Falcons Close Regular Season at WMU on Tuesday Night

Falcons Close Regular Season at WMU on Tuesday Night
• Bowling Green State University closes the 2023 regular season on Tuesday when the Falcons head north to Kalamazoo to face the Western Michigan Broncos.
• It is the second year in a row BGSU concludes its regular season on the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. Last year BGSU wrapped up its 2022 regular season slate at Ohio.
• The game will kick at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Bowling Green vs. WMU
• Bowling Green and Western Michigan are meeting for the second year in a row and eighth time over the last 18 seasons. It is BGSU's first trip to Waldo Stadium since 2019.
• Bowling Green has lost six of its last eight games to WMU dating back to 2005. The two wins (41-27) over that span was a MACtion affair in Kalamazoo (41-27) in 2015 and last year's mid-week meeting (13-9) at Doyt Perry Stadium.
• Tuesday is the 57th all-time meeting between Bowling Green and Western Michigan in a series that began in 1954.

Five Top Storylines
• A win for the Falcons would clinch Bowling Green's first winning season since winning the MAC in 2015.
• Bowling Green is No. 1 in the nation in takeaways (25). The Falcons are No. 2 in fumble
recoveries (11) and No. 4 in interceptions (14). BGSU is the only team in the nation in the top-10 in both categories.
• TE Harold Fannin Jr. is No. 2 in the nation among tight ends with six receiving touchdowns and has at least one in four-straight games. He has 16 receptions for 307 yards and five touchdowns over that span.
• OLB Cashius Howell is No. 7 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC with 9.5 sacks. He currently has 7.0 sacks over BGSU's last four games.
• BGSU is the only program in the nation to have returned at least one blocked field goal (Liberty) and one blocked punt (Buffalo) for touchdowns.

A Program on the Rise
• BGSU is 9-6 in MAC play since the start of the 2022 season.
• Only Toledo and Ohio have better records in conference play over that period. Miami (OH) is 10-5 during that span. Toledo is 12-3 and Ohio is 12-3.
• The previous 15-game MAC window for BGSU was 2-13.
• The gains during Scot Loeffler's tenure started to take root in 2021 and by 2022 Bowling Green was back in a bowl game for the first time since 2015 as the Falcons took part in the Quick Lane Bowl.
• Bowling Green became one of four FBS programs in 2022 whose win totals improved 4+ games from 2020 to 2021 and then improved 2+ more games from 2021 to 2022. Joining BGSU on the list were Kansas State, Oregon State and Tennessee.
• With BGSU's next win, the Falcons will be the only program in the nation that improved its wins 4+ games from 2020 to 2021, followed by +2 wins from 2021 to 2022 and then again improved +1 from 2022 to 2023.

Keith Important Out of the Backfield
• RB Ta'ron Keith is like a Swiss Army Knife doing so much for the Falcons. He rushes, receives and returns kicks.
• Keith is No. 2 in the nation among running backs with 42 receptions. He is No. 1 in the nation among running backs with 440 receiving yards and tied for No. 4 in the nation and is No. 1 in the MAC among running backs with three receiving touchdowns. Keith has 449 yards after catch, which is No. 2 in the nation among running backs.
• Against Kent State Keith rushed for 103 yards and notched 130 receiving yards, making him the first Falcon in program history to notch 100+ rushing yards and 100+ receiving yards in the same game. He was named MAC East Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.

Howell Heating Up as the Weather is Cooling Down
• OLB Cashius Howell has been on a tear of late. He is tied for No. 7 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC with 9.5 sacks. His 9.5 sacks are No. 2 in the nation among linebackers and tops among the MAC's linebackers.
• He currently has at least 1.0 sack in each of the past four games and 7.0 total during that span. Howell notched 2.0 against Akron, at Kent State and against Toledo.
• The 7.0 sacks over a four-game span is the second-most in the nation this year. UTSA's Trey Moore and Utah's Jonah Elliss each have four-game streaks with 8.0 sacks. Moore and Elliss are also No. 1 and No. 2 nationally in sacks.
• Howell is tied with Diyral Briggs (2008) for No. 4 all-time in single-season sacks with 9.5.

Getting to The Quarterback
• Since the start of the 2022 season, BGSU has 66 team sacks which is tied for No. 14 in the nation over that span.
• BGSU was No. 13 in the nation in 2022 with 38 sacks and No. 18 in the nation in 2023 with 28 sacks.

Fannin the Pass-Catching Tight End
• TE Harold Fannin Jr. is No. 1 in the MAC and tied for No. 2 in the nation among tight ends with six receiving touchdowns.
• His 474 receiving yards are also No. 1 in the MAC and No. 6 in the nation among tight ends.
• His 31 receptions is No. 2 in the MAC and tied for No. 15 in the nation among tight ends.
• Over the last two games Fannin has seven receptions for 126 yards and two touchdowns.

