Consider this a memo. It’s to Bowling Green fans who rushed the field, and it’s from quarterback Josh Harris. The message: When he just carried the ball for the 30th time, and when he is nursing an injured knee, don’t maul him in the end zone.
It hurts.
But, BG fans can hardly be blamed for wanting to celebrate with the leader of the Falcon offense, a group who was arguably the heroes of Saturday night’s 48-45 overtime victory over the Western Michigan Broncos.
Much has been made of the offense thus far this season, as their efficiency and precision has planted them firmly at the top of the nation in scoring offense. But, last night’s game may have bestowed legendary status upon this group of men.
Throughout much of the first three quarters, the Falcon defense had trouble controlling a very balanced Bronco attack, a squad that nearly reached 500 yards of offense. The Broncos used a steady mix of tailback Philip Reed on the ground and quarterback Chad Munson and a group of very good wide receivers to keep the Falcon defense on the field and on their heels.
But as much as the Broncos poured on their offense attack, Harris and his mates kept the Falcons in the game. After WMU scored for the third time in the first half, and were slated to receive the ball in the second, Harris led the Falcons on an improbable drive to end the first half, a drive highlighted by a pass on the run by Harris to Cole Magner to the Bronco five. Harris ran in to make the game 21-14.
The Broncos picked up right where they left off in the second half, scoring on their first two possessions, including a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. But, once again, Harris and the Falcon offense stood tall. With the score 28-14, James Hawkins was on the receiving end of a 33-yard strike from Harris, and after the aforementioned kickoff return which made the score 35-21, The Falcons answered right back, scoring on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Magner to tight end D’Monn Baker.
“You just can’t stop the offense when Josh Harris gets going,” Meyer said. “You have Josh and Dennis Wendel both with MCL injuries, and they’re banged up in there; but, they would not come out of the game. That tells you what kind of place this is.”
BG then scored on an 18-yard pass from Harris to Charles Sharon, tying the game at 35. The offense had done their job.
In overtime, it was much of the same deliberate BG attack seen before in crucial situations: Give the ball to Harris. Harris rushed four times in overtime, the last of which won the game and turned him the junior into the bottom rung of a pile-on.
“[I felt] A whole lot of pain after all those cats jumped on top of my chest,” Harris said. “I was screaming for them to get off me. I didn’t know when it was going to end, there was just people coming and the team came, and the fans came.”
Meyer said there was no deliberation as to who to give the ball to in overtime.
“We gave it to our quarterback in overtime,” Meyer said. “He had a bad MCL too, so in the last two drives [of regulation], we couldn’t run him. He’s tremendous; we told Gregg [Brandon, offensive coordinator] that he has four downs, and to move the chains.”
“My opinion is that (turning the game around) comes from January, February and March,” Meyer said. “I told them right before we huddled up at overtime, ‘That’s a good team.’ I told them that the team that invested more is going to win the game.”
