#PackTheDoyt Saturday As Falcons Welcome Memphis To Town For Home Opener

Bowling Green State University Falcons
vs.
University of Memphis Tigers
Bowling Green, Ohio (Doyt L. Perry Stadium)
Saturday | Sept. 19 | 3:00 pm ET

TICKETS
KICKOFF LUNCHEON

WATCH: American Sports Network/ESPN3
LISTEN: Falcon Radio Network (Todd Walker, John Gibson)
LIVE STATS
BGSU Game Notes
Weekly Press Conference

Falcons Welcome Memphis To The Doyt For Home Opener
Following a 48-27 win at Maryland last week, the Bowling Green State University football team will finally get an opportunity to play in front of their home crowd when they welcome the Memphis Tigers to town for a showdown with the 2014 American Athletic Conference champions. Memphis is coming off a 55-23 win at Kansas last week, after defeating Missouri State 63-7 in week one.

A Win Against Memphis Would...
• Mark the seventh straight season that the Falcons have won a home opener at Doyt L. Perry Stadium
• Make the Falcons 2-0 all-time against Memphis, as BGSU also defeated them in the 2004 GMAC Bowl
• Be the third straight season in which the Falcons have had a 2-1 record in the first three games

They Said It
"I want to talk about the defense, they played outstanding at Maryland," head coach Dino Babers said. "To force four turnovers, have eight three-and-outs, and hold a Big Ten team to no offensive touchdowns in the first half in really incredible. Memphis is going to be bigger than us, faster than us. They won 10 games last season and have an outstanding team. We are going to need all of our fans at The Doyt on Saturday supporting our team. This is a very difficult game."

Falcon Facts From The Win Over Maryland
• The Falcons win at Maryland marks the second straight season that BGSU – and the 10th straight season the MAC – has defeated a Big Ten Conference program.
• The road win over a Power Five Conference opponent marks the first since a 2008 win at Pittsburgh for the Falcons.
• Bowling Green had 692 yards of total offense compared to Maryland's 341. The 692 total yards were the most in the Dino Babers' era and just 14 yards shy of the school record.
• The Falcons ran 105 plays on Saturday against Maryland, the third time in the Babers era that the Falcons have run over 100 plays in a game.
• Matt Johnson's 491 passing yards were the second-most in school history. It was the first time in school history that a Falcon quarterback has thrown for more than 400 yards in back-to-back games and just the second time in school history (also 1983) that a QB has thrown for 400+ yards twice in a season.
• Johnson passed for six touchdowns on Saturday at Maryland, tying the school record for most in a game.
• Roger Lewis had 15 catches for 200 yards on Saturday, including two touchdowns. The 15 catches were one shy of his career high and were tied for sixth-most in school history for a single game. His 200 yards receiving were fifth-most in school history. The two touchdown grabs tied his career high.
• Robbie Rhodes caught two passes for 108 yards and a touchdown. The receptions, yards and TDs were all the first of his career.
• After falling behind 13-6 at halftime, Bowling Green outscored the Terrapins 42-14 the rest of the way.
• Fred Coppet went over 100 yards in the game, carrying it 15 times for 109 yards.
• Ronnie Moore (18), Ryan Burbrink (17) and Roger Lewis (16) all extended their streaks for consecutive games with a reception on Saturday.
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 28-14 and has won a championship in all three seasons thus far.
• Babers has impressed in his Bowling Green tenure thus far, winning eight games in his first season. 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.
• The Falcons are off to a strong start in 2015, scoring 30 points against No. 25 Tennessee before racking up 692 yards and 48 points in a road victory over Maryland.

Matty J Leading The NCAA
• Matt Johnson, a redshirt-senior from Harrisburg, Pa., leads the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing through two weeks of the 2015 college football season.
• Johnson has passed for 915 yards and eight touchdowns against Power Five opponents Tennessee and Maryland during the first two games, both on the road.
• After missing the last 13 games of the 2014 season, Johnson has returned to his 2013 form which saw him pass for 3,400 yards and earn Mid-American Conference Championship Game MVP honors when he threw for 393 yards and five TDs in a win over No. 12 Northern Illinois.

