Falcons To Host First Big Ten Team Since 2008 On Saturday At The Doyt

Saturday, September 13

Bowling Green, Ohio

12 PM

Bowling Green State University

Indiana (Family Weekend)

Tickets

Falcons To Host First Big Ten Team Since 2008 On Saturday At The Doyt

September 08, 2014 | Football

Bowling Green plays host to Indiana in a game nationally televised on ESPNU

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Bowling Green State University Falcons (1-1)
vs.
Indiana University Hoosiers (1-0)
ESPNU (Mark Neely and David Diaz Infante)
BGSU Radio Network (Todd Walker, John Gibson)
Complete Game Notes (.pdf)
Live Stats | Live Audio

Television
* Saturday's game will be available live on ESPNU and the WatchESPN app
* Mark Neely (PxP) and David Diaz Infante (anaylyst) will be on the call

Radio
* Falcon Radio Network with Todd Walker (PxP) and John Gibson (analyst)
* Radio coverage can be heard on the flagship station for BGSU Football WFRO 99.1 FM in Fremont, Ohio as well as WWSR 93.1 FM (Lima, Ohio), WCIT 940 AM (Lima, Ohio), WXKR 100.7 FM (Toledo, Ohio), WONW 1280 AM (Defiance, Ohio), WHKW 1220 AM (Cleveland, Ohio), WFXN 102.3 FM (Mansfield, Ohio), WXXF 107.7 FM (Ashland, Ohio) and WHKW 1420 AM (Cleveland, Ohio).
* The Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization (BGRSO) broadcasts home games and select road games on 88.1 FM in Bowling Green.

Websites
* BGSUFalcons.com is the internet home of Bowling Green State University athletics
* Coverage of Indiana University athletics is available at IUHoosiers.com

Social Media
* Falcon fans can follow Falcon football all season long through several social media outlets which will provide in-game updates throughout the year.
* On Twitter, fans can follow @BGAthletics or @BG_Football (in-game updates), while on Instagram Falcon Athletics can be found at bgfalcons.

Online Coverage
* Live stats can be found at BGSUFalcons.com
* Live audio can be heard via the Falcon Radio Network on BGSUFalcons.com
* Live video can be accessed online via WatchESPN.com

The Teams
* Bowling Green has started the season 1-1, following a 48-7 win over Virginia Military Institute on Sept. 6 in their home opener.
* Indiana comes into the contest with a 1-0 record. The Hoosiers defeated Indiana State to open the season, but did not play during week two.

Series Info
* Saturday's meeting will be the second all-time matchup between the Falcons and Hoosiers. Indiana leads the series 1-0 after defeating BGSU 42-10 in last season's matchup.

Bowling Green Welcomes Big Ten Hoosiers To The Doyt
• Bowling Green State University will welcome Indiana of the Big Ten Conference to Doyt L. Perry Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
• Saturday's game will mark the first time since Sept. 6, 2008 in which the Falcons have hosted a school out of a Power Five conference. In that 2008 matchup, Bowling Green was defeated by Minnesota.
• Indiana will be the fourth Power Five conference school that the Falcons have hosted at Doyt Perry Stadium since 2000. Bowling Green is 1-2 in such games.
• On Sept. 9, 2000, Pittsburgh (ACC) defeated the Falcons 34-16 inside the Doyt. Then, in 2002, Bowling Green smashed Missouri (SEC) 51-28 on Sept. 14. In 2008, Minnesota defeated BGSU 42-17.

BGSU Falcon Football
• Bowling Green State University is in its 95th season of football in 2014 with an all-time record of 516-355-52 (.587).
• The Falcons are coming off a win against Virginia Military Institute last Saturday, downing the Keydets 48-7 in the home opener.
• Saturday's win against VMI marked the first win of the Dino Babers era at Bowling Green.
• The win over the Keydets on Saturday marked the sixth consecutive season that BGSU has won a home opener.
• Bowling Green has now won six of their last seven games inside Doyt Perry Stadium.

