There’s something about the month of November that gets the Falcon football team amped up every time they take the field.

The team has gone 10-1 in November games since 2007, having been in contention for either the Mid-American Conference East Division title or bowl eligibility each season.

‘The big thing about the month of November is usually that’s when the teams that still have something to play for are playing. That’s when champions are crowned,’ said senior safety Jahmal Brown. ‘If we still have something to play for when November rolls around, we know we’re heading in the right direction.’

With a 36-20 win against Akron Friday night, the team put all its early season miscues behind and became bowl eligible for the third straight season.

‘Every team that we’ve been on has had to come together and grow,’ said senior receiver Freddie Barnes. ‘Just us having that growth and learning from mistakes and getting better and realizing that we’re still playing for something.’

In 2007, the Falcons were in a rebuilding year but found themselves 4-4 entering November with four games remaining and bowl eligibility on the horizon.

BG proceeded to cruise through the month, averaging almost 38 points per game and outscoring their opponents 151-79 in four straight wins before being invited to play in the GMAC Bowl.

The next season, BG found itself in a similar situation with a 3-5 record going into November.

But the team wasn’t as lucky as the season before, as they fell to Buffalo in double-overtime on Nov. 21 in what could have led the Falcons to an appearance in the MAC Championship game. However, they did end up bowl eligible, but were not invited to a game.

This season, the team went on a similar run as they again entered the month at 3-5 with the goal of becoming bowl eligible in their minds.

That goal struck a chord, as the team has scored at least 30 points in their three games this month, but it’s not enough, as the team will look to win next week to increase their bowl chances with a 7-5 record.

‘We all know that in the MAC, you probably really need to get seven [wins],’ said coach Dave Clawson. ‘Is there a possibly at six? Yes. But we really need to get next week.’

First time ever

BG coach Dave Clawson said in his 21 years of coaching, he had never seen an onside kick returned for a touchdown.

That all changed against Akron after the Zips attempted an onside kick out of a traditional kickoff formation.

Sophomore Keith Morgan grabbed the ball on a bounce and carried it 41 yards down the field for a touchdown.

‘That’s No. 1 in 21 years of doing it,’ Clawson said with a laugh. ‘We were joking about it because really, I was telling our special teams coordinator ‘If the media asks, tell them we coached that.’

‘To be honest with you, we should have fair caught it. On an onside kick, if the ball is high, if you fair catch it, the defense can’t make a play on it. We’ll make sure we get that correction done tomorrow.’

Safety first

The Falcon defense recorded its first safety since 2004 in the second quarter against Akron.

Brown – who was officially awarded the tackle on the play – was assisted by Cody Basler and Adrien Spencer giving BG its first safety since Sept. 11, 2004 when Monte Cooley earned one against Southeast Missouri State.

‘It was great. We were kind of upset the offense didn’t score but stuff like that happens,’ Brown said. ‘We knew we had to go out there and we either had to get a safety or keep them down there to get the offense good field position.’

The offense was stopped on the 1-yard line on third and fourth downs the two plays before the safety.

Bust it out

Chris Bullock’s fourth quarter, 71-yard run wasn’t just his career long rush and the team’s longest run of the season, it was more yards than the team had been averaging on the ground through the first 10 games (68.7 yards per game).

The run came during the team’s last drive on a third and two play, and BG was just looking for a couple first downs so they could run out the clock.

‘All we needed was a yard [but] he got 70 more,’ Barnes said. ‘I was just so proud of making it that far.”