Falcons Return Home to Face Golden Flashes

Oct. 23, 2010 • 3:30 p.m. • Bowling Green, Ohio • Doyt L. Perry Stadium
Bowling Green Falcons (1-6, 0-3 MAC) vs. Kent State Golden Flashes (2-4, 1-2 MAC)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (99.1 FM) • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play) and John Gibson (Analyst)
Television: BCSN • Greg Franke (Play-by-Play) and Tom Cole (Analyst)
Online: www.bgsufalcons.com (audio)
Watch Live

BGSU Football Game Notes

The Bowling Green State University football team returns home after a pair of road games to face-off with fellow Mid-American Conference foe, Kent State. Opening kick is set for 3:30 p.m.

Scouting the Falcons
The Falcons are led by second year head coach Dave Clawson, who is 8-12 overall and 6-5 in the Mid-American Conference. Clawson is 66-61 in ten-plus years as a head coach, including five years at Fordham and four at Richmond.

BGSU brings a 1-6 overall and 0-3 MAC record to Saturday's game, the Falcons worst start to a season since the 2000 Falcons began the year 1-6.

Quarterback Matt Schilz looks completely healthy after suffering a shoulder injury in week three versus Marshall. Since returning to the starting lineup, the redshirt freshman has thrown for 277 yards versus Ohio and 287 yards last week at Temple, the two highest marks of his career.

The Falcons' top offensive target is junior Kamar Jorden. The Darby, Pa. native, who spent two years at Hudson Valley Community College before sitting out last year, has 62 catches for 697 yards and three touchdowns. Jorden's 62 grabs are currently leading the nation, while his receiving yards are fourth.

The ground game is led by senior Willie Geter, who has 467 yards and four touchdowns on the season. He is joined by redshirt freshman Jordan Hopgood, who leads the team with five rushing scores.

Defensively the Falcons are allowing 37.3 points and 463.7 yards per game, ranking 11th and 13th in the conference, but are coming off their strongest performance of the season, allowing 28 points and 307 yards versus Temple. BGSU is first in the conference with 20 takeaways, including a league-high 12 interceptions. Middle linebacker Dwayne Woods leads the conference with 81 tackles, which ranks fourth in the nation.

Falcons Fall Just Short at Temple
Bowling Green was unable to complete a two-point conversion attempt with no time remaining and the Falcons lost to Temple 28-27 Saturday afternoon in Mid-American Conference football action. The Falcons had scored when Matt Schilz completed a pass to Calvin Wiley on the final play of regulation.

Bowling Green battled back from a 28-14 deficit to start the fourth quarter. The Falcons had a 17-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to start the fourth quarter. Bowling Green took possession back on its own 31-yard line with 1:47 to play in hopes of putting together one more scoring drive.

On 4th-and-16 from the Temple-37, Schilz completed a prayer to Kamar Jorden to the four-yard line with just 10 seconds left. After an incomplete pass, Schilz found Wiley in the back of the end zone to make it 28-27. Head coach Dave Clawson chose to go for two points and the win but Schilz pass was knocked down to end the game.

Jovan Leacock scored Bowling Green's only first half points on a 49-yard interception return after Darius Smith forced pressure on the Temple quarterback. It was the fourth defensive touchdown of the year for BGSU, setting a new school record.

The Bowling Green defense was strong throughout, holding Temple to just 12 first downs, half as many as the Falcons had. BGSU got even stiffer in critical situations, holding the Owls to just 1-of-9 on third down conversion attempts.

Series With Kent State
Bowling Green leads the all-time series 55-16-6 over Kent State, including a 36-35 thriller last season at Kent, Ohio.

Overall BGSU is 24-9-4 all-time versus the Golden Flashes in Bowling Green, Ohio and have won 16 of the last 17 at home versus KSU.

Last Time We Played
Last season versus Kent State was a critical contest for the Orange and Brown. The Falcons were just 1-4 and down 28-17 entering the fourth quarter.

