Falcons Conclude Regular Season Tuesday At Ball State

Tuesday, November 24

Muncie, Ind.

7:00 p.m. ET

Bowling Green State University

Ball State

Tickets

November 20, 2015 | Football

By: by Scott Swegan, BGSU Athletic Communications

Bowling Green Falcons (8-3, 6-1 MAC)
at
Ball State Cardinals (3-8, 2-5 MAC)

GAME INFORMATION	Tuesday, Nov. 24, 7:00 pm
LOCATION	Muncie, Ind. (Scheumann Stadium)
TELEVISION	ESPN3 (Jim Barbar, Mark Herrmann)
RADIO	Falcon Radio Network (Todd Walker, John Gibson)
LIVE STATS	BGSUFalcons.com
WATCH ONLINE	ESPN3.com/WatchESPN
LISTEN ONLINE	BGSUFalcons.com
GAME NOTES	BGSU \| BSU \| MAC

Falcons Conclude Regular Season Tuesday At Ball State
The Bowling Green State University football team travels to Muncie, Ind. for a showdown with the Ball State Cardinals on Tuesday (Nov. 24) night. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm at Scheumann Stadium. The Falcons are 8-3 on the season and 6-1 in the Mid-American Conference, while the Cardinals are 3-8 overall and 2-5 in the MAC. Following the game in Muncie, BGSU will prepare for the Mid-American Conference Championship Game to be played against the MAC West Division winner on Dec. 4 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.

A Win Against Ball State Would...
• Give the Falcons a record of 9-3 through the regular season for the first time since finishing the regular season in 2013 at 9-3.
• Mark the first time since the 2013 season in which the Falcons have finished Mid-American Conference play with a 7-1 record.
• Be just the fifth time since the 1995 season that BGSU has finished a season with at least nine wins.
• Make the Falcons 21-9-1 all-time in the series against the Cardinals.
• Be BGSU's first win over Ball State since 2009.
• Improve head coach Dino Babers' career record to 36-16 overall and 17-9 in his second season at Bowling Green.

The Ball State Series
• Bowling Green and Ball State will meet for the 31st time in series history on Tuesday night. The Falcons are 20-9-1 all-time, having won six of the last seven meetings.

Head Coach Dino Babers
• Dino Babers is in his second season at the helm of the Orange and Brown, and his fourth season overall as a head coach. He has a career record of 35-16 and has won a championship in all four seasons thus far.
• Babers has impressed in his Bowling Green tenure to date, compiling a record of 16-9 in just his second season. The Falcons have won the MAC East Division in each of Babers' two seasons at BGSU.
• During his second season, the Falcons have had two wins over Big Ten Conference programs, seven straight wins from late September through the middle of November, and clinched their third straight MAC East Division title.
• The Falcons went 2-2 through one of the nation's toughest nonconference schedules this season, defeating Maryland and Purdue on the road. Babers has compiled an impressive 3-1 record against Big Ten opponents - defeating Indiana, Maryland and Purdue.
• In his first season, Babers led a team which lost its starting QB in week one, winning eight games. In those eight wins were a victory over a Big Ten foe (Indiana), a MAC East Division championship, and Bowling Green's first bowl win since the 2004 season.

Three In A ROW! Falcons Are MAC East Champs Again
• For the third consecutive season, Bowling Green is Mid-American Conference East Division champions and will play in the MAC Championship Game on Dec. 4 inside of Ford Field.
• BGSU, with their 6-1 MAC record, clinched the division with a 41-27 road victory at Western Michigan on Nov. 11.
• For the Falcons, it was their second consecutive season in which they have wrapped up the division after just six MAC games and the third straight year that they have clinched the MAC East Division.

Falcon Fans #PackTheDoyt
• 23,492 fans packed into Doyt L. Perry Stadium on Tuesday night for the annual Battle of I-75.
• The 23,492 fans was the highest attended game at The Doyt since the Falcons played Indiana in September of 2014.
• On top of Tuesday night's game being the highest attended midweek #MACtion game of the season, the 23,492 fans was the biggest attendance for a BG-UT game at The Doyt since 2003.

The Ziggy Warriors Are Road Warriors
• With their 41-27 win at Western Michigan, the Falcons are now 5-0 on the road this season.
• Bowling Green is one of just five teams in the country with five road wins this season, and one of just three without a true road loss. The Falcons' game in Nashville against Tennessee was a neutral site game.
• Joining the Falcons with five road wins are Oklahoma State (5-0), Toledo (5-0), Temple (5-1) and Pittsburgh (5-1).
• The Falcons' five road wins are tied for second-most in school history for a single season. All of the seasons with five or more road victories are listed below:
• 6 (1985)
• 5 (2015)
• 5 (1991...a sixth came in California Raisin Bowl at Fresno State)
• 5 (1964)
• 5 (1994)
• 5 (2008)

Lighting Up The Scoreboard
• Bowling Green has scored 482 points in 11 games this season, averaging 43.8 points per game.
• The 43.8 points per game are fifth-best in the country and tops in the Mid-American Conference.
• The 482 points are already the fourth-most ever scored in a season, despite this being BGSU's 96th season of football.

