 Bowling Green put eight touchdowns on the board in its 58-13 win over Morgan State Saturday. But while BG head coach Dave Clawson was pleased that his team is now 2-0, he knows there are plenty of things to work on this week.
The “To Do” list includes cutting down on penalties, handling kicks better on special teams, and better tackling — all before facing Wyoming this coming Saturday.
“That was a team we were better than, and we should have beat, and it was good to go out and do it,” Clawson said about Morgan State. “At the same time there are some things that we have to still get cleaned up.
“We know with the MAC (Mid-American Conference) schedule and the crew we have coming in next week, that the level of competition is going to step up,” Clawson continued. “We’ve got to get to work in practice this week and get it fixed … (but) it feels good to be 2-0 and it’s good to make corrections after a win.”
Matt Schilz, BG’s starting quarterback, said the Falcons did get sloppy at times .
“I don’t want to say we didn’t go as hard, but we took some plays off that we didn’t do last week (in a 32-15 win over Idaho),” Schilz said. “Some guys just weren’t locked in and that was probably me too.”
The Falcons jumped ahead quickly, scoring four first-quarter touchdowns to lead 28-7 after 15 minutes. Schilz threw four TD passes in the opening quarter as he went 9-of-11 for 172 yards.
“I don’t care if it’s an offense going against air. To throw the ball that well and that efficiently is not easy to do. We don’t do it a lot in practice against the scout team,” Clawson said.
The coming-out party continued for senior wide receiver Eugene Cooper. who caught three TD passes in the opening quarter and finished the game with six receptions for 134 yards and four scores. In the two games this season. Cooper has 10 receptions for 244 yards and six touchdowns.
“He did a great job and all the other receivers out there also did a good job blocking for him down field, and I think that helped with him getting in the end zone,” Schilz said about Cooper.
The Falcons increased their lead to 35-10 at the half, and BG out-scoreed the Bears, 23-3 in the second half as Clawson used a lot of substitutes in the last 37 minutes of the game.
The Falcons finished with 572 yards of total offense, 304 yards passing and 268 yards rushing. Schilz was 16-of-23 for 258 yards and five TDs with one interception. Trent Hurley came off the bench to complete 3-of-4 passes for 46 yards in his first collegiate action.
Anthon Samuel and Jordan Hopgood led the ground attack. Samuel finished with 122 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Hopgood chipped in with 90 yards and a score on 12 carries.
“The goal was to come out strong and make all of our assignments correct and be sound,” Schilz said. “We ran the ball really well, and that’s what we were trying to do this week ... It’s good having those guys in there running the ball. They did a great job and it had to do with the O-line doing a lot better.”
BG’s defense held Morgan State to 193 yards and one touchdown. The TD came after the ball was fumbled in the backfield. Travis Davidson picked it up, and was able to reverse field, eventually finding an opening on the way to a 61-yard TD,
“We got our focus together and put things back in perspective of where we needed to be and what we needed to do to have a successful game,” junior linebacker Dwayne Woods said about the Falcons’ defense after the Morgan State score. Woods led the Falcons with eight tackles, including three tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble.
“We’re going to watch the film and continue to get better,’ Woods added.
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