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 MOSCOW, IDAHO — Bowling Green made a loud, positive statement Thursday night in the Kibbie Dome. After host Idaho scored on its first possession, helped by a 51-yard halfback pass, the Falcons took control of the season opener for both teams and rolled to a 32-15 victory.
“I’m going to talk about the emotion the second we took the field,” said BG head coach Dave Clawson, who is starting his third season. “That was something that we talked about, that we have a responsibility to Bowling Green football that when we hit the field we had better play with emotion, we had better play hard.
“Quite honestly, that was something that was missing a year ago (a 2-10 season) and it’s something we made a big deal of that when that ball is kicked off, we had better be ready to play,” Clawson continued. “That’s what I am most proud of right now is that we came out ready to play. Now, we have to do that for 11 more games.”
Paced by strong play from both the offensive and defensive lines, the Falcons dominated the final 27 minutes of the first half, breaking out to a 30-7 halftime lead.
“I’m really disappointed in the way we played tonight,” said Idaho head coach Robb Akey. “I don’t like what I saw from this team.”
Idaho closed to within 30-15 with 14:44 remaining in the game, but the Falcons held tough, led by Chris Jones on the defensive line, punter Brian Schmiedebusch and BG’s punt coverage team.
“I don’t know eye-opening. It’s one good win for us,” Clawson said. “There are a lot of challenges in football, but the biggest challenges are coming back from a heart-breaking loss and coming back from a big emotional win.”
The Falcons tied the game at 7 on a Matt Schilz to Eugene Cooper 76-yard pass with 7:22 left in the first quarter.
Less than six minutes later, Schilz and Cooper connected on a 24-yard scoring play and the Falcons never trailed again.
BG increased its lead to 20-7 on Jordan Hopgood’s 9-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. The play was set up by a 52-yard by freshman Anton Samuel and a face-mask penalty. The Falcons missed the PAT kick.
Samuel added a 1-yard scoring run and with the PAT it was 27-7 with 11:10 left in the half. Kyle Burkhardt then nailed a 39-yard field goal with 4:28 remaining in the first half to give BG a 30-7 halftime lead.
“I love the way our offense responded (after Idaho had taken the 7-0 lead),” Clawson said. “Coach (Warren) Ruggiero (BG’s offensive coordinator) had some great get-after-them play calls.
“That field goal was big because it made it a three score game,” Clawson added.
The Falcons displayed plenty of offensive firepower in the first half. BG held a 377-179 edge in total yards at the half with 78 of Idaho’s yards coming on its first possession.
“Defensively,” Akey said, “we struggled. We can’t let ourselves get depth-charged like that ... I don’t know how many passes we dropped tonight, but we had to set a record. It snowballed.”
In the first half, Schilz was 12-of-15 passing for 248 yards and two scores. Cooper made three first-half catches for 106 yards and two scores and Samuel rushed eight times for 87 yards and a score.
“He put the ball on the money,” Clawson said of Schilz. “The ball to Cooper was as beautiful and as perfect a throw that you are going to see.”
In the second half, BG’s defense was the difference-maker with four sacks, two fumble recoveries, and a safety.
“We were a little more conservative,” Clawson said about his second-half offense. “We were playing good defense. Our defense was controlling the line of scrimmage.
“I wanted to keep it close to the vest. We managed it well.”
The Falcons were aided by Schmiedebusch’s efforts and the coverage as two punts were downed inside the 5-yard line in the second half. The punt coverage led to the safety.
“He set the bar pretty high for himself the rest of the year,” Clawson said about Schmiedebusch.
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