The notes were copied and pasted from the BGSU athletic department website (http://bgsufalcons.com/). They got me pretty familiar with the team. Feel free to leave any thoughts below.
Falcon Quick Hits
• The Bowling Green State University football team is in the middle of its 94th season of football and has an all-time record of 498-348-51 (.584).
• Head coach Dave Clawson is in his fourth season at the helm of the football team and has an all-time record of 73-74 and is 15-25 at BGSU.
• For the fourth consecutive year the Falcons will have all three coordinators returning. Warren Ruggiero, Mike Elko and Adam Scheier will coach offense, defense and special teams.
• BGSU is coming off a 27-15 loss to arch-rival Toledo.
• This week's matchup with Virginia Tech will be third contest between the two schools. Virginia Tech leads the series 2-0-0 with wins in 1990 and 1993.
• Anthon Samuel became the 35th Falcon in school history to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in his career.
• Chris Jones recorded 2.0 sacks in the loss to Toledo and now has 19 for his career, fifth-most in BGSU history.
• Anthon Samuel (Doak Walker), Chris Jones (Rotary Lombardi), Dwayne Woods (Rotary Lombardi and Butkus), Brian Schmiedebusch (Ray Guy) and Alex Bayer (John Mackey) were all named to preseason watch lists.
• The Falcons will have six captains in 2012: Dominic Flewellyn (OL), Ronnie Goble (DE), Chris Jones (DT), Matt Schilz (QB), Paul Swan (LB) and Bart Tanski (WR).
• According to philsteele.com the Falcons have the 10th youngest roster in the country with 66.7 percent of the roster underclassmen.
Scouting the Offense
Quarterback Matt Schilz will be making his 26th start of his career this weekend versus the Hokies. Schilz, a junior, threw for over 3,000 yards last season and 28 touchdowns, all career-bests and has thrown for 5,950 yards and 37 touchdowns in his career.
Schilz has several targets to throw to in 2012, led by red-shirt freshman Chris Gallon (15 catches, 180 yards), junior Shaun Joplin (16 catches, 208 yards) and red-shirt freshman Ryan Burbrink (18 catches, 131 yards).
When Schilz needs a break from throwing he has five different running backs he can hand it off to. Anthon Samuel, the reigning MAC Freshman of the Year, had 112 yards and his seventh career 100-yard game last weekend versus Toledo, but expect John Pettigrew and Jamel Martin to also see time.
Scouting the Defense
The Falcons return 10 starters from the 2011 team and are led by senior defensive tackle Chris Jones. Jones has 11 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks on the year. Last week versus the Rockets he had four tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks. His 3.5 sacks this season are tied for ninth in the country.
As a team the Falcons rank third in the Mid-American Conference at 22.3 points per game allowed and are fifth in total defense (391.7). The biggest overall improvement through three games has been the rush defense. In 2011 the Falcons allowed 203.5 yards per game on the ground, but have nearly cut that in half, down to 118.7 in 2012.
Scouting the Special Teams
Brian Schmiedebusch, a 2011 first-team all-conference punter a year ago, will once again handle all punting duties. The junior is averaging 43.1 yards per punt this season and has a 44.9 yard per punt career average.
The field goals and extra points have been a rough spot this season for the Orange and Brown. Through three games the Falcons have used two different kickers and are 1-for-4 on field goals and 5-for-6 on extra points.
Toledo Recap
Bowling Green dropped a 27-15 decision versus its arch-rival Toledo Rockets last Saturday. After falling behind 17-0 early the Falcons got it to 17-3 at the half after Tyler Tate connected on a 32-yard field goal.
UT scored a touchdown the first drive of the second half to take a commanding 24-3 lead but BGSU marched down the field and following a 23 yard Anthon Samuel touchdown the Falcons cut the lead to 24-9.
The BG defense held strong and forced a UT turnover late in the third quarter at the UT-25, but the Falcons failed on a fourth down play, getting no points off the UT fumble.
The Falcons would get a two-yard score from John Pettigrew early in the fourth to get within 24-15, but could get no closer.
The Series
Virginia Tech leads the all-time series 2-0-0 with victories in 1990 (21-7) and 1993 (33-16). The last time BGSU played a team from the ACC was against NC State on Sept. 1, 1994 (L, 20-15).
Making Adjustments
As the saying goes, teams make their best adjustments to start the third quarter, something the Falcons have done very well with this season. Overall the Falcons have out-scored their opponents 27-10 in the third period and have had the ball for 24 of the 45 minutes in the third quarter, despite the opposing team starting the second half with the ball in all three contests.
Quarterback Matt Schilz will be making his 26th start of his career for the Orange and Brown. While still a junior, Schilz is nearing in on the top-five of several BGSU school records.
• Is seventh is passing yards (5,950)
• Is sixth in passing attempts (909)
• Is fifth in passing completions (557)
• Is seventh in passing touchdowns (37)
Samuel.1000
Anthon Samuel, who has only played in 12 career games (missed three games in 2011 due to injury) surpassed the 1,000 yard career rushing mark last weekend with a 112 yard effort versus the Rockets. In his short career he has 1,062 career rushing yards, becoming just the 35th Falcon in school history to surpass the 1,000 yard mark. Samuel is currently ranked 32nd in BGSU history in rushing yards, but should continue to climb up the charts.
Mr. 100
As stated before, Anthon Samuel has played in just 12 games in his Falcon career, but has already produced seven 100-yard games. The last BGSU running back to record at least that many was P.J. Pope, who had nine 100-yard games in his career from 2002-05.
Catching On
The Falcons entered the season with just one receiver that had ever played a down for the Orange and Brown (Shaun Joplin), but despite the inexperience, the receivers have been nothing but impressive three weeks into the year.
• Ryan Burbrink, a freshman walk-on, is first on the team with 18 catches and had a career-high 71 receiving yards versus the Rockets.
• Red-shirt freshman Chris Gallon is third on the team with 15 catches.
• Je`Ron Stokes, a transfer from Michigan , caught a touchdown pass in the win versus Idaho in his second game as a Falcon.
Shut It Down
It has been a long time at BGSU since the Falcons have had the ability to stop the run, but 2012 is starting to look like that could be a possibility. After opening the year, allowing 220 yards on the ground to No. 23 Florida, the Falcons have allowed just 136 (68.0) total rushing yards over the past two weeks versus Idaho and Toledo. Even with the 220 yard game against them the Falcons overall run defense is much better than any other year under Clawson.
BGSU Rush Defense Since 2009
2009 194.2/game
2010 207.8/game
2011 203.4/game
2012 118.7/game
Monster in the Middle
Senior defensive tackle Chris Jones has been a demolition machine the past two weeks versus Idaho and Toledo. In those two contests alone he had nine tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. On the season Jones leads the MAC in sacks (3.5) and tackles for loss (6.0). In his career he has 126 tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss, 19.0 sacks, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
Jones'n For Sacks
Chris Jones has led the Falcons in sacks in each of the past two seasons, finishing 2010 with 6.0 and added 8.5 (led MAC) in 2011. Combined with his one sack in 2009 and his team-leading 3.5 sacks this season, Jones has 19.0 career sacks, ranking fifth in BGSU history.