What A Win Would Mean
• A win on Saturday against Indiana would improve Bowling Green's record to 2-1 on the season, marking their second consecutive victory.
• A victory against the Hoosiers would mark the Falcons' first against a Big Ten opponent since defeating Minnesota in overtime to open the 2007 season.
• The last time that Bowling Green defeated a school from a Power Five conference came in 2008, when the Orange and Brown opened the season with a win at Pittsburgh.

Falcons Ready For Two-Game Stretch Versus Big Ten Opponents
• Bowling Green is set to embark on a two-game swing against a pair of Big Ten Conference opponents, beginning with Saturday's matchup against Indiana.
• Following the home game against Indiana, the Falcons will travel to Wisconsin for a road showdown in Camp Randall with the Badgers on Sept. 20.
• The back-to-back games against Big Ten foes marks the first time since 2007 that Bowling Green has played opponents from the Big Ten Conference in consecutive weeks. In 2007, the Falcons defeated Minnesota to open the season before losing to Michigan State.
• All-time, the Falcons have a 5-16 record against Big Ten opponents. Bowling Green has defeated Minnesota, Northwestern (twice), and Purdue (twice).

Head Coach Dino Babers
• Dino Babers is in his first season at Bowling Green in 2014, and his third as a head coach overall.
• He has a 1-1 record at Bowling Green, but holds a career record of 20-8. Babers has won a conference title in each of his first two seasons as a head coach.
• Babers has also been named conference coach of the year in both seasons as a head coach, after taking a last-place team and winning two Ohio Valley Conference crowns at EIU.
• Babers has an impressive pedigree of mentoring NFL-caliber players. His quarterback at EIU, Jimmy Garoppolo, was drafted in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots. In total, Babers has coached more than 30 NFL players.
• On top of individual player success, Babers knows how to get the most out of his teams. Babers' teams have been to the postseason eight times in the past 10 seasons.

Knapke Given Keys To Offense
• Quarterback James Knapke (Fort Wayne, Ind.) has taken over the offense following a season-ending injury to opening game starter Matt Johnson.
• In his debut as a starter, Knapke completed 22-of-31 passes for 237 yards.
• Knapke connected on a 51-yard pass to Roger Lewis in the fourth quarter for a touchdown.
• His 22 completions were the most for a first career start in a Bowling Green uniform since quarterback Matt Schilz went 22-of-43 at Troy on Sept. 4, 2010.
• Omar Jacobs was the last quarterback at BGSU to complete more passes than Knapke during a first career start. Jacobs completed 24-of-41 passes in a loss at Oklahoma on Sept. 4, 2004.

Several Falcons See First Action
• Six Falcons have made their first career start through the first two weeks of the 2014 season.
• Gehrig Dieter (WR), Roger Lewis (WR), Tim McAuliffe (C), Nate Locke (LB), James Knapke (QB), and Gus Schwieterman (DL) have all started games for the Falcons this season.
• In addition to those four, 14 other Falcons have seen the first playing action of their careers during either the WKU or VMI contests.
• Nick Johnson (CB), Austin Valdez (LB), Monti Phillips (LB), Joe Davidson (P), Ryan Hunter (OL), John Klingerman (WR), Shannon Smith (DL), Cody Callaway (QB), Hunter Folkertsma (TE), Trevahn Beery (DB), Matt Robinson (DB), Dominique Carter (LB), Malik Brown (DL), and Trevor Roop (WR) have all made appearances during the first two weeks of the season.

Coppet Finds Paydirt
• Fred Coppet (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) will be an integral part of Bowling Green's up-tempo attack in 2014.
• During the first two weeks, Coppet has rushed for 138 yards on 15 carries (9.2 yards per carry).
• Coppet has also found the end zone in each of the first two games, his first two career touchdowns.

