Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Clawson wraps up the 2010 season

After a disappointing 2-10 season, BG football coach Dave Clawson discusses the heartache of what a season it was. With inconsistencies and injuries on both sides of the ball, the second-year coach is looking to put this season in the books and realizes the team has some work to do heading into the offseason.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

2010 fall semester review

With just a week left in the fall semester, now is a good time to give a season review for some of the BG sports.

Let's start with soccer.

Both the men's and women's soccer teams made huge strides this season.

Picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll, the BG men's soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament to finish third. The Falcons will return 22 players next season, including 11 freshmen.

Ryan Comiskey emerged as BG's top freshman and made an impact immediately, scoring the game-winning goal in a preseason game against Indianapolis. Goalkeeper Miguel Rosales was another bright spot who will also be returning next season.

Rosales started every match this season and recorded 75 saves to lead the MAC. He was named to the MAC All-Tournament Team and will be a player to watch out for in 2011.

Not to be outdone, the women's soccer team played gutsy soccer all season long, despite its 4-12-4 record. If the Falcons could have tuned a couple of those draws into wins, they would have made the conference tournament for the first time since 2008.

Which brings us to football. Ah yes, the worst season since the 1950s. To say it was a rough season would be an understatement. At 2-10, nothing went right.

Quarterback Matt SChilz injured his throwing shoulder early in the season and never looked comfortable after that, injuries to the offensive line gave way to sacks and a poor running game and the defense was consistently inconsistent. I mean really, I've never seen a defense look so good in generating tunrovers but yet look awful due to the amount of offense it allowed each game.

Next year will be big for Falcon coach Dave Clawson as most of his recruits will be in place as former coach Gregg Brandon and his players are all but gone at this point.

Covering the football team this season was rather interesting, which is why I was looking forward to basketball season far too early.

Now that basketball season is here, I'm back to writing articles that showcase a win. The women's basketball team is off to another fast start with 9-1 record. The Falcons are on a nine-game winning streak and don't show signs of slowing down.

As for the men's basketball team, its in the middle of a streak as well, but not the one a team wants to be on. The Falcons are 1-8 this season and have lost seven straight games.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Woods snubbed by MAC

Earlier this month the Mid-American Conference released its All-MAC honors, and to no surprise, BG linebacker Dwayne Woods was a part of those honors.

Woods was named second team All-MAC, but really, he should have been named first-team.

How could the league put Woods on the second team when he led the conference with 134 tackles in 12 games?

How could it not put a guy on the first team when he recorded six tackles for a loss, 2.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, seven pass breakups and two interceptions?

How could it do that when Woods' 134 tackles were the 13th most in school history and were tied for sixth in the country?

It doesn't make any sense.

Just a sophomore, Woods solidified himself as the Falcons' best defender in 2010, having at least seven tackles in all 12 games while recording double-digit tackles in six of those games. He also had a career-high 20 tackles against Buffalo and had eight tackles and returned a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown in a win against Marshall.

Not bad for a guy who had just 24 tackles a year ago and is replacing the likes of former Falcon linebackers Cody Basler and P.J. Mahone.

Yes, BG went 2-10 this season, but the MAC should have recognized Woods for his stellar performance on the field.

Maybe it's good that Woods is just a sophomore. He still has two more years to prove to the league it should have considered him first-team All-MAC.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Response to the 2010 BG football season

It was a season to forget.

BG fans knew it would be a different season after losing Tyler Sheehan and Freddie Barnes, but a 2-10 record this season wasn't what they had in mind.

I sat down with hockey beat reporter for The BG News, Ryan Satkowiak, who switched gears and talked about the year it was for the Falcon football team.

Satkowiak shared his thoughts on the team after it suffered its worst season since 1953, what the team's biggest downfall of the season was and what the future holds.

2010 season response

Friday, December 3, 2010

Crowd a factor in BG's win over No. 23 Vanderbilt

It was loud and the chants were concise.

Over 2,000 fans packed Anderson Arena Wednesday night to watch BG take down No. 23 Vanderbilt 79-68 and improve to 7-1 on the season.

"The crowd was awesome," said Falcon senior Lauren Prochaska, who scored a game-high 31 points on 8-of-16 from the field. "They knew when to really get into the game and cheer louder to get us going. The crowd was a huge factor for us and also in intimidating the other team."

Chants of "BGSU," and "Defense" circulated throughout the arena the entire night as Falcon fans watched their team defeat Vanderbilt for the third time since 2007.

