Bowling Green State University Athletics
Falcons Look for 2-0 MAC Start With Trip to Western Michigan
October 03, 2011 | Football
Bowling Green Falcons (3-2, 1-0 MAC)
vs. Western Michigan Broncos (3-2, 1-0 MAC)
Game 6: Sat., Oct. 8 • 2 p.m.
Waldo Stadium (30,200)
Kalamazoo, Mich.
Series vs. Western Michigan: BGSU leads 31-16-3
Series Streak: WMU - 2
Last Meeting: WMU, 41-7 (Nov. 26, 2010)
Television: SportsTime Ohio • Al Pawlowski (Play-by-Play) and Frank Stams (Analyst)
Radio: Falcon Sports Radio Network
Todd Walker (play-by-play) and John Gibson (analyst)
WBGU 88.1 FM: None
Live Stats: www.wmubroncos.com
Game Notes (27 pages)
Falcon Quick Hits
• The Bowling Green State University football team is in the middle of its 93rd season of football with an all-time record of 495-341-51 (.590).
• Saturday's contest with Western Michigan will be the 51st contest between the two teams, with BGSU holding a 31-16-3 lead.
• Head coach Dave Clawson returns for his third season at the helm of the football team and returns all but one of his assistant coaches from 2010. Clawson has an all-time record of 70-67 and is 12-18 at BGSU.
• BGSU is off to its first 3-2 start since the 2007 season. That year BGSU went 8-5 and advanced to the GMAC Bowl down in Mobile, Ala.
• The Orange and Brown will also be in search of its third road win of the season. The last time BGSU opened a season 3-1 on the road was 2008.
• A win versus WMU would give BGSU its first 2-0 MAC start since 2005.
• The Falcons have already surpassed last year's win total (2-10 in 2010).
• BooBoo Gates was named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week.
• BGSU boasts one of the youngest teams in football with 54 players that are freshmen or redshirt freshmen and another 27 players that are sophomores or redshirt sophomores.
• Sticking with the youth, on the two-deep alone, the Falcons feature 10 seniors, seven juniors, 17 sophomores and 18 freshmen.
• BGSU has 23 non-conference wins since 2001, the most in the Mid-American Conference.
• The Falcons have five players on preseason watch teams: Kamar Jorden (Biletnikoff), Eugene Cooper (Biletnikoff), Ben Bojicic (Rimington), BooBoo Gates (Paul Hornung) and Dwayne Woods (Butkus).
• The Falcons do not have season captains in 2011. They will elect game captains each week.
Scouting the Falcons
The BGSU football team enters Saturday's contest with a 3-2 record after dropping a 55-10 decision last Saturday versus West Virginia.
BGSU will be led by head coach Dave Clawson, who is 70-67 all-time in his career and 12-18 as the head coach of the Falcons. He is 8-9 in two seasons in the Mid-American Conference.
A Look at the Falcon Offense
The Falcon offense ranks second in the Mid-American Conference in scoring (32.8), third in total offense (418.2), second in pass offense (265.8) and fifth in rushing (152.4).
BGSU is led by sophomore quarterback Matt Schilz, who is third in the conference in passing (256.6) and second in passing efficiency (154.6). He is also second in the country with 15 touchdown passes (Baylor's Robert Griffin has 18).
Schilz has a pair of wide receivers that are one of the top duos in the nation in Kamar Jorden and Eugene Cooper. Combined the two have 52 catches for 686 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The rushing attack is much improved from a year ago as well and is averaging 152.4 yards per game. Last season the Falcons ranked last in the nation at 62.8 yards per game on the ground.
Freshmen Anthon Samuel and Jamel Martin, along with sophomore Jordon Hopgood, give the Falcons three running backs they can count on. Samuel is second in the MAC at 107.0 yards per game, but missed last week's contest with West Virginia due to an injury. Martin filled in nicely, rushing for 111 yards on 23 carries. Hopgood is tied for the team lead with three rushing touchdowns.
A Look at the Falcon Defense
Defensively the Falcons rank sixth in the MAC in scoring defense (26.8), seventh in total defense (364.0), sixth in rushing defense (148.0) and ninth in passing defense (216.0).
Linebacker Dwayne Woods leads the team with 39 tackles and has chipped in with 7.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. Fellow classmate Chris Jones anchors the front line and has 4.0 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in 2011.
The secondary features one of the youngest in the country. The Falcons, who play a 4-2-5 defense, have featured two sophomores and three freshmen the previous two weeks at Miami and West Virginia.
