Dyamic duo sparks Falcons

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KENT — There have been many dynamic duos ranging through sports, in countless fictional settings and with
childhood friends growing up in the neighborhood.
Bowling Green now has its own potent dynamic duo in quarterback Tyler Sheehan and wide receiver Freddie
Barnes.
The performance of the two seniors in Bowling Green’s wild 36-35 comeback win over Kent State Saturday
had press box personnel scrambling for the record books.
Sheehan was 44-of-63 passing in the game for 505 yards and four touchdowns with only one interception.
The completions, attempts and total yards were all school records. It’s the fourth 500-yard passing game
in Mid-American Conference history.
Barnes’ set school records with 22 receptions for 278 yards and he scored three touchdowns. Barnes fell
one short of matching the NCAA record for receptions in a game.
“That’s something I can’t do without the rest of my guys,” Sheehan said about his records. “The line did
a great job up front all day. I could throw as many balls as I want, but if they don’t catch them, I
don’t get any yards. I give all the credit to those guys for making plays.”
Barnes, who dropped a key pass at the end of a 44-37 loss to Ohio on Oct. 3, responded against Kent State
with one of the best games ever by a receiver in college football.
“I just give all the credit to God because without him I won’t have been able to do any of that, ” Barnes
said. “We’ve been in this position for a couple of weeks now. Last week I let us down, so this week I
felt I had to step it up and that’s really what it was all about.”
For the season Sheehan has completed 64.9 percent of his passes (192-of-296) for 1,960 yards with 11
touchdowns and only four interceptions.
“Tyler is just a tough kid. He really is. We’re throwing the ball a lot, we’ve thrown a lot more than any
of us would like, but it’s working,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said. “He’s taken a lot of hits and a
lot of shots. Every week he plays with tremendous courage and tremendous heart and really at times
(Saturday) put the team on his back.”
Through BG’s first six games Barnes has made an amazing 75 receptions for 722 yards and five scores.
“Freddie is a ball-player. If I was playing pick-up hoops he’s the first guy I would pick. If it was
backyard football, I would want Freddie on my team,” Clawson said. “He’s just got ball skills. He’s got
instincts. He knows how to set people up.
“Twenty-two catches for 278 yards, I’ve never seen numbers like that. It’s not like people don’t know
we’re going to throw him the ball either. I can’t wait to see the coverages we’ll see next week.”
NORSIC: Matt Norsic was along for more than just the ride over the weekend.
The fifth-year senior place-kicker, a walk-on to the program, had never kicked in a game for the Falcons.
He practiced every day and got to kick in the spring game.
However, with an injury to regular kicker Jerry Phillips, Norsic proved to be a very valuable insurance
policy Saturday. He was successful on all three of the extra-points and also converted a 21-yard field
goal.
“Jerry was hurt this week in practice,” Clawson said. “I was watching him in pre-game and he was erratic
and hitting it low, but he said he could go.
“I made a decision that I would give him one kick.”
That one kick was a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter which was blocked and returned 82-yards for a
Kent State TD.
That opened the door for Norsic.
“It’s neat when a walk-on in your program hangs around for that many years and finally gets a shot, comes
in there and drills every kick,” Clawson said. “Every one of those at the end made a difference.”
Clawson said that if Phillips is healthy he would do the kicking for BG’s next game. He did continue to
kick off against Kent State.
PLENTY OF CATCHES: Even with Barnes catching half of Sheehan’s completed passes, there were still plenty
to go around for the Falcons as seven different players made at least one catch.
Adrian Hodges, a redshirt sophomore, finished with eight catches for 73 yards, including two on BG’s
winning TD drive.
Redshirt sophomore Justus Jones continued to impress with six catches for 70 yards. He had three
receptions on the final drive.
Nick Rieke, a redshirt junior tight end, had the first reception of his career, an 11-yarder.
NEXT: Bowling Green, now 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the MAC, plays at Ball State next Saturday with kickoff
at noon.

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