Falcons Fly North to Face Chippewas

Oct. 30, 2010 • 3:30 p.m. • Mount Pleasant, Mich. • Kelly/Shorts Stadium
Bowling Green Falcons (1-7, 0-4 MAC) vs. Central Michigan Chippewas (2-6, 1-4 MAC)
Radio: BGSU Radio Network (99.1 FM) • Todd Walker (Play-by-Play) and John Gibson (Analyst)
Television: None
Online: www.bgsufalcons.com (audio)

BGSU Football Game Notes (35 Pages)

The Bowling Green State University football team will make a trip to Mount Pleasant, Mich., this Saturday, for a conference showdown with the Central Michigan Chippewas. Opening kick is set for 3:30 p.m. inside Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Scouting the Falcons
The Falcons are led by second year head coach Dave Clawson, who is 8-13 overall and 6-6 in the Mid-American Conference. Clawson is 66-62 in ten-plus years as a head coach, including five years at Fordham and four at Richmond.

BGSU (1-7, 0-4 MAC) is led by quarterback Matt Schilz who has completed 141-of-231 passes for 1,346 yards and five touchdowns. Two weeks ago at Temple the redshirt freshman threw for a career-best 287 yards.

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 67 catches for 733 yards and three touchdowns. Jorden's 67 grabs are currently third in the nation.

The ground game is led by senior Willie Geter, who has 464 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 36.4 points and 449.6 yards per game, ranking 11th and 13th in the conference, but are coming off their two strongest performances of the season versus Temple and Kent State. BGSU is second in the conference with 22 takeaways, including 12 interceptions. Middle linebacker Dwayne Woods leads the conference with 91 tackles, which ranks fourth in the nation.

Falcons Fall to Flashes, 30-6
The Bowling Green State University football team failed to break 100 yards of total offense until the fourth quarter and held the ball offensively for only 25 minutes as the Kent State Golden Flashes won only their second game in their last 18 visits to Bowling Green, 30-6.

The Falcons had an early opportunity when the Flashes fumbled on the first drive of the game. However, BG lost the ball on downs. After the Falcons forced a punt, freshman Matt Schilz was intercepted by Brian Lainhart, who returned the pick to the Falcons' 15.

BG's defense held firm and forced KSU to settle for a field goal. On the ensuing kickoff, Jerry “Boo Boo” Gates ran strong up the middle but appeared to be tackled at the 44 yard line. Gates never touched the ground, though, and when whistles didn't blow, Gates took the ball and raced to the end zone for a Falcons' touchdown.

The extra point was blocked, but the Falcons led 6-3.

The team would never approach the end zone again.

The Flashes scored late in the first quarter to lead 10-6, then scored 17 points in the second quarter to put the game away. Thanks to the Falcons' inability to generate any offense, the Flashes consistently operated on short fields; in fact, none of their scoring drives lasted more than 50 yards.

Series With Central Michigan
Bowling Green leads the all-time series 21-18-0, which includes a 24-10 loss last season at home to the Chippewas.

BGSU is just 6-12 all-time at Central Michigan and have not won in Mount Pleasant since the 2004 season, a game it won 38-14.

Last Time We Played
Last season CMU came in to Bowling Green and left with a 24-10 victory, holding the Falcons to their lowest point total of the season.

The turning point of the contest was a Falcon fumble inside the CMU red zone with BGSU trailing 17-10. The Chippewas would follow the Falcon mistake with a touchdown and never looked back.

Central Michigan piled up 259 yards on the ground while the Orange and Brown added 341 yards through the air.

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.

• The Falcons are second in the MAC with 22 takeaways.

• BGSU is plus-2 in turnovers this season, which ranks fourth in the MAC, while CMU is last with a minus-10 turnover margin.

• Kamar Jorden is fourth in the nation with 67 receptions.

• Willie Geter is 13th all-time in rushing yards at BGSU with 1,901. He is 111 yards away from moving into the top-10 all-time.

Boo Boo Earns National Award
The College Football Performance Award (CFPA) has announced that Bowling Green's Boo Boo Gates has been named its National Kick Returner of the Week.

While he had just one return all night versus Kent State, the true freshman made it count, running for a 75 yard touchdown to give the Falcons a 6-3 lead.