Senior Class One Of Best In School History
• Bowling Green's senior class has been one of the best in school history, totaling 34 wins to date. If the Falcons can win the final three games of the season, the 2015 senior class will be the winningest in school history. The current senior class is tied for third all-time with 34 wins heading into Tuesday night's showdown against BSU.
37 • 2001-04
36 • 1991-94
34 • 2012-15
34 • 1982-85
32 • 1959-62
32 • 1961-64

Two Hands Is Too Many
• Bowling Green wide receiver Gehrig Dieter caught a career-high 13 passes for 103 yards and three touchdowns against Toledo. The three touchdowns were a career-high.
• Two of the touchdown grabs came using just one hand, and both earned him the top spot on SportsCenter's Top Ten plays on Tuesday (Nov. 17) night.
• Late in the first half, Johnson threw a fade to the sideline, where Dieter caught the pass with just his right hand, got a foot down in bounds, and the play was ruled a touchdown after review.
• In the second half, Dieter caught a fade to the other sideline with his left hand for his second touchdown of the night.

Bowling Greene: Falcons Have New Rushing King
• With his carry in the first quarter against Toledo on Tuesday night, Travis Greene set Bowling Green's new record for most rushing yards in a career. He surpassed Dave Preston (1973-76) on the all-time list.
• Greene is in his third season at running back for the Falcons in 2015, after coming to BGSU and playing wide receiver his first two years on campus. As his senior season winds down, Greene is chasing several milestones in the Orange and Brown in 2015, including:
• Owns the all-time career rushing record with 3,492 yards
• Could become just the second Falcon player ever, behind Paul Miles, to lead Bowling Green in rushing in three consecutive seasons
• Enters the game against Ball State with 18 career 100-yard rushing games...the school record is 20 held by Dave Preston.

Greene Chasing Even More Records
• What is possibly more impressive than Greene setting the all-time career rushing mark is that he has done so in such an efficient manner.
• Greene is tied for second in school history averaging 5.6 yards per rush in his career. He trails just Fred Durig (1950-52) on that record list. Durig averaged 5.7 yards per carry in his career.
• The Carol City, Fla. native also has 33 career rushing touchdowns which is tied for third in school history. He is tied with P.J. Pope (2002-05) and Bernard White (1984-85) for career rushing touchdowns.

Greene Nearing 1,000 Yards In 2015
• Travis Greene enters Tuesday's game with 939 yards on the season and 10 rushing touchdowns.
• He is just 61 yards shy of becoming the 13th player in school history to record a 1,000-yard season.
• Greene also had over 1,000 yards in 2013, when he set a school record with 1,594 yards on the season. If Greene surpasses 1,000 yards, he would join Paul Miles as just the second player in school history to have multiple 1,000 yard seasons in a career.

Babers' #FalconFast Offense Has Clicked
• Ever since he took over at Bowling Green, Dino Babers has made it clear that his offensive system usually clicks between games four and six of the second season.
• Against UMass (game six of the second season), Bowling Green set a new school record with 725 yards of total offense.
• Babers' Falcons have had at least 500 offensive yards in 10 games this season, and have done so 16 times in 25 games under Babers.
• The Falcons offense continues to rank high nationally, sitting fifth in total offense (565.1), fifth in scoring offense (43.8), second in passing offense (401.4), and third in third down conversion rate (.515). BGSU leads the Mid-American Conference in each of those four categories.

Johnson Sets BGSU Single-Season Passing Record
• Quarterback Matt Johnson (Harrisburg, Pa.) became Bowling Green's new leader for most passing yards in a single season. He has passed for 4,229 yards through 11 games this season, surpassing Tyler Sheehan's (2009) previous mark of 4,051 yards. Johnson is just the third player in school history to pass for over 4,000 yards in a season.
• Johnson has reached new heights under head coach Dino Babers. After leading the Falcons to a MAC Championship in 2013, Johnson missed all but one game in 2014 due to injury.
• To start the 2015 season, Johnson passed for 400 yards in each of his first four starts. He is the first player in school history to ever pass for 400 yards in back-to-back games, three times in a season, and four times in a career. In all, Johnson has passed for 400 yards-or-more in six games this season.
• Johnson also started the season by passing for 300 yards-or-more in the first nine games, also a school record.
• Entering the regular season finale against Ball State, Johnson is just 258 yards shy of surpassing Ben Roethlisberger as the Mid-American Conference's single-season passing leader.