Greene Means Go
• Travis Greene (Carol City, Fla.) surpassed 100 yards rushing for the 10th time in his career on Saturday against VMI.
• Greene has surpassed 1,800 career rushing yards for the Falcons.
• Saturday's two-touchdown performance marked the seventh time in his career that Greene has found the end zone twice in the same game.
• A redshirt junior, Greene has rushed for 1,824 career yards. He is just 176 yards from becoming the 12th player in school history with more than 2,000 yards rushing.
• Greene set a school record in 2013 with 1,594 rushing yards.
• He also set a school record last season with nine games of 100-plus rushing yards.
• A versatile back, Greene scored touchdowns in eight games, including three multi-rushing touchdown contests.
• Of the five games that Greene did not reach 100 yards, he recorded more than 88 yards in three of those games.
• Eight of Greene's performances over the century mark saw him rush for 125-plus yards.
• Greene also recorded 18 receptions and two touchdowns in 2013. He had a season-high four catches for 71 yards and a score against Akron.

Special Teams Do Special Things
• Over the last several years, BGSU's special teams unit has proved to be one of the best in the Mid-American Conference.
• That trend has continued throughout the first two games of the season.
• Bowling Green scored two special teams touchdowns on Saturday against VMI, after scoring just three during the entire 2013 season.
• Joe Davidson is averaging 40.3 yards per punt, having punted nine times thus far.
• In the season-opening loss at WKU, Tyler Tate tied his career-high with a 52-yard field goal. He has also made 10 extra points this season.

Sure-Handed Heath
• Heath Jackson (Ada, Ohio) has become one of Bowling Green's most reliable targets since the latter half of 2013.
• Jackson has continued as one of BGSU's top receivers to start the season, recording 11 receptions for 117 yards through two games.

Falcons In The Spotlight
• All but one BGSU football game will air on the ESPN family of networks in 2014, with the recently announced MAC television contract extension with ESPN.
• The season opener at WKU aired nationally on CBS Sports Network.
• The week two contest against VMI was aired to a national audience on ESPN3.
• Saturday's game against Indiana will be live on ESPNU, while the Sept. 20 game against Wisconsin will air on ESPN2.

Senn-Sational Performance
• Paul Senn set a career high with 13 tackles on Saturday against VMI.
• The senior linebacker surpassed his previous career high of five tackles.
• Senn flew all over the field, recording 2.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.
• Senn recorded eight solo tackles and five assisted tackles, surpassing his previous career high of five total tackles.

Captains Against VMI
• Offense: RB Travis Greene
• Defense: DB Brian Sutton
• Special Teams: K Anthony Farinella

How #FalconFast Was Born
• After the departure of Dave Clawson for Wake Forest following the 2013 season, Director of Athletics Chris Kingston announced the hiring of Dino Babers on Dec. 18, 2013.
• A protege of Art Briles at Baylor, Babers brings with him an up-tempo and exciting brand of football to Bowling Green and Doyt L. Perry Stadium.
• Inheriting a team that averaged 34.8 points per game last season, Babers and his staff will have the opportunity to use a talented and deep roster to elevate the Falcon offense to greater heights in 2014.
• What can fans expect to see out of Bowling Green this season? Well, last year at Eastern Illinois, Babers' team outscored opponents by an average of 48.2 to 22.8.
• Quarterback Matt Johnson, who started the final 13 games of the 2013 season, has a veritable plethora of weapons to choose from in 2014. Among those weapons are running back Travis Greene, who set the school record with 1,594 rushing yards in 2013.

Lewis Leading Falcons
• Roger Lewis (Pickerington, Ohio) made his debut for the Falcons at WKU. Lewis, a former 4-star recruit out of high school, started at wide receiver.
• Lewis led the Falcons with eight receptions, while tying for the team lead with 78 receiving yards.
• In his second career game against VMI, Lewis registered six catches for a career-high 140 yards.
• Against VMI on Saturday, Lewis beat his defender for a 51-yard touchdown, the first of his career.

