Falcons Face Second Straight Big Ten Foe; Travel To Michigan State

Sept. 4, 2007

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -

GAME #2
Bowling Green at Michigan State

Sept. 8, 2007  Spartan Stadium, Noon

RECORDS: BGSU 1-0, 0-0 MAC // Michigan State 1-0, 0-0 Big Ten
RADIO: BGSU Radio Network - Todd Walker and Cal Bowers
TV: Big Ten Network - Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play), Chris Martin (analyst), Treeni Kusnierek (sideline)

BGSU Football Game notes vs. Michigan State (24 pages)
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The Bowling Green State University football team will look to move to 2-0 on the young 2007 season as they travel to their second straight Big Ten stadium this weekend (Sept. 8) to square-off with the Michigan State Spartans. The contest will be carried live on the Big Ten Network. Opening kickoff is set for Noon.
Falcons Versus The Big Ten Under Brandon
Coach Gregg Brandon, entering his fifth year as the Falcons head coach, has squared off with the Big Ten seven times in his career, posting a 3-4 record. In 2003 the Falcons beat #16 Purdue (27-26), Northwestern (28-24, Motor City Bowl) and Minnesota (32-31) last weekend in Minneapolis, Minn., with their four losses coming against Ohio State (17-24 in 2003, and 7-35 in 2006) and Wisconsin (42-56 in 2005 and 14-35 in 2006). All seven of these contests have been on the road or a neutral site for coach Brandon and the Falcons.
Sheehan Named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week
In his first-ever start, sophomore quarterback Tyler Sheehan went 34-of-51 for 388 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also caught one pass for 24 yards and a touchdown, earning himself the Mid-American Conference East Division Offensive Player of the Week. Not to mention, his first start was on the road versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers, in a 32-31 overtime Falcon win. Hos 388 yards passing was fourth most in college football last weekend, behind only Graham Harrell (Texas Tech, 419), Colt Brennan (Hawaii, 416) and Matt Ryan (BC, 408).
Falcons 20th Highest Offense In Nation
The 412 yards through the air, combined with the 100 yards on the ground gave the Falcons the 20th-best offensive output in the nation in the opening weekend of college football. The Falcons also lead the MAC in total offense.
Falcons In Overtime
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.
Falcons vs. New Coaches
MSU's Mark Dantonio is the second straight week the Falcons will be facing a head coach in his first year. Last week the Falcons face Minnesota and their new head coach, Tim Brewster. The Falcons travel to Boston College later this year to face the Eagles and their new head coach Jeff Jagodzinski.
Other First Starts for Recent Falcon Quarterbacks
Name Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Score Tyler Sheehan 51-34-0 388 2 53 W, 32-31 @ Minn. Omar Jacobs 41-24-0 218 2 23 L, 24-40 @ Oklahoma Josh Harris 21-13-0 156 1 36 W, 17-0 @ Ohio

Turn"over" of Fortune
BGSU was plus-3 in the turnover margin last weekend versus Minnesota, who led the country in turnover margin in 2006. The last time the Falcons were at least a plus-3 in the turnover margin was on Nov. 15, 2005 in a 42-14 win at Miami where the Falcons committed three turnovers to the RedHawks' seven. Last season in the Falcons' four wins they were a plus-7 in turnover margin.
Falcon Offense Versus Big Ten Under Brandon
As mentioned before, the Falcons are 3-4 all-time versus the Big Ten under Gregg Brandon. In those seven games the Falcon offense has averaged 418.6 yards per game and 314.3 yards through the air. Those seven games are:
Team Rush Pass Total Pts
Purdue (2003) 50 357 407 27 Ohio State (2003) 40 326 366 17 Northwestern (2003) 88 386 474 28 Wisconsin (2005) 73 458 531 42 Wisconsin (2006) 219 82 301 14 Ohio State (2006) 160 179 339 7 Minnesota (2007) 100 412 512 32 Total 730 2200 2930 167 Average 104.3 314.3 418.6 23.9

Lighting Up The Offensive Numbers vs. Minnesota
The Falcons had their finest offensive output in nearly a year with the 512 yards versus Minnesota last weekend. The last time BGSU went over the 500 yard plateau was on Sept. 11, 2006 in a three overtime 48-40 win over Buffalo. Since 2001 the Falcons are 22-2 in games they go over the 500 yard mark.
BGSU also threw for 300 yards in a game for the first time since Nov. 22, 2005 in a double overtime loss (41-49) to Toledo.
Looking for a 2-0 Start
Last weekend's win over Minnesota snapped a three year season opener losing streak, with losses to Oklahoma and Wisconsin (twice). With that in mind, that last 2-0 start for the Falcons was in coach Brandon's first year where they started out 3-0 with wins over Eastern Kentucky (63-13), Purdue (27-26) and Liberty (62-3).