The Bowling Green football team hits the road to Kansas tomorrow for their first away game this season as they face off against another Big XII team.
“This will be our teams first test on the road,” said head coach Urban Meyer. “We have the opportunity to play in a Big XII facility and see if we can continue to build upon the success we had a week ago against Missouri.”
Last weekend the Falcons dominated the Tigers in a 51-28 victory. As a result, BG earned two votes in this week’s ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and are ranked 40th.
The Falcons will now try to increase their rating as they play Kansas for the first time in school history.
“Kansas is a lot like Missouri in that they have an athletic quarterback and they get you in a lot of sets and run some misdirection at you,” said senior linebacker Chris Haneline. “This is the first time this year we will have to prepare for a game in back-to-back weeks and going on the road just doubles the challenge.”
Before taking on Missouri the Falcons had a bye week, which gave them more time to prepare for the Tigers. But their bye week has passed and now BG has to get used to playing games every weekend with only a few days to prepare for each team.
“We approach each game the same, regardless of the opponent,” said junior quarterback Josh Harris. “Our coaches put together a game plan and we are going to go out on Saturday and execute it to the best of our ability.”
Kansas comes into this weekend’s game with a 1-2 record. They defeated Southwest Missouri State, 44-24, last weekend for their first win of the season. This win marked KU’s fourth consecutive home-opening victory and their 11th win in the last 12 home debuts.
It also marked the first career win for head coach Mark Mangino, who is in his first season as head coach.
“I’m glad we are playing Coach Mangino and Kansas in his first year and not in his fourth or fifth,” Meyer said. “He and his staff have their team playing better each week and with much greater confidence.”
Last weekend Kansas rushed for a total of 202 yards and gained 112 in the air for a season-best 314 net yards on 67 offensive plays and 23 first downs. The Falcons, on the other hand, had more than double the Jayhawks total offensive yards against Missouri with 557.
“We know our roles on this team and we know what we have to do to win football games,” said senior Jon Mazur. “This team really believes in themselves. Two years ago we didn’t really have an identity. It was like we would play hard for three quarters, but in the fourth quarter it was like what is going to happen that would make us lose this game. Now we know what it takes and our coaches have done a great job of putting us in this position.”
However, the Falcon offensive line aren’t the only ones who should be getting all the credit. The defensive coaches pulled out all the stops last week against Missouri.
“Our defense has been great at making plays in key situations,” Meyer said. “Our coaches came up with a great game plan to hold down Missouri’s running game.”
