Falcons and Cardinals Faceoff for First Time Since 2005 on Saturday

Saturday, October 17

Muncie, Ind.

Noon

Bowling Green State University

Ball State

Falcons and Cardinals Faceoff for First Time Since 2005 on Saturday

October 13, 2009 | Football

By: by BGSU Athletic Communications

Bowling Green (2-4, 1-1 MAC) at Ball State (0-6, 0-2 MAC)
Muncie, Ind. • Scheumann Stadium
Oct. 17, 2009 • Noon

TV
None

Radio
Falcon Radio Network (99.1 FM) • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play) and John Gibson (Analyst)
WBGU (88.1 FM) • Jimm Gramm (Play-by-Play) and Kevin McGraw (Analyst)
Listen on Online

Series
BGSU Leads 19-8-1

BGSU Football Game Notes Versus Ball State (34 pages)
www.FreddieBarnes.com

Falcons and Cardinals Faceoff for First Time Since 2005 on Saturday
The Bowling Green State University football team travels to Muncie, Ind., on Saturday (Oct. 17) to square off with the Cardinals of Ball State. Opening kickoff is set for Noon.

Scouting the Falcons
The Falcons are led by first year head coach Dave Clawson, who comes to BGSU after a successful career at Fordham and Richmond. Clawson, who is 2-4 in his brief Falcon career, is 60-53 overall in 10 seasons as a head coach.

The Falcon offense is led by third-year signal caller, Tyler Sheehan, who will be making his 32nd consecutive start on Saturday. Through his first 31 games as a Falcon he has thrown for 8,026 yards (second-best in school history) and 54 touchdowns. Sheehan and the Falcons are first in the MAC and fourth nationally, averaging 335.3 yards per game through the air and are coming off a 505 yard performance last weekend at Kent State.

Sheehan's main offensive weapon is fellow classmate Freddie Barnes, who after six games this season, has already amassed 75 receptions (12.5 per game) and 722 yards (120.3 per game), including 22 catches for 278 yards and three touchdowns last weekend at Kent State. Barnes is currently first in the nation in catches and yards.

Defensively the Falcons are led by linebacker Jerett Sanderson, who leads the team in tackles (42) and tackles for loss (4.5) and has chipped in with a sack, quarterback hurry and a forced fumbled. He is joined by strong safety Keith Morgan, who has 41 tackles and two pass breakups. Fellow safety Jahmal Brown is fourth on the team with 37 tackles and has a forced on fumble and has added one fumble recovery.

Scouting Ball State
Ball State comes into Saturday's contest with an 0-6 overall and 0-2 record in Mid-American Conference play. The Cardinal passing attack is led by Kelly Page, who is averaging 163.3 yards per game through the air and has thrown seven touchdowns.

His top two targets are Briggs Orsbon, who has 37 receptions for 301 yards, and Torieal Gibson, who leads the team with three touchdown receptions.

MiQuale Lewis leads the running attack, averaging 43.8 yards per game and leads the team with three rushing scores.

Defensively, Davyd Jones leads the team with 50 tackles. Defensive lineman Robert Eddins has four sacks and nine tackles for loss.

Falcons Snap Losing Streak With Come-From-Behind Win at Kent State
Tyler Sheehan and Freddie Barnes hooked up for a record-breaking performance as the Bowling Green football team came from behind to stun Kent State 36-35 Saturday afternoon at Dix Stadium, snapping a four game losing streak.

Sheehan set school records for completions, attempts, and passing yards by going 44-for-63 for 505 yards, while Barnes broke his own receptions record and set a new receiving yardage standard with an eye-popping 22 catches for 278 yards, adding three touchdowns. Sheehan threw for four touchdowns and rushed for the game-winner with five seconds remaining.

Kent State had the ball and a 35-23 lead with under five minutes remaining but, after punting, Barnes turned in a whirling dervish of a 45-yard touchdown reception, breaking four tackles and weaving through defenders to score with 4:29 left.

With the score 35-30, Kent State went three-and-out and punted back to Bowling Green. Willie Geter fumbled the punt return but the ball bounced right to Barnes, who recovered to give the Falcons possession at the BG 26-yard line.

