Bowling Green State University Athletics

Bobcats Beat BG By a Bounce of the Ball, 44-37
October 03, 2009 | Football
OHIO 44, BGSU 37 - Final Stats | OHIO 44, BGSU 37 - PDF Boxscore (15 pages)
POSTGAME AUDIO:
BGSU COACH DAVE CLAWSON | TYLER SHEEHAN & JAHMAL BROWN
OHIO COACH FRANK SOLICH
PHOTO GALLERY
With the win, the Bobcats improve to 3-2 overall and 1-0 in MAC play, while the Falcons drop to 1-4 and 0-1, respectively.
Falcon quarterback Tyler Sheehan threw for a career-high 390 yards in defeat, in the process moving into second place on BGSU's career list for passing yards. Sheehan had two touchdown passes on the day.
The 'Cats took a 44-30 lead when quarterback Theo Scott ran 68 yards for a score with just 5:05 remaining. The Falcons cut that lead in half, however, as Sheehan found Justus Jones on a 7-yard scoring strike with 3:41 left.
BGSU forced the Bobcats to punt, and Freddie Barnes' 54-yard punt return -- a career long -- put the Falcons at the Ohio 14-yard line with 1:40 remaining.
Sheehan was forced into a pair of incompletions, then scrambled for eight yards to set up the game's penultimate play.
On fourth and 2 from the Bobcats' 14-yard line, Sheehan looked for Barnes on a quick slant. The pass was bobbled by Barnes, then was batted by an Ohio defender in the area. Barnes, still in stride, very nearly made the catch as he headed into the end zone, but the ball fell to the turf. In all, the pass was deflected four or five times before hitting the ground. From there, the Bobcats were able to take a knee on three consecutive plays to kill the clock.
The wild, back-and-forth game saw the Bobcats lead by just a 6-3 score after the first period. But, each team hit double digits in points in each of the final three quarters.
BGSU freshman Jerry Phillips sandwiched a pair of 33-yard field goals around an Ohio touchdown, as Scott found LaVon Brazill on a 27-yard score late in the first quarter.
After the second Phillips FG tied the score at 6-6 early in the second quarter, the visitors scored on a 72-yard punt return by Brazill exactly halfway through the period. That gave the Bobcats the lead for good, but the Falcons would not go away.
Chris Garrett, who had a game-high 120 yards rushing, got 37 of those on a touchdown run with 4:11 remaining before halftime. Matt Weller's point-after-touchdown try was good, giving the Bobcats a 20-6 lead.
Sheehan and the Falcons cut that lead in half just before the half, as the BG QB hit Ray Hutson with an 18-yard pass for a TD with 1:38 left in the quarter. The Phillips PAT cut Ohio's lead to 20-13 at the intermission.
The Brown and Orange got within four points on Phillips' third field goal of the game, but the Bobcats came right back, with back-to-back scores less than two minutes apart. First, Scott found Taylor Price on a 35-yard scoring play. Then, after a BG fumble gave the ball back to the Bobcats near midfield, Scott found Terrence McCrae for 40 yards, putting the 'Cats at the Falcons' five-yard line. From there, two Garrett rushes put the visitors in the end zone once again.
Now trailing, 34-16, the Falcons responded with a 10-play, 59-yard drive to put some points on the board. After Roger Williams returned the kickoff 27 yards to the Falcons' 41-yard line, Sheehan hit Willie Geter on a 27-yard play on third down, then found Chris Wright for 17 yards two plays later.
A 10-yard pass to Jimmy Scheidler several plays later put the Falcons at the Ohio two-yard line, and Barnes took a direct snap and capped the drive with a TD run. Another Phillips PAT cut the lead to 34-23 with 11.8 seconds left in the third quarter.
Ohio upped the lead to 14 points with a Weller field goal, but Sheehan scored on a five-yard run midway through the final period, cutting the Bobcats' lead to 37-30. Scott's 68-yard run gave OU a 14-point lead once again, before the Sheehan-to-Jones scoring play and the Falcons' last-gasp drive.
BGSU had 26 first downs to Ohio's 13, and the Falcons had a 474-419 advantage in total offense. Sheehan, as mentioned, throw for 390 yards, a career-high. He completed 28 of his 52 passes on the day.
Barnes, the nation's receptions leader, had a game-high seven catches for 84 yards, while Scheidler and Adrian Hodge had five catches apiece. Wright made four receptions and Geter three. All five players had over 50 receiving yards for the game.
For the Bobcats, Brazill had four catches for 93 yards to lead the team. He caught one of Scott's two TD tosses. Scott completed 11-of-19 balls through the air for 203 yards.
On the ground, Scott had 82 yards on just four carries, including the 68-yard score. Garrett, as mentioned, had 120 yards rushing to lead all players.
Geter paced the Falcons with 70 yards in 19 carries.
The Falcons had the advantage in the time-of-possession department, holding the ball for 34:10.
BGSU takes to the road for the next two games, beginning with a trip to Kent State next Saturday (Oct. 10). Kickoff for that game is set for 3:30 p.m. at KSU's Dix Stadium.
FALCON NOTES
* Tyler Sheehan threw for a career-high 390 yards vs. the Bobcats Saturday ... his previous best was 388 yards in the Falcons' win at Minnesota two years ago (Sept. 1, 2007).
* Sheehan has moved into second place on the BGSU career list for passing yards ... he now has 7,521 yards through the air in his career, moving past Josh Harris ... Harris had 7,503 yards from 2000-03 ... Brian McClure (1982-85) holds the school record with 10,280 passing yards.
* Sheehan's second TD pass on Saturday was the 50th of his career ... he is just the fourth QB in school history to throw 50 career touchdown passes ... Omar Jacobs (2003-05) holds that record, with 71, followed by McClure (63) and Harris (55).
* Freddie Barnes had a pair of punt returns for a total of 71 yards ... entering the game, he had career totals of two punt returns for 15 yards ... he had BGSU's longest punt return of the season with a 17-yard return early in the fourth quarter, then shattered that mark with his 54-yarder in the game's final minutes.
* Barnes, the national leader in pass receptions, caught seven more balls from Tyler Sheehan Saturday ... through five games, Barnes now has 53 catches.
* Barnes had a two-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter ... that was his 10th touchdown run as a Falcon, but his first since the 2006 season ... Barnes ran for nine touchdowns that season, with the last coming on Oct. 19, 2006, vs. Central Michigan.
* In his career, Barnes now has 23 total touchdowns -- 10 rushing and 13 receiving ... he leads active Falcons with 140 career points.
* Jerry Phillips had a total of 13 points in the game, the most of his career ... Phillips was a perfect 3-for-3 on field-goal tries and went 4-for-4 on extra points ... he entered the game with 21 points on the season.
* Justus Jones had the first touchdown reception of his BGSU career.
* The Falcons had 13 plays of 20 yards or more versus the Bobcats. BGSU had only 18 plays of that distance in its first four games.
Team Stats