Offensive Line Clearing Way
• Through the first two games of the season, Bowling Green's offensive line has cleared the way for the Falcons to put together nearly 500 yards of offense per game.
• The Falcons also lead the MAC in scoring offense, averaging 39.5 points per game.
• The offensive line features three returning starters from the 2013 team, and two others who made their first career starts against WKU.
• Alex Huettel leads the way with 29 consecutive starts. He has started every game during his career.
• Both tackles - Jacob Bennett and Logan Dietz - have started 16 conseuctive games.
• Center Tim McAuliffe and right guard Ben Steward have started both games this season.

The Falcons By Class
• While the Falcons return a lot of experience in 2014, they are still fairly young. 63% of the roster enters the year with at least three years of eligibility remaining.
• 43 players enter the season with four years of eligibility remaining. The Falcons have 21 true freshmen and 22 redshirt freshmen.
• 20 players enter the year as sophomores eligibility-wise. The Falcons have just five true sophomores and 15 redshirt sophomores.
• The junior class has just 21 players, with 14 of them having redshirted.
• The 2014 senior class will consist of 16 players, while only four of them have not redshirted during their careers.

The Falcons By State
• Bowling Green has done a great job of recruiting their backyard in recent years. 70% of the roster hails from Ohio or states that immediately border the state of Ohio.
• 45 players on the 2014 roster are from Ohio. Florida (15) and Michigan (14) have the most student-athletes on the roster besides Ohio.
• The Falcons also have players from Illinois (6), Indiana (6), Pennsylvania (5), Texas (2), California (2), Massachusetts (1), Wisconsin (1), New York (1), Maryland (1), and Canada (1).

Falcons In The NFL
• The Falcons currently have four players on NFL rosters.
• Shaun Suisham recently signed a long-term contract extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He will remain their placekicker through the 2018 season. On Sunday (Sept. 7), Suisham made three field goals and was a perfect 3-for-3 on extra point attempts. Suisham's 41-yarder as time expired gave the Steelers a 30-27 win over the Cleveland Browns.
• Kory Lichtensteiger, a member of the Washington Redskins, made the move to center for the 2014 season. Last year, Lichtensteiger started every game at guard.
• Chris Jones is in his second season in the NFL as a member of the New England Patriots. Jones was named the Patriots Defensive MVP following last season.
• Alex Bayer, an undrafted free agent, made the St. Louis Rams' 53-man roster. He led the Rams during preseason play with 10 catches.

Back-To-Back In The MAC
• Bowling Green will look to become the first team in the Mid-American Conference to repeat as champion since Miami University in 2003 and 2004.
• In fact, no team from the MAC East Division has even appeared in the Marathon MAC Championship Game in back-to-back seasons since Miami in '03 and '04.

Notes From Win Over VMI
• The 48-7 victory on Saturday at Doyt L. Perry Stadium marked the first of the Dino Babers era on the sideline at Bowling Green.
• James Knapke finished 22-of-31 for 237 yards and a touchdown. His 22 completions, 31 attempts, and 237 yards were all career highs.
• Cody Callaway made his first career appearance, going 3-for-3 for 29 yards.
• Roger Lewis led all receivers with six catches for a career-high 140 yards. He also caught a 51-yard touchdown, the first of his career.
• Travis Greene rushed for 129 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns. It was his 10th career game surpassing the century mark. It also puts him at 1,824 career yards rushing.
• Ryan Burbrink's 75-yard punt return for a touchdown was the second of his career. It marked the second consecutive home opener in which Burbrink has returned a punt for a touchdown.
•Herve Coby blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown in Saturday's game. It was just his second career touchdown and first time finding the end zone since 2012.
• The Falcons had two special teams touchdowns on Saturday. Bowling Green had just three touchdowns on special teams during the entire 2013 season.

Johnson To Miss Season With Hip Injury
• Bowling Green State University quarterback Matt Johnson will miss the remainder of the 2014 season with a hip injury, suffered late in the fourth quarter at Western Kentucky on Friday (Aug. 29) night. Head coach Dino Babers announced the injury during his weekly press conference on Wednesday (Sept. 3) morning. James Knapke is expected to start today vs. VMI.