Falcon Offense Finding Another Gear
• The Falcons' offense has been good in each of the past two seasons, but it is primed for greatness in 2015. The Falcons return every offensive starter from last season's team.
• In the first game of the season against No. 25 Tennessee, the Falcons racked up 557 yards of total offense.
• BGSU followed up that week one performance with 692 yards in week two on the road at Maryland, just 14 yards shy of the school record. The Falcons scored 48 points in the win, tied for the most points in a game under Babers. It was the eighth time that Bowling Green has surpassed the 500-yard mark under Babers in just 16 games.
• During a six season stretch (2007-12), Bowling Green's offense had just 19 100-yard rushing performances. But, the Falcons have had nine such performances in each of the past two seasons (2013-14).
• 11 times last season a BGSU receiver had more than 100 yards receiving in a game, which tied a school record. During the 2012 & 2013 seasons, Bowling Green had just nine such performances.

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 showed on Saturday at Maryland. The OL unit has held their own against two Power Five defenses, helping the BGSU offense rack up 624.5 yards per game during the first two games.
• The Falcons' have 135 offensive line career starts on the roster, second-most in FBS football. Alex Huettel (43), Logan Dietz (30), Jacob Bennett (30), Tim McAuliffe (16), Ben Steward (14) and Ryan Hunter (2) make up the 135.
• 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.

A B1G Win For BGSU
• Saturday's win over Maryland marked the first time in school history that Bowling Green has defeated a Big Ten Conference opponent in back-to-back seasons.
• Last season, the Falcons beat Indiana 45-42 at Doyt L. Perry Stadium on Sept. 13. Nearly a year later, the Orange and Brown defeated Maryland on the road, 48-27.
• The Falcons will look to claim two wins over a Big Ten foe in a season for the first time since 2003, when they defeated both Purdue and Northwestern in the same campaign.

Giving New Meaning To #FalconFast
• Through the first two weeks of the season, the Bowling Green offense has run an astonishing 190 offensive plays - an average of 95.0 plays per game.
• The 95.0 plays per game is most in the country through the first two weeks of the season. Duke is second in the country in plays per game at 89.0.
• Bowling Green has run 100 more plays this season than Texas, despite both having played two games. Texas has only run 90 offensive plays this season, while the Falcons are averaging 95.0.

Falcon Captains Against Maryland
As is tradition under head coach Dino Babers, Bowling Green will have game captains for the 2015 season.
• Travis Greene (offense), Zach Colvin (defense) and Tyler Tate (special teams) represented the Falcons at midfield for the coin toss Saturday at Maryland.
• For the season-opener against Tennessee, Babers named Ryan Burbrink (offense), Darrell Hunter (defense) and Ronnie Moore (special teams) captains.

Unchartered Territory
• Bowling Green enters the week in unchartered territory by NCAA football standards. The Falcons currently have four receivers and two running backs who have over 1,000 career yards.
• Travis Greene is one of the select running backs in the nation with more than 2,500 rushing yards in his career. Greene enters the Memphis game with 2,652 career rushing yards, fourth-most in BGSU school history.
• Fred Coppet joins Greene with more than 1,000 career rushing yards, totaling 1,150 to date.
• Four receivers - Ryan Burbrink, Ronnie Moore, Roger Lewis, and Chris Gallon - have more than 1,000 career receiving yards.
• Burbrink leads the group with 1,695 career yards receiving. Moore has 1,411 and Lewis has 1,342 to follow up Burbrink.
• Gallon, after missing 18 games due to injury between 2013 and 2014, has returned this season. His eight yard reception on Saturday at Maryland put him over 1,000 career receiving yards. He currently sits at 1,005 yards.