A Look at Special Teams
The Falcons' special teams have had some ups and downs in 2011. With the Falcons trailing 28-27 (with 2.1 seconds remaining in the game) three weeks ago versus Wyoming they had an extra point blocked and then missed their first extra point the following week versus Miami. In stepped junior Steve Stein, who has since made all five of his extra points and is two-for-two on field goals since earning the starting placekicker job.
BGSU's Brian Schmeidebusch ranks fourth in the country with a 47.9 punting average. Of his 22 punts, 10 have gone for at least 50 yards, while another 10 have landed inside the opponents' 20.
Series With WMU
The Falcons lead the all-time series with Western Michigan 31-16-3, but the Broncos have won the last two meetings, including a 41-7 win last season inside Doyt Perry Stadium. These two teams have not squared off in Kalamazoo, Mich., since 2003 (BG won 32-21) and WMU has not won on its own turf since 2001 (37-28) versus the Falcons.
West Virginia Recap
The Bowling Green State University football team dropped a 55-10 decision Saturday afternoon to West Virginia inside Milan Puskar Stadium. The Falcons are now 3-2 on the season and return to Mid-American Conference action next week.
The Falcons fumbled the opening kickoff, but the BGSU defense held strong, holding WVU to a 30-yard field goal. On the ensuing kickoff BooBoo Gates went 77 yards, setting up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Matt Schilz to Ray Hutson for an early 7-3 BG lead.
West Virginia (4-1) went three-and-out on their next drive and the Falcons answered with an 11-play drive, ending on a 21-yard field goal by Steve Stein.
The Mountaineers scored the next 52 points to capture the 55-10 victory.
Ball Security
After opening the season with a plus-3 turnover margin in the win over Idaho, the Falcons are a minus-10 in the turnover department since the Idaho contest.
Opponent Turnover Margin Result
at Idaho +3 W, 32-15
vs. Morgan State -1 W, 58-13
vs. Wyoming -5 L, 28-27
at Miami +1 W, 37-23
at WVU -5 L, 55-10
Gates Named MAC East Special Teams POW
BooBoo Gates was named the Mid-American Conference East Division Special Teams Player of the Week following his efforts in the loss at West Virginia. The announcement was made by the league office on Monday afternoon.
Gates had seven returns for 233 yards, including a 77-yard return in the first quarter to set up the Falcons' first score to give BGSU an early 7-3 lead over the Mountaineers.
His seven returns were the third most in school history, while the 233 return yards are the most ever by a Falcon kick returner. The previous-high was by Joe Alls (181 yards) versus Toledo in 2000.
Five Weeks, Five Awards
Gates was the fifth Falcon in five weeks to earn a weekly award by the conference office. Chris Jones, Eugene Cooper, Dwayne Woods and Ray Hutson have also won weekly awards.
Opponent Player Award
Idaho Chris Jones Defensive
Morgan St. Eugene Cooper Offensive
Wyoming Dwayne Woods Defensive
Miami Ray Hutson Special Teams
WVU BooBoo Gates Special Teams
Pacing for Records
In 2010, Matt Schilz threw for 2,223 yards and eight touchdowns, with some of those numbers already broken in 2011. Through five games the sophomore has thrown for 1,283 yards and 15 touchdowns. He had a four game streak of at least two touchdown passes snapped this past week versus WVU (threw one).
The sophomore is on pace for 3,100 yards and 36 touchdowns. His yardage total would be the sixth-most in school history and the 36 touchdown passes would be the second-most in school history.
Dynamic Duo
Senior wide receivers Eugene Cooper and Kamar Jorden have combined for 52 catches, 686 yards and 10 touchdowns through five games. The 52 combined catches are the third-most in the conference while the yards and touchdowns lead the MAC.
Cooper has 21 catches for 374 yards and six touchdowns, while Jorden, an all-MAC first-team performer in 2010, has 31 catches for 312 yards and four scores. Both Cooper and Jorden are on the Biletnikoff Preseason Watch List.
Cooper Tire
Eugene “Binky” Cooper came into the 2011 season with 17 catches and 130 yards and no touchdowns in his Falcon career. Through four games (did not play versus WVU) in 2011 the senior has smashed all of his personal records (see numbers above).
In the first game of 2011 Cooper had four catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns versus Idaho. The following week he had six catches for 134 yards and four touchdowns versus Morgan State. Versus Wyoming he set a career-high with eight receptions for 79 yards, but did not score. Against Miami he had just three catches for 51 yards, but those numbers would have been season-highs for him in 2010.
