 ATHENS — The tricky defense attorney is on vacation. The hard-boiled private eye is out of town on another case. And the good guy in the white hat has retired.
Bowling Green’s football team is all by itself as it starts the second half of the season at 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the Mid-American Conference after a 49-25 whipping at Ohio University Saturday afternoon.
“Freddie Barnes isn’t coming back. There is nobody that’s going to come back and save us,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said. “We are what we are and right now we’re not a very good football team.
“This is really where you really find out who the players in your program are; What guys you are going to build your program around not just of the rest of the season, but going into next year,” Clawson continued.
Once again, there was plenty that went wrong for the Falcons and only a few things that went right against the Bobcats.
“Right now, there’s not a lot of things that we are doing well. Right now, we’re not a very good football team,” Clawson said. “We don’t stop people on defense and we really don’t have balance on offense.
“We’re a team right now that has a long way to go and a lot of things we’ve got to get better at,” he added.
The Falcon put themselves in a hole right away. Dwayne Woods Jr. picked up an Ohio (3-3, 2-1 MAC) fumble on the second play of the game and returned it 28-yards to the Bobcat 3-yard line.
BG (1-5. 0-2 MAC) could not get into the end zone on four plays, including a quarterback sneak by Matt Schilz on fourth down. Schilz was playing for the first time since suffering a sprained throwing shoulder against Marshall on Sept. 18.
The Falcons held the Bobcats on the ensuing possession and got the ball back at the Ohio 45. BG moved to a first-and-goal at the 6, but had to settle for a field goal.
BG ran seven plays inside the Ohio 6 in the first 5:38 of the game and had only a field goal to show for the effort.
“I don’t know if it sets the tone and I don’t know if we win the game,” Clawson said. “But it’s pretty sad when you have the ball at the 2- or 3-yard line and you put it on your O-line and you can’t get two or three yards.
“There are not too many teams that are going to win doing that,” he continued. “Good football teams at that point put it on the O-line and just count on the fact that you can knock people a half a yard off the ball.”
Schilz said it was a frustrating start to the game.
“You have got to capitalize when the other team makes mistakes like that and we didn’t,” Schilz said. “I guess we paid for it at the end.”
Frank Solich, Ohio’s head coach, gave credit to his defense for making a difference early in the game.
“The defense did a great job. On its first drive, it kept Bowling Green out of the end zone and on its second drive, they had good field position and our defense again came up big,” Solich said. “That set the tone because they could have gotten into position where Bowling Green was up 14 points on us early. The defense really held up early in the game for us.”
Clawson said the offensive line’s inability to make holes for the running game has been an ongoing problem since last spring. He said the fourth quarter of the Marshall game was the only time the line was able to get a consistent push this season.
After a slow start, Ohio’s running attack took the game over. The Bobcats finished with 257 yards and three touchdowns on 36 rushing attempts. The Ohio passing attack added 123 yards and three scores.
“We really struggled to get off of blocks. Some of their speed on the perimeter and some of their skill just at times made us look silly,” Clawson said. “It’s assignment football and we had guys in spots that didn’t get off blocks and didn’t make plays.”
The Falcons did score three touchdowns in the second half on drives of 74, 85 and 93 yards. The 93-yard drive used 19 plays and took 10:45 off the clock.
Two of the three drives ended on touchdown passes from Schilz to Kamar Jorden.
“We certainly, in the second half, did some better things,” Clawson said.
The Falcons now prepare to play at Temple, one of the favorites to win the MAC East.
“We’ve got to get guys better. That’s very simple,” Clawson said.
“We’ve got some guys playing very hard,” Clawson added. “Willie Geter, Jordan Hopgood, Cameron Truss are playing extremely hard. Chris Jones plays really hard.
“We need those guys to kind of step up, get to the mantle, become leaders in our program and make other guys and force other guys to play as hard as they are.
“If guys do that, we’re going to be fine.”
NOTES:
BACK IN ACTION - Matt Schilz returned to Bowling Green’s lineup at Ohio Saturday for the first time since suffering a sprained throwing shoulder on Sept. 18 against Marshall. A redshirt freshman, Schilz looked a little rusty at times, but wasn’t helped by several dropped passes by his receiving corps in the early going.
“It was just good to be back out there,” Schilz said. “It’s still a little painful.”
After going 3-of-9 passing for 25 yards in the first quarter, Schilz was 20-of-28 for 252 yards and two scores over the final three quarters. While every pass was not on target, the Falcon receivers did a nice job, especially in the second half, of adjusting to the ball and making some plays.
“The offense just got into a rhythm ... We definitely starting meshing better in the second half,” Schilz said. “It was the first time that I’ve been out there in two weeks that’s probably why it started a little slow.”
Schilz threw for two touchdowns, including a 59-yard effort to Kamar Jorden, and two 2-point conversions in the second half.
“Coming off an injury, he played with a lot of courage and a lot of guts. He played really well,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said.
- BUS RIDE: The Falcons spent Friday night in Columbus.
However, because of congested traffic in Nelsonville, about 15 miles north of Athens, on U.S. 33 the team busses were late arriving at Peden Stadium Saturday. The kickoff was moved back 15 minutes to 2:15 p.m. to allow the Falcons time to warm up.
“Things happen and that had nothing to do with what happened on the field,” Clawson said about the delay. “To me, if guys are looking for a cheap out, that would be too cheap to even mention.”
- NUMBERS: The Falcons had their best rushing effort of the season, finishing with 137 yards on 37 carries. Their previous-best was 108 yards at Troy.
Leading the way on the ground was Willie Geter, who finished with 98 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown. Jordan Hopgood chipped in with 30 yards on 10 carries.
Jorden had a game-high eight catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Jorden entered the game with 42 grabs, second most in the country.
NEXT: BG plays at Temple on Saturday at 1 p.m., and Ohio entertains Akron in a 2 p.m. tilt. |
