I won’t often admit when I am wrong. That’s just the kind of stubborn, bull-headed person I am. However, in cases such as this one, I can realize just how off I was. If you read my second column (week of Sept. 9), you will remember my argument that Bowling Green athletics (specifically football) will never be among the nation’s top ranked programs. This was for a number of reasons, like conference, schedule and recruiting. After the third week of the football season, I can no longer stand by these words. The Bowling Green football team may be one of the great stories of the young 2002 campaign thus far. They are 3-0, including two wins against Big XII opponents (Missouri and Kansas). They were already chosen by almost every NCAA football publication to win the MAC’s Western Division, but not many (including myself) expected this.

Stellar play by the team, especially wide reciever Robert Redd and versatile quarterback Josh Harris, has put them in a position they have never found themselves in. They could be in the Division 1-A top 25 by the middle of October. They are currently ranked 28 in the RPI computer rankings behind #26 Auburn (SEC) and #27 Clemson (ACC). They are ahead of such big name schools as Kentucky (SEC), Alabama (SEC), UCLA (Pac 10), Boston College (Big East), Michigan State (Big Ten), Maryland (ACC), and Purdue (Big 10).

By no means am I saying that the Falcons have a shot at the big prize, a national championship. Sadly, the BCS is a bit of a stretch for a team in the MAC. That’s just the way it is now, but teams like Bowling Green and the perenial East favorite, the Marshall Thundering Herd, are giving the MAC some long awaited respect. The only two teams from the MAC that have even cracked the top 25 in the past couple of years are Marshall, and Toledo last season.

I am now giving this team the credit that it deserves. The way things are going, it might only be a matter of years before the MAC is sending teams to New Year’s Day games such as the Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Orange Bowl. How many teams do you know that can win a game against a big conference opponent after being stuck in a hotel elevator for a half hour on the way to the stadium? The skill and poise that this team and its leader, coach Urban Meyer, are showing are starting to pay off. After years in the cellar, the Bowling Green football program is on its way to the top.