Post by elp525 on Oct 1, 2011 4:48:51 GMT -5
September 30, 2011
BG coach relishes opportunity vs. WVU
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Dave Clawson will have you believe that his team's game at West Virginia today is no different than last week's at Miami (Ohio) or next week's at Western Michigan.
The Bowling Green coach is like most in his profession, believing you treat them all the same no matter the opponent.
He did admit this week, however, that he made one concession to this opponent. At Mountaineer Field, the Falcons will play in front of their largest crowd all season and that means at least a minor tweak.
Not that Clawson minded.
"You just play a lot of John Denver music,'' Clawson said of practices to become acclimated to a larger, louder venue. "Anyone who grew up in the '70s, I think we're all closet John Denver fans. So this is giving me a great excuse to play Country Roads a lot.''
He would prefer, of course, not to hear it after today's 3:30 p.m. WVU homecoming game. That's the song the school plays after home wins.
Other than the blaring music, though, Clawson is treating this game like any other, even though it is the only one the Falcons play this season against a non-MAC team of note. Bowling Green's previous non-league games were against Idaho State, Morgan State and Wyoming. Last week the Falcons opened MAC play with a win over Miami.
"I think anytime that you say to your players that this game is not a conference game and it's not as important, you just set yourself up for failure,'' Clawson said. "You can't ever give your guys an out.''
The truth is, Bowling Green's goals are pretty simple - win the MAC East division in order to get to the league's title game and become bowl eligible. That's it.
"But this is also one of those games - and we get one or two of them a year - that we give ourselves an opportunity to get respect nationally,'' Clawson said.
Beating the No. 22 team on the road would certainly accomplish that. The league got a boost last week when Temple routed Maryland 38-7 in College Park.
Bowling Green has also had its moments in the past. The Falcons have three wins over Top 25 teams since 2003 - 27-26 at No. 16 Purdue in 2003, 34-18 over No. 12 Northern Illinois in 2003 and 27-17 at No. 25 Pitt in 2008. Bowling Green is actually 3-0 against Big East teams since 2000, although two of those victories were against Temple before the Owls were ejected from the league and eventually landed in the MAC.
More recently, Bowling Green nearly beat No. 25 Missouri two years ago before losing 27-20. Last year's only game against a team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference was a 65-21 rout at the hands of Michigan.
But all of these games are opportunities.
"Certainly Temple's win over Maryland last week helped the conference,'' Clawson said. "Two years ago against Missouri we had a shot. Last year we did not perform well against Michigan. Next year we go play Florida and Virginia Tech.
"These are those opportunities where you get to play in front of a lot of people and try to earn respect nationally for your program, and we certainly want to take advantage of those opportunities.''
Bowling Green is coming off a horrendous 2010 season in which the Falcons were 2-10 and ranked No. 100 or worse in several national offensive and defensive statistics, including scoring and scoring defense.
This year, though, the Falcons might be unbeaten were it not for a missed PAT with three seconds to play in a 28-27 loss to Wyoming. No, the competition has not been good, but last week's victim, Miami, was the MAC champion a year ago and the preseason favorite in the league's East Division.
If nothing else, those wins have given the Falcons a bit of confidence, and Clawson said they won't be intimidated today.
"It's football. You've got to go out and play,'' Clawson said. "Football is a game of matchups. You've got to go out and win your matchups. That goes for every game. And when you play a team like West Virginia and they have the players that they do and they recruit at the level they do, those individual matchups become a little bit tougher.
"If they back down in this game, that's not a great indicator for the rest of our season.''
BG coach relishes opportunity vs. WVU
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN - Dave Clawson will have you believe that his team's game at West Virginia today is no different than last week's at Miami (Ohio) or next week's at Western Michigan.
The Bowling Green coach is like most in his profession, believing you treat them all the same no matter the opponent.
He did admit this week, however, that he made one concession to this opponent. At Mountaineer Field, the Falcons will play in front of their largest crowd all season and that means at least a minor tweak.
Not that Clawson minded.
"You just play a lot of John Denver music,'' Clawson said of practices to become acclimated to a larger, louder venue. "Anyone who grew up in the '70s, I think we're all closet John Denver fans. So this is giving me a great excuse to play Country Roads a lot.''
He would prefer, of course, not to hear it after today's 3:30 p.m. WVU homecoming game. That's the song the school plays after home wins.
Other than the blaring music, though, Clawson is treating this game like any other, even though it is the only one the Falcons play this season against a non-MAC team of note. Bowling Green's previous non-league games were against Idaho State, Morgan State and Wyoming. Last week the Falcons opened MAC play with a win over Miami.
"I think anytime that you say to your players that this game is not a conference game and it's not as important, you just set yourself up for failure,'' Clawson said. "You can't ever give your guys an out.''
The truth is, Bowling Green's goals are pretty simple - win the MAC East division in order to get to the league's title game and become bowl eligible. That's it.
"But this is also one of those games - and we get one or two of them a year - that we give ourselves an opportunity to get respect nationally,'' Clawson said.
Beating the No. 22 team on the road would certainly accomplish that. The league got a boost last week when Temple routed Maryland 38-7 in College Park.
Bowling Green has also had its moments in the past. The Falcons have three wins over Top 25 teams since 2003 - 27-26 at No. 16 Purdue in 2003, 34-18 over No. 12 Northern Illinois in 2003 and 27-17 at No. 25 Pitt in 2008. Bowling Green is actually 3-0 against Big East teams since 2000, although two of those victories were against Temple before the Owls were ejected from the league and eventually landed in the MAC.
More recently, Bowling Green nearly beat No. 25 Missouri two years ago before losing 27-20. Last year's only game against a team from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference was a 65-21 rout at the hands of Michigan.
But all of these games are opportunities.
"Certainly Temple's win over Maryland last week helped the conference,'' Clawson said. "Two years ago against Missouri we had a shot. Last year we did not perform well against Michigan. Next year we go play Florida and Virginia Tech.
"These are those opportunities where you get to play in front of a lot of people and try to earn respect nationally for your program, and we certainly want to take advantage of those opportunities.''
Bowling Green is coming off a horrendous 2010 season in which the Falcons were 2-10 and ranked No. 100 or worse in several national offensive and defensive statistics, including scoring and scoring defense.
This year, though, the Falcons might be unbeaten were it not for a missed PAT with three seconds to play in a 28-27 loss to Wyoming. No, the competition has not been good, but last week's victim, Miami, was the MAC champion a year ago and the preseason favorite in the league's East Division.
If nothing else, those wins have given the Falcons a bit of confidence, and Clawson said they won't be intimidated today.
"It's football. You've got to go out and play,'' Clawson said. "Football is a game of matchups. You've got to go out and win your matchups. That goes for every game. And when you play a team like West Virginia and they have the players that they do and they recruit at the level they do, those individual matchups become a little bit tougher.
"If they back down in this game, that's not a great indicator for the rest of our season.''
