The Eagles won their opener over Indiana State, but have lost four straight, including a 41-17 defeat by Toledo.

“They (Eastern) are still playing hard,” BG head coach Gregg Brandon said. “It’s a MAC game and anything can happen in the MAC. You’ve got to be ready week in and week out.”

Brandon wants to make sure his team isn’t over-confident with EMU on a four-game losing streak and the Falcons coming off a 45-16 win at Wyoming.
 

The Falcons had to rally to beat Eastern last season, 39-32, with Tyler Sheehan scoring on a 1-yard sneak and then passing to Pete Winovich for the 2-point conversion with 3:54 left in the game.
 

“All our guys have to do is turn on last year’s game. That should be enough motivation to come out and play,” Brandon said. “They (EMU) have struggled to win games and hopefully we can keep them down one more week.”
 

Bowling Green’s players are ready for the conference season to begin.
 

“I’m excited to get in and start playing MAC teams,” said BG senior linebacker John Haneline, one of the team captains. “A lot of (MAC) teams have shown they can play with anybody in the country. It’s such as open conference, every week is going to be a great competition and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Falcons finish out the regular season with eight MAC games, four at home and four on the road, over the next two months.

“For us to be successful we need to win the MAC and get to a bowl game. The non-conference schedule is what it is ... It’s just nice to get into MAC play,” Brandon said.

MAC HONORS: Sheehan and Cody Basler have earned MAC East player of the week honors for their efforts against Wyoming.

A junior quarterback, Sheehan was 22-of-35 passing for 287 yards and two scores with no interceptions. He also ran for a 28-yard touchdown against the Cowboys.

BG was 4-of-5 on scoring opportunities in the red zone.

Basler, a junior linebacker, made his first start of the season and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown, intercepted a pass and was credited with six tackles and a quarterback hurry.

“He seized the moment,” Brandon said about Basler, who started for Erique Dozier.

INJURIES: Three key Falcons are still recovering from injuries.

Anthony Turner, wide receiver/quarterback, did not make the trip to Wyoming because of a shoulder injury suffered against Boise State on Sept. 13. Brandon said on Monday that Turner is still day-to-day.

Freddie Barnes, wide receiver/quarterback, did play against Wyoming, but was slowed by a shoulder injury. He made four receptions for 15 yards.

Dozier did play through his ankle injury and finished with seven tackles and a fumble recovery.

”We’re still beat up. Wyoming was a physical game for us as well,” Brandon said. “We could use a bye this week.”

SACKS: Sheehan was sacked three times at Wyoming.

“On two of those sacks we just had mental busts,” Brandon said. “We didn’t execute the protection properly and that bothers me. We’ve got to fix that. One of them, the guy just beat us.”

BG has been sacked eight times this season for minus-91 yards.

QUICK HITTERS: With the win over Wyoming, BG now has 13 out-of-conference wins since 2003, the most of any MAC program ... The Wyoming win was the 40th of Brandon’s collegiate head coaching career. Brandon, in his sixth season as the Falcons’ head coach, now has a record of 40-26 ... BG has won five of the last six road games, dating to last season ... With his interception in the end zone against Wyoming, Kenny Lewis is BG’s active career leader with eight.

Jack Carle is sports editor at the Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune