Falcons Host Rhode Island on Saturday

Bowling Green Falcons (1-3, 0-1 MAC) vs. Rhode Island (0-3, 0-2 CAA)
Game 5: Sat., Sept. 29 • 3:30 p.m.
Doyt L. Perry Stadium (24,000)
Bowling Green, Ohio
Series vs. Rhode Island: First Meeting
Series Streak: First Meeting
Last Meeting: First Meeting
Television: BCSN/ESPN3 • Greg Franke (play-by-play) and Tom Cole (analyst)
Radio: Falcon Sports Radio Network - Todd Walker (play-by-play) and John Gibson (analyst)
WBGU 88.1 FM: TBA
Live Stats: www.bgsufalcons.com
BGSU Game Notes
Rhode Island Game Notes
Media Central
Follow on Twiter: DaveMeyerBG (BGSU Football SID)

Falcon Quick Hits

Date	Opponent	Time/Result
Sept. 1	at Florida	L, 27-14
Sept. 8	IDAHO	W, 21-13
Sept. 15	at Toledo	L, 27-15
Sept. 22	at Virginia Tech	L, 37-0
Sept. 29	RHODE ISLAND	3:30 p.m.
Oct. 6	at Akron	2 p.m.
Oct. 13	MIAMI	3:30 p.m.
Oct. 20	at UMass	Noon
Oct. 27	EASTERN MICHIGAN	3:30 p.m.
Nov. 7	at Ohio	8 p.m.
Nov. 17	KENT STATE	Noon
Nov. 23	BUFFALO	TBA

• The Bowling Green State University football team is in the middle of its 94th season of football and has an all-time record of 498-349-51 (.583).
• Head coach Dave Clawson is in his fourth season at the helm of the football team and has an all-time record of 73-75 and is 15-26 at BGSU.
• For the fourth consecutive year the Falcons will have all three coordinators returning. Warren Ruggiero, Mike Elko and Adam Scheier will coach offense, defense and special teams.
• The Bowling Green coaching staff will be wearing Coach to Cure MD patches this week to raise awareness and funding for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research.
• BGSU is coming off a 37-0 loss to Virginia Tech, the first-time they have been shutout since the season opener at Missouri in 1998, also a contest they lost 37-0, spanning 169 games.
• The Falcons are 147-79-5 (.648) all-time inside Doyt L. Perry Stadium and 7-12 at home under Clawson.
• This week's matchup with Rhode Island will be the first contest between the two schools.
• Anthon Samuel ranks 31st in school history with 1,094 career rushing yards.
• Chris Jones ranks fourth in BGSU history with 20 career sacks.
• Anthon Samuel (Doak Walker), Chris Jones (Rotary Lombardi), Dwayne Woods (Rotary Lombardi and Butkus), Brian Schmiedebusch (Ray Guy) and Alex Bayer (John Mackey) were all named to preseason watch lists.
• The Falcons will have six captains in 2012: Dominic Flewellyn (OL), Ronnie Goble (DE), Chris Jones (DT), Matt Schilz (QB), Paul Swan (LB) and Bart Tanski (WR).
• According to philsteele.com the Falcons have the 10th youngest roster in the country with 66.7 percent of the roster underclassmen.

Scouting the Offense
Quarterback Matt Schilz will be making his 27th start of his career this weekend versus Rhode Island. Schilz, a junior, threw for over 3,000 yards last season and 28 touchdowns, all career-bests, and has thrown for 6,037 yards and 37 touchdowns in his career.

Schilz has several targets to throw to in 2012, led by red-shirt freshman Chris Gallon (17 catches, 192 yards), junior Shaun Joplin (17 catches, 226 yards) and red-shirt freshman Ryan Burbrink (20 catches, 144 yards).

At running back the Falcons will depend on Anthon Samuel. Samuel, the reigning MAC Freshman of the Year, has already surpassed the 1,000 yard mark in his career and has seven 100-yard games in his first 13 contests.

Scouting the Defense
The Falcons return 10 starters from the 2011 team and are led by senior defensive tackle Chris Jones. Jones has 16 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks on the year. Jones ranks sixth in the country in tackles for loss and 15th in sacks.

As a team, the Falcons rank sixth in the Mid-American Conference at 26.0 points per game allowed and are fifth in total defense (392.8). The biggest overall improvement through four games has been the rush defense. In 2011 the Falcons allowed 203.5 yards per game on the ground, and have trimmed that number to 150.5 in 2012, ranking fourth in the conference.

Scouting the Special Teams
Brian Schmiedebusch, a 2011 first-team all-conference punter a year ago, will once again handle all punting duties. The junior is averaging 43.1 yards per punt this season and has a 44.7 yard per punt career average.

