Ohio University was a big-time, big-play machine Saturday at Perry Stadium.
The Bobcats had eight plays go for 25 yards or more, including five for touchdowns, in a 44-37 win over
Bowling Green. It was the fourth straight loss for the Falcons, now 1-4 overall and 0-1 in the
Mid-American Conference. Ohio is 3-2, 1-0.
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“In a game like that you can go back and there are 15 plays if you make one of them or they don’t make
one of them, it’s a different game,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said. “We made too many critical
mistakes … We gave up too many big plays.
“Our defense is our defense. We teach it the way we teach it. We believe in it and we’ll get better at
it,” Clawson added.
The Falcons’ inability to limit the big plays led to their demise, even though Bowling Green, with 1:40
left in regulation, had the ball at Ohio’s 22-yard line with a chance to tie the game and force
overtime.
On the final possession, BG’s Tyler Sheehan had incomplete passes on first down and second down and then
scrambled for eight yards on third down.
Faced with a fourth-and-two, the Falcons attempted to get the ball to Freddie Barnes. The pass went off
Barnes’ hands, was tipped by Ohio’s Steven Jackson and then Barnes got his hands on the ball twice,
before it finally fell incomplete in the end zone as Barnes was diving for the ball.
“We were trying to get the ball to our best player,” Clawson said about BG’s final play. “We had them
one-on-one (coverage). Tyler put a good ball on him (Barnes) and he just didn’t come up with it. Freddie
has made a ton of plays for us this year. That was just one unfortunately he didn’t make.”
Clawson said there was no real thought of running the ball on the fourth down play as the Falcons had
been stuffed on a short-yardage fourth down running attempt early in the fourth quarter.
“It was not a down and distance that I thought a sneak or a quick dive would get us the first down,”
Clawson said about BG’s final play. “I didn’t want to leave the field without giving our best player a
chance to make a play in a critical situation.
“I thought it was a great (play) call,” Clawson added. “Tyler put the ball where it should be and that’s
a play that Freddie will make 10 times over.”
Ohio built a 20-3 lead with less than five minutes remaining in the first half on scoring plays of 27, 72
and 37 yards. The 72-yard play was a punt return by LaVon Brazill as BG’s Nick Iovinelli basically
out-kicked his coverage and the Bobcats were able to set up a good return.
The Falcons scored with 1:38 left in the first half on an 18-yard pass from Sheehan to Ray Hutson to cut
Ohio’s lead to 20-13.
“I really thought that in a lot of ways we were out-playing them at the line of scrimmage and the offense
versus defense, but we had made some huge mistakes,” Clawson said about the first half. “I thought if we
could eliminate the mistakes, not give up big plays and play the way we played in the first half we
would be able to fight our way back into the game.”
Ohio maintained control of the game in the third quarter and the Bobcats took a 37-23 lead with 12:01
left in the game on a 42-yard field goal.
The Falcons countered less than three minutes later on Sheehan’s 5-yard TD run.
However, Ohio quarterback Theo Scott got loose for a 68-yard TD run on the Bobcats’ next possession,
making it 44-30 with 5:05 to play in the game.
Bowling Green responded with a quick 57-yard drive with Sheehan passing 7-yards to Justus Jones for the
TD with 3:41 left.
Scott appeared to seal the victory with a well-designed 68-yard pass to Terrence McCrae, but the
touchdown was wiped out by an illegal man downfield penalty. After an incomplete pass, Ohio had to punt
the ball and Barnes returned it 54 yards to the 22, setting up BG’s final chance.
“I threw the ball and I got hit,” Sheehan said about the final pass. “I didn’t see what happened. I
didn’t see where it hit him … My face was buried (in the turf).”
Ohio ran only 54 plays in the game, but had 419 yards in total offense and another 164 yards in kick
returns.
“They really didn’t do anything that we hadn’t seen on film. It was just us not executing the defense
that was called,” BG senior safety Jahmal Brown said. “We also made a lot of mistakes. When you are
playing a good opponent and you make mistakes, more than likely they’ll capitalize on it.
“It’s just a matter of guys knowing what they have to do and lining up in the right gaps,” Brown added.
“Any time you make a mistake there is the possibility of a big play.”
Bowling Green plays at Kent State next Saturday with kickoff at 3:30 p.m.
Photo captions: Story: Freddie Barnes (7) shows frustration after fourth-down pass falls to ground in end
zone late in the fourth quarter. (J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)
Front page: BGSU coach Dave Clawson reacts to call on the field (J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)
OHIO 44, BOWLING GREEN 37
Ohio
6
14
14
10
—
44
Bowling Green
3
10
10
14
—
37
BG—FG Phillips 33
Ohio—Brazill 27 pass from Th.Scott (kick failed)
BG—FG Phillips 33
Ohio—Brazill 72 punt return (Weller kick)
Ohio—Garrett 37 run (Weller kick)
BG—Hutson 18 pass from Sheehan (Phillips kick)
BG—FG Phillips 31
Ohio—T.Price 35 pass from Th.Scott (Weller kick)
Ohio—Garrett 2 run (Weller kick)
BG—Barnes 2 run (Phillips kick)
Ohio—FG Weller 42
BG—Sheehan 5 run (Phillips kick)
Ohio—Th.Scott 68 run (Weller kick)
BG—J.Jones 7 pass from Sheehan (Phillips kick)
A—14,071
TEAM STATISTICS
Ohio
BG
First downs
13
26
By Rushing
6
6
By Passing
5
18
By Penalty
2
2
Rushes-yards
35-216
33-84
Passing
203
390
Comp-Att-Int
11-19-0
28-53-0
Avg. gain per play
7.8
5.5
Sacked-yards lost
0-0
3-15
Punts-Avg.
5-36.2
3-43.7
Punt returns
2-73
2-71
Kickoff returns
4-91
6-111
Fumbles-Lost
1-1
2-1
Penalties-Yards
10-89
6-65
3rd-down conversions
4-12
7-16
4th-down conversions
0-0
0-3
Red zone conversions
1-1
7-8
Time of Possession
25:50
34:10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Ohio, Garrett 16-120, Th.Scott 4-82, Harden 9-26, Davidson 2-1, Tettleton 1-(minus 4), Team
3-(minus 9). Bowling Green, Geter 19-70, Sheehan 8-10, Barnes 2-5, Schneider 1-0, Bullock 2-0, Hodges
1-(minus 1).
PASSING—Ohio, Th.Scott 11-19-0-203. Bowling Green, Sheehan 28-52-0-390, Barnes 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING—Ohio, Brazill 4-93, McCrae 2-52, Garrett 2-7, T.Price 1-35, Goulet 1-16, Fortune 1-0. Bowling
Green, Barnes 7-84, Scheidler 5-67, Hodges 5-58, C.Wright 4-65, Geter 3-53, Hutson 2-24, Bullock 1-32,
J.Jones 1-7.