Impenetrable BG Defense Dominates In Rout Of EMU

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Ypsilanti, Mich. – Bowling Green held Eastern Michigan to 65 yards of offense, just four through the air, and the Falcons rolled to a 58-7 win over the Eagles Saturday afternoon.

With a game looming in a week against Buffalo for a spot in the Mid-American Conference Championship Game, Saturday's contest had all the makings of a letdown for the Falcons. But Bowling Green scored 17 points in each of the first three quarters and never allowed an offensive touchdown in the rout.

Eastern Michigan's only score came on a 10-yard interception return that gave the Eagles an early 7-3 lead. But the Falcon defense gave up just four first downs, one shy of the school record, and did not allow a touchdown for the third consecutive game. In fact, Bowling Green has not allowed as much as a single point in the second half in the past three contests.

Freshman wide receiver Ronnie Moore had a career game, catching seven passes for 161 yards and three touchdowns. He also had 18 yards rushing. Bowling Green finished with 560 yards of total offense, grinding out 296 on the ground, the most in Dave Clawson's five years as head coach. Redshirt sophomore Travis Greene led the way with 126 yards rushing, his seventh 100-yard game of the season, and freshman William Houston added a career-best 84 yards. Redshirt sophomore Andre Givens pounded out 61 yards.

Despite gusting winds, redshirt sophomore kicker Tyler Tate was 3-for-3 on field goals and made all seven of his extra point attempts. His first field goal, a 30-yarder, gave Bowling Green a 3-0 lead.

Eastern Michigan's Sean Kurtz made things interesting with a 10-yard interception return for a touchdown with 6:36 to play in the first quarter, but Moore went 74 yards to the end zone just 26 seconds later to give the Falcons the lead for good.

Moore would score his second touchdown with just seven seconds remaining in the first quarter as the Falcons went 61 yards over nine players, culminating with the 22-yard scoring strike.

Tate's 34-yard field goal early in the second made it 20-7 and BGSU's defense set up the next score. Ryland Ward picked up his second interception of the season, returning it 14 yards to the Eastern Michigan 28. Greene took it from there, scoring on the first play from scrimmage for a 27-7 lead. Moore had his third-and-final score with 1:34 left in the half on a 34-yard touchdown reception that made it 34-7 at the break.

Bowling Green quickly ended any comeback thoughts in the third quarter as Greene finished an eight-play, 56-yard drive with a two-yard plunge for a 41-7 lead. Tate added a career-best third field goal, this one from 29 yards away, and Will Watson had a 37-yard return on a fumble recovery with 3:21 to play in the third to make it 51-7.

In the fourth, Houston added the thunder, scoring on a career-long run of 44 yards for the final points of the game.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Matt Johnson shook off the early interception to have another strong game, going 13-of-23 for 264 yards and the three touchdown passes to Moore. Defensively, Brian Sutton had a team-high five tackles as Eastern Michigan ran just 44 plays. In fact, the Eagles were only 1-of-18 passing on the afternoon. Bowling Green won the time of possession battle handily, compiling 39:23 and holding EMU to just 20:37. The Falcons entered the game ranked fourth in the country in time of possession, holding the ball for just under 34 minutes.

In the red zone, the Falcons scored on all four of its trips inside Eastern Michigan's 20-yard line. Bowling Green is now 37-of-40 in its eight wins in the red zone, with all three unsuccessful attempts coming on kneel downs in victory formation. For the third time this year, Bowling Green held an opponent without a trip into the red zone.

With the loss, Eastern Michigan falls to 2-9 on the season and 1-6 in MAC play. Bowling Green improves to 8-3 overall and 6-1 in MAC play and will now play for the MAC East Division title Friday. The Falcons will play Buffalo, also 8-3 overall and 6-1 in the MAC, at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo at 1:30 p.m. in a game televised on ESPNU.

Notes
*The 58-7 win on Saturday was the Falcons' biggest win since Oct. 1, 2005, a 70-7 win vs. Temple. It was the largest offensive output for BGSU since scoring 58 vs. Morgan State on Sept. 10, 2011.

*The 65 total yards allowed by the BGSU defense and 4 passing yards allowed were the best in the Dave Clawson era.

*The Falcons' 296 rushing yards were the most under Dave Clawson, surpassing 292 yards against Akron last season.

*BGSU's 560 yards of total offense were the fourth most in the Clawson era, and the third highest output this year.

*BGSU has now scored 45 points in three straight games, the first time since 2002. It was the 5th time BGSU has scored 40-or-more points this season.

*The Bowling Green defense has not allowed a touchdown in three consecutive games, and has not allowed points in 11 consecutive quarters.

*Over the past 14 quarters, BGSU is outscoring opponents 170-17.

*The four first downs allowed by Bowling Green on defense were one off the school record of three, set against Defiance in 1956.

*Travis Greene's 126 yards on Saturday moved him into third all-time for a single season with 1,293 yards. He is 121 short of Dave Preston's mark for second all-time. He is just 151 shy of Fred Durig's all-time mark of 1,444 yards. Travis Greene now has three multi-TD games rushing this season, and four overall multi-TD games. Saturday was also the seventh time he has gone over 100 yards in a game this season, and sixth time in MAC play.

*Matt Johnson's 264 yards put him at 2,572 for the season. he is 38 yards shy of moving into the top 10 for a single season.

*Ronnie Moore's seven catches for 161 yards and three TDs were all a career high for the true freshman. It was the first time since Eugene Cooper's four receiving TDs on Sept. 10, 2011 vs. Morgan State that a Falcon receiver has scored three or more times in a game.

*Tyler Tate converted a career-high three FGs and 7 PATs in the game, for a career-high of 16 points in a game.

*Will Watson's scoop-and-score marked his first career fumble recovery and touchdown.

*Isaiah Gourdine recorded his first career interception in the game.

*Ryland Ward's second-half interception was his second of the year. Bowling Green now has five interceptions on the year.

*William Houston's 44-yard scamper up the middle was his 11th touchdown of the season. It was his first TD from outside two yards this season.

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