Johnson A MAC Player Of The Year Candidate
• Early on this season, Johnson established himself as a Mid-American Conference Player of the Year candidate. His stats continue to prove that he is worth consideration for not only MAC Player of the Year, but for awards such as the Davey O'Brien Award, Manning Award, and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
• Johnson has passed for a school-record 4,229 yards this season. He has a 39-to-6 touchdown-to-interception ratio. His 39 touchdowns are second-most in school history behind Omar Jacobs' 41 that he passed for in 2004.
• Johnson has completed 320 passes, good for third-most in school history for a single season.
• Johnson has now completed 592 passes in 901 attempts for 8,128 yards in his career. He has thrown 66 career touchdown passes.
• His 8,128 yards are third-most in school history. Against Toledo, Johnson became just the fourth player in school history to surpass 8,000 career passing yards.
• Johnson's 66 touchdown passes are third in school history. He is just five TD passes shy of tying Omar Jacobs' record of 71.

We Want Moore, We Want Moore
• Junior wide receiver Ronnie Moore reached 2,000 career recieving yards in Tuesday's loss against Toledo. The speedster caught four passes for 41 yards and now sits at 2,000 career receiving yards.
• Moore becomes the third active Falcon with 2,000-or-more receiving yards in a career.
• Moore is the 16th player to reach 2,000 career receiving yards in school history.
• A native of Sanford, Fla., Moore has caught a pass in all 11 games this season and has a reception in 27 straight games dating back to the 2013 MAC Championship. This season, Moore has caught 59 passes for 763 yards and five touchdowns.

Lewis A Biletnikoff Award Semifinalist
• Wide receiver Roger Lewis was named a semifinalist for the prestigious Biletnikoff Award on Tuesday morning, as announced by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation.
• Lewis, who is one of 10 semifinalists for the award given to the nation's most outstanding pass catcher, has caught a team-high 72 passes for a nation-best 1,342 yards. He has caught 14 touchdown passes this season.
• A true sophomore, the Pickerington, Ohio native has recorded 100 yards in a game six times in the first 11 games, while three of those performances have gone for more than 200 yards.
• Lewis went over 200 yards three times in the first five games of this season, going for 200 at Maryland, 261 against Memphis and 201 at Buffalo.
• He has recorded 100 yards receiving in five MAC games to date, totaling 42 receptions for 783 yards and nine touchdowns in conference play.
• After just 25 career games, Lewis has 2,435 career receiving yards - seventh all-time in school history. Last season he was first team All-MAC as a freshman after catching 73 passes for 1,093 yards and seven TDs.

2015 #GutGang Feasting At The All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Buffet
• Bowling Green features one of the most experienced offensive line units in the entire country, and it has showed thus far.
• The Falcons' have 180 offensive line career starts on the roster, second-most in FBS football. Alex Huettel (52), Jacob Bennett (39), Logan Dietz (37), Tim McAuliffe (24), Ben Steward (15), Ryan Hunter (11), and Austin Labus (2) make up the 180.
• Bowling Green was one of just nine schools in the entire country to start the same five players on the offensive line every game last season. The Falcons were joined by Fresno State, UL-Lafayette, Northern Illinois, Ohio State, Rutgers, Tulane, Wisconsin and Rice. BGSU is the only one of those nine that returns all five starters in 2015.
• For 2015, Co-Offensive Coordinator Mike Lynch has started an internal competition among linemen. Lynch, who coaches the offensive line along with Tom Freeman, has tracked pancakes each week.
• After 11 games, left guard Ryan Hunter leads the Falcons with 84 pancakes. He has the highest total in a single game this season, when he totaled 17 pancakes against Kent State.
• Center Tim McAuliffe has had the most pancakes on the team in six games this season, while Hunter (5), Alex Huettel (3) and J.J. Beggan (1) have also led the team.

GR8 Four Year Stretch At BGSU
• With their eighth win of the season at Western Michigan, Bowling Green has now won eight-or-more games in four consecutive seasons for just the second time in school history.
• The Falcons started this stretch with an 8-5 record in 2012. They followed that up with a 10 win season in 2013 and an eight win year in 2014. Now, with three games left in this season, BGSU sits at 8-3 overall.
• The only other time in the Falcons' 96-year history that BGSU has won eight-or-more games in four consecutive years came from 2001-04 when the Falcons went 8-3 (2001), 9-3 (2002), 11-3 (2003) and 9-3 (2004).

