Huskies Ground Falcons in MAC Championship Game

Friday, December 5

Detroit, Mich.

7:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

7-6 , 5-3

Northern Illinois

11-2 , 7-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Northern Illinois

Bowling Green

Gehrig Dieter catches a 2nd-quarter TD v NIU - Brad Phalin pic

Gehrig Dieter's athletic catch-and-run resulted in his first touchdown as a Falcon in the second quarter

Photo by: Brad Phalin, BGSU Marketing and Communications

December 05, 2014 | Football

Box Score

NIU earns 51-17 win in the Motor City

By: DETROIT, Mich. (BGSU Athletic Communications)

Behind a career night by quarterback Drew Hare, Northern Illinois University posted a 51-17 win over the Bowling Green State University football team to capture the Mid-American Conference title Friday night (Dec. 5). The MAC Championship game was held at Ford Field in downtown Detroit.

LINKS
FINAL STATISTICS: HTML | PDF
AUDIO: Postgame Press Conference (Babers, Martin, G. Dieter)
VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference (Babers, Martin, G. Dieter)
PHOTO GALLERY (courtesy of BGSU Marketing and Communications)

With the victory, the Huskies improve to 11-2 on the season. The Falcons are now 7-6 on the year.

NIU took a 10-point lead into the half, then broke the game open by outscoring the Falcons, 17-0, in the third quarter.

Hare posted career-high totals of 29 completions and 49 attempts, throwing for 218 yards on the night. Juwan Brescacin had a team-leading 83 receiving yards for the Huskies, with several highlight-reel catches in the win. Hare threw for two touchdowns and ran for another.

For the Falcons, redshirt junior Travis Greene ran for 105 yards and a touchdown, while redshirt soph Gehrig Dieter scored his first BGSU touchdown on an athletic catch-and-run play in the second quarter.

BGSU received the opening kickoff and redshirt sophomore James Knapke completed a swing pass to true soph Ronnie Moore for 21 yards on the opening play from scrimmage. The Huskies looked to have held the Falcons, as a third-and-11 play did not pick up the necessary yardage. But, a penalty on NIU made it third-and-6, and Knapke found redshirt junior Ryan Burbrink for 15 yards and a first down in Huskie territory.

Another penalty on the Huskies moved the ball to the 24-yard line, but NIU's Dechane Durante came up with an interception – his first of two in the game – after a Knapke pass was deflected, and Durante returned the ball to near midfield. Two plays netted only five yards, and on third down, Falcon freshman Clint Stephens broke up a pass to force the Huskies to punt. The Falcons took over at the BG 14-yard line after the three and out.

The Falcons were forced to punt on the next drive, and the Huskies went 60 yards to take the lead with 5:57 left in the opening quarter. Hare carried the ball up the middle for the final five yards, and Christian Hagen's point-after try was successful, giving the Huskies a 7-0 lead.

Another three-and-out for the Falcons, BGSU redshirt freshman punter Joe Davidson uncorked a beauty of a kick, a 60-yarder that pinned NIU at the Huskies' 14 after a five-yard return. Davidson averaged 48.7 yards on six punts, putting three of them inside the NIU 20. After the 60-yarder, BG held Northern to just six yards on three plays, but the Huskies' Tyler Wedel got off a 66-yard punt that rolled to the BG 14.

On the next play, a Knapke pass went through the hands of freshman Roger Lewis and was intercepted by Paris Logan. Northern took over at the BGSU 25. BG's defense responded, however, and Hagen hit a 35-yard field goal for a 10-0 NIU lead with 1:58 left in the opening quarter.

The next BGSU drive saw Greene gain a total of 18 yards on back-to-back plays, setting the Falcons up at the BG 40. But, a more-than-dubious intentional grounding call several plays later made it fourth-and-5, and Knapke's pass, intended for Burbrink, fell incomplete. The Huskies took over on downs at the BGSU 45.

On third-and-10, Hare found Akeem Daniels for the needed 10 yards, and a 13-yard completion to Brescacin on third-and-12 put the ball at the Falcons' 24. Hare moved the chains again, finding Ezra Saffold at the 13. Gus Schwieterman sacked Hare on the following play, and Nick Johnson broke up what looked to be an NIU touchdown pass on third down, and the Huskies settled for another Hagen field goal and a 13-0 lead with 11:10 left in the half.

Sophomore Fred Coppet gained nine yards on the first play of the next drive, then picked up eight more for a first down at the BG 42. Knapke and Dieter took over from there, connecting for 14 yards into NIU territory. Then, several plays later, Dieter made a nifty catch down the left side of the field, and took the ball into the end zone for a 42-yard touchdown. Redshirt junior Tyler Tate's kick cut the Falcons' deficit to 13-7 with 9:33 remaining before halftime.

Each team was forced to punt on the next two possessions, and the Huskies took over on their own 32 with 1:31 left in the second quarter. Northern quickly moved downfield, and got to the Falcons' five-yard line. Brian Baird forced Hare to throw the ball away on first down, and a second-down pass in the direction of Brescacin was broken up by Jude Adjei-Barimah. But, on third down, Hare rolled to his left, then threw back to his right, finding Luke Eakes in the front corner of the end zone with 25 seconds left in the half.

Twenty-five seconds, however, was more than enough time for the Falcons to get the ball to the NIU 29, where Tate's 46-yard field goal cut the Huskies' lead to 20-10 at the intermission. The drive included two passes to Lewis and a 13-yard toss to Burbrink.

NIU, though, received the second-half kickoff and proceeded to drive downfield for a touchdown. Hare found Brescacin for a four-yard scoring play, and an extra point later, the Huskies had a 27-10 lead.

On Northern's next drive, a 43-yard carry by Cameron Stingily got the ball to the two-yard line, and after an incompletion, Stingily finished the drive with a two-yard scoring run midway through the third quarter.

Greene broke off a 27-yard run on the next drive, getting the ball to midfield, but the Falcons wound up turning the ball over on downs at the NIU 38. A nifty catch by Brescacin got Northern to the BGSU four-yard line, where senior Brian Sutton stopped a Huskie ballcarrier for a two-yard loss, and Stephens then broke up a second-down pass. Pressure by the Falcons forced Hare to throw incomplete on third down. Hagen's 23-yard field goal made it a 37-10 game with 4:15 left in the quarter.

Stingily scored his second TD of the game on a short run up the middle midway through the fourth period. A 64-yard return by Stephens on the ensuing kickoff put the ball in Huskie territory, and Greene's uber-impressive run up the middle, with seemingly the entire Huskie defense clinging to him, gained 21 yards down to the six-yard line. Greene finished off the drive on the next play, juking a would-be defender and crossing the goal line with 5:56 to go. The Huskies closed the scoring on a Jordan Huff run in the final minute.

Burbrink led the Falcons with five receptions on the night, and both he and Dieter had 56 yards receiving. Stephens had a total of 103 kickoff-return yards, including the 64-yarder in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons now await their bowl fate. Bowl bids will be announced on Sunday (Dec. 7).

Notes
*BGSU is now 2-2 all-time at Ford Field and 1-2 in MAC Championship contests
*Gehrig Dieter's 42-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter was the first of his career at Bowling Green
*With his 46-yard field goal to end the first half, Tyler Tate became Bowling Green's all-time leader for career field goals made at 46. He also tied the all-time single season record with his 21^st field goal on the season.
*Travis Greene's 27-yard rush in the third quarter moved him past Josh Harris for fifth on the career rushing list.
*Clint Stephens 3^rd-quarter interception was his fourth of the season, and fourth in the last five games. The all-time mark by a freshmen at BGSU is five, set by Martin Bayless (1980) and Nick Johnson (2014).

Quotes
Dino Babers
Opening statement: "It was pretty obvious that was an outstanding football team we played today. We tried to match them. They have a lot of skill, a lot of strength and a lot of speed. Fine representative of our League Champion and we wish them the best of luck. That's a good football team and you got to take your hats off because they did it in every way you could do it: on the ground, in the air and played outstanding defense and kicking game as well."

On offense this game: "We felt like we could have an opportunity to maybe max protect a little bit and get the ball a little further down the field, but their corners did an outstanding job. Twenty-nine was doing an outstanding job on our receivers and the pass rush was consistent all night long."

On Gehrig Dieter's play: "We know that Gehrig is a fantastic player. He's a guy who has been getting the ball more and more as his career lengthens here at BG. I was excited to see him do that. He is a big, strong guy and we expect him to do that a lot and we will give him a lot of opportunity to do that."

Gehrig Dieter
Spark after his touchdown?: "I felt the spark with the whole team. Our defense got a stop the next drive and I thought things were rolling, but then we hit halftime and they came out strong at halftime and ran away with the game."

Gabe Martin
On defensive game plan: "We wanted to stop the run early and try to make it into a throw game for them, but they were successful in both aspects. They were able to throw and run the ball today. We didn't play well defensively."