Falcons Maul Morgan State In Home Opener, 58-13

Saturday, September 10

Bowling Green, Ohio

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

2-0

Morgan State

0-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Morgan State

Bowling Green

September 10, 2011 | Football

Box Score

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communications Intern

Box Score
Dave Clawson Audio
Matt Schilz, Eugene Cooper and Dwayne Woods Audio
Photo Gallery One (Photos by James Morrison)
Photo Gallery Two (University Marketing - Craig Bell, Brad Phalin and Brandon Heiss)

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Bowling Green State University football team improved to 2-0 on the season Saturday night (Sept. 10) by vaulting to an early lead and cruising to a 58-13 victory over the Morgan State Bears.

Matt Schilz had four touchdown passes in the first quarter, three of them to Eugene Cooper, and the Falcons led 14-0 early and then 28-7 after the first quarter. Schilz ended the first half with five touchdowns; his fifth, in the second quarter, also went to Cooper.

After Morgan State went three-and-out to start the game, BGSU cruised down the field for 75 yards on seven plays in just 2:30. Schilz hit Eugene Cooper on a deep slant across the middle for 37 yards to give the Falcons a lead they would never relinquish.

#Jerry "Boo Boo" Gates# picked off a Robert Council pass on the third play of MSU's second drive and returned it to the Bears' 12. Two plays later, Schilz threw to Kamar Jorden for a ten-yard touchdown, Kyle Burkhardt notched the extra point for a 14-0 lead.

After Morgan State scored their only touchdown of the game on the next drive, Schilz came right back to lead the Falcons on two drives of 60 and 64 yards. Each ended with a touchdown pass to Cooper, as the Falcons put the ball in the end zone on their first four drives.

BGSU cruised from that point. A sloppy second quarter, replete with ten total penalties, ended with the Orange and Brown up 35-10. Bowling Green scored 14 in the third and nine in the fourth quarter, while Morgan State managed only a field goal.

Schilz ended the game 16-for-23 with 258 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Trent Hurley was 3-for-4 with 46 yards in the second half.

Cooper caught six of Schilz's passes, and four of them were for touchdowns. He also had 134 yards. Jorden's touchdown was among four catches for 51 yards.

The Falcons rushed for 268 yards on 49 carries, as the team had 572 yards of total offense. Anthon Samuel had 122 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, while Jordan Hopgood also had a touchdown among his 12 carries for 90 yards. Redshirt freshman Jamel Martin saw his first career action and rushed seven times for 35 yards. He scored his first career touchdown in the fourth quarter.

The BGSU defense had a stellar performance as well. They craeted two turnovers (one fumble, one interception) and held Morgan State to just 193 yards of total offense on 63 plays. The Falcon secondary again played shut-down ball, as MSU quarterbacks completed just eight of 29 passes for only 37 yards. After giving up 101 yards rushing on 11 attempts in the first quarter, the team held the Bears to just 45 yards on 23 carries the rest of the game.

The team also improved its efficiency in the second half; the Falcons were flagged nine times in the first half but incurred no penalties in the second 30 minutes.

The Falcons will seek a 3-0 start next Saturday (Sept. 17) at home against the Wyoming Cowboys. Game time at Doyt Perry Stadium is noon. The game will feature the return to Bowling Green of former BGSU football coach Gregg Brandon. Brandon is now the offensive coordinator at Wyoming.

FALCON NOTES
* Matt Schilz completed 16 of 23 passes on the night, for 258 yards and a career-high five touchdowns ... nearly all of those numbers came in the first half ... Schilz threw only one pass after halftime, completing it for six yards.

* For Schilz, the total of five touchdowns more than doubled his previous single-game mark ... he had two TD tosses in both last year's Ohio game and last week's win at Idaho.

* Schilz fell just one touchdown pass shy of tying the school record ... Ryan Henry holds that mark, throwing for six scores in a 1994 win over Ball State ... Omar Jacobs threw five TDs in a game on three occasions (2004 vs. both Marshall and Memphis, and 2005 vs. Wisconsin).

* Eugene Cooper was on the receiving end of nearly all of those TD tosses ... Cooper had six receptions for 134 yards and four touchdowns, setting career bests in all three categories ... his total of four receiving TDs tied the school single-game record.

* Cooper tied the school single-game mark set by Jeff Groth in a BGSU win over Grand Valley State in 1978.

* The Falcons' total of 58 points was the team's highest since a 70-7 over Temple on Oct. 1, 2005.

* BGSU rolled up 572 yards of total offense, with 353 of those yards coming in the opening half ... the Falcons had 268 rushing yards and 304 passing yards in the win.

* Anthon Samuel rushed for 122 yards on just 11 carries vs. the Bears ... the 100-yard game was the second in a row to begin Samuel's career ... the last Falcon to have back-to-back 100-yard games was P.J. Pope versus Western Michigan (Nov. 6, 2004) and Marshall (Nov. 13, 2004).

* Jordan Hopgood came close to reaching the 100-yard mark as well ... Hopgood had 90 yards on 12 carries, with one touchdown ... in all, three different Falcons had a rushing TD.

* Several Falcon firsts took place in the second half ... Jamel Martin scored his first career touchdown, while Stephen Stein kicked the first field goal of his collegiate career ... Clay Rolf had his first career catch, with a 23-yard reception late in the third quarter.