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OXFORD, OH - After missing a game-tying extra point in a 28-27 loss to Wyoming last week, the Bowling Green Falcons bounced back Saturday to register a 37-23 win over defending Mid-American Conference champion Miami at Yager Stadium.

"Bowling Green did a tremendous job (They're an) excellent football team," Miami head coach Don Treadwell said. "They came in here and they were hungry. They played very well. They kept going even when they had a few things not going their way."

With the win, Bowling green moves to 3-1 overall (1-0 MAC).  Miami has stumbled out of the gate with an 0-3 record and rival Cincinnati coming to town next week.

“We didn’t come to play today. They were the better team,” said Miami defensive lineman Austin Brown, who made the final tackle to seal a RedHawks victory  in the 2010 MAC Championship game.

A crowd of 20,828 was on hand to see the defending champs sputter through two quarters. Each team threw an interception and lost a fumble. Miami actually had a 174-100 edge in total offense, but the visitors managed to put three touchdowns on the board and held a 20-17 halftime advantage.

Mason Krysinski’s 45-yard field goal as time expired pulled MU to within four, and it looked like the RedHawks might jump out front quickly after intermission. Dayonne Nunley returned the second half kickoff 72 yards before he was pulled down from behind by Aaron Foster.

Miami quickly picked up a first down at the nine, but BG stiffened. After holding the hosts to four yards on two runs, they managed to stop running back Dan Green after four yards on a pass from Dysert to the right flat.

Facing fourth and goal at the one, Miami elected to go for the touchdown. However, Devon McKoy and Morgan Keith dropped Finklea for a nine-yard loss.  “It was a discipline play that I don’t think a year ago we’d make,” Falcons head coach Dave Clawson said.

After stopping Miami, Bowling Green then mounted its longest drive of the day, going 89 yards in 16 plays to score its fourth TD.

Falcons quarterback Matt Schilz was instrumental in generating the score. Twice the Falcons faced third downs, and twice Schilz came through with a key pass. The first instance was a third-and-eight at the Miami 43. Schilz found Eugene cooper for 24 yards.

“He kept his eyes downfield and his receivers kept with him,” said Miami coach Don Treadwell, who is still looking for his first win at the RedHawks helm. “When he scrambled, he made some plays.”
The second drive- saver came with BG facing a third-and-19 at the MU 28. Schilz hit Kamar Jorden with a 20-yard strike to get a new set of downs before hooking up with Jorden two plays later on a seven-yard touchdown play to the right side of the end zone.

Miami sacked Schilz three times in the first half. While they continued to chase the sophomore,  they only managed to corral him once more after intermission. According to Brown, the Falcons made some adjustments to their protections after intermission.

After losing 17 yards on its next drive, Miami punted.  Zac Murphy’s punt went just 30 yards, and the Falcons started at midfield. Miami’s defense allowed a pair of first downs before forcing a field goal. Stephen Stein’s kick from 35 yards was good, and the Falcons were up 30-17 with 14:17 left in the fame.
Dysert completed four passes to four different receivers, good for 63 yards before taking it in himself from one-yard out on Miami’s next drive.  Krysinksi’s kick failed, however, and MU trailed 30-23.

When Eugene Cooper fumbled the kickoff, forcing BG to start its next drive from its own three-yard stripe, it appeared that momentum was building for Miami.  Momentum, however, took a quick trip down the Yager Stadium turf two plays later when Anthon Samuel broke through the middle of the line and raced 96 yards for a touchdown.

“That play was huge – really well blocked and (it was) nice to see him finish it,” Clawson said of what turned out to be a back-breaking play. Although 10:04 remained, Miami was not able to get into Falcons territory again until the final MU drive. That ended when Ryland Ward intercepted a Dysert throw in the end zone with 2:20 remaining.

“They just played way better than us today,” Dysert said. “We weren’t on the same page today.”
Dysert  completed 25-of-40 on the day for 265 yards but no TDs. He was sacked six times and harassed on a number of other occasions by an aggressive Bowling Green defense. He was intercepted twice – one early in the game on a tipped pass and once on MU’s final drive. Harwell was once again the RedHawks top receiver, pulling in eight passes for 139 yards.

Schilz completed 19-of-24 for 183 yards, with one interception (returned by Miami’s Wes Williams MU’s first TD) and three touchdowns in the victory. Jordan had nine catches for 91 yards and a score to pace the Falcons receiving corps.

Aside from the 96 yard run, neither team ran the ball particularly well. Bowling Green had 127 yards rushing on 38 attempts. Miami netted 43 yards on 21 rushes.

Both teams had special teams miscues. In addition to giving up a long kickoff return, BG also missed an extra point. Miami, however, missed an extra point, nearly missed a second and for the second consecutive outing allowed a blocked punt deep in its own territory. Ray Hutson blocked the punt and Adrian Hodges recovered at the Miami one-yard line. Schilz found Kendall Montgomery with a pass on the next play for the score.

“All week, we’ve been feeling like the way we’re going to win this game is special teams, and I know being out there, that was the time I needed to make a play,” Hutson said.
“We’re very disappointed in our performance as coaches and players,” Treadwell said. “I told our team, there is no time to be feeling sorry for ourselves, because … we have a tremendous team coming in here next week, as well … and I’m glad we’re playing next week.

Miami hosts local rival Cincinnati in the Battle for the Bell next week. Bowling Green is at No. 16 West Virginia.
 

•  Miami’s offensive line took a hit Thursday night when center JoJo Williams suffered a broken hand.  In addition to using redshirt sophomore John Anevski at center, the RedHawks also gave freshman Marcus Matthews his first career start at left guard. “Those are some of the growing pains,” head coach Don Treadwell said. That’s on us as coaches, too. If it is something negative, we need to make sure we have the answers. There are enough different protections that we can do to help our quarterback out and gel our offensive line.”
•  Junior defensive lineman Wes Williams, who scored on an interception to start Miami’s scoring, left the game in the second half with a leg injury. It was Williams second career interception and second TD. He had a 20-yard return against Toledo during his freshman season.
• It was the second consecutive game in which the opposition blocked a punt to either score or set up a touchdown. Miami also missed another extra point. Asked about the kicking game,  Treadwell said, “Well, we had one blocked on the right side last week, and this week we had one blocked on the left side. We had a field goal at the end of the half, which was tremendous, but then at the end we missed an extra point. So yes, it’s frustrating, but at this point we have who we have, so we have to keep communicating and working it out. I don’t think anyone is satisfied.”
•  Anthon Samuel’s 96-yard TD run in the fourth quarter set a BGSU school record and tied a Yager Stadium record for the longest run. Thomas Merriweather  set that record in a game against Temple last year.
•  Saturday’s attendance was 20,286. While it was cloudy much of the day, there were only a few sprinkles of rain.
•  Sophomore cornerback Dayonne Nunley’s 72-yard kickoff return in the second half was Miami’s longest of the year and longest since a Jamal Rogers 90-yarder against Ohio in 2007.
• Miami now has a 42-21-5 record against Bowling Green (21-12-1 in Oxford).