Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Work Overtime to Beat Minnesota, 32-31
September 01, 2007 | Football
Sept. 1, 2007
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Tyler Sheehan completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to Marques Parks in overtime, then found Freddie Barnes for the decisive two-point conversion as the Bowling Green football Falcons rallied for a 32-31 OT win over the University of Minnesota Saturday night (Sept. 1). The wild and wooly game, the season opener for both teams, was held at the Metrodome. A few notes ...
* Sheehan, a sophomore, threw for a career-high 388 yards in the win. In fact, he more than doubled his yardage total for all of last season, having thrown for a total of 192 yards a year ago.
* Sheehan completed 34 passes in 51 attempts for those 388 yards. He threw for the first two touchdowns of his Falcon career, and also caught a scoring pass from Corey Partridge in the first quarter.
* BGSU rolled up 512 yards of total offense, including 412 through the air. BGSU had 24 first downs, with 18 coming via the pass.
* The Falcons are now 4-2 all-time in overtime games, including a perfect 2-0 record in road games. The only prior road game that went to OT came in 1999, when the Falcons picked up a 33-30 win at UCF in the final game of the season (Nov. 20, 1999). The Falcons' other OT games prior to Saturday were all played at Perry Stadium: a 16-13 loss to Western Michigan in the first year OT was played (Nov. 9, 1996); a 48-45 win over WMU (Oct. 19, 2002); a 44-41, double-OT loss to Toledo in November of 2005; and last year's (Sept. 9, 2006) 48-44, triple-overtime win over Buffalo.
* Saturday's contest was the 50th game in the head-coaching tenure of Gregg Brandon. Brandon is now 31-19 since assuming the helm prior to the 2003 season.
* BGSU opened the season against a Big Ten Conference team for the third consecutive year, having taken on Wisconsin in both 2005 (at Madison) and 2006 (at Cleveland).
* Three of BGSU's four non-conference opponents in 2007 have first-year head coaches - Minnesota's Tim Brewster, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio and Boston College's Jeff Jagodzinski
* The Falcons ended Minnesota's 14-game home winning streak vs. non-conference opponents. The Golden Gophers' last non-league home loss came seven years ago to another MAC team, Ohio.
* The Falcons' opening two drives could not have gone any better. The Brown and Orange needed just four plays, all in the air, to go 80 yards for a touchdown. On that drive, Sheehan was a perfect 4-for-4 for 80 yards, of course, and the first passing TD of his career.
* That touchdown strike was a 53-yard catch-and-run to Eric Ransom. In addition to Sheehan's first career TD, the play also marked Ransom's first touchdown as a member of the Falcons. Sinisa Vrvilo added the PAT (his first point as a Falcon) to give the Falcons a 7-0 lead, just 1:19 into the game.
* The second time Ransom touched the ball, on the first play of the Falcons' second drive, he went for 15 yards on a sweep left. Sheehan then found Freddie Barnes for a gain of 26 yards (making Sheehan 5-for-5), and a Minnesota face-mask penalty added five yards to the play, before Sheehan found Partridge across the middle for a gain of 18 and another first down. Then, Partridge returned the favor, taking a handoff from Sheehan and throwing back to the wide-open QB, who trotted into the end zone for a 24-yard scoring play.
* The Falcons' first two drives each took four plays, and went for 80 and 87 yards, respectively. BGSU had a 14-0 lead with 6:38 elapsed. Sheehan was 6-for-6 for 124 yards through the air on those two drives, and the Falcons held a 162-24 advantage in total offense to that point.
BG's first two drives, both of which went for TDs Plays-Yards-Time Elapsed 4-80-1:19 4-87-1:11
* BG then forced a UM punt, and Sheehan completed a pass to freshman Willie Geter, making the Falcon QB 7-for-7. His eighth pass of the night was deflected by a defender, for his first incompletion of the game, but on the next play, he found Partridge for an 11-yard gain on third-and-6.
* On Minnesota's third drive, Diyral Briggs got to UM QB Adam Weber for a sack. The Golden Gophers responded with a long run deep into BGSU territory, but Erique Dozier recovered a fumbled exchange on the next play, giving the Falcons the ball at their own 14-yard line.
* At the end of the first quarter, the Falcons held advantages of 10-2 in first downs, 198-19 in passing yards and 221-77 in total offense. Sheehan was 12-for-15 for 174 yards in the opening quarter, throwing for one TD while also catching a TD pass.
* Kenny Lewis intercepted a pass early in the second quarter, the Falcons' first pick of the season and the sixth INT of his career. Lewis is BGSU's active career leader in that category.
* Anthony Turner entered the game on the ensuing drive, and ran up the middle for 12 yards on his first play, and 11 more on the next play.
* Later in the second quarter, Zach Charles came open over the middle and caught a career-long 12-yard pass from Sheehan. Two plays later, Chris Bullock rumbled for 21 yards to the UM 7-yard line.
* Turner reentered the game in the Falcons' goal-line offense, and took a shotgun snap up the middle for seven yards and a touchdown on second-and-goal. With 2:25 left in the half, the Falcons had a 21-0 lead.
* With just over a minute remaining in the first half, Briggs hit UM QB Weber from the blind side, for an apparent sack and fumble. Dozier recovered the ball and returned it 10 yards, but the play was reversed, as it was ruled that Weber's arm was going forward when he was hit by Briggs. The play was ruled an incomplete pass, and the Gophers retained possession of the ball.
* The Falcons forced a punt, however, and took a 21-0 lead in the half. At the intermission, the Falcons had 15 first downs to the Gopher's eight, and 324 yards of total offense to Minnesota's 163.
* BGSU shut out an opponent in the first half for the second time in three games, having blanked Miami in the opening 30 minutes last Nov. 25 at Perry Stadium.
* Sheehan was 16-for-24 for 211 yards in the opening half of play, topping his yardage total for all of last year.
* Sheehan found Charles for a 22-yard gainer in the third quarter, giving Charles five receptions for 48 yards. Charles had 50 receiving yards during all of last season.
* Sheehan found Marques Parks for a 36-yard gain into UM territory early in the fourth quarter.
* Minnesota reeled off 24-straight second-half points, capped by a field goal with just 2:12 left in the fourth quarter that gave the Gophers the lead for the first time all night. The Falcons responded, however, with a 63-yard drive that resulted in a 35-yard Vrvilo field goal with just 0:03 on the clock. On that drive, Sheehan completed six passes, including three to Barnes for a total of 49 yards. Sheehan found Barnes for a 10-yard completion on a fourth-and-7 play, and the duo also connected for 21- and 18-yard plays on that drive.
* The final play of regulation, a hail-mary pass by the Gophers, was intercepted by P.J. Mahone deep in BG territory. The ensuing return featured three laterals before Tarell Lewis was tackled at the UM 32-yard line to end regulation.
* Minnesota needed just two plays to score in overtime, but the Falcons responded in kind, taking only two plays to reach the end zone. Sheehan's pass to Ransom went for 16 yards, before the sophomore QB found Parks for a nine-yard TD toss.
* Brandon elected to go for two, and Sheehan rolled to his right and found Barnes in the front corner of the end zone for the winning points.
* The Falcons finished at +3 in the turnover department on Saturday night, against a Minnesota team that finished first in the nation in turnover margin last year, at +1.33 (the highest TO margin for a Big Ten team since 1998),
* Random note of the week: Actor Vince Vaughn was in attendance at Saturday's game.
