BGSU Notebook

Falcons’ Woods plays key role in return

Bowling Green wide receiver Kevin Collins (82) celebrates his touchdown with teammates offensive linesman Alex Huettel (55) and offensive linesman Jordon Roussos, right, Saturday in Foxborough, Mass.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Dwayne Woods watched the Bowling Green State University football team from the sidelines a week ago.

The Falcons’ senior linebacker didn’t like watching instead of playing.

“It hurt, and it was frustrating,” Woods said about missing BG’s game against Miami. “[The defense] stepped it up, and they did a very good job — and I was proud of them.

“But that made me more excited to get back out there with them this week.”

Woods returned to the lineup Saturday for the Falcons’ 24-0 shutout over Massachusetts. While he made just two tackles, he also picked off a pass and returned it 48 yards for a back-breaking third-quarter touchdown.

“I saw it developing,” Woods said of his interception, his first this season and the fourth of his career. “I got into my drop, I saw it, and I just went.”

Woods, who missed the Miami game because of back problems, admitted he still isn’t back at full strength.

“I had to play,” Woods said. “I’m not 100 percent, but I was able to deal with [the injury].

“I was out there limping around a little bit, but I’m getting back into it, and it’s feeling a little bit better.”

Paul Swan and D.J. Lynch started at linebacker for the Falcons. Lynch finished with a team high 10 tackles, including two for negative yardage, while Swan tied for third-best on the team with six stops.

Still, Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson said he was excited to have Woods back.

“He’s a good player, and we’re a better defense when we have him,” Clawson said of Woods. “It’s a credit to D.J. Lynch and Paul Swan that we played at a high level without him.

“But you’re talking about getting a two-time all-conference linebacker back on defense. That’s only going to help you.”

TWEET, TWEET: UMass freshman defensive back D’Metrius Williams tweeted, “IM OUT HERE BALLIN’ … 2nd half bouta qet started time too get mo’ money.”

One problem: He sent that tweet at halftime of the contest.

By game’s end the tweet had received notice from numerous Internet sites, causing Williams to remove it from Twitter and issue an apology that read, “Dumb mistake by me … I apoloquize!”

UMass coach Charley Molnar said, “It was immature on his part obviously. … He made a mistake and he’ll suffer the consequences.”

GETTING THEIR KICKS: Bowling Green kickers Stephen Stein and Tyler Tate were perfect on their scoring attempts Saturday.

Stein, a senior, made all three of his extra point attempts against the Minutemen while Tate, a freshman, came on in the fourth quarter and nailed a 42-yard field goal, the longest make for the Falcons this season.

“It was nice to see him hit that,” Clawson said of Tate’s field goal. “He hit it strong.”

The improvement of Stein, who now has made 12 consecutive extra-point attempts, and Tate is a far cry from early in the season, when both were struggling.

“When people want you to make a switch, [I remind them] it’s like any other position,” Clawson said. “You have to coach them and work with them and hope they get better.”

BY THE NUMBERS: For the second week in a row Bowling Green dominated time of possession, holding on to the ball for 35:29. … The Falcons were especially impressive on third down, allowing UMass to convert just 1-of-16 third-down plays (6.2 percent). … While BG had six tackles for loss, the Falcons failed to collect a sack for the first time this season.