.J. Mahone has taken advantage of his limited opportunities, intercepting three passes in six games this season, fourth-best in the MAC. He had one interception versus Minnesota and a pair of picks versus Western Kentucky. His .50 interception per game ratio ranks 14th in the country. Not only does he have three takeaways, in those three picks he has returned those interceptions 35, 43 and 44 yards for a 40.7 yard average.
Red "Hot" Zone
BGSU is 21-of-24 (87.5%) in redzone opportunities this season, scoring 16 touchdowns, second in the MAC. This past weekend, while the Falcons had two redzone opportunities, they converted them into 14 points, while Kent State was just 3-of-5 in redzone opportunities, converting those five opportunities into just 13 points.
Linebackers Lead The Way In Tackles
Juniors John Haneline and Erique Dozier, along with fifth-year senior Loren Hargrove, lead the Falcon linebackers, holding down the top three spots in the Falcon tackling department. Haneline's 77 tackles leads the Falcons. His 11.0 tackles per game is third in the MAC. He also has five tackles for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. Dozier is second on the team with 58 tackles, including 4.5 tackles for loss, two INTs and one fumble recovery. Hargrove is third of the team with 49 tackles. He also has six TFLs and two sacks.