Bowling Green Wins 2015 Marathon MAC Football Championship Game
DETROIT, Mich. -- Behind redshirt-senior Travis Greene's career-high 183 rushing yards and two touchdowns, redshirt-senior Matt Johnson's 235 passing yards and two touchdowns, and the BGSU defense's three interceptions and two fumble recoveries, the Falcons controlled the game from start to finish in a 34-14 win over Northern Illinois to win the 2015 Marathon Mid-American Conference Championship Game on Friday night at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.
The 2015 conference title is the second MAC Championship over the last three years for the Falcons and is the 12th MAC Championship in school history.
BGSU nearly doubled NIU in total yards with 501 yards compared to the Huskies' 259 yards, as the Falcons had a balance attack with 266 rushing yards and 235 passing yards for the game.
The Falcons' defense forced five Huskie turnovers – two fumbles and three interceptions – and held NIU to just 2-of-13 overall on third down attempts and 1-of-5 on fourth down tries for the contest.
Greene led BGSU with two scores on a new career-high 183 yards rushing on 29 attempts, while Fred Coppetadded 85 yards on 16 carries and one touchdown. Johnson finished 25-of-37 for 235 yards and two touchdowns, and became the MAC single-season passing leader surpassing Ben Roethlisberger's 4,486 yards in 2003. Johnson also surpassed Omar Jacobs for the school and MAC record for touchdown passes in a single season. Jacobs threw 41 in 2004 – Johnson has 43 touchdowns through 13 games in 2015.
Redshirt-junior Gehrig Dieter led the Falcon receivers with a team-high seven catches for 75 yards, while sophomore Roger Lewis totaled six catches for 75 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown catch and run in the third quarter. Junior Ronnie Moore chipped in with five catches and 53 yards, while Ryan Burbrink finished with three catches for 19 yards.
Defensively, BGSU was led by linebacker Austin Valdez's 13 total tackles, while defensive back Alfonso Mackfinished with seven total stops and an interception. Dernard Turner, Trent Greene and Terrance Bush all recorded six tackles apiece, while Izaah Lunsford, Zac Bartman and Shannon Smith all picked up one sack each in the win.
For the Huskies, quarterback Tommy Fielder was 12-of-28 overall with one touchdown and three picks in the air, while on the ground he rushed 14 times for 22 yards. Desroy Maxwell registered a team-high 68 yards on three receptions, including a 32-yard touchdown score, while Joel Bouagnon rushed 14 times for 57 yards and caught three passes for 31 yards.
After the two teams combined for just 44 yards of offense and four punts to start the game, the Falcons got on the scoreboard first on a four-yard touchdown scamper up the middle from Coppet to cap off a 10-play, 70-yard drive that just took 2:40 seconds. Senior Tyler Tate added the point after to put the visitors in white up 7-0 with 4:15 to go in the opening quarter.
The Falcons continued to fly all over the field on the defensive end, as on the next NIU offensive series the Orange and Brown forced the Huskies into a fouth-and-1 on the BGSU 12-yard line. The Huskies lined up to go for the first down and coughed up the ball on a sweep around the right end where BGSU's Smith fell on the fumble for the recovery to give the Falcons the ball at the Bowling Green 22-yard line.
Johnson and the Falcon offense took advantage of the NIU miscue to drive 74 yards on 12 plays to the NIU four-yard line, highlighted by a 20-yard run by Greene. However, the Falcons would turn the ball over on downs after BGSU was stopped on a fourth-and-2 run attempt to give the football back to the Huskies with 11:03 to go in the first half.
Following an NIU punt, in which the Falcons held the Huskies to only one-yard on three plays, and a Johnson interception in the end zone, the BGSU defense stepped up again as linebacker James Sanford knocked the ball out of the hands of NIU's Jordan Huff on a first-and-10 running attempt which was recovered by BGSU's Mike Minns at the NIU 17-yard line.
Four plays later Johnson found tight end Derek Lee in the end zone on a two-yard pass and catch to put the visitors in front by two touchdowns at 14-0 after the PAT by Tate with 5:28 to go in the second quarter. The touchdown pass broke Jacobs record, and made Johnson the MAC's touchdown-pass king.
Just over four minutes later the Falcons would find pay dirt again as Green went untouched up the middle for 25 yards to wrap up an eight-play, 84-yard drive in only 2:32 to extend the BGSU lead to 21-0 heading into the halftime break.
NIU looked to get its offense on track in the second half, only to see the Falcons' defense hold strong and force the Huskies to their fifth three-and-out and sixth punt of the game.
Feeding off the defense, the BGSU offense overcame a first-down false start with a 13-yard completion to Lewis and back-to-back runs by Coppet to give the Falcons a third-and-3 on the NIU 45-yard line. That's when the Johnson and Lewis connection struck again, as the redshirt-senior found the sophomore on a slant pattern which Lewis turned into a track meet on his way to the 45-yard touchdown catch.
Tate's extra point would follow to put the Falcons up 28-0 with 12:26 to go in the third quarter.
The MAC West Division Champions refused to go away quietly, however, as NIU spoiled the Falcons' chance at pitching a shutout with a 32-yard touchdown pass from Fielder to Maxwell late in the third quarter to put the Huskies on the scoreboard at 28-7.
The next two offensive series saw each team turn the ball over on downs to give the Falcons the ball back near midfield at the NIU 47-yard line with a 21-point lead with 2:54 to go in the third quarter.
After a first down completion to Dieter for a seven-yard gain, the Falcons looked back in the direction of No. 4 on the very next play only to see NIU's Shawun Lurry jump the route for an interception and a 64-yard touchdown return along the Huskies' sideline with 2:24 to go in the third to trim the BGSU lead to two scores at 28-14.
The veteran Falcons' squad responded with a 12-play, 83-yard touchdown drive started by three runs by Greene for a total of 22 yards, highlighted by a 21-yard catch and run by Moore and finished by a one-yard touchdown push by Greene behind the Falcon offensive line to add to the BGSU lead.
However, Tate's point after attempt would be blocked by the Huskies to put the Falcons on top 34-14 with 12:32 to go in the final quarter of play.
Despite the Huskies getting deep into BGSU territory over the next two possessions, the defensive unit continued to come up big for the Falcons, picking up a sack from Malik Brown on a fourth-and-nine play and then a diving interception from corner Clint Stephens on NIU's next offensive series to give the Falcons the ball with 5:46 to go in the game and a 34-14 lead.
A BGSU punt gave the football back to the Huskies, before another Falcon interception by Marcus Milton – the first of his career – all but sealed the 34-14 championship win for the Falcons who ran out the final 2:29 of the game to give Bowling Green its second MAC Championship title in three years.
The 2015 MAC Champions are now 10-3 overall on the season and will now wait to see who their next opponent will be on Bowl Selection Sunday, Dec. 6.
Game story courtey of Bowling Green Athletic Communications.
