YPSILANTI, Mich. — Yes the Bowling Green Falcons scored seven touchdowns in a 58-7 thrashing of
Eastern Michigan Saturday.However, you can mark this victory up to a smothering defensive performance by the
Falcons.The victory sets up a showdown with Buffalo for the Mid-American Conference East title and a spot in
the MAC championship game. The Bowling Green at Buffalo game is next Friday, and the winner advances to the
title game. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. at Ralph Wilson Stadium.‘‘Obviously we’ve got a big one this Friday in
Buffalo, and I had really hoped our guys would show up, play hard and be excited to play,’’ BG head coach
Dave Clawson said about the EMU game. ‘‘To me we looked like a team that was excited to play today.’’Bowling
Green’s defense did not allow a touchdown while holding EMU to four first downs and 65 total yards. The
Eagles were 1-of-17 passing for four yards.‘‘The defense was just unbelievable, just suffocating,’’ Clawson
said.Clawson said the defensive game plan was to stop the run.‘‘We wanted to make them one-dimensional; we
wanted to force them to throw the football,’’ Clawson said. ‘‘Our defensive line, our linebackers, and our
secondary played really well today.’’The Falcons also generated three turnovers, including a 37-yard fumble
return for a touchdown by Will Watson. Freshman Isaiah Gourdine, and redshirt junior Ryland Ward each made
an interception.‘‘As well as we have played on defense this year, that has been the one negative; we have
not generated a lot of turnovers,’’ Clawson said.The Bowling Green defense has not allowed a touchdown in
three consecutive games, and has not allowed points in 11 consecutive quarters.‘‘It was just total effort
… I think we wanted it more,’’ Ward said. ‘‘It was just a basic game plan and executing.‘‘It was good to
see Isaiah Gourdine get his hands on the ball. We give him a lot of slack for being a freshman,’’ Ward
added.On offense, the Falcons produced six touchdowns and three field goals while rolling up 560 total
yards.‘‘We were pretty much vanilla on offense. We didn’t install a lot of new stuff this week. We wanted to
run our base stuff, and run it well,’’ Clawson said.The Falcons led 17-7 after the first quarter with Ronnie
Moore scoring twice on passes of 74- and 22-yards from Matt Johnson.‘‘It was very important that we got 17
(points) against the wind in the first quarter. Then we could open things up in the second quarter, going
with the wind,’’ Clawson said.Bowling Green added 17 more points in the second quarter, including Moore
scoring for the third time on a 34-yard pass from Johnson.Moore finished the game with seven receptions for
161 yards.‘‘He’s a dynamic playmaker, and he’s getting more and more comfortable every week in the offense.
… Every week we give him a little bit more, and a little bit more,’’ Clawson said.Bowling Green scored 17
more points in the third quarter, including the second touchdown of the day for Travis Greene. BG added a
fourth-quarter score on a 44-yard run by William Houston.The Falcons finished with 296 yards rushing on 46
carries, the most in Clawson’s five seasons with the Falcons.‘‘These are good games for morale,’’ Clawson
said.Clawson pointed out the positives of Houston and Andre Givens getting opportunities to carry the ball,
James Knapke playing quarterback, and Izaah Lunsford, Gourdine, and Watson making plays on defense.‘‘These
are very important for the future of our program,’’ Clawson said. ‘‘Those guys are going to play down the
line, and we may need them next week.’’Bowling Green is now 8-3 overall and 6-1 in the MAC. Eastern Michigan
is 2-9, 1-6.BOWLING GREEN 58, E. MICHIGAN 7Bowling Green 17 17 17 7 — 58E. Michigan 7 0 0 0 — 7First
QuarterBG—FG Tate 30, 10:44. Drive: 8 plays, 63 yards, 4:16.EMU—Kurtz 10 interception return (Mulder kick),
6:36. Drive: none.BG—Moore 74 pass from Johnson (Tate kick), 6:10. Drive: 2 plays, 74 yards, 0:19.BG—Moore
22 pass from Johnson (Tate kick), :07. Drive: 9 plays, 61 yards, 3:54.Second QuarterBG—FG Tate 34, 10:39.
Drive: 6 plays, 38 yards, 3:14.BG—Tra.Greene 28 run (Tate kick), 5:46. Drive: 1 plays, 28 yards,
0:08.BG—Moore 34 pass from Johnson (Tate kick), 1:34. Drive: 8 plays, 49 yards, 3:20.Third
QuarterBG—Tra.Greene 2 run (Tate kick), 9:41. Drive: 8 plays, 56 yards, 4:12.BG—FG Tate 29, 4:47. Drive: 7
plays, 34 yards, 3:27.BG—Watson 37 fumble return, 3:21 (Tate kick), 3:21. Drive: none.Fourth
QuarterBG—Houston 44 run (Tate kick), 5:59. Drive: 3 plays, 58 yards, 1:27.A—1,751TEAM STATISTICSBG EMUFirst
downs 24 4Rushing 15 3Passing 9 0Penalty 0 1Rushes-yards 46-296 26-61Passing 264 4Comp-Att-Int 13-26-1
1-18-2Avg. gain per play 7.8 1.5Sacks-yards lost 5-30 2-20Punts-Avg. 3-32.0 11-33.7Punt returns 0-0
0-0Kickoff returns 2-43 4-77Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-1Penalties-Yards 8-60 2-143rd-down conversions 3-10
1-124th-down conversions 1-1 0-0Red zone conversions 4-40-0Time of Possession 39:23 20:37INDIVIDUAL
STATISTICSRUSHING—Bowling Green, Tra.Greene 15-126, Houston 7-84, Givens 11-61, Coppet 3-29, Moore 2-18,
Knapke 1-(minus 7), Johnson 7-(minus 15). E. Michigan, Brumfield 9-29, Greene 9-23, Benz 1-15, Hill 5-7,
Roback 2-(minus 13).PASSING—Bowling Green, Johnson 13-23-1-264, Knapke 0-3-0-0. E. Michigan, Roback
1-12-1-4, Benz 0-5-1-0, Iannotti 0-1-0-0.RECEIVING—Bowling Green, Moore 7-161, Joplin 2-23, Tra.Greene 2-5,
Burbrink 1-58, Bayer 1-17. E. Michigan, Q.Jones 1-4.