Falcons Travel to Kent Looking to Snap Losing Streak

Bowling Green (1-4, 0-1 MAC) at Kent State (2-3, 1-0 MAC)
Kent, Ohio • Dix Stadium
Oct. 10, 2009 • 3:30 p.m.

TV
FSN/ESPN360.com • Jeff Phelps (Play-by-Play) and Hanford Dixon (Analyst)

Radio
Falcon Radio Network (99.1 FM) • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play) and John Gibson (Analyst)
WBGGU (88.1 FM) • Brian Fisher (Play-by-Play) and Kyle Griffith (Analyst)
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Series
BGSU Leads 54-16-6

Game Day Central

BGSU GAME NOTES (32 pages)

The Bowling Green State University football team travels to Kent, Ohio, looking to snap a four game losing streak since opening the season with a 31-14 win versus Troy. Opening kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

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 1-4 in his brief Falcon career, is 59-53 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 31st consecutive start on Saturday. Through his first 30 games as a Falcon he has thrown for 7,521 yards (second-best in school history) and 50 touchdowns. Through five games in 2009 the senior ranks second in the MAC and ninth nationally with 291.0 yards per game through the air.

Sheehan's main offensive weapon is fellow classmate Freddie Barnes, who after five games this season, has already amassed 53 receptions, including a school-record 15 versus Troy and a new school record 17 versus Marshall. Barnes' 53 reception are tops in the nation and in fact are 10 better than any other wide receiver.

In the backfield, Willie Geter has emerged as an every-down back, having rushed for 291 yards on 65 carries (4.5 avg.) through the first five games of 2009.

Defensively the Falcons are led by a trio of seniors. Cody Basler leads the team with 34 tackles and two sacks. Linebacker Jerett Sanders and safety Jahmal Brown are second and fourth on the team in tackles with 33 and 31 respectively. Sanderson is first on the team with 4.5 tackles for loss and Brown will be making his 41st consecutive start this Saturday versus the Golden Flashes.

Scouting Kent State
Kent State comes into Saturday's contest with a 2-3 overall and 1-0 MAC record. Their lone non-conference win was over Coastal Carolina (18-0) and they beat Miami (29-19) on Sept. 26. The Golden Flashes' three losess have all come from BCS conferences, falling to Boston College (34-7), Iowa State (34-14) and Baylor (31-15).

Offensively, KSU is led by quarterback Spencer Keith, who has completed 60.2 percent of his passes for 587 yards and four scores. His top target is Tyshon Goode, who leads the team with 16 receptions.

Kent State lost their all-conference running back earlier this year (Eugene Jarvis), but still has a handful of runners that allow the Flashes to average 117.6 yards per game on the ground.

Defensively KSU is allowing 372.8 yards and 23.6 points per game. Cobrani Mixon leads the team with 46 tackles, while Brian Lainhart leads the conference with four interceptions.

Series Notes
• BGSU leads the all-time series 54-16-6.
• The Falcons have won seven of the last eight contests and have not lost at Kent State since 1999.
•Saturday's contest will begin the year long Centennial Cup battle between BGSU and KSU.

Falcons Lose By the Bounce of a Ball; Fall to Ohio 44-37
Quarterback Tyler Sheehan threw for a career-high 390 yards, but it wasn't enough as the Falcons fell to the Ohio Bobcats 44-37.

Ohio led 44-30 midway through the final quarter but a BGSU touchdown from Justus Jones cut that lead in half with 3:41 remaining.

Following an OU three-and-out Freddie Barnes returned the punt 54 yards down to the Ohio-14 with 1:40 remaining. After a pair of incompletions and a Sheehan scramble for eight yards, the stage was set for the game's deciding play.

Facing an all-out blitz by Ohio, Sheehan found Freddie Barnes on a quick slant, but Barnes could not come up with the initial grab, but after the football went off of Barnes' hands and two different OU defenders, Barnes had one last dive to get the ball, but came up inches short.

BGSU's Jerry Phillips connected on all tree of his field goals and Willie Geter had 70 yards on the ground to lead the Falcons.

Offensive Explosion
Despite the loss, the Falcons did have their best offensive performance of the year, posting season-bests in points (37), first downs (26), yards (474), plays (86) and passing yards (390) versus Ohio. As a side note, BGSU had 13 plays of over 20 yards versus the Bobcats. The Falcons came into last week's contest with OU with just 18 plays of over 20 yards in their first four games.

Led in Everything but the Scoreboard
Going along with those impressive offensive numbers, looking at this past weekend's stat sheet the Falcons dominated in almost every category except the one that matters - the scoreboard. BGSU led in first downs (26-13), passing yards (390-203), offensive plays (86-54), total yards (474-419) and time of possession (34:10-25:50).

