Bowling Green versus Western Michigan Preview

Offensive Key Players:

Bowling Green

• Matt Schilz, QB, So.—Schilz is the ringleader for an offense that has looked very potent for a majority of the season. The quarterback has thrown for 1,283 yards on the season with a high of 437 yards in the loss to Wyoming. He also has a 15/7 touchdown to interception ratio with 3 of the 7 interceptions coming in the 55-10 loss to West Virginia.
• Kamar Jordan, WR, Sr.—While not quite on pace for the 96 catch, 1,109 yard performance of 2010, Jordan does have 31 catches for 312 yards on the young season. He has been able to find the end zone as many times as all of 2010 with 4 touchdowns. Jordan has been at his best in the loss to Wyoming and the win over Miami (OH) with 18 catches for 192 yards in those games combined.

Western Michigan

• Alex Carder, QB, Jr.—Carder is have a very good 2011 season with 1,466 yards passing and 12 touchdowns on the young season. Carder started the season out slow with under 200 yards passing versus Michigan and Nicholls State before exploding for 355 versus CMU, 306 versus Illinois, and 479 versus UConn. Carder is right on pace to equal the 3,300+ yards passing of 2010.
• Jordan White, WR, Sr.—White is and has been the leading pass catcher for the Broncos for the with 55 catches for 668 yards and 5 touchdowns. He is above the 94 catches for 1,378 yards pace that he set in 2010. White has at least 12 catches in every game except the Nicholls State win. The senior has 221 receptions for his career.

Defensive Key Players:
Bowling Green

• Dwayne Woods, LB, Jr.—Woods is the leading tackler on the season with 39 tackles including 7 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles. Woods had only 2 tackles in the season opener but since then has had at least 7 tackles in every game with a season high of 12 tackles versus Wyoming. Woods had 133 tackles in 2010.
• Aaron Forster, DB, Sr.—Foster is the 2^nd leading tackler for the Bowling Green defense. He has 31 tackles and a forced fumble on the young year. Foster has been pretty solid with at least 6 tackles in every game except the blowout win versus Morgan State. He was all over the field in a 10 tackle performance versus West Virginia.

Western Michigan

• Mitch Zajac, LB, Sr.—Zajac is the leading tackler for the Broncos with 39 tackles and a forced fumble on the young season. Zajac had 97 tackles in 2011 and 50 tackles in 2009 as a sophomore. Zajac came up big in the Illinois loss with 10 tackles.
• Johnnie Simon, DB, So.—Simon is the 2^nd leading tackler for the Broncos with 38 tackles including 2 tackles for loss, half a sack, and 1 interception. Simon had a combined 21 tackles in the games versus Central Michigan and Illinois. His 38 tackles are a career high.

Key Battles:

Jordan versus Simon: Kamar Jordan will get his catches out of this pass happy offense but it will be up to Johnnie Simon and company to keep him from getting yards after the catch. With 5 touchdowns in 5 games, Jordan has been able to out lots of points on the board for the Falcons. If Simon and the Bronco defense can limit Jordan’s effectiveness, then they will win.

Carder versus the BGSU secondary: Carder is putting up very good statistics on the season with over 300 yards passing in each of the last 3 games. It will be quite the challenge for the Falcon secondary to keep Carder in check. The defensive backs will have to come up with their best performance of the season to slow down this very effective passing game.

How Bowling Green will win: Using a methodical passing game to dink and dunk the ball downfield and use lots of time to score and keep the WMU offense off the field. The running game is essential as well to shorten the game and again keep that WMU offense off the field. The defense will need to also come up with a couple turnovers for the Falcons to pull off what will be seen as a mini upset.

How Western Michigan will win: Riding the arm of Carder to another big passing performance in the same vein as the 355 versus CMU or the 479 versus UConn. Carder is on fire passing and the Broncos just need to ride the hot streak to try to move to a 4-2 record and a 2-0 record in the MAC.

Bowling Green has been better than expected on the season so far until a demoralizing loss to West Virginia. That seems to be a blip on the radar and should not negatively affect the Falcons too much other than the bumps and bruises taken from a blowout loss. Western Michigan is coming into this game with a very nice 38-31 win over 2010 Big East champ Connecticut. Things are looking up for the Broncos and there is serious talk about a MAC championship for Western Michigan. This should be a very good offensive game with both teams scoring quite a few points. All signs point toward a shootout and Bowling Green could pull the upset but the Broncos and that high powered passing game is hard to stop.