Anders Climbs the Career Games Played Ledger
• Against Ball State Darren Anders played his 50th career game at BGSU. It also was his 40th career start. He currently has played in 51 career games with 41 career starts.
• Anders is the 16th Falcon to play 50+ career game for Bowling Green. The record for career games played is held by Alex Huettel (OL, 2012-15).
• If Anders plays at WMU on Tuesday, he will be tied for No. 3 in program history with 53 games played. He is currently tied for No. 5 in program history with 52 career games.

Goal-To-Goal for the Falcons
• Bowling Green has scored touchdowns on 86.4 percent of its goal-to-goal situations.
• BGSU has had 22 goal-to-goal situations and has scored 19 touchdowns and three field goals for a 100 percent goal-to-goal scoring rate.
• BGSU's defense has held opponents to 13-of-15 on goal-to-goal situations with 12 touchdowns and one field goal. More information on page 17.

Dontrez Brown on the Line for BGSU
• DL Dontrez Brown has broken up three passes at the line of scrimmage.
• He is tied for No. 10 in the nation in the category among defensive linemen.
• Brown had two fumble recoveries against Akron on Oct. 21. He is the only player in the nation this year with two fumble recoveries in a game and he is No. 12 overall in the nation in that category for the season.

Milestone Watch
• Hiliare needs eight receptions for 200 career receptions. He needs 10 receptions to reach 100 receptions as a Falcon.
• WR Abdul-Fatai Ibrahim needs 18 receptions to reach 200 catches for his career.
• QB Connor Bazelak needs 138 passing yards to reach 9,000 for his career. He also needs five passing touchdowns to reach 50 for his career.

Ball Hawks In The Secondary
• Bowling Green is No. 5 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC with 14 team interceptions.
• CB Jalen Huskey leads BGSU with four, which ranks No. 9 in the nation and No. 2 in the MAC in interceptions. CB Jordan Oladokun is No. 31 in the nation and No. 3 in the MAC with three interceptions.
• Davon Ferguson, Deshawn Jones Jr. and Avi McGary all rank No. 89 nationally with two each.
• Michigan's J.J. McCarthy threw three interceptions against Bowling Green on Sept. 16. Those are the only three interceptions he has thrown this year. McCarthy's three interceptions were a career high. His 143 yards passing was also his worst passing day of the season until Michigan didn't pass after the second quarter at Penn State.
• BGSU also held Michigan to 312 yards of total offense, its worst of the season and only game under 400 yards of total offense until the Penn State game.

Carry On Terion
• Bowling Green's Terion Stewart is enjoying a career year for the Falcons.
• He missed the Kent State and Toledo games with an injury sustained against Ball State.
• Stewart already has career highs in rushes (125), rushing yards (762) and rushing touchdowns (8).
• Stewart is No. 6 in the nation with 31 rushes of 10+ yards.
• Stewart also is No. 1 in the nation in broken tackles (75) and yards per carry after contact (4.81) for those with 100+ carries.
• He is No. 13 in total rush yards after contact (596), No. 23 in yards per carry (6.1), No. 31 in rush yards (762) and No. 33 in rushing touchdowns (8).

Rushing Game Improvement in 2023
• The Bowling Green rushing attack has taken a big step forward into 2023. Bowling Green has 64 rushes of 10+ yards, which is more than its 2022 output of 53 in 13 games. Took BGSU nine games to surpass last year's total. BGSU's 64 rushes of 10+ yards are No. 19 in the nation and No. 2 in the MAC (No. 13 Toledo, 67).
• Bowling Green already has 12 rushing touchdowns by running backs which is 10 more than all last season. BGSU only had eight rushing touchdowns in 2022 with two by quarterbacks and four by tight end Harold Fannin Jr.
• With 1,574 rushing yards through 11 games, surpassing its 2022 total of 1,304 rushing yards.
• The return of RB Terion Stewart has bolstered the rushing game. Stewart sat out 2022 to focus on mental health and academics. He currently is No. 1 in the BGSU record book for career yards per carry at 6.3.
• The Falcons averaged 6.2 yards per rush in the season opener at Liberty on 191 rushing yards. Both numbers are the best for the BGSU ground game since the 2021 season when the Falcons played at Buffalo. In that game the Falcons rushed for 221 yards on 8.19 yards per carry.

Bazelak On Point in BGSU wins

• QB Connor Bazelak has been impressive in the four BGSU wins he appeared in. He is 76-of-111 passing (68.5 percent) for 967 passing yards, eight touchdowns and one interception.

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Players Mentioned

Darren Anders

Connor Bazelak

Dontrez Brown

Harold Fannin Jr.

Davon Ferguson

Cashius Howell

Jalen Huskey

Abdul-Fatai Ibrahim

Deshawn Jones Jr.

Avi McGary

Jordan Oladokun

Terion Stewart

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