Gates caught the ball at the 25-yardline and seemed to be down around his own 45, but was able to maintain his balance and run the rest of the way untouched.

The return earned recognition on ESPN's SportsCenter, named as the No. 5 play of the day for Oct. 23, 2010.

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 1,346 yards and five touchdowns, while completing 61.0 percent of his passes.

Best Freshman QB?
As mentioned before, Matt Schilz is completing 61 percent of his passes this season. If the year ended right now, that would be the sixth-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.

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). Versus Temple he threw for a career-high 287 yards, completing 30 of 51 passes, and throwing no interceptions.

Schilz Red Hot in Red Zone
When you need your quarterback to play his best, BGSU's Matt Schilz has been his best when the Falcons get into the red zone. On the year, the redshirt freshman is 16-of-22 with four touchdowns and zero interceptions inside the opponents' 20-yardline.

Even better is how good he has been on third down in the red zone. The Arcadia, Cailf., native is 7-of-9 with three touchdowns on third down in the red zone this season.

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 402 yards in 2010

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) - 1,901
14.   Keylan Cates (94-96) - 1,827
15.   Chris Bullock (2006-09) - 1,756

Take me to Your Leader (Almost)
BGSU junior Kamar Jorden currently is third in the nation with 67 receptions through eight 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. He had his first multiple touchdown game of his career, finishing with eight catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns at Ohio.

Nation's Reception Leaders
1.   Greg Salas (Hawaii) - 70
2.   Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma) - 69
3.    Kamar Jorden (BGSU) - 67
4.   Justin Blackmon (OSU) - 62
5.   Eric Page (Toledo) - 61

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 22 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, three, six and seven.

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 eight games Jorden has 67 catches for 733 yards and three touchdowns. Pro-rate that to a complete season and Jorden would finish with 101 catches for 1,100 yards and five 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.

All-Purpose Pronty
Tyrone Pronty is currently second in the MAC in all-purpose yards per game with 146.2. He opened the season with 224 yards versus Troy and had 218 yards versus the Wolverines for a pair of 200-yard games this season.

MAC All-Purpose Yard Leaders
1.   Eric Williams (BSU) - 148.6
2.    Tyrone Pronty (BGSU) - 141.3
3.   Erc Page (UT) - 138.9
4.   Terrell Jackson (UB) - 132.3
5.   Cody Wilson (CMU) - 119.1

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 started games for the Orange and Brown this season on the offensive line.

Dynamic Duo
Two new starters in the Falcon defense, Dwayne Woods and Jovan Leacock, currently rank first and 10th in the MAC in tackles. Woods leads the conference with 91 stops and Leacock is 10th with 66. The duo's combined 157 tackles are the most among any duo in the conference.

Laying The Wood
Sophomore Dwayne Woods is fourth in the country with 91 tackles through eight games. This past week he had eight stops versus Ohio, but two weeks ago the sophomore had 20 stops in the loss versus Buffalo.

Nation's Top Tacklers
1. Luke Kuechly (BC) - 97
2. Corey Paredes (Hawaii) - 92
   Manti Te'o (ND) - 92
4. Dwayne Woods (BGSU) - 91

May The Force Be With You
The Bowling Green defense has forced 22 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, two takeaways at Temple (1 INT, 1 Fumble) and forced two fumbles versus Kent State. The 22 forced turnovers are second in the MAC and third in the country.

Forced Turnovers
1. Oregon - 25
2. Toledo - 24
3. BGSU - 22
   Hawaii - 22
5. Ohio State - 21

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.

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 and Robert Lorenzi (who has been removed from the team) ran one back 82 yards for a score. 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.

Defense Playing Its Best
The Bowling Green defense is playing its best ball of the season right now, shutting down Temple at Kent State. Two weeks ago Temple was held to just 307 yards of offense, while this past week, Kent State could only manage 351 yards of offense.

While the Falcon defense is still last in the MAC in total defense, allowing 449.6 yards of offense, a few key categories are helping those numbers come down.

First Six Game                    Last Two Games
38.8...................Points/Game.......29.0
251.5................Rushing/Game.....130.5
238.3................Passing/Game......198.5
489.8..............Total Yards/Game....329.0
52% (43-83)......Third Downs.........14% (3-21)

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