Falcons Open MAC Play With Trip to Oxford

Bowling Green Falcons (2-1, 0-0 MAC)
vs. Miami RedHawks (0-2, 0-0 MAC)
Game 4: Sat., Sept. 24 • 1 p.m.
Yager Stadium (24,286) • Oxford, OH
Series vs. Miami: Miami Leads 42-20-5
Series Streak: Miami - 1
Last Meeting: Miami 24-21 (Nov. 10, 2010)
Television: ESPN3 • TBA (Play-by-Play) and TBA (Analyst)
Radio: Falcon Sports Radio Network
Todd Walker (play-by-play) and John Gibson (analyst)
WBGU 88.1 FM: Justin Thomas and Sean Wilson
Live Stats: www.muredhawks.com

Game Notes (25 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 494-340-51 (.589).
• Saturday's contest with Miami will be the 68th contest between these two teams, with Miami holding a 42-20-5 advantage.
• BGSU will enter the contest with one of the best offenses in the country, averaging 521.3 yards and 39.0 per game.
• 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 69-66 and is 11-17 at BGSU.
• Punter Brian Schmiedebusch was named National Punter of the Week by the College Football Performance Award. He averaged nearly 60 yards a punt versus Wyoming.
• Dwayne Woods was named MAC East Defensive 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 four players on preseason watch teams: Kamar Jorden (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 2-1 record after dropping a heart-breaker to Wyoming last weekend, 28-27. The Falcons' two wins are versus Idaho (32-15) and Morgan State (58-13).

BGSU will once again be led by head coach Dave Clawson, who is 69-66 all-time in his career and 11-17 as the head coach of the Falcons. He is 7-9 in two seasons in the Mid-American Conference.

A Look at the Falcon Offense
The Falcon offense looks much more like the 2009 team that went to a bowl game, compared to the 2-10 team from a season ago.

BGSU is averaging 39.0 points per game (second-best in the MAC) and are first in the conference in total offense (521.3) and passing yards per game (344.0). The Falcons' “lowest” offensive output of the season was 478 yards in the season opener versus Idaho.

Sophomore quarterback Matt Schilz is in his second year as the Falcons' starting signal caller. Through three games he has completed 69-of-109 passes for 986 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is coming off a career-best 437 yards passing in the loss to Wyoming.

Schilz's top offensive targets are wide receivers Eugene Cooper and Kamar Jorden. Cooper leads the conference with six receiving scores and has 18 catches for 323 yards in 2011. Jorden is second on the team with 17 receptions for 175 yards and three scores.

While the passing numbers are impressive the rushing attack has been much improved over a year. In 2010 the Falcons ranked last in the country in rushing per game (62.8) and are now posting 177.3 yards per game on the ground. Freshman Anthon Samuel is fourth in the MAC with 102.3 yards per game.

A Look at the Falcon Defense
Defensively the Falcons rank fifth in the MAC in scoring defense (18.7), fourth in total defense (289.7) and third in rushing defense (112.3), all with just one senior starter (Kevin Moore).

No one player stands out on the stat sheet, due to the fact that the Falcons have only seen the opponents run a total of 201 plays. At this time last season the defense had faced 245 plays.

2010 second-team All-MAC linebacker Dwayne Woods is tops on the team with 22 tackles and is third in the MAC with 5.0 tackles for loss. His fellow classmate Chris Jones is tied for third in the conference with 2.0 sacks.

A Look at Special Teams
The Falcons' special teams had a rough game versus Wyoming with a blocked field goal, and a blocked extra point with the game on the line. The bright spot has been punter Brian Schmiedebusch, who leads the conference with a 52.5 yard average and 47.7 net yard average.

Wyoming Recap
BGSU scored on a Matt Schilz to Ray Hutson pass with just 2.1 seconds left in regulation, but the ensuing extra point attempt was blocked as the Wyoming Cowboys defeated the Falcons, 28-27.

The Falcons committed six turnovers and committed several key penalties. The team also had a blocked field goal in addition to the blocked extra point. Despite the penalties, Bowling Green showed moxie by nearly coming back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 28-21 with 1:18 left in the game and standing at their own 11-yardline with no timeouts remaining, Schilz and the Falcons marched down the field, scoring with just seconds remaining before the extra point was blocked on the following play.

Clawson in MAC Openers
The Falcons are 0-2 under Dave Clawson in MAC openers. BGSU lost 44-37 versus Ohio in 2009 and 28-26 versus Buffalo in 2010. Both games came down to the final play of the game, with the Falcons unable to convert on a 4th-and-2 at the Ohio 14-yardline versus the Bobcats. The following year Bryan Wright's 40-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right as time expired.

Down to the Last Play
In the last 16 games the Falcons are 0-6 in games that come down to the final play.
Idaho (2009)$        L, 43-42 (Idaho 2-pt. conv.)
at Troy (2010)        L, 30-27 (Troy FG)
Buffalo (2010)        L, 28-26 (Missed BG FG)
at Temple (2010)    L, 28-27 (failed BG 2-pt conv.)
Miami (2010)          L, 20-17 (Miami FG)
Wyoming (2011)     L, 28-27 (Missed BG Extra Pt.)
$Humanitarian Bowl

National Rankings
The Falcons' rank 10th in the country in total offense (521.3) and passing offense (344.0) and are 23rd in scoring (39.0).