Watch List Falcons
• Eight members of the 2015 Bowling Green football team were named to preseason watch lists, announced by the national College Football Awards Association over the summer.
• Ronnie Moore (Sanford, Fla.) was named to the Paul Hornung Watch List as one of the nation's most versatile players
• Tim McAuliffe (Lemont, Ill.) was named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List as one of the country's best centers
• Tyler Tate (Carroll, Ohio) is on the Lou Groza Award Watch List as one of the best placekickers in the country
• Alex Huettel (Pickerington, Ohio) was named to the Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List as one of the best interior linemen in the nation
• Both Ryan Burbrink (Shady Side, Md.) and Roger Lewis (Pickerington, Ohio) were named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List as some of the country's best wide receivers
• Christian Piazza (Ann Arbor, Mich.) was named to the Wuerffel Trophy Preseason Watch List
• Travis Greene (Carol City, Fla.), one of the best running backs in school history, was named to the Doak Walker Award Watch List
Greene Set To Wrap Up Historic Career In 2015
Redshirt senior Travis 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. Greene has set the school record for most rushing yards in a season and nearly broke 1,000 yards a season ago despite missing two games because of injury. What will his third year bring? He is chasing several milestones in the Orange and Brown in 2015, including:
• Currently sits 4th all-time with 2,652 rushing yards...just 771 yards shy of the all-time career record currently held by Dave Preston (1973-76)
• Could become just the second Falcon player ever, behind Paul Miles, to lead Bowling Green in rushing in three consecutive seasons
• Comes into 2015 with 14 career 100-yard rushing games...the school record is 20 held by Dave Preston.

Turner Turning The Corner
• Senior safety Dernard Turner (Miami, Fla.) had one of the best games in his career at Maryland, turning in four tackles, one tackle for loss, and two interceptions. They were the first two interceptions of his career.
• Turner now has eight tackles this season, two tackles for loss, those two interceptions and a pass breakup.

Mean Trent Greene
• Until the middle of August, Trent Greene was a walk-on player for the Falcons. Following one of BGSU's fall practice sessions, head coach Dino Babers announced that he was being placed on scholarship.
• Greene has shined from his outside linebacker position during the first two weeks, totaling 20 tackles to lead the Falcons.
• He has 2.5 tackles for loss through two games, second-most on the team.
• Against Tennessee, Greene had a career-high 12 tackles while following it up with eight on the road against Maryland.

Falcons Put #MACtion On The Map
• On Saturday, the MAC got wins against the Big Ten (Bowling Green over Maryland), the SEC (Toledo over Arkansas), and last season's Conference USA champion (Ohio over Marshall).
• The MAC has now won a regular-season game against the Big Ten for 10 straight seasons -- the longest streak in MAC history -- and has 18 wins over 10 different Big Ten teams in that period. The MAC defeated an SEC opponent for the first time since 2004, when Ohio beat Kentucky.

Former Falcons In The NFL
• Eight former Falcons were on preseason NFL rosters this season, including four who have played a significant role with NFL teams over the past several years.
• Chris Jones, a defensive lineman for the New England Patriots, played a huge part in the Super Bowl a season ago. The 2012 MAC Defensive Player of the Year, Jones has 79 tackles and 9.0 sacks in the last two years. He was placed on the PUP list to begin the 2015 season.
• Kory Lichtensteiger is the starting center for the Washington Redskins, having started 67 games for them since the 2010 season.
• Shaun Suisham is the placekicker for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Signed through the 2018 season and a captain, Suisham will miss the 2015 season with a torn ACL suffered in the preseason.
• Alex Bayer, after playing last season with the St. Louis Rams, was picked up by the San Diego Chargers and will begin the season on the practice squad.
• Jude Adjei-Barimah (Tampa Bay Bucs) and Gabe Martin (Arizona Cardinals) are signed to their respective practice squads, while Kendall Montgomery (Miami) and D.J. Lynch (New England) were in preseason camps.

Knowledge Is Power
• Bowling Green and Memphis have met just one time prior to Saturday's matchup, with the Falcons taking home a 52-35 victory in the GMAC Bowl in Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Ala.

Falcons On National TV This Season
• The Orange and Brown are currently scheduled to appear on National TV seven times this season, with every game expected to be broadcast to a national audience.
• With the announcement of the Mid-American Conference's deal with ESPN last season, every MAC game and home Falcon game will be, at a minimum, carried on ESPN3.com.
• The season opener at Tennessee was carried on the SEC Network, while last week's matchup at Maryland was aired on the Big Ten Network.
• After an American Sports Network/ESPN3 broadcast against Memphis in the home opener this week, the Falcons will travel to Purdue in a game that will be carried on the Big Ten Network.
• All MAC games will be shown on ESPN3, while the Ohio (ESPN2), Western Michigan (ESPN2 or ESPNU), Toledo (ESPN2 or ESPNU) and Ball State (ESPNU or ESPN3) games are expected to be available on National TV.

