Falcons Travel to Athens in Search of First MAC Win

Game #6
Oct. 9, 2010 • 2 p.m. • Athens, Ohio • Peden Stadium
Bowling Green Falcons (1-4, 0-1 MAC) vs. Ohio Bobcats (2-3, 1-1 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
Ohio Football Game Notes

Falcons Travel to Athens in Search of First MAC Win
The Bowling Green State University football team will travel to Athens, Ohio for a showdown with fellow Mid-American Conference opponent Ohio. Opening kickoff is set for 2 p.m. at Peden Stadium.

Scouting the Falcons
The Falcons are led by second year head coach Dave Clawson, who is 8-10 overall and 6-3 in the Mid-American Conference. Clawson is 66-59 in ten-plus years as a head coach, including five years at Fordham and four at Richmond.

BGSU brings a 1-4 overall and 0-1 MAC record to Saturday's game, the same record they had at this point one year ago.

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 42 catches for 425 yards and one touchdown. The 42 grabs currently ranks second in the country.

Senior running back Willie Geter has had a tough time this year getting much on the ground, averaging just 61.6 yards per game, but has also contributed through the air with 18 catches for 194 yards and one score.

Defensively the Falcons rank 11th in scoring (36.8) and 13th in total defense (511.8), but are first in the conference in takeaways with 17. BGSU has forced at least two turnovers in each of its five games. Linebacker Dwayne Woods is second in the country with 64 tackles, while Keith Morgan is first in the MAC with three interceptions.

Falcons Drop Heart-Breaker to Buffalo
The visiting Buffalo Bulls outgained the Bowling Green State University football team by over 250 yards, had 18 more first downs and over 38 minutes of possession time, but they could not put away the Falcons until the final whistle in both teams' Mid-American Conference opener on Saturday (Oct. 2) at Perry Stadium.

In a wild game marred by 14 penalties and 11 turnovers, the Falcons and Bulls battled until Bryan Wright's 40-yard field goal attempt went just wide as time expired to give the Bulls a 28-26 win.

Buffalo dominated Bowling Green in virtually every statistical category, but the Falcons' opportunistic defense and special teams kept the team in the game.

While the Falcons struggled to get their offense going in the first frame, the defense produced three turnovers, including one 82-yard touchdown return and another taken all the way to the Buffalo 5-yardline.

Ohio Scout
Ohio enters Saturday's contest with a 2-3 overall and 1-1 Mid-American Conference record. The Bobcats are coming off a 30-17 win over Eastern Michigan.

Ohio has the seventh ranked offense in the conference, led by quarterback Boo Jackson, who is averaging 135.2 yards per game through the air and another 24.2 on the ground.

The Bobcats have a handful of running backs that help them average 136.0 per game on the ground and four wide receivers that have at least 10 catches this season (LaVon Brazil leads the group with 12).

Defensively OU is allowing 21.2 points and 327.2 yards per game. Donovan Fletcher leads the team with 31 tackles and three interceptions.

Series With Ohio
Bowling Green leads the all-time series 37-22-2 over the Bobcats. Last year OU squeaked out a 44-37 win in Bowling Green Ohio as Freddie Barnes was unable to haul in a Tyler Sheehan pass on fourth down inside the Ohio 10-yardline.

The last time these two squads met up in Athens, Ohio, the Falcons walked away to a 28-3 win in 2008. In fact, the Falcons have won each of the last four contests at OU.

Storylines
• Bowling Green has not started 0-2 in the MAC since the 1999 season with losses to Marshall and Kent State.

• BGSU has not started 1-5 in a season since the 2000 Falcons opened the season at 1-6.

• The Falcons are first in the MAC with 17 takeaways, while OU has 14 turnovers, second-worst in the league.

• Kamar Jorden is second in the nation with 42 receptions.

• Willie Geter is less than 300 yards away from climbing into the top-10 in the BGSU record books for rush yards.

Deja VU
If a 1-4 overall and 0-1 MAC record sounds familiar, it should because it is the same record the 2009 Falcons had. In 2009 the Falcons went 1-3 in non-conference action and then suffered a 44-37 loss to Ohio to open MAC play.

This year the Falcons once again went 1-3 in non-conference and just last weekend dropped their MAC opener to Buffalo.

What we do know is the 2009 Falcons went on to finish 7-6 and advance to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Time will tell if this year's squad can do the same.

Meet Matt Schilz
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?

In his first career start the redshirt freshman was 22-of-43 for 221 yards and a touchdown. His most impressive drive came on BG's second series of the game. Schilz completed a 19-yard strike to Kamar Jorden (on 3rd and 17) and followed that up with an 18-yard completion to Tyrone Pronty (on 3rd and 15) to help the Falcons take an early 7-0 lead on Troy.