Baby Legs
Freshman Anthon Samuel's 107.0 per game average on the ground is the second-highest yards per game rushing among freshmen in the country. Only North Carolina's Giovani Bernard (109.6) has a better per game average by a freshman running back.
In Samuel's first career game he rushed for 141 yards on 22 carries in the win versus Idaho. He was the first Falcon freshman to rush for over 100 yards in his first career game since Freddie Barnes, who ran for 158 yards on 29 carries versus Wisconsin on Sept. 2, 2006. In week two the freshman went over 100 yards again (122 yards on 11 carries), becoming the first Falcon to post back-to-back 100-yard games since P.J. Pope did it back in 2004. Versus Miami Samuel had 121 yards on 16 carries in the win at Miami. Samuel is the first BGSU running back to have three 100-yard games in a season since P.J. Pope had five in 2004. Samuel missed the WVU game due to an injury.
Most 100-yard Games in a Season (BGSU)
Dave Preston (1974) * - 8
Fred Durig (1951) * - 8
Zeb Jackson (1993) - 7
Dave Preston (1976) * - 7
Paul Miles (1971) * - 7
Fred Durig (1952) * - 5
Paul Miles (1973) * - 5
Dave Preston (1975) * - 5
Bryant Jones (1982) - 5
P.J. Pope (2004) - 5
Joe Alls (2002) - 4
Anthon Samuel (2011) - 3
*BGSU Hall of Fame Member
Running Wild
Helping Samuel to his 100-yard performance versus Miami was a 96-yard run in the fourth quarter. With the Falcons pinned back on their own 4-yardline Samuel went untouched for a 96-yard touchdown, the longest run in school history. The previous-long was a 93-yard run for Mike McGee versus Central Michigan in 1987.
Running From Last
The new-found Falcon rushing attack has been led by a trio of tailbacks in freshmen Anthon Samuel and Jamel Martin along with sophomore Jordan Hopgood (old guy of the bunch). Samuel is second in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 107.0 yards per game on the ground. Martin and Hopgood are each averaging 40.2 yards per game on the ground.
As a team the Falcons are averaging 152.4 yards per game on the ground, which is fifth-best in the MAC. Not bad considering a year ago the Falcons were last in the nation, averaging just 62.4 yards per game rushing.
Through five games the Falcons have four 100-yard games, all by freshmen running backs. Samuel has three, and Martin ran for over 100 yards this past week versus WVU.
Don't Forget the Defense
Despite giving up 55 points and over 600 yards of total offense against West Virginia, the Falcon defense is much improved from a year ago.
2011 2010
26.8 Points 33.6
364.0 Total Defense 432.0
148.0 Rushing Defense 207.8
216.0 Pass Defense 224.2
Drive Stopper
The biggest factor to those great defensive numbers is the fact that BGSU's third down defense has been one of the best in the nation. The Falcons have allowed just 20-of-69 third down conversions (28.9 percent), which ranks 10th in the country.
Pre WVU
After playing a top-25 team and one of the best offenses in the country the Falcon defensive numbers took a hit. Below are what the numbers were prior to facing West Virginia and what they are now.
Before After
19.8 Points 26.8
294.2 Total Defense 364.0
95.0 Rushing Defense 148.0
199.2 Pass Defense 216.0
Under 100 = WIN
The Falcons are 5-0 all-time under Dave Clawson when they allow under 100 yards rushing in the game.
Team Rush Yds. Score
vs. Troy (2009) 41 W, 31-14
at Miami (2009) 36 W, 35-14
at CMU (2010) 99 W, 17-14
at Idaho (2011) 52 W, 32-15
at Miami (2011) 43 W, 37-23
Laying the Wood
Dwayne Woods was one of the top tacklers in the nation in 2010, finishing sixth in the country with 134 tackles in 12 games. This season, his tackle numbers are down due to the defense getting off the field sooner, but his impact has been just as strong.
The junior leads the team with 39 tackles, has 7.0 tackles for loss, 2.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception. The middle linebacker was named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week after recording 12 tackles and two tackles for loss versus Wyoming.
Jones'n For Sacks
Defensive tackle Chris Jones led the team with 6.0 sacks in 2010, and has continued to lead the way with 4.0 sacks this season. His four sacks are tied for 15th in the country.
He was named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week following the week one win over Idaho after recording three tackles for loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and a safety. Jones has 15 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble in 2011.
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