Trio Of Falcon Receivers Are Streaking
• Three Bowling Green receivers have all caught passes in at least 16 consecutive games dating back, in two cases, to the 2013 season.
• Ronnie Moore leads the trio with a reception in 18 straight games. He had eight receptions for 79 yards in Saturday's win over Maryland.
• Sure-handed Ryan Burbrink has caught a pass in 17 consecutive games dating back to the MAC Championship in 2013. Burbrink had four receptions for 39 yards and touchdown in his homecoming last weekend.
• Roger Lewis also has an impressive streak going, having caught a pass in all 15 6career games he has played in. He caught 15 passes for a career-high 200 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's win.

Head Coaches On The Rise
• During the month of June, Athlon Sports named several head coaches who were rising stars in the profession. In just his fourth season as a head coach, Dino Babers made the list.
• Babers is 27-13 in his three year career as a head coach, including an 8-6 record during his first season on the sideline at Bowling Green.
• Despite losing his starting quarterback in the season opener last year, the Falcons still managed to claim the MAC East Division and win the inaugural Camellia Bowl over South Alabama.

Florida Falcons Flocking North
• Bowling Green has made a habit of recruiting the talent-rich state of Florida in recent years. The 2015 roster is expected to feature 18 players from the Sunshine State.
• The Falcons have especially had luck recruiting Dwyer High School in the Palm Beach, Fla. area. Four players - Darrell Hunter, Mike Minns, Malik Brown, and Clint Stephens - on the 2015 roster are graduates of Dwyer.
• The four players from one high school are tied with Washington (South Bend, Ind.) and Pickerington Central for most on the team.

Six Falcons Make First Career Starts Against Tennessee
• Six members of the BGSU football team made their first career start in the Orange and Brown on Saturday against nationally-ranked Tennessee.
• On the offensive side of the ball, Ryan Hunter (LG) and Derek Lee (TE) got the start.
• On the defensive side, Mike Minns (NT), Terrance Bush (DE), Trenton Greene (OLB) and Eilar Hardy (S) started their first career games for the Falcons.

#ProtectTheDoyt
• After two difficult road games to open the 2015 season, the Falcon football team finally gets a chance to play in front of their home crowd Saturday when they host Memphis.
• Bowling Green is 35-12-2 all-time in home openers at Doyt L. Perry Stadium and has won six consecutive home openers dating back to the 2009 season.
• 2010 was the last time the home opener came as late as week three of the season.

Seeing Double at BGSU
• The 2015 roster features two sets of brothers on the team in Travis/Trenton Greene and Gehrig/Nolan Dieter.
• Many fans know Travis Greene, who sits fourth all-time in career rushing yards at BGSU. His brother, Trenton, was recently awarded a scholarship and made his first career start on Saturday against Tennessee, racking up a career-best 12 tackles.
• For the Dieters, both transferred to BGSU after starting their careers somewhere else. Gehrig began his career at SMU, but transferred and has been at Bowling Green for three seasons. On Saturday against No. 25 Tennessee, Dieter caught seven passes for a career-high 133 yards. Nolan, a redshirt-senior, is a quarterback on the Falcons roster.

Rhodes Finds Paydirt
• Robbie Rhodes (Fort Worth, Texas) was one of the most-coveted wide receiver prospects out of Southwest High School when he enrolled at Baylor in 2013.
• Rhodes has now found a home in Bowling Green after transferring from Baylor, and recorded his first career catches in Saturday's win at Maryland.
• Both of Rhodes' two catches went for big plays, as he totaled 108 receiving yards and a touchdown in the win.

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 two weeks, the Falcons are trending towards breaking both of those marks. The BGSU offense has three 100-yard receiving performances and a 100-yard rushing performance already this season.
• The four total 100-yard performances have come from four different players so far during the first two weeks of the 2015 season.

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