Sheehan methodically drove the Falcons down the field but it appeared that the drive might stall when Bowling Green faced a third-and-goal from the nine-yard line with 11 seconds left. Head Coach Dave Clawson dialed up a risky quarterback sneak and Sheehan powered his way the final two yards into the end zone to give the Falcons the win.

Record Breaking Day
• The fourth quarter comeback was Tyler Sheehan's fourth of his career and first since Oct. 11, 2008. With The Falcons trailing 28-17 entering the fourth quarter Sheehan was 17-of-24 for 197 yards and two touchdowns. He also added the game-winning nine-yard touchdown run with five seconds remaining in the contest to help the Falcons to a 36-35 win at Kent State.

• Tyler Sheehan and Freddie Barnes both had career-high games on Saturday night in Dix Stadium. Sheehan set school records in pass attempts (63) completions (44) and yards (505). He also matched his career-best with four passing touchdowns and added a rushing touchdown, his first five touchdown game of his career.

• Barnes, who caught half of Sheehans' completions, finished the game with school records in receptions (22) and yards (278). It was the third time in 2009 where Barnes broke the school record for catches in a game. In the season opener he posted 15 catches versus Troy and added 17 catches at Marshall.

• Barnes' 22 catches were also a new Dix Stadium record, held previously by KSU's Eugene Baker in 1997 … continuing with Barnes' big numbers, his 22 catches are one shy of the NCAA record of 23, held by two different players.

• Obviously Sheehan's 505 passing yards are a new career-high and school record. The previous school record holder, Brian McClure, recorded 479 yards set versus Ohio in 1985. It was the second time in two weeks where Sheehan set new career-bests, throwing for 390 yards last week versus Ohio.

Aerial Attack; Two Week Bombardment
Since the beginning of MAC play the Falcons' passing attack has been one of the nation's best. In the last two weeks Tyler Sheehan has thrown for 895, the most ever by a BGSU quarterback in back-to-back games. Overall, he has completed 72-of-115 passes (62.6 percent) and six touchdowns and has averaged 447.5 yards per game through the air in that span.

Ice That Arm
Bowling Green is first in the Mid-American Conference and fourth nationally, averaging 335.3 yards per game through the air. Helping that number is the fact that the Falcons have thrown it 311 times through six games, second-most in the country, behind only Texas Tech (315). In fact, the Orange and Brown are currently averaging 51.8 attempts and 32.8 completions which would average out to 621 attempts and 394 completions, both which would be new school records. The current record of 345 completions was set in 2003 and the 522 attempts was just set in 2007.

Barnes Named MAC East Offensive POW
The Mid-American Conference announced this afternoon that Bowling Green State University's Freddie Barnes has been named the MAC East Offensive Player of the Week after his efforts this past weekend at Kent State.

Barnes, a native of Chicago Heights, Ill., hauled in 22 catches for 278 yards (both school records) and three touchdowns in the Falcons 36-35 come-from-behind win. The 22 catches were one shy of the NCAA record. Barnes recorded receptions of 45, 53 and 55 yards and even added nine yards on the ground on three carries.

His highlight catch came on a slant pattern in which he ran 45 yards, breaking four tackles, the last coming via a stiff arm at the KSU five-yardline to help the Falcons to within 35-30 with just over four minutes to go.

Following a three-and-out the Golden Flashes were forced to punt the ball back to BGSU with Willie Geter standing back at his 20-yardline. Geter mishandled the punt, but the ball bounced right back into Barnes' hands to set up the winning touchdown drive.

In all, the senior had 306 total yards (278 rec., 9 rushing, and 19 on returns).

Take Me to Your Leader
The Falcon air attack has always had its pilot in Tyler Sheehan, but there is no question who the co-pilot is in 2009. Wide receiver Freddie Barnes, who has 75 catches through six games in 2009, currently has a stranglehold atop the nation's leaderboard in catches, and in fact it's not even close right now.

Player (School)                        Catches     Yards
Freddie Barnes (BGSU)                75          722
Jordan Shipley (Texas)                  47          583
Emmanuel Sanders (SMU)            47          528
Eric Decker (Minn.)                        46          689
Mike Williams (Syracuse)               45          712

Helps When You Set A New School Record, Three Times
Obviously, when a player has 75 catches in six games he is posting some serious numbers. Well, when it comes to Freddie Barnes, he is doing just that. After posting just 40 receptions in 2008 due to injuries, most expected Barnes to return to his 82 reception performance from 2007, but no one could have predicted this.

In 2002 Robert Redd had 14 catches versus Northern Illinois, a mark that most felt would be tough to beat (Corey Partridge matched the 14 catches in 2006 versus Toledo). To open 2009 Barnes caught a school record 15 catches in a win over Troy, a record most believed would once again be tough to beat. That record stood for two weeks before Barnes posted 17 catches at Marshall, establishing a new BGSU record. Just when you thought that was a untouchable number, Barnes had an incredible performance, hauling in 22 catches at Kent State.

NCAA Record Breaker?
Freddie Barnes, who is currently averaging 12.5 catches a game, is currently on pace to finish 2009 with 150 catches (in 12 games), which would break the current NCAA record, held since 1989 by Manny Hazard (Houston) with 142 catches.

Moving On Up
When marching up a record book like Freddie Barnes is doing, 75 catches in six games will help out in a hurry. The senior, who began 2009 with 142 career receptions, has climbed from 11th all-time all the way to second in the record books.
1.      Charles Sharon (2002-05)          232
2.      Freddie Barnes (2005-PR)         217
3.      Cole Magner (2001-04)              215
4.      Robert Redd (1998-02)              211
5.      Mark Szlachcic (1989-92)          182
6.      Corey Partridge (2005-08)         182
7.      Stan Hunter (1982-85)               176
8.      Reggie Thornton (1986-89)       158
9.      Steve Sanders (2002-05)          156
10.    Kurt Gerling (1998-01)               152

There Are Other Wide Receivers Too
While Freddie Barnes has been getting most of the attention (and coverages too), other Falcon pass catchers are putting up some solid numbers in 2009. Sophomore Adrian Hodges is second on the team with 31 catches, 297 yards and two touchdowns. Hodges has 13 catches the last two weeks after recording just five grabs in all of 2008.

Chris Wright is third on the team with 19 grabs for 297 yards and two scores after recording just 22 grabs for 249 yards last season.

Sophomore Justus Jones has come out of nowhere to play a major role for the Falcon passing game. While he has just 10 catches on the year, he was thrown into the lineup at Kent State and came away with a career-high six catches for 70 yards in the win.

Filling The Kicking Shoes
Jerry Phillips, who has already been named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week twice in 2009, was unable to kick field goals last Saturday due to an injury, so fifth-year senior Matt Norsic had to step in. It was Norsic's first career game action, and he responded by converting on his lone field goal attempt (21 yards) and made all four of his extra points attempts.

Believe it or Not
Conventional wisdom says that a strong running game is the way to control the clock, but believe it or not BGSU ranks tops in the MAC and fifth nationally in time of possession. The Falcons, who throw it more than any other team in the league, are controlling the ball for 34:18 a game.

Top Time of Possession Teams
1. Notre Dame      38:19
2. Fresno State     34:51
3. Navy                 34:41
4. Army                 34:20
5. Bowling Green 34:18

Get Off The Field
Helping with that strong time of possession is the defense's ability to get stops on third down. BGSU ranks first in the MAC and 20th in the country in opponent third down conversions (31.1%). In fact, when you look at the numbers even closer the Falcon defense has been extremely effective on third downs longer than three yards. Overall, when the opponent has to get three or fewer yards for a first down they have been successful 66.7 percent of the time. On all other third downs the Falcons have allowed just 10 first downs on 57 attempts (17.5%) when the yardage to get is at least four yards.

Down and Distance    Conversion Rate
Third and 1-3                   12-18 (.667)
Third and 4-6                     2-22 (.091)
Third and 7-9                     4-18 (.222)
Third and 10+                    4-17 (.235)

Very Few Are Better
Tyler Sheehan, who will be making his 32nd consecutive start this Saturday, has put up some huge numbers in his career, and in fact, very few quarterbacks have done it better. Below are just a few of how Sheehan ranks among active NCAA leaders.
• Ranks sixth in pass attempts (1,215)
• Fourth in completions (785)
• 12th in yards (8,026)
• 13th in passing touchdowns (54)
• 11th in completions percentage (64.6)
• 13th in touchdowns responsible for (70)
• 14th in total yards (8,331)