DETROIT — Friday’s 47-27 victory over Northern Illinois in the Mid-American
Conference championship game culminated a long journey for Bowling Green head coach Dave Clawson, who is
in his fifth year with the program, and his first two recruiting classes, which provided the heart and
soul of the championship team.In 2010, the Falcons were 2-10. PHOTO
GALLERYNow, Bowling Green is 10-3 with a MAC championship trophy for the trophy case, rings
for the players and staff, and a bowl game invitation coming in the near future.“There is nothing better
than you can ask for. We talked about it all week, from where my class has come from starting with a
2-10 record and gradually got better and it all came together,’’ fifth-year senior tight end Alex Bayer
said. ‘‘Guys have been stepping up all year, it is not over yet, but there is no better feeling.”For
Clawson, he cited building a program the right way has led to BG’s success. The Falcons are 18-8 overall
the last two seasons.“We have good players …These are a lot of the same players, that three years ago,
we were 2 and 10 and they were calling them the ‘swiss cheese 11’.‘‘Sometimes, it takes time to build a
program. It takes getting the right team on board and the right coaches,’’ he continued. ‘‘And even a
couple years ago, we saw what some of these young players could be, and the credit goes to them that
they kept working, they kept doing the things necessary to become better football players.‘‘I’m proud of
these guys in every respect. Our GPA has never been higher; our APR score is a new record … They’ve
done what we’ve asked them to do. They’ve bought in and we’ve always believed they’d do that, this would
be the result.‘‘So again, you guys (media members) are all shocked. We thought we were going to win. We
really did. We would have been absolutely crushed if we didn’t win this game. We came into this game
truly believing that we were the better team, and that we were going to win.”BGSU 47, NORTHERN ILLINOIS
27BGSU 17 14 0 16 — 47N. Illinois 7 6 7 7 — 27First QuarterBG—Beck 28 pass from Johnson (Tate kick),
12:27. Drive: 5 plays, 75 yards, 2:33.NIU—Brescacin 14 pass from Lynch (Sims kick), 9:08. Drive: 11
plays, 73 yards, 3:14.BG—FG Tate 26, 6:49. Drive: 5 plays, 67 yards, 3:14.BG—Moore 36 pass from Johnson
(Tate kick), 2:32. 5 plays, 76 yards, 2:35.Second QuarterNIU—FG Sims 51, 14:51. Drive: 9 plays, 48
yards, 2:34.NIU—FG Sims 45, 11:22. Drive, 6 plays, 37 yards, 1:45.BG—H.Jackson 22 pass from Johnson
(Tate kick), 5:39. Drive: 9 plays, 88 yards, 5:34.BG—Bayer 12 pass from Johnson (Tate kick), 0:13.
Drive: 8 plays, 51 yards, 0:52.Third QuarterNIU—Lynch 8 run (Sims kick), 12:23. Drive: 7 plays, 64
yards, 2:29.Fourth QuarterBG—FG Tate 52, 14:50. Drive: 10 plays, 39 yards, 5:32.BG—Tra.Greene 6 pass
from Johnson (kick blocked), 10:17. Drive: 4 plays, 20 yards, 2:41.BG—Tra.Greene 16 run (Tate kick),
2:44. Drive: 10 plays, 50 yards, 5:22.NIU—Lynch 2 run (Sims kick), 0:14. Drive: 11 plays, 79 yards,
2:26.A—21,106.BG NIUFirst downs 27 29Rushing 10 13Passing 17 15Penalty 0 1Rushes-yards 40-181
42-235Passing 393 219Comp-Att-Int 21-27-0 21-40-2Avg. gain per play 8.6 5.5Sacks-yards lost 1-6
2-17Punts-Avg. 1-48.0 1-42.0Punt returns 0-0.0 0-0.0Kickoff returns 2-42.0 6-132.0Fumbles-Lost 1-1
0-0Penalties-Yards 8-60 4-203rd-down conversions 4-10 8-154th-down conversions 2-2 0-1Time of Possession
34:26 25:34INDIVIDUAL STATISTICSRUSHING—Bowling Green, Tra.Greene 26-133, Johnson 10-33, Moore 1-11,
Hopgood 1-5, Houston 1-1, Team 1-(minus 2). N. Illinois, Lynch 26-126, Stingily 12-74, Lewis
4-35.PASSING—Bowling Green, Johnson 21-27-0-393. N. Illinois, Lynch 21-40-2-219.RECEIVING—Bowling Green,
Bayer 7-124, H.Jackson 6-58, Moore 4-145, Tra.Greene 2-23, Beck 1-28, Joplin 1-15. N. Illinois,
Brescacin 6-71, Lewis 6-37, Spencer 5-63, Williams 2-23, Beebe 1-20, Stingily 1-5.