"That's a huge win for us," said BG coach Curt Miller. "There's not many SEC teams that are undefeated since 2007 against Vanderbilt. That's a great victory for our program."

Something's gotta give

The Falcons lead the Commodores 3-2 in the all-time series, winning the last three games, games in which Vanderbilt was nationally ranked each time.

BG defeated Vanderbilt in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Championships to advance to the Sweet 16, picked up a 66-60 win in Nashville a season ago and now just won its third straight over the team from the SEC Conference.

Vanderbilt entered the game having more of a post presence than BG, better team speed, more players who can make shots and bigger size.

But that didn't seem to faze the Falcons. So how was BG able to defeat the Commodores for the third straight time? How was it able to take a 12-point lead into halftime, increase its lead to as much as 17 and then win by 11?

"Our coaches to a great scout and they run a lot of set plays," said Jen Uhl, who was second on the Falcons in scoring with 15. "Everytime [the Commodores] called a play we pretty much knew what they were running, so I think that might help that our coaches have scouted so well."

Automatic

Prochaska, one of the best free-throw shooters in the country, showed just that Wednesday, knocking down all 10 of her free throws.

She has now made 53 consecutive shots from the charity stripe, which broke her own school record of 45, set in 2008-09 during her sophomore year.

Prochaska needs just four straight free throws to tie the Mid-American Conference record of 57 consecutive free throws, set in 1986-87 by Central Michigan's Jody Beerman.

The NCAA record for consecutive free throws made is 66, set by Ginny Doyle of Richmond in 1991-92.

To see where Prochaska and the Falcons rank among the top free-throw shooting teams in the country, click here.

Home cookin'

BG has now won 34 consecutive regular-season games at Anderson Arena. The Falcons have not lost a regular-season game at home since Jan. 30, 2008 against Western Michigan.

BG has won 18 straight home games and 37 of the last 38, with that lone loss coming to Indiana in the third round of the 2009 WNIT.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Map of BGSU athletic facilities

Below is a map of the athletic facilities at BGSU. From Doyt Perry Stadium to Whittaker Track, BG provides its sports teams with the venues needed to compete at a high level. A few years ago the Sebo Center was added at the north end of the football stadium, which serves as an all-around training facility for all Falcon athletics. The Sebo Center also consists of many conference rooms. Next Fall, Anderson Arena will be replaced with the Stroh Center, which can be seen from I-75.


View Around the horn in a larger map

Monday, November 22, 2010

Is the 2010 BG football team the worst ever?

Last week the BG football team concluded its 2010 season with a 41-7 embarrassing loss at home to Western Michigan. The Falcons ended the season with a 2-10 record.

Sitting in the press box high above Doyt Perry Stadium I asked myself, Is this the worst BG football team in school history.

By its record alone, I would say yes.

The Falcons haven't endured a more lopsided win-loss record since 1953, when the team finished the season 1-8.

Throwing records aside, however, I don't think this is the worst team in BG history.

This year's team faced many obstacles.

To start off, the Falcons lost quarterback Tyler Sheehan and star wide receiver Freddie Barnes to graduation. Two players who, quite ultimately, accounted for most of the offense last season.

Yes, this year's Falcons fell below expectations. Picked to finish fourth in the Mid-American Conference East in the preseason poll, BG finished the 2010 campaign in a three-way tie for last with Akron and Buffalo.

The results of this season were a little misleading, though.

The Falcons easily could have found themselves a 7-t football team. five of their losses this season came by three points or less and were determined in the closing seconds of the game.

The offense was battered with injuries,most notably center Ben Bojicic and the offensive line. Every week was a mystery as who was going to start up front for the Falcons.

The defense was good...good and terrible. I have never seen a defense look so good but yet at the same time look so bad. BG's defense recorded an astonishing 35 takeaways, but also gave up 432 yards a game.

Kamar Jorden showed the wide receiver position was still in good hands, even with the departure of Barnes. Jorden hauled in 96 passes for 1109 yards and four touchdowns, averaging nearly 12 catches a game.

Dwayne Woods on the defensive side of the ball came on strong this season as a sophomore and seems to have the middle linebacker position locked down for the next two years.

Woods led the Falcon defense in tackles with 134, and was one of the top players in the country in that department.

Special teams was also a bright spot for BG this season, as Eugene Cooper had two punt returns for touchdowns, the first time in school history a player returned two punts for touchdown in the same season.

The Falcons had their moments during the 2010 season, but injuries, inconsistencies and lack of depth were too much to overcome.

To say the 2010 BG football team was the worst in school history, probably not. Just a lot of misfortunes.