 BOWLING GREEN 42, BUFFALO 28
BG finishes the season 5-7 overall (a three-win improvement from 2010) and posted 3-5 in the Mid-American Conference East. Buffalo finishes 3-9, 2-6.
WIND-AIDED DRIVES CRITICAL
“Our guys showed up. I thought they played with great effort,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said. “Every drive that we had the ball with the wind was critical in this game. It was going to be hard to score points against the wind.”
Three of the five wind-aided TDs came on passes from Matt Schilz and the other two were on short runs.
Of the five scores, two were major back-breakers for Buffalo and both came on throws from Schilz. The 6-2 sophomore finished with four touchdown passes, three coming on one-play drives.
KEY SCORE BEFORE INTERMISSION
BG capped a 74-yard, 54-second drive, with a 6-yard scoring pass from Schilz to Eugene Cooper with 23 seconds left in the first half. The score and successful PAT allowed BG to take a 21-20 lead into the locker room.
“To be able to get seven there and not settle for a field goal, we’re now going in up one instead of down three,” Clawson said.
The Falcons then took the wind to start the second half and it paid off.
With 45 seconds left in the third quarter, Schilz hit Kamar Jorden with a 64-yard scoring pass to increase BG’s lead to 42-20.
“We took a gamble with the wind in the third quarter ... We told the offense you have got to keep the momentum going and we’ve got to strike, we’ve got to take advantage of this and extend the lead,” Clawson said. “They did a great job of doing that and certainly that play right before the end of the third quarter to Kamar was a huge play.”
While the Falcons finished strong, the start was not so good.
Schilz had two interceptions and Buffalo was able to hold leads of 10-0 and 17-7 before the Falcons really got untracked.
OVERCOMING TURNOVERS
“We had two really bad turnovers in the first half that usually you’re not able to overcome when you give up 14 points like that,” Clawson said. “There’s a number of times this year we have not been able to overcome that. Credit to our guys that they battled back today and made plays.”
Trailing 10-0, an interception and 33-yard return by Jerry ‘BooBoo’ Gates set up a 6-yard TD pass from Schilz to Jorden with 4:44 left in the first quarter.
With Buffalo holding a 17-7 lead, BG’s Ray Hutson got through to partially block a punt. Schilz then hit Eugene Cooper with a 28-yard scoring pass to make it 17-14. The scoring strike to Cooper at the end of the first half put BG ahead to stay.
In the third quarter, with BG’s top three running backs unavailable or ailing, John Pettigrew and Jamel Martin each scored a rushing TD. Pettigrew, a junior, got the first touchdown of his career on a 2-yard run to make it 28-20. Martin’s 1-yard run made it 35-20.
With the Schilz to Jorden TD pass in the final minute of the third quarter, BG was in complete control.
USE IT OR LOSE IT
“I just told our offensive coordinator (Warren Ruggiero) to be aggressive. If there is anything that you like pass-wise, let’s get it called now because you will probably have two or three plays to call it,” Clawson said. “We had game-planned that play and had tried to run it earlier, but didn’t get it off for whatever reason and we had to get it in with the wind.
“The key for us is that we scored those 21 points in the third quarter.”
While BG was scoring three times in the third quarter, Buffalo could manage only 22 total yards and one first down.
“I thought our defense in the second half was excellent,” Clawson said.
Buffalo did score again, but it was with 1:01 left in the game.
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