At Tulsa, Schilz completed 29-of-40 passes for 262 yards and added two rushing scores.

Versus Marshall, Schilz was 19-of-25 for 181 yards and one score (and no turnovers).

Pankratz Filling In
While Schilz has missed the last two contests, Aaron Pankratz has filled in.

Versus Marshall Pankratz entered the game with the scored knotted at 28-28 in the fourth quarter and led the Falcons on field goal and touchdown drives to help BGSU get the win. Pankratz finished the game with 111 yards passing, completing 5-of-8 passes.

Pankratz was 17-of-28 for 231 yards and one touchdown versus Michigan and 12-of-37 for 167 yards and two touchdowns versus Buffalo.

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 308 yards in 2010 (61.6 per game).

Top 20 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.   Keylan Cates (94-96) - 1,827
14.   Chris Bullock (2006-09) - 1,756
15.   Jack Woodland (47-49) - 1,752
16.   Willie Geter (2007-PR) - 1,746
17.   Anthony Turner (05-07) - 1,569
18.   Stew Williams (64-66) - 1,550
19.   Vic DeOrio (55-57) - 1,545
20.   Phil Polak (71-73) - 1,435

Take Me to Your Leader (Almost)
BGSU junior Kamar Jorden currently is second in the nation with 42 receptions through five 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.

Nation's Reception Leaders
1.   Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma) - 46
2.    Kamar Jorden (BGSU) - 42
3.   Greg Salas (Hawaii) - 41
3.   T.J. Moe (Missouri) - 37
4.   Michael Egnew (Missouri) - 33

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 16 of 19 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, but trails current leader Ryan Broyles (Oklahoma) by four catches 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 20th in the NCAA with 156.2 all-purpose yards per game and first in the MAC. He opened the season with 224 yards versus Troy and had 218 yards versus the Wolverines for a pair of 200-yard games.

MAC All-Purpose Yard Leaders
1.    Tyrone Pronty (BGSU) - 156.2
2.   Eric Williams (BSU) - 143.6
3.   Erc Page (UT) - 134.0
4.   Cody Wilson (CMU) - 132.4
5.   Jordan White (WMU) - 125.5

Old School
While Calvin Wiley is clearly the “old guy” on campus, many of his wide receiver teammates have been around for a while as well. When the Falcons line up for their first offensive play versus Tulsa it is expected to see sixth-year Wiley, joined by fifth-year wideout Tyrone Pronty and redshirt junior Kamar Jorden. The fourth Falcon wide receiver is expected to be redshirt junior Adrian Hodges and you can't forget about fifth-year tight end Nick Rieke.

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 has started all four games on the offensive line in 2010, while Roussos saw his first action on the offensive line this past weekend versus Michigan.

Dynamic Duo
Two new starters in the Falcon defense, Dwayne Woods and Jovan Leacock, currently rank first and ninth in the MAC in tackles. Woods leads the conference with 64 stops and Leacock is ninth with 47. The duo's combined 111 tackles are the most among any duo in the conference.

Laying The Wood
Sophomore Dwayne Woods is coming off a 20-tackle performance in the loss versus Buffalo. The Cincinnati, Ohio native is currently second in the country with 64 tackles.
1.    Mario Harvey (Marshall) - 65
2.    Dwayne Woods (BGSU) - 64
        Manti Te'o (ND) - 64
4.    Corey Paredes (Hawaii) - 62
5.    Jamon Hughes (Memphis) - 58

May The Force Be With You
The Bowling Green defense has forced 17 turnovers in the first five 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 and had six versus Buffalo (4 INT, 2 Fumble). The 17 forced turnovers currently lead the MAC and are the second most in the country.

1.    Oregon - 21
2.    BGSU - 17
3.    Toledo - 16
4.    Idaho - 15
        Troy - 15

Take it to the House
And when the Falcons do force a turnover they know exactly what to do. Three 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. The Falcons also have a 19-yard return down to the Tulsa 1-yardline from Woods and Lorenzi returned an INT 32 yards down to the Buffalo 5-yardline.

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 second in the MAC with a 42.2 punt average.

MAC Punting Leaders
1.   Ben Armer (WMU) - 43.3
2.   Bryan Wright (BGSU) - 42.2
3.   Matt Rinehart (KSU) - 41.2
4.   Brett Hartmann (CMU) - 40.8
5.   Jeff Wathne (Temple) - 40.7

30+ League
Since 2002 the Falcons are 52-6 when scoring at least 30 points and just 9-37 when scoring 29 or fewer. BGSU was 7-2 under Clawson last season when scoring 30-plus points and are 1-0 this season.

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