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Freddie Barnes had 10 catches for 109 yards and scored two touchdowns against Miami. Photos by Mike Smith.

It all came together for the Falcons Thursday at Yager Stadium, and the result was a 35-14 win over Miami. As wins go, it was a pretty good one. Falcons quarterback Tyler Sheehan, in fact, called it one of the best wins in his career.

But the real significance went beyond his individual stats – 21 of 34 for 199 yards with no interceptions and three touchdowns. It was seizing the opportunity to finally get a win over Miami.

“I’m really happy for my seniors that they got to beat Miami before they graduated,” head coach Dave Clawson said. Miami had won three straight against BGSU entering Thursday’s contest, and the RedHawks victory two years ago was especially troubling for Sheehan, who graduated from LaSalle High School – about an hour’s drive from the Miami campus.

“Last time we came here, we got embarrassed pretty bad,” Sheehan said, alluding to a 47-14 RedHawks win at Yager Stadium in 2007. “That loss has kind of stuck with me throughout my career…. I’ve got a great support base around here, and I had a lot of people at the game today, so I really didn’t want to get embarrassed again.”

While Sheehan didn’t have the gaudy statistics that enabled him to win MAC East Player of the Week honors three times earlier this season, he was solid and did what good quarterbacks do – take advantage of opportunities provided an opponent.

“That’s kind of been Miami’s undoing all year. I think they gave up 30 (turnovers) going into the game.”

Miami wasted little time in showing it was in a generous mood Thursday. Senior Jerett Sanderson forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and P.J. Mahone recovered for the Falcons.

It was one of five Miami turnovers on the night, and BG was quick to cash in on the opportunity. Two plays later, Freddie Barnes took a reverse and raced 19 yards around end for a score.

“Not only did we generate turnovers,” but we generated points off of those turnovers,” Clawson said.



Of the five Bowling Green touchdowns, (the first) three followed Miami turnovers. A final TD followed Miami’s loss of possession on downs.

The RedHawks were able to keep pace, in spite of mistakes, through two quarters, and the score was tied 14-all at intermission. Fourteen points, however, was all the RedHawks would get on a night when the BG defense was creating havoc for a beleaguered Miami line.

Bowling Green’s 24 sacks-allowed may have been troubling, but the RedHawks have nearly doubled that with 46. That weakness motivated Clawson to encourage his coaches to work on some ways to create some sack opportunities. “I thought our defensive staff really did a good job,”

Clawson said. “We spent a lot more time this week with our blitz packages.”
The result was another night of harassment for Miami redshirt freshman QB Zac Dysert. Bowling Green managed six sacks of Dysert. But even when the Falcons weren’t actually sacking him, they were frequently applying a lot of pressure.

“Zac had a tough night tonight,” Miami coach Mike Haywood said. “He got a little frustrated early, and I don’t think that he rebounded (well) from those turnovers that he had early. Those are some of the growing pain that we have to go through (with a young quarterback). I think he has a bright future ahead of him. However, you have to learn to move on from the mistakes.

“In a lot of ways, that is the most complete football game we’ve played all year. It was certainly our best defensive effort of the year,” Clawson said. “Our guys up front just kept bringing the pass rush (and) I thought we tackled well. We just kept coming and coming…. I think our pressure on the quarterback really generated some rushed throws. ”

Miami’s first drive of the second half ended when Mahone intercepted Dysert to set up Sheehan and the offense at the RedHawks 17-yard line. After three rushing plays, Sheehan hit Freddie Barnes with a two-yard TD pass.

Bowling Green came calling again on its next drive, but Matt Norsic’s field goal attempt was blocked by Austin Brown.

Bowling Green’s defense yielded just two yards, forcing another Miami punt. The Falcons then drove 58 yards in eight plays for a touchdown with 1:33 left in the third period. Norsic’s kick made it 28-14 in favor of the Falcons.

Clawson noted his defense was able to get more third down stops in the second half. “I think a lot of that was because we really did a great job on first and second down, so in the second half, there were a lot more third and longs.”

Miami came storming back with three fourth quarter touchdowns against Temple in its previous game, but there was no such rally this time. The only scoring of the fourth quarter was a Chris Bullock rush over left tackle for 13 yards and a TD at 2:06.

“We missed an opportunity to put the game away a couple times, but I loved the way we finished the game running the football,” Clawson said. Our offensive line, I thought, really took control of the line of scrimmage.”

“I don’t think we played very physical in the second half,” Haywood said. “I compliment BG for the effort (and) they did a nice job. However, I don’t think we played very physical in the trenches – from an offensive standpoint in protecting the quarterback …nor do I think that we played very well on defense in the trenches – especially in stopping the run.

Clawson noted the RedHawks were playing their third game in 12 days and thought the Falcons might be able to enjoy more success as the game progressed.

“I really hoped that at some point – if we just kept coming and coming – that would help us. We knew that … they had played a lot of football recently and we knew they were banged up…. When you get the fatigue, you usually first see it in the battle up front, and I thought today we won that battle on both sides of the line of scrimmage.”

Haywood was skeptical of a schedule-induced fatigue factor and pointed to a bottom line of execution.

I don’t think fatigue played a part in the game,” Haywood said. “I just think he (Clawson) did a really nice job with his team…. They performed better than we did in the second half,” Haywood said. “They actually performed better than we did in the first half. We were just fortunate enough to have two consistent, long drives and were able to put points on the board, and the defense was playing really well early.”

NOTES:
- Dysert completed 29 of 48 with three interceptions. He had no passing TDs but scored both Miami touchdowns on short runs at the goal line.

- Sheehan threw a block to help spring Barnes on his 19-yard reverse for the game’s first touchdown. The senior quarterback also got a chance to play the role of receiver in the second half, but a “throw back” pass from Barnes fell incomplete.

- Bowling Green’s win keeps the Falcons (5-5, 4-2) on track to post a winning season. Another win would make them bowl eligible. They finish the campaign with two home games. Bowling Green plays Akron Nov. 20 and finished with arch-rival Toledo a week later.

- Miami is down to the last game of its 2009 season. The RedHawks are home against Buffalo Nov. 18.

- Norsic missed one field goal and had another blocked Thursday. Miami did not get any field goal attempts and was two of four (both first half touchdowns) in red zone opportunities.)