OHIO 0, BGSU 3
BGSU - PHILLIPS, Jerry 33 yd field goal 9 plays, 62 yards, TOP 4:41

OHIO 6, BGSU 3
OHIO - BRAZILL, LaVon 27 yd pass from SCOTT, Theo (WELLER, Matt kickfailed) 5 plays, 55 yards, TOP 2:34

OHIO 6, BGSU 6
BGSU - PHILLIPS, Jerry 33 yd field goal 7 plays, 30 yards, TOP 2:07

OHIO 13, BGSU 6
OHIO - BRAZILL, LaVon 72 yd punt return (WELLER, Matt kick)

OHIO 20, BGSU 6
OHIO - GARRETT, Chris 37 yd run (WELLER, Matt kick), 4 plays, 44 yards, TOP 1:51

OHIO 20, BGSU 13
BGSU - HUTSON, Ray 18 yd pass from SHEEHAN, Tyler (PHILLIPS, Jerry kick) 6 plays, 66 yards, TOP 2:31

OHIO 20, BGSU 16
BGSU - PHILLIPS, Jerry 31 yd field goal 13 plays, 44 yards, TOP 5:08

OHIO 27, BGSU 16
OHIO - PRICE, Taylor 35 yd pass from SCOTT, Theo (WELLER, Matt kick) 5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:46

OHIO 34, BGSU 16
OHIO - GARRETT, Chris 2 yd run (WELLER, Matt kick), 3 plays, 45 yards, TOP 0:57

OHIO 34, BGSU 23
BGSU - BARNES, Freddie 2 yd run (PHILLIPS, Jerry kick), 10 plays, 59 yards, TOP 3:55

OHIO 37, BGSU 23
OHIO - WELLER, Matt 42 yd field goal 7 plays, 55 yards, TOP 3:11

OHIO 37, BGSU 30
BGSU - SHEEHAN, Tyler 5 yd run (PHILLIPS, Jerry kick), 5 plays, 53 yards, TOP 1:52

OHIO 44, BGSU 30
OHIO - SCOTT, Theo 68 yd run (WELLER, Matt kick), 4 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:05

OHIO 44, BGSU 37
BGSU - JONES, Justus 7 yd pass from SHEEHAN, Tyler (PHILLIPS, Jerry kick) 5 plays, 57 yards, TOP 1:16