Before long Tyler Sheehan was scoring from nine yards out for the game winning touchdown with just five seconds remaining. The same contest put Freddie Barnes on the national radar after finishing with 22 catches for 278 yards and three touchdowns. The 22 grabs were one shy of the all-time NCAA mark.

BGSU used the momentum from the KSU contest to win six of its last seven games and advance to the Humanitarian Bowl.

Storylines
• Bowling Green has not started 0-4 in the MAC since the 1953 Falcons finished the year 1-8 overall and 0-4 in MAC play.

• BGSU has not started 1-7 in a season since that same 1953 squad went 1-8.

• Quarterback Matt Schilz looks healthy after throwing for 287 yards and one touchdown versus Temple.

• The Falcons are first in the MAC with 20 takeaways.

• Kamar Jorden leads the nation with 62 receptions.

• Willie Geter is 13th all-time in rushing yards at BGSU with 1,905. He is 107 yards away from moving into the top-10 all-time.

Tick, Tick, Tick
The BGSU Football season has come down to the final few seconds in a trio of games this season. In the season opener Troy nailed a field goal with four seconds remaining to win 30-27, BGSU missed a 40-yard kick at the buzzer to lose versus Buffalo, 28-26 and the Falcons failed to convert a two-point conversion with no time on the clock versus Temple to fall 28-27.

QB University
From 2000-03 Josh Harris threw for 7,503 yards and was followed by Omar Jacobs and his 6,938 yards from 2004-05 and Tyler Sheehan was next, throwing for 10,117 yards from 2006-09. What is in store for the newest Falcon quarterback, Matt Schilz?

Schilz is just the fifth quarterback to open a season as the Falcons' starting quarterback since the 2001 season. The redshirt freshman has thrown for 1,228 yards and five touchdowns, while completing 62.8 percent of his passes.

Best Freshman QB?
As mentioned before, Matt Schilz is completing 62.8 percent of his passes this season. If the year ended right now, that would be the eighth-highest completion percentage ever by a BGSU quarterback and the second-best completion percentage by a freshman in school history, behind Brian McClure's 1982 season where he completed 64.2 percent.

Top Completion Percentages in BGSU History
Name                               Comp. %   Year
1. Omar Jacobs (2004)    .669             So.
2. Tyler Sheehan (2008)    .668             Jr.
3. Josh Harris (2003)         .658             Sr.
4. Tyler Sheehan (2009)   .649             Sr.
5. Brian McClure (1982)   .642             Fr.
6. Tyler Sheehan (2007)   .637            So.
7. Brian McClure (1984)   .635             Jr.
8. Matt Schilz (2010)         .628             Fr.

Just Keeps Getting Better
As expected, there were going be some growing pains at the quarterback position this season with a first-year starter, but it hasn't take Schilz long to get comfortable behind center.

He opened his career by completing 51.1 percent of his passes for 221 yards and one score at Troy. The following week he improved to 72.5 percent for 262 yards versus Tulsa and added 181 yards on 19-of-25 (76.0 percent) versus Marshall before leaving the game late in the third quarter.

Schilz returned to action versus Ohio, throwing for 277 yards and two touchdowns, while completing 23-of-37 passes (62.2 percent). This past week the freshman threw for a career-high 287 yards, completing 30 of 51 passes, and throwing no interceptions.

Speaking of Interceptions
Matt Schilz currently has not thrown an interception in his last 69 pass attempts. He finished the OU contest with no mishaps in his last 18 throws and had no interceptions in all 51 pass attempts versus Temple. The 69 pass attempts with no interceptions is a career best for the freshman.

Little Giant
While Willie Geter may be one of the smallest guys on the team (5-7, 176), he continues his march up the record books. Geter, who ran for a career-high 705 yards last season has already totaled 467 yards in 2010 (66.7 per game).

