BG's hiatus gives time to heal from loss
11/1/2011BOWLING GREEN -- The Bowling Green State University football team will have a few extra days to think about its loss at Kent State last Saturday.
The Falcons, who suffered a 27-15 setback, won't play again until Nov. 8 when they host Northern Illinois at Doyt Perry Stadium in an 8 p.m. kickoff.
So that means BG has a few more days to think about its error-filled performance at Kent State, an effort that included three turnovers on offense, a defense that struggled to stop an opponent that had the lowest offensive stats among all Football Bowl Subdivision schools, and plenty of special teams gaffes.
The loss, which dropped Bowling Green's record to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in the Mid-American Conference, was all the more painful when you consider the Falcons were coming off an impressive effort in upsetting Temple one week earlier.
"The challenge in college is to build a team that can do it every single week, and do it with the same preparation and the same effort," Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson said. "In my mind, we didn't have our entire football team as ready to play as we needed to be.
"Ultimately that falls on me. I was very disappointed that I did not have our team more ready to play and we earned the result."
After watching film of the game Sunday, the Falcons took Monday off and will not practice Tuesday.
BG will return to practice Wednesday, then begin its typical week of preparations for the game against the Huskies, who face Toledo Tuesday night at the Glass Bowl.
SAMUEL TO RETURN: With the extra time to prepare for Northern Illinois, Bowling Green will not announce changes to its two-deep until later in the week.
But one injured Falcon, freshman running back Anthon Samuel, could return to the lineup for the game against the Huskies.
Samuel, who ranks among the Mid-American Conference leaders in rushing with his 704 yards in seven games, missed the Kent State contest after suffering post-concussive symptoms last week.
"His symptoms have pretty much cleared up," Clawson said about Samuel. "We were optimistic last week at this point, but we still have over a week. Right now we plan on having him. We're hoping he'll be able to have a full practice with us on Wednesday."
PUNTING POWER: Sophomore punter Brian Schmiedebusch continues to rank among the top punters in the country.
The Ottawa-Glandorf product ranks sixth nationally with his average of 46.6 yards per punt.
Of his 40 punts, 15 have covered at least 50 yards.
And Schmiedebusch has placed 14 of his punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
Bowling Green's net punt average of 41.13 yards per punt leads the MAC and ranks fourth nationally.
Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com or 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.