Coby Finds The End Zone On Special Teams
• Herve Coby blocked a punt on Saturday against VMI and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown, Bowling Green's second special teams touchdown of the day.
• It was his second career touchdown, and first since 2012.

Meet The Coaching Staff
• Sterlin Gilbert (Co-Off. Coor./QB) comes with Dino Babers from EIU where he was named the FCS Coordinator of the Year in 2013. Gilbert mentored Walter Payton Award Winner (top FCS player) and second round draft pick Jimmy Garoppolo at EIU.
• Matt Mattox (Co-Off. Coor./OL) also comes to BGSU from EIU, where he was the offensive line coach last season. Mattox, who played at Houston under Art Briles, coached an offensive line which bullied defenses to the tune of over 8,000 yards last season.
• Kim McCloud (Def. Coor.) will be in his first season at BGSU, after serving as defensive coordinator at EIU the past two seasons. Prior to his stint at EIU, McCloud spent time in the MAC at Akron. He also coached with Babers at Baylor prior to that.
• Tom Kaufman (Spec. Teams Coor./LB) has plenty of Ohio ties. After graduating from John Carroll, Kaufman coached in the D3 ranks in Ohio for several years before joining up with Babers at EIU.
• Nick Monroe (Secondary) returns for his fifth season at Bowling Green. Last season, Monroe's secondary helped BGSU finish with the nation's sixth-best passing defense.
• Sean Lewis (Wide Receivers) mentored Erik Lora, the best receiver in FCS during 2013, at EIU. Lora and teammate Adam Drake both totaled over 1,300 receiving yards and combined for 32 touchdowns last season.
• Mike Lynch (Running Backs) comes to BGSU after spending the past nine seasons at Eastern Illinois. Last season, Lynch's running backs combined to rush for over 3,000 yards.
• Tom Freeman (Defensive Line) comes to BGSU with more than 30 years of collegiate coaching experience. He has coached with Babers at Pittsburgh, Purdue, EIU, and now Bowling Green.
• Mike Mickens (Cornerbacks) returns to his home state as an assistant coach under Babers in 2014. He was an All-American at Cincinnati in 2007 and 2008.
• Derek Shay (offense), Vincent Marshall (offense), Ben Olson (defense), and Kevin Anderson II (defense) will serve as graduate assistants in 2014.
• Roy Wittke (Director of Football Operations), Andrew Sowder (Director of Player Personnel/Recruiting), and Sean Edinger (Director of Strength & Conditioning) round out the football staff.

Garnering Attention
• Following a 2013 season which saw several Falcons earn postseason accolades and the team win a MAC Championship, it isn't surprising that several members of the Orange and Brown have been named to preseason watch lists.
• Matt Johnson has garnered the most preseason attention after earning MVP honors at the MAC Championship Game last season. Johnson has been named to the Walter Camp, Maxwell, Manning, and Davey O'Brien Preseason Watch Lists.
• Alex Huettel was named to the Rimington Award Watch List for the nation's best center.
• Tyler Tate was named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List for the country's best placekicker.
• Ryland Ward was recognized on the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List, which recognizes the nation's top defensive back.
• Johnson, Tate, Travis Greene, and Ryan Burbrink were also recognized by the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) as a top 40 player at their respective position.
• Several Falcons were named Preseason First Team All-MAC by at least one publication. Burbrink (punt returner), Greene (running back), Huettel (offensive line), Johnson (quarterback), D.J. Lynch (linebacker), Bryan Thomas (defensive line), and Ward (defensive back) all garnered first team attention.

Legacy Weekend Coming To BGSU
• The Bowling Green State University athletics department will honor the past on October 18 vs. WMU. In conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of the Falcon Club and Hall of Fame, a weekend long celebration will be held to honor the past.