Top 15 BGSU Rushers
1.   Dave Preston (73-76) - 3,423
2.   Paul Miles (71-73) - 3,239
3.   P.J. Pope (02-05) - 3,238
4.   Fred Durig (50-52) - 2,564
5.   Josh Harris (00-03) - 2,473
6.   Bryant Jones (80-82) - 2,357
7.   LeRoy Smith (89-92) - 2,313
8.   Joe Alls (99-02) - 2,137
9.   Zeb Jackson (90-93) - 2,044
10.   Courtney Davis (93-96) - 2,011
11.   Bernard White (84-85) - 1,985
12.   Dan Saleet (74-77) - 1,965
13.   Willie Geter (2007-PR) - 1,905
14.   Keylan Cates (94-96) - 1,827
15.   Chris Bullock (2006-09) - 1,756

Geter Flashes by the Flashes
It has been a few years now, but does anyone remember what Willie Geter did versus Kent State back in 2007? As a freshman Geter ran for 203 yards on 22 carries and one touchdown in the Falcons 31-20 win in Kent Ohio. The 203 yards is the seventh-highest single game rushing record in BGSU history.

In his career the now senior has 32 carries for 218 yards and one touchdown on the ground and has added six receptions for 72 yards through the air.

Take me to Your Leader
BGSU junior Kamar Jorden currently leads the nation with 62 receptions through seven games. Jorden, who made his first career start versus Troy, had nine grabs for 111 yards versus the Trojans, which was impressive, but nothing compared to his 14 catches for 168 yards at Tulsa. While the yardage was not there Jorden added 11 grabs for 64 yards and his first career touchdown versus Marshall and added six grabs for 70 yards versus No. 21 Michigan. Versus Ohio he had his first multiple touchdown game of his career, finishing with eight catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns and had 12 catches for 143 yards at Temple.

Nation's Reception Leaders
1.    Kamar Jorden (BGSU) - 62
2.   Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma) - 61
       Greg Salas (Hawaii) - 61
4.   Armand Robinson (Miami) - 56
5.   Eric Page (Toledo) - 54

I'll Take That
Since the start of the 2009 season, a member of the BGSU football team has seen its name atop the national leader in receptions in 18 of 21 weeks.

Freddie Barnes posted 15 receptions in the 2009 home opener and never relinquished the NCAA lead, finishing the year with 155 receptions. Current Falcon Kamar Jorden was the nation's leader after weeks two and three and has once again been the nation's leader in each of the last two weeks.

In Perspective
After what Freddie Barnes did in 2009 it would be nearly impossible to have another Falcon wideout even come close to those numbers, so let's put what Kamar Jorden is doing into a bit of perspective.

Through seven games Jorden has 62 catches for 697 yards and three touchdowns. Pro-rate that to a complete season and Jorden would finish with 106 catches for 1,195 yards and six touchdowns.

Prior to Barnes, Cole Magner was the single season record holder for catches (99) and yards (1,138) in a season, numbers Jorden could pass in 2010.

A 1,827 Day Investment
Wide receiver Calvin Wiley invested a lot of time at BGSU before gathering in his first career catch. You see, Wiley is a sixth-year senior for the Orange and Brown. After redshirting in 2005, the Detroit, Mich., native suffered injury after injury from 2006-09. Wiley was granted a sixth-year of eligibility this past spring and took full advantage of the opportunity.

Prior to Troy the last time Wiley saw game action was on Nov. 21, 2006, but did not record a catch all season.

When it is all said and done Wiley first took the field on Sept. 2, 2006 and did not record his first reception until Sept. 4, 2010, a span of 1,827 days.

New Side of the Trench
Senior Nick Torresso spent 2007-09 as a defensive tackle for the Orange and Brown and Jordon Roussos spent the 2009 season (and some of 2010) as a defensive tackle but both have made position changes. Torresso and Roussos have each seen starting time along the offensive line.

Dynamic Duo
Two new starters in the Falcon defense, Dwayne Woods and Jovan Leacock, currently rank first and 13th in the MAC in tackles. Woods leads the conference with 81 stops and Leacock is 13th with 57. The duo's combined 138 tackles are the most among any duo in the conference.

Laying The Wood
Sophomore Dwayne Woods is fourth in the country with 81 tackles through seven games. His top performance was a 20-tackle highlight in a 28-26 loss versus Buffalo.