Mack Taking Advantage Of The #MACtion
• Redshirt junior Alfonso Mack, who started the season as a backup, has taken advantage of the opportunity to start due to the injury of Darrell Hunter.
• Mack has started each of the last nine games and leads the team with four interceptions -- all during Mid-American Conference play.
• A native of South Bend, Ind., Mack has 35 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and a fumble recovery to go along with his team-leading four picks.

Babers Announces Captains For Remainder Of Season
• Head coach Dino Babers announced six individuals who will serve the Falcons as captains for the remainder of the season following the MAC East-clinching win at Western Michigan.
• Matt Johnson, Travis Greene, and Alex Huettel will serve as captains on the offense. Zach Colvin and Dernard Turner were named defensive captains, while James Sanford was picked as special teams captain.

Huettel Makes 50th Consecutive Start Against Ohio
• Redshirt senior Alex Huettel (Pickerington, Ohio) started his 50th consecutive game against Ohio earlier this season.
• Huettel, who has made more consecutive starts than any other player in school history, has started every game during his illustrious Falcon career.
• A two-time All-MAC performer at left guard, Huettel's 52 straight starts ranks third in the nation behind a pair of players from MAC foe Northern Illinois:
53 – Aidan Conlon/Andrew Ness, NIU
52 – Alex Huettel, Bowling Green

Falcons Have Been Beasts Of The East
• With their dominating 62-24 victory over Ohio, Bowling Green finished 5-0 against teams from the MAC East Division and has now gone undefeated against division foes in each of the last three seasons.
• Since the start of the 2012 season, Bowling Green has a combined record of 21-1 against foes from the MAC's East Division.
• More impressively, the Falcons have won 17 straight games against MAC East opponents, dating back to a 2012 win over Buffalo in the regular season finale.
• With that success has come results, as the Falcons have won back-to-back MAC East Division titles and are knocking on the doorstep for a third straight division title with a two-game lead and three games to play.

Pair Of Falcon Linebackers Surpass 100 Tackles
• Two Falcon linebackers - Austin Valdez and Trenton Greene - surpassed 100 tackles on the season against Toledo.
• Valdez leads the team with 111 tackles. He has 8.5 tackles for loss. Greene has 101 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss.

Davidson, Mack Garner Academic Honors
• Two standout student-athletes on the BGSU football team garnered CoSIDA Academic All-District honors for their efforts both on-and-off the football field.
• Punter Joseph Davidson (Findlay, Ohio), who holds a 3.95 grade point average in mathematics, earned the honor in part to his MAC-leading 45.8 yard average.
• Cornerback Alfonso Mack (South Bend, Ind.) also received recognition. A 3.96 GPA student in psychology, Mack is leading the team with four interceptions for the Orange and Brown. Mack has started the last nine games.

High-Flying Falcons
• So far through 11 games this season, Bowling Green has scored 40 points in seven games and at least 50 points three times.
• Bowling Green has scored 62 points in two games this season.
• The most 40-point games in a season came in 2004, when the Falcons did so nine times.
• The school record for 50-point performances in the same season was four, which the 2004 team did.

Trio Of Falcon Receivers Are Streaking
• Three Bowling Green receivers have caught a pass in at least 25 consecutive games.
• Ronnie Moore leads the trio with a reception in 27 consecutive games dating back to the 2013 MAC Championship Game.
• Ryan Burbrink has caught a pass in 26 straight games dating back to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl game against Pittsburgh in 2013.
• Roger Lewis has also caught a pass in 25 straight games, which is every game in his illustrious career to date.

Johnson Trending Towards The Top
• Bowling Green quarterback is on pace to set the Mid-American Conference record for passing yards in a single-season. His current pace is 5,382 yards for 14 games, which would be sixth-most in NCAA history.
• Johnson is on pace to break the Mid-American Conference record for passing in the regular-season finale against Ball State
• He is just five touchdowns shy of the MAC record for most passing touchdowns in a season. Johnson is currently tied for sixth in MAC history for passing touchdowns in a season.

Trending Towards 100
• In the first season of Dino Babers' #FalconFast offense at Bowling Green, the Falcons had 11 receiving and nine rushing performances of 100-or-more yards. The 11 receiving games tied a school record for most in a season, while the nine rushing efforts was just two shy of the school record.
• After just 11 games this season, BGSU appears to be primed to break the school record for most 100-yard receiving games in a season. The Falcons have already had 11 such receiving games and five 100-yard rushing games to date.
• Lewis has had six 100-yard receiving games this season, while Greene has had four 100-yard rushing games to lead the Falcons.