Air Attack One of the Best; Record Watch
Bowling Green is second in the Mid-American Conference and 13th nationally, averaging 301.4 yards per game through the air. Helping that number is the fact that the Falcons have thrown it 247 times through five games, second-most in the country, behind only Texas Tech (266). In fact, the Orange and Brown are currently averaging 49.4 attempts and 30.6 completions which would average out to 593 attempts and 367 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.

Phillips Named MAC East Special Teams POW
For the second time in 2009 Bowling Green State University freshman place kicker Jerry Phillips has been named Mid-American Conference East Division Special Teams Player of the Week following his efforts versus Ohio on Saturday.

The Green Springs, Ohio, native connected on all three of his field goal attempts (33, 33, 31) and made all four of his extra points for a career-high 13 points in the loss to Ohio.

As impressive as he was on those kicks, what he did on kickoffs was just as good. Of his eight kickoffs, three were touchbacks and he averaged 65.5 yards per kickoff, helping the Falcon special teams limit one of the leagues' best kick returners, Chris Garrett, to just two returns for 54 yards.

Phillips first earned MAC Special Teams Player of the Week following the Missouri contest after converting on both of his field goal attempts versus the Tigers back on Sept. 12.

Last Year Versus Kent State
BGSU roared out to a commanding 28-0 halftime lead over Kent State inside Doyt Perry Stadium and finished the contest with a 45-30 win. Tyler Sheehan was 16 of 23 passing for 159 yards and two scores and added his first career 100-yard game on the ground, finishing with 109 yards and one touchdown in the win. Jason Rice, who is now a linebacker for the Falcons, had 91 yards on eight carries and even completed a 42 yard pass to Chris Wright.

Centennial Cup Versus Kent State Begins
This week's Bowling Green/Kent State football game will kick off the Centennial Cup, an all-sports trophy competition designed to celebrate the 100-year anniversaries of both institutions in 2009-10. The winner of the game will be awarded one point towards the standings and each time the two schools meet on the field of competition in any sport during the 2009-10 athletic year, that contest will have Cup implications. The Centennial Cup will conclude at next year's football game between Bowling Green and Kent State with the trophy being presented to the winning school during that game.

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 sixth nationally in time of possession. The Falcons, who throw it more than any other team in the league, are controlling the ball for 33:27 a game.

Top Time of Possession Teams
1. Notre Dame, 38:19
2. Fresno State, 35:47
3. Kansas State, 35:29
4. Army, 33:58
5. New Mexico State, 33:46
6. Bowling Green, 33:36

Get Off The Field
Helping with that strong time of possession is the defense's ability to get stops on third down. BGSU ranks second in the MAC and 25th in the country in third down stops (32.3). 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 64.7 percent of the time. On all other third downs the Falcons have allowed just eight first downs on 46 attempts (.174) when the yardage to get is at least four yards.

Down and Distance.......Conversion Rate
Third and 1-3...........................11-17 (.647)
Third and 4-6............................1-16 (.063)
Third and 7-9............................3-14 (.214)
Third and 10+...........................4-16 (.250)

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 53 catches through five 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
Freddie Barnes (BGSU), 53
Emmanuel Sanders (SMU), 43
Eric Decker (Minn.), 43
Mike Williams (Syracuse), 41
Mardy Gilyard (Cincinnati), 38

Helps When You Set New School Records, Twice
Obviously, when a player has 46 catches in four 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, had 10 receptions versus No. 25 Missouri the week after and then once again, broke the school record for catches in a game, posting 17 versus Marshall.

Moving On Up
When marching up a record book like Freddie Barnes is doing, 53 catches in five games will help out in a hurry. The senior, who began 2009 with 142 career receptions climbed from 11th all-time all the way to fourth with his 195 career catches.
1.      Charles Sharon (2002-05), 232
2.      Cole Magner (2001-04), 215
3.      Robert Redd (1998-02), 211
4.      Freddie Barnes (2005-PR), 195
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

Streak Snapped; Sheehan Starts a New One
Tyler Sheehan, who leads the MAC and is second in the nation with 233 pass attempts, had a streak of 153 passes without throwing an interception snapped versus Boise State two weeks ago. Since throwing two interceptions in the loss to Boise State the senior signal caller has begun a new streak, which currently stands at 67 passes with no interceptions (15 passes versus BSU and 52 last weekend versus Ohio).

Very Few Are Better
Tyler Sheehan, who will be making his 31st 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 Sheehan's ranks among active NCAA leaders.
• Ranks sixth in pass attempts (1,152)
• Fifth in completions (741)
• 12th in yards (7,511)
• 15th in passing touchdowns (50)
• 11th in completions percentage (64.3)
• 13th in touchdowns responsible for (65)
• 15th in total yards (7,839)

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