Ohio Loses to Bowling Green on Homecoming

Bobcats Drop 41-16 Decision to High-Powered Falcons

10/23/2004

Saturday's game at Peden Stadium between the Bobcats and Bowling Green highlighted Homecoming Weekend at Ohio University.

Ohio vs. Bowling Green Game Notes

Official Game Statistics

Ohio's 2004 Schedule

Bobcat Roster

List of Homecoming Events

Box Score

by T.J. Lasita

ATHENS, Ohio ? Bowling Green quarterback Omar Jacobs completed 28 passes and tossed for 389 yards Saturday as the Falcons defeated Ohio University 41-16 on Homecoming at Peden Stadium in front of 16,348 fans.

Jacobs? 389 yards were a career high as he accounted for three Falcon touchdowns, two through the air and one on the ground. Bowling Green (5-2 overall, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) collected 481 yards of total offense in the conference victory over Ohio (3-5, 1-4 MAC).

Beginning the contest with possession of the football, Bowling Green quickly showed off its high-powered passing attack. Jacobs completed eight passes ? five to Cornelius McGrady ? on the first drive before using his legs to plunge into the end zone from a yard out to give the Falcons an early 7-0 advantage.

Both teams traded punts on their next possession before the Bobcats took their turn to light up the scoreboard. Ohio traveled 33 yards on six plays ? highlighted by a Justin Roush (Pomeroy) to Ryan Hawk (Centerville) 29-yard halfback pass ? and set up a 40-yard field goal attempt for kicker Brooks Rossman (Seal Beach, Calif.). The freshman split the uprights, but Ohio still trailed 7-3.

Late in the first, Jacobs and the Falcons took to the air again. Jacobs completed passes of 29 and 43 yards to move Bowling Green into the Bobcat red zone. From the eight, Falcon running back P.J. Pope rumbled over the right side and into the end zone to put Bowling Green on top 14-3. The Falcons traveled 80 yards in less than a minute for its second scoring drive of the afternoon.

Early in the second quarter, the Falcon offense struck again. This time Jacobs completed four passes, the final a three-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Charles Sharon. With the score, Bowling Green took a 21-3 lead.

After an Ohio punt, Bowling Green took over but was forced to punt three plays later. Ohio?s Chip Cox (Columbus) worked his way into the backfield and knocked the punt down. Stafford Owens (Harvey, Ill.) scooped up the loose ball at the 44 and scampered untouched into the end zone for the score. The point-after attempt was unsuccessful but the Bobcats inched closer, 21-9.

The Falcons added a pair of field goals before the break, extending their lead to 27-9 as both teams headed to the locker room. Jacobs finished the half with 300 yards passing on 23 completions.

The Bobcats opened up the second half with the football but were forced to punt it away. Punter Matt Miller (Westerville) pinned the Falcons at their own one but the Bowling Green offense escaped. It took 11 plays and just more than four minutes for the Falcons to travel 99 yards and find the end zone, culminating in a 16-yard pass from Jacobs to Cole Magner as the Falcons went ahead 34-9.

In the fourth, back-up quarterback Austen Everson (Brentwood, Tenn.) engineered an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Justin Riley (Grove City). The PAT attempt was good as the Bobcats moved closer, 34-16.

Bowling Green answered with a touchdown of its own on the next drive, finishing a seven-play, 52-yard effort with a run over the right side into the end zone from two yards out by B.J. Lane to put the Falcons ahead 41-16. That tally would stand through the final gun.

Falcon wide receiver Steve Sanders caught nine passes for 185 yards in the victory. Roush led the Ohio ground game, picking up 59 yards on 14 carries. Sophomore Ahmona Maxwell (Paducah, Ky.) caught four passes for 42 yards for the Bobcats.

Ohio returns to the MAC East Division next week. The Bobcats will hook up with Kent State Saturday at 4 p.m. in Kent?s Dix Stadium.

Ohio Postgame Quotes

Justin Roush (senior, running back)
? On his health: ?I feel fine. I feel like I?m completely built up, it?s just a shame we can?t get things going sometimes. Personally I?m fine, I just hope and pray that the team rallies around me or around Chip (Cox) or around anybody that wants to be a leader.?

Chip Cox (senior, free safety)
? On the defense over the past two games: ?Teams have just been playing better than us, they?ve been playing better, period. We?re not coming out and playing like we?re supposed to.?
? On having Tyler Russ and Dennis Chukwuemeka out of the lineup: ?Last year we played without those guys for a couple games, too, so the guys behind them should step up and make plays. We played the Kentucky game without them, so it?s not really Tyler or Chuke?they?re great players, not to take anything away from them?but we?re just not playing good as a defense.?
? On Bowling Green?s third down efficiency: ?They had their coach calling the plays from the sideline, looking at our defense. How hard is that when the coach looks at the defense and knows what defense you?re in and calls the play? It?s not hard to be efficient when the coach is calling your plays. It?s a good scheme for them, it works. I?m not knocking what they do, that?s great, but I mean it?s not hard to be good when you have the coach calling your plays.?
? On Bowling Green quarterback Omar Jacobs: ?He?s pretty good. He?s not as good as Toledo?s quarterback, Toledo?s got a great quarterback. But he might be number two or three (that we?ve seen this season.)?
? On his blocked punt: ?It put points on the board, but not enough points, so it?s basically irrelevant. We didn?t win.?

Brian Knorr (head coach)
? Opening statement: ?We knew we?d have to play well today to be successful. Bowling Green proved to be a very, very good football team. We?ve played some very good football teams this year and I believe that?s the best team that we?ve played.
? On Omar Jacobs: ?Offensively, the quarterback didn?t make a whole lot of mistakes all day long. While we tried to turn it over and make good field position for our offense, he made great decisions, great throws all day.?
? On the Bowling Green offense: ?The biggest thing, I give Bowling Green a lot of credit. (Jacobs) made throws, they kept us off balance. What they have is three very talented receivers, experienced receivers. He certainly hit the right targets and anytime the ball was off a little ways, their receivers made outstanding catches all day long.?
? On missing Russ and Chukwuemeka: ?Certainly they?re both very productive football players. Dennis Chukwuemeka?s football career is over and we?d like to get Tyler Russ back by the end of the year.?
? On the offense: ?One of the keys we thought for today was to be able to make plays in the pass game. Quarterbacks, wide receivers, offensive line, running backs, we didn?t do that. We didn?t make plays.?

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