Nation's Top Tacklers
1.   James Hughes (Memphis) - 86
2.   Corey Paredes (Hawaii) - 82
       Luke Kuechly (BC) - 82
4.    Dwayne Woods (BGSU) - 81
5.   Manti Te'o (ND) - 79

May The Force Be With You
The Bowling Green defense has forced 20 turnovers in the first seven games of this season. They picked off two passes versus Troy, added two more turnovers against Tulsa (1 INT, 1 Fumble), five takeaways versus Marshall, forced two turnovers at Michigan, had six versus Buffalo (4 INT, 2 Fumble), one forced fumble at Ohio and two takeaways at Temple (1 INT, 1 Fumble). The 20 forced turnovers currently lead the MAC and are the third most in the country.

Forced Turnovers
1. Oregon - 22
   Troy - 21
3. BGSU - 20
4. Hawaii - 19
   Idaho - 19

Take it to the House
And when the Falcons do force a turnover they know exactly what to do. Four times this season the Falcon defense has returned an interception for a touchdown, all from long distances away.

Robert Lorenzi has an 82-yard touchdown return versus Buffalo and Dwayne Woods (78 yards) and Boo Boo Gates (29 yards) each did it versus Marshall. Versus Temple, Jovan Leacock ran one back from 49 yards. The Falcons also have a 19-yard return down to the Tulsa 1-yardline from Woods, Lorenzi returned an INT 32 yards down to the Buffalo 5-yardline and Woods picked up a fumble at Ohio and returned it 28 yards down to the OU 3-yardline.

The four defensive scores are a school record. The previous best was three defensive scores from the 1985 Falcons.

Bringin' The D
While the Falcon defense is allowing 463.7 yards per game, last in the conference, they are coming off their strongest performance of the season.

The Falcons allowed just 307 yards of offense, and held Temple to just one third down conversion all afternoon (on nine attempts).

Their previous low was 376 yards versus Marshall, which was also their best third down performance, where Marshall was just 5-of-14 on the day.

Rimington Watch List
Bowling Green State University's Ben Bojicic was named to the Rimington Award Watch List, announced on Aug. 26. The award is given to the nation's top center.

In all, there are 37 players on the Watch List, including three from the Mid-American Conference. Bojicic, along with Kent State's Chris Anzevino and Central Michigan's Colin Miller are the lone representatives from the MAC.

The junior from Farmington Hills, Mich., is one of four captains on this year's Falcon squad.

The winner will be honored at Rimington Trophy Presentation banquet at the Rococo Theater in Lincoln, Nebraska on January 15, 2011.

Follow the Leader
Ben Bojicic, Eugene Fells, Willie Geter and Calvin Wiley will serve as captains for 2010.

Voice of “Champ”ions
The Bowling Green athletic department released its 2010 television commercial on Aug. 1, 2010. The 30 second spot features Falcons working out as they get ready for the season, but the special part of the commercial is that BGSU's Eugene “Champ” Fells does the voice-over for the commercial.

Wright Place, Wright Time
BGSU's kicker/punter Brian Wright is expected to handle most, if not all, of the kicking duties for the Orange and Brown all season. What wasn't expected was how he got here.

Wright spent the past three seasons as the kickoff specialist for the Michigan Wolverines. Wright graduated early and wanted to enroll into a graduate school, but Michigan did not offer the correct major.

Bowling Green did have this major (hospitality management), which allowed Wright to enroll in graduate school at BGSU and at the same time gave him the opportunity to play for the Falcons without sitting out a year.

Wright Foot
Bryan Wright, while in his first year as a punter for BGSU, currently is first in the MAC with a 42.0 punt average.

MAC Punting Leaders
1.   Bryan Wright (BGSU) - 42.0
2.   Ben Armer (WMU) - 41.4
3.   Paul Hershey (Ohio) - 41.3
4.   Matt Rinehart (KSU) - 41.3
5.   Scott Kovanda (BSU) - 41.0

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Next Event

Upcoming Events

Recent Results

Bowling Green State University Athletics

Falcons Return Home to Face Golden Flashes

Related News

Next Event

Related Videos