Schilz In The Nation
Matt Schilz ranks in the top-20 in five national categories. He is sixth in points responsible for (22.0), seventh in passing per game (328.7), 11th in total offense (324.7) and 16th in passing efficiency (167.1). He is also tops in the country with 11 touchdown passes.

Schilz Matches Omar
In 2010, Matt Schilz threw for 2,223 yards and eight touchdowns, with some of those numbers already broken in 2011. Through three games the sophomore has thrown for 986 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has nine touchdowns in his last two games, throwing five versus Morgan State and four in the loss to Wyoming.

The last Falcon quarterback to throw at least nine touchdowns in a two-game span was Omar Jacobs, who had back-to-back five touchdown pass games versus Wisconsin and Ball State on Sept. 3 and Sept. 10, 2005.

Fourth Quarter Comeback ... Almost
With the Falcons trailing 28-14 entering the fourth quarter, Matt Schilz nearly generated his second career fourth quarter comeback (first was versus CMU last season).

In the fourth quarter alone the sophomore completed 21-of-30 passes for 215 yards and two touchdowns. If not for a blocked extra point with 2.1 seconds remaining, who knows how many more yards Schilz would have added in overtime.

Dynamic Duo
Senior wide receivers Eugene Cooper and Kamar Jorden have combined for 35 catches, 498 yards and nine touchdowns through three games. The 35 combined catches are the second most in the conference while the yards and touchdowns lead the MAC.

Cooper has 18 catches for 323 yards and six touchdowns, while Jorden, an all-MAC first-team performer in 2010, has 17 catches for 175 yards and three scores.

Cooper Tire
Eugene “Binky” Cooper came into the 2011 season with 17 catches and 130 yards and no touchdowns in his Falcon career. Through three games 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. This past week he set a career-high with eight receptions for 79 yards, but did not score.

Who is that Newbie?
In his first career game running back Anthon Samuel 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. Samuel ranks fourth in the MAC with 102.3 yards per game on the ground.

Running on Full
The new-found Falcon rushing attack has been led by a pair of tailbacks in freshman Anthon Samuel and sophomore Jordan Hopgood. Samuel is fourth in the Mid-American Conference, averaging 102.3 yards per game on the ground. Hopgood is just outside the top-10 in the MAC, averaging 58.3 yards per game.

As a team the Falcons are averaging 177.3 yards per game on the ground, which is fourth-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.

(Note: Hopgood, who is second on the team in rushing (58.3), is almost averaging more than the entire Falcon team did in 2010.)

Offensive Line Shuffle
What has made those rushing numbers even more impressive is how good the offensive line has been, despite some changes. Starting left tackle Kyle Bryant broke his hand a few weeks prior to the start of the season, which forced some changes. Ben Bojicic moved to left tackle, Chip Robinson moved to center and Dominique Wharton has made three starts at guard. Only Dominic Flewellyn and Jordon Roussos have not moved positions.

Bojicic, a Rimington Award watch list member (nation's top center) had started 33 games in his career, with 30 of them at center.

This same offensive line has allowed just six sacks (2.0/game) after allowing 34 sacks (2.8/game) in 2010.

Don't Forget the Defense
While everyone is talking about this new Falcon offense, the defense has been just as impressive in 2011. Through three games the Falcon defense is allowing 18.7 points per game, fith-best in the MAC. They also rank fourth in the league, allowing 289.7 yards per game, third in rushing defense (112.3) and seventh in pass defense (177.3).

2011                                     2010
18.7        Points                    33.6
289.7    Total Defense         432.0
112.3    Rushing Defense     207.8
177.3    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 ... well actually, third-best in the nation. Through three games the Falcons have allowed just 9-of-44 (20.5 percent) third down conversions. Only Ohio (18.6 percent) and Florida (20.0 percent) have been better.

Woods Named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week
Dwayne Woods was named Mid-American Conference East Division Defensive Player of the Week following his efforts versus Wyoming.

Woods had a game-high 12 tackles (8 solo), to go along with two tackles for loss, as the Falcons held Wyoming to 396 yards of total offense. The Cowboys entered last week's contest averaging 540 yards of offense.

Woods leads BGSU with 22 tackles and 5.0 tackles for loss.

Schmiedebusch Named National Punter of the Week
Brian Schmiedebusch, was named the National Punter of the Week by the College Football Performance Award, an online college football website.

Schmiedebusch, a native of Ottawa, Ohio, averaged 58.7 yards per punt, including a 61 and 60 yard boot versus Wyoming. The sophomore had just three punts on the day, but two landed inside the opponent's 20, including a 55-yard punt that was downed at the Cowboys' 2-yardline.

Schmiedebusch is averaging 52.5 yards per punt in 2011, which is tops in the country. In 12 punt attempts this season eight have gone over 50 yards, while another six hand landed inside the 20-yardline.

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