The field goals and extra points have been a rough spot this season for the Orange and Brown. Through four games the Falcons have used two different kickers and are 1-for-5 on field goals and 5-for-6 on extra points.

Virginia Tech Recap
There is not much good to take away from the Virginia Tech game. The Falcons managed just 266 yards of offense, while completing just 14-of-42 passes. BGSU managed 133 yards on the ground, but 47 of those came on one run late in the contest.

Defensively, BGSU allowed 396 yards, including a season-high 246 on the ground. The pass defense made some strides, holding the Hokies to just 150 yards through the air on 12-of-29 passing.

The Series
The contest with BGSU and Rhode Island will be the first between the two schools, but many of BGSU's current staff members once coached in the Colonial Athletic Association, the conference that Rhode Island is a member of.
• Offensive Coordinator Warren Ruggiero spent time at William and Mary (1999) and Hofstra (2000-05).
• Defensive Coordinator Mike Elko spent three seasons at Hofstra (2006-08).
• Offensive line coach Bill Durkin was at Hofstra from 2008-09.
• Assistant Director of Football Operations T.J. DiMuzio coached at Delaware from 2007-08.

Remember Me?
Current Rhode Island head coach Joe Trainer spent a short stint with the BGSU football team. On Jan. 27, 2009, Dave Clawson announced the addition of six assistant coaches to his staff, naming Trainer his assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator. One month later Trainer was named Rhode Island's head coach on Feb. 27, 2009.

Welcome To The Doyt
Since opening in 1966, Doyt L. Perry Stadium has been a major home field advantage for the Orange and Brown. The Falcons are 147-79-5 (.647) all-time inside “The Doyt”.

The stadium is named after Doyt Perry, the man who led Bowling Green to a 77-11-5 record in his 10 years as the head coach of the Falcons. He compiled an .855 win percentage in the 1950s and 1960s and led the Falcons to the 1959 National College Division Championship.

Not Clawson's First Rebuild
It would not be hard to argue that the Falcons were rebuilding in 2010 and 2011, as things seem to be lining up well for the Orange and Brown in 2012. It's not the first time head coach Dave Clawson has rebuilt a program from the ground up.

In his first year as head coach, Fordham finished the 1999 season 0-11. By 2002 and 2003 the Rams went 10-3 and 9-3 in Clawson's final two seasons. In 2004 he led Richmond to a 3-8 record and by the fourth year the Spiders were 11-3.

Under Center
Quarterback Matt Schilz will be making his 27th start of his career for the Orange and Brown. While still a junior, Schilz is nearing in on the top-five of several BGSU school records.
• Is seventh is passing yards (6,037)
• Is sixth in passing attempts (934)
• Is fifth in passing completions (555)
• Is seventh in passing touchdowns (37)

Samuel.1000
Anthon Samuel, who has only played in 13 career games (missed three games in 2011 due to injury) surpassed the 1,000 yard career rushing mark with a 112 yard effort versus the Rockets two weeks ago. In his short career he has 1,094 career rushing yards, becoming just the 35th Falcon in school history to surpass the 1,000 yard mark. Samuel is currently ranked 31st in BGSU history in rushing yards, but should continue to climb up the charts.

Mr. 100
As stated before, Anthon Samuel has played in just 13 games in his Falcon career, but has already produced seven 100-yard games. The last BGSU running back to record at least that many was P.J. Pope, who had nine 100-yard games in his career from 2002-05.

Who Was That?
Late in the Virginia Tech contest the Falcons inserted a new running back, Andre Givens. Givens, who was a top-25 high school recruit in the state of Ohio back in 2010, scampered 47 yards, nearly breaking loose for a touchdown versus the Hokies on his first career carrry as a Falcon. He finished the game with just two rushes, but led the team with 55 yards on the ground.

Who's on First?
There are a lot of firsts among the wide receiving group in 2012. Entering the year, junior Shaun Joplin was the only Falcon to see any significant playing time for the receivers. Through four games the BGSU pass catchers have:
• Ryan Burbrink, Chris Gallon, Je`Ron Stokes and Heath Jackson have all recorded their first career catches in 2012.
• Stokes has the lone receiving touchdown this season, the first of his career.
• Four of the top seven pass catchers are first-year Falcons, led by walk-on, Ryan Burbrink (20 catches).

Monster in the Middle
Senior defensive tackle Chris Jones has been a demolition machine to begin 2012. Through four games the senior has 16 tackles, 8.0 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. Jones has already been named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week twice this year and has three straight games with at least one sack and 2.0 tackles for loss. The defensive tackle is second in the MAC in sacks and first in tackles for loss.

Of the 16 tackles Jones has been involved with this season, 11 have resulted in no gain or negative yardage -- and the total minus yardage on those plays is minus-48 yards. The five “positive” plays have gained just 14 yards (five, three, three, two, one).

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