Now that the dust has settled in Cleveland and the Wisconsin Badgers are a mere memory, BGSU is back to work.
On Saturday, they’ll play their first home game at Doyt Perry Stadium against the University of Buffalo.
“There’s nothing like playing in the Doyt-great experiences here in the Doyt,” said senior offensive lineman Derrick Markray. “Playing in Cleveland was great, but it’s nothing like playing in the Doyt. It’s going to be crazy; it’s going to be exciting-really feeling the love from all your fans right here in town.”
Markray and the rest of the offense will see a new face under center as they enter their game against the Bulls. Sophomore Anthony Turner returns to the Falcon starting lineup after serving his one game suspension last week.
“Coach Brandon seems to have a lot of faith in me, and that is a confidence-builder,” Turner said. “After the game, Freddie said we are going to tear it up when we are together. I am 100% sure we will tear it up; just get the ball to Freddie because he is a playmaker.”
The “Freddie” Turner speaks of is the electrifying Freddie Barnes, who set a BG record by rushing for 158 yards on 29 carries in his first career game. Barnes also earned MAC East Offensive Player of the Week. With Turner coming back, Barnes does not have designated position but expect to see him all over the field against the Bulls.
“We kind of have a new position for him, called the P. It’s a personnel group that we have had in the past. We may run some of that, or he can play running back, or be put in the slot and be a receiver,” said coach Gregg Brandon. “It’s like what we evolved into with P.J. Pope a few years ago. He was a great running back for us, but it turned out that he was a great receiver too.”
“I am going to have a mixture of assignments. I am going to play quarterback, receiver, running back, and it’s all going to be at different times. We have a couple different packages,” Barnes said
Turner and Barnes will lead the BG offense against a Bull defense that was 4th in the MAC last season. The Bulls defense allowed 363.3 yards per game last season. The Bulls also carry the momentum of an overtime victory into this week’s game against the Falcons.
Last week’s win against Temple University was the first win in the coaching career of new Bulls’ head coach Turner Gill, and it also matched the win total of the entire 2005 season in 10 less games.
You may remember Turner Gill from his days as a Nebraska Cornhusker. Gill led the Cornhuskers to a 28-2 record in his three years as the starting quarterback, and in 1983, was a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Gill also coached the Cornhuskers’ quarterbacks from 1992-2003 and was wide receivers’ coach in 2004. During Gill’s coaching tenure at Nebraska, the Cornhuskers won national championships in 1994, 1995 and a shared national championship with the University of Michigan in 1997.
Gill inherits a University of Buffalo team that went 1-7 in MAC play. One of those 7 losses came at the hands of the Falcons, who beat the Bulls 27-7 in an Oct. 27 meeting in Buffalo last season.
In order to beat the Bulls, BG will have to shore up their special teams units as a whole. BG gave up two touchdowns because of punting difficulties. Wisconsin player Jonathan Casillas was disrupting the BG special teams unit all day.
“When I was coaching at Northwestern, we were playing Illinois. They had Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy, and those are offense-changing players. If you don’t have a scheme for those guys they will wreak havoc all day in your backfield. You don’t see a lot of those guys in the MAC,” Brandon said.
Casillas blocked a punt in the end zone for a Badger touchdown after he nearly blocked BG’s first punt of the day. On the next punt, freshman punter Alonso Rojas had the ball go off the side of his foot and following the long kick return, the Badgers took over on the BG 10 yard line.
“I think Alonso was rattled after that, because he took a shot on that and landed hard,” Brandon said. We can’t have that happen to our freshman punter. That’s my deal; I have to fix that and manage that. Knowing where their people who can wreak havoc are-whether it’s offense, defense or kicking-that’s on me.”
