OHIO BOBCATS NOTES:
FIRST AND 10
-Ohio welcomes Bowling Green on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.
-Ohio’s matchup with Bowling Green will serve as a BLACK OUT where fans in attendance are encouraged to wear black.
-Wednesday night’s game will also serve as Senior Day. Prior to the game, Ohio University will honor 19 seniors.
-Ohio’s Wednesday night meeting with Bowling Green is the Bobcats’ second midweek matchup of the year.
-Ohio is 9-1 in midweek games dating back to 2009.
-The Bobcats’ 8-1 mark is their best mark through nine games since 1968.
-The Bobcats have won 14 of their last 16 games dating back to last season.
-Ohio is undefeated at home this season.
-Ohio running back Beau Blankenship has rushed for over 1,000 yards and is the eighth individual in school history to surpass 1,000 yards rushing.
-Ohio became bowl eligible for the sixth time in the last eight years following its 38-31 win over Buffalo on Oct. 6 and was the first team in the country to become bowl eligible.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
-A win over Bowling Green would give the ‘Cats their best record through 10 games since 1968.
-A win over Bowling Green would mark the Bobcats’ 15th win in their last 17 games dating back to last season.
-A win over the Falcons would give the Bobcats their first undefeated mark at home since 1988.
-Junior captain Tyler Tettleton is just 83 yards shy of becoming Ohio’s all-time leader in career passing yards.
-Tettleton is also just 27 completions shy of becoming Ohio’s all-time leader in career completions.
-Junior running back Beau Blankenship has 1,097 yards rushing and just 57 yards shy of cracking into the single season all-time top five.
-Wide receiver Donte Foster is just two touchdown receptions shy of cracking into the all-time top three for career touchdown receptions. He is currently fifth all-time with 13 career receiving touchdowns.
OHIO - BOWLING GREEN SERIES HISTORY
Ohio and Bowling Green will meet for the 64th time on Wednesday night. The Falcons hold the all-time series lead at 36-25-2. The first time the two teams met was in 1945 with Bowling Green earning a 6-0 victory over Ohio. The last meeting between the two teams took place on Nov. 16, 2011 in Bowling Green. In that contest, the Bobcats defeated the Falcons 29-28. Ohio has defeated Bowling Green in four of its last five meetings.
SCOUTING BOWLING GREEN
The Falcons (6-3; 4-1) enter the game after posting a convincing 24-3 victory at home versus Eastern Michigan on Oct. 27. BGSU’s lone setback in league play this season came at Toledo as it dropped a 27-15 decision on the road. Quarterback Matt Schilz returns for the Falcons after throwing for over 3,000 yards last season. This season, Schilz has thrown for 1,752 yards and nine touchdowns. BGSU also features a strong rushing attack led by 2011 MAC Freshman of the Year Shaun Joplin, who has 725 yards on the ground and eight touchdowns. Defensively, the Falcons return 10 starters from the 2011 team and are led by senior defensive tackle Chris Jones. Jones has
31 tackles, 16.0 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks on the year.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT LAST WEEK
-The Bobcats are 9-1 in their last 10 weekday games dating back to 2009.
-Ohio improves to 5-0 at home this season.
-Ohio outgained Eastern Michigan 559-305. The Bobcats’ 500-yard plus effort was Ohio’s second-largest offensive output of the season.
-Junior wide receiver Donte Foster surpassed his previous career-high for receiving yards in the first half as he tallied 76 yards receiving. Foster finished the game with 164 receiving yards.
-Junior quarterback Tyler Tettleton’s 79-yard touchdown pass to Foster was the Bobcats’ longest play from scrimmage of the year.
BOWLING GREEN NOTES:
Falcons 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 503-349-51 (.588).
• Head coach Dave Clawson is in his fourth season at the helm of the football team and has an all-time record of 78-75 and is 20-26 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 24-3 win versus Eastern Michigan, their second straight game without allowing a touchdown.
• Gabe Martin and Chris Jones combined for five sacks versus the Eagles.
• BGSU leads the all-time series with Ohio 36-25-2.
• Anthon Samuel ranks tied for 18th in school history with 1,569 career rushing yards.
• Chris Jones is second in BGSU history with 27.0 career sacks and currently is first in the nation with 11.5 sacks in 2012.
• Chris Jones (first-team), Alex Bayer (first-team), Dominic Flewellyn (second-team), Anthon Samuel (second-team), Dwayne Woods (third-team), Cameron Truss (third-team) and Ted Ouellet (third-team) were named to Phil Steele’s mid-season All-MAC teams.
• 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 32nd start of his career this weekend versus Eastern Michigan. Schilz, a junior, threw for over 3,000 yards last season and 28 touchdowns, all career-bests, and has thrown for 6,999 yards and 45 touchdowns in his career. He leads an offense that ranks ninth in the MAC in scoring (23.0) and 10th in total offense (383.4).
It’s hard to say who Schilz’s top target is this year, but Shaun Joplin (31 rec., 478 yards), Chris Gallon (31 rec., 314 yards), Ryan Burbrink (30 rec., 253 yards) and Alex Bayer (27 rec., 331 yards) lead the way.
At running back the Falcons will depend on Anthon Samuel. Samuel, the reigning MAC Freshman of the Year, has already surpassed 1,500 yards in his career and has nine 100-yard games in his first 17 contests. On the year Samuel has 725 yards on the ground, while averaging 5.7 yards per carry and eight touchdowns.
Scouting the Defense
The Falcons return 10 starters from the 2011 team and are led by senior defensive tackle Chris Jones. Jones has 31 tackles, 16.0 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks on the year. Jones is currently first in the country in sacks and second in tackles for loss.
As a team, the Falcons rank eighth in the nation in total defense (290.0) and 11th in scoring (15.2), which are both first in the MAC. The Falcons also lead the conference in rush defense (104.2) and passing defense (185.8).
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 41.8 yards per punt this season and has a 43.7 yard per punt career average.
Overall BGSU is just 5-of-11 on field goals and 24-of-26 on extra points, but Tyler Tate drilled a career-long 42 yard field goal versus UMass two weeks ago.
The Ohio Series
Wednesday’s contest with Ohio will be the 64th meeting between the two schools from the Mid-American Conference. BGSU holds a 36-25-2 advantage over the Bobcats, but Ohio will enter this week’s matchup with three straight wins, two of those wins coming down to essentially the final play.
In 2009 the Falcons dropped a touchdown with 1:15 remaining in the contest (trailed 44-37) and last season Ohio’s Matt Weller drained a 23-yard field goal as time expired to help OU to the victory, 29-28.
In all, BGSU is 20-11-1 on the road in Athens and have won four of the last five meetings in Peden Stadium.