Bowling Green plays its last road game of the regular season, facing Miami on Thursday in Oxford. Kickoff
is at 6 p.m.
It’s another must-win for the Falcons (4-5 overall, 3-2 in the Mid-American Conference), who are
attempting to finish with a winning record and become bowl-eligible. After Thursday’s game with Miami,
the Falcons have two home games remaining with Akron (Nov. 20) and Toledo (Nov. 27).
The Falcons are coming off a last-second 30-29 win over Buffalo last Tuesday.
"I’m really proud of our team that we played for 60 minutes," BG head coach Dave Clawson said
about the UB win. "That’s the third time this year we’ve come back from being down double-digits to
find a way to win.
"Our execution isn’t always great, it’s not always pretty. But because we play, we’ve put ourselves
in a position to win some games," Clawson added.
The Falcons received help against Buffalo and for the rest of the season with the return of senior safety
P.J. Mahone and sophomore wide receiver Ray Hutson.
Mahone led BG with 10 tackles at Buffalo, blocked a punt and recovered two blocked punts. Mahone had
missed six games due to a suspension for a violation of team rules.
"I’ve said this many times, P.J. might be our best defensive player," Clawson said. "In
the first two games, he played this year, he was outstanding. The six games that he was suspended, we
really missed him.
"He played really well at Buffalo," Clawson continued. "There was definitely a little bit
of rust there, but he made a lot of plays.
"Losing P.J. would like us on offense losing Freddie (Barnes)."
Hutson made four catches for 38 yards against Buffalo. Hutson had been out with a knee injury.
"Ray played well against Buffalo. To get Ray Hutson back was a big boost," Clawson said.
"It allowed us to keep other guys fresh."
Both Mahone and Hutson helped contribute to better special teams play for the Falcons.
"Now, you have more of your starters who can play more of your units because you have more depth at
positions that feed into your special teams," Clawson said.
"It was the best that we have covered kicks all year and that was no accident," he added.
Mahone is on the kickoff coverage team.
SHEEHAN: For the third time in 2009 and the eighth time in his career, the MAC has named BG’s Tyler
Sheehan the MAC East offensive player of the week.
Sheehan completed 22-of-40 passes for 313 yards and one touchdown, the game-winner with 39 seconds
remaining in the contest, in BG’s 30-29 victory over Buffalo. He added a four-yard touchdown run in the
fourth quarter as well.
Sheehan has thrown for 2,990 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2009 and has a chance to set a school record for
passing yards in a season, set in 2004 by Omar Jacobs (4,002).
For his career, Sheehan has completed 870-of-1,351 passes for 9,056 yards, all second-best in school
history, behind Brian McClure (900-of-1,427 and 10,280 yards).
BARNES: For the fourth time this season, the College Football Performance Award has named BG’s Freddie
Barnes one of its most outstanding wide receivers of the week, this week being named honorable mention
after posting eight catches for 122 yards and the game-winning touchdown with 39 seconds remaining at
Buffalo.
On the year, Barnes leads the country in receptions (107), yards (1,176), catches per game (11.9) and
yards per game (130.7). He is second in the country with 10 touchdown receptions.
NO TV: Many schedules had listed Thursday BG-Miami game as being televised on ESPNU.
The BG-Miami game will not be televised. Instead the Ball State-Temple game will be televised on ESPNU.