Falcons Face Spartans In Military Bowl On Dec. 27

 

• The Bowling Green State University football team is in the middle of its 94th season of football and has an all-time record of 505-350-51 (.589).

• Head coach Dave Clawson is in his fourth season at the helm of the football team and has an all-time record of 80-76 and is 22-27 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 finished the regular season at 8-4, its first eight-win season since 2007.

• The contest with San Jose State will be BGSU’s 10th bowl game in school history.

• Anthon Samuel ranks 15th in school history with 1,810 career rushing yards. 

• Chris Jones is second in BGSU history with 28.0 career sacks and currently is fourth in the nation with 12.5 sacks in 2012. He was named first-team AllAmerican by FWAA and third-team by AP.

• This bowl game will serve as the final game for 14 Falcons. Austin Collier, Scott Hodges, Cory Johnson,  Chris Jones, Mark Mays, Tim Moore, Matt Oczypok, John Pettigrew, Chip Robinson, Jordon Roussos, Stephen Stein, Bart Tanski, Dominique Wharton and Dwayne Woods.

• 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).

 

• The Bowling Green State University football team finished the regular season with eight wins, the most wins since the 2007 Falcons also went 8-4. BGSU was 6-2  in conference play, its best MAC finish since the 2009 Falcons also ended the year at 6-2 in MAC play.

• In three years the Falcons have improved from a 2-10 season, to a 5-7 campaign, to the 8-4 season this year.

• BGSU is one of the hottest teams in the nation, having won seven of its last eight contests after opening the season 1-3.

• The Falcons are just one of five teams from the MAC to earn at least two bowl appearances since 2009.  BGSU is joined by Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo and Central Michigan.

• Offensively the Falcons are led by third year starting quarterback Matt Schilz. The junior will be making his 35th start (31 consecutive) and has thrown for 7,673 yards and 50 touchdowns in his BGSU career.

• Anthon Sameul, who was the MAC Freshman of the Year in 2011, has run for 966 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. He is 34 yards shy of becoming just the eighth running back in BGSU history to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a single season. He also ranks 15th in school history with 1,810 rushing yards.

• Defensively the Falcons rank seventh in the nation in total defense, allowing just 289.7 yards per game. They are seventh is pass defense (173.0), ninth in scoring (15.8) and 14th in rush defense (116.7).

• Despite the strong defense the Falcons have zero tacklers in the top-35 of the MAC rankings.

• Defensive tackle Chris Jones is tied for fourth in the nation with 12.5 sacks and tied for eighth in tackles for loss with 19.0. He has recorded a sack in 8-of-12 games and has a tackle for loss in 10 contests.

•  BGSU also ranks fifth in third down defense (28.5%) and ninth in sacks (37.0).

 

The Military Bowl will be the Falcons 10th bowl in school history, third-most in the Mid-American Conference. Overall the Falcons are 4-5 in bowl contests.

 

The bowl game will serve as the final contest for 14 Falcons. Austin Collier, Scott Hodges, Cory Johnson,  Chris Jones, Mark Mays, Tim Moore, Matt Oczypok, John Pettigrew, Chip Robinson, Jordon Roussos, Stephen Stein, Bart Tanski, Dominique Wharton and Dwayne Woods will all be playing in their final game as a Falcon.

 

Ten members of the Bowling Green State University football team were named allleague by the Mid-American Conference. Offensively Jordon Roussos (second team), Alex Bayer (third-team) and Dominic Flewellyn (third-team) were honored and on the defensive side of the ball Chris Jones (first-team), Gabe Martin (first team), BooBoo Gates (first-team), Dwayne Woods (third-team), Ted Ouellet (third team) and Cam Truss (third-team) were all named to the all-conference team. Brian Schmiedebusch earned second-team honors as a punter.

 

BGSU was third with 10 All-MAC players, trailing only Ball State (14) and Toledo (11). Kent State was tied for third with 10. The last time BGSU finished with at least  10 All-MAC players was 2004 and the last time the Falcons had at least six defensive players named All-MAC was 1992. The three first-team All-MAC defenders has  not happened at BGSU since 1994. 

 

The Falcons entered the 2012 season with the 10th youngest team in the country according to PhilSteele.com. According to that website the Falcons have 66.7  percent of its roster as underclassmen. 

 

Quarterback Matt Schilz will be making his 35th start of his career for the Orange and Brown. While still a junior, Schilz is nearing in on several BGSU school records.

• Is third is passing yards (7,673)

• Is third in passing attempts (1,167)

• Is third in passing completions (686)

• Is fifth in passing touchdowns (50)

 

Matt Schilz will enter the contest with SJSU having his best two game yardage total of the season. The junior threw for a season-best 355 yards versus then No. 25 

Kent State and 228 yards versus Buffalo. That total of 583 yards is 84 more yards than any other two game span during 2012.

 

Chris Gallon was having a solid freshman campaign entering the Kent State contest back on Nov. 17 with 32 receptions for 369 yards and four touchdowns ... then 

the KSU game happened. Gallon recorded career-bests in catches (10), yards (213) and touchdowns (2), adding the two longest catches of his career (72 and 81), 

both resulting in touchdowns. Gallon’s 213 receiving yards are the most ever by a Falcon inside Doyt Perry Stadium and are the fourth-most in school history, trailing only Freddie Barnes (278, 219) and Robert Redd (215). 

 

Anthon Samuel, who has only played in 20 career games (missed three games in 2011 one in 2012 due to injury) has already surpassed the 1,000 yard career  rushing mark, becoming just the 35th Falcon in school history to do so. Samuel currently ranks 15th in school history with 1,810 rushing yards.

 

Chris Jones was named Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year (and first-team All-American by the FWAA), announced by the league office 

on Nov. 28. Jones is just the third Falcon to ever earn the award, and the first Falcon to do so since Vince Palko won the award in 1993 and 1994. The only other Falcon to accomplish this feat was Phil Villapiano in 1970.

 

Jones currently ranks tied for fourth in the nation with 12.5 sacks and is tied for eighth with 19.0 tackles for loss, both careerbests for the defensive tackle. Jones 

added 41 tackles, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, five quarterback hurries and a pass break-up. He had a sack in 8-of-12 games and recorded a tackle for loss in 10 contests.