College Football

End Zone: BGSU Falcons

Clawson's reaction to national polls: Slow down

9/5/2013

BG football coach Dave Clawson had a simple response to the news that the Falcons received votes in this week’s national polls: Slow down.

“After one game, we’re not raising a banner saying, “Hey, we got votes,’” he said.

Yes, the Falcons received nine votes in the AP poll – but they all came from one voter. And BG received only one vote in the USA Today coaches’ poll, so this isn’t exactly a groundswell of support from around the country.

Don’t misunderstand: Is it nice that the Falcons received votes? Sure. Do the Falcons want to be ranked? You bet. But should getting national poll votes be this team’s focus, especially early in the season? Clearly not.

It shouldn’t be this team’s focus, period. The focus should be beating Kent State Saturday, then worrying about the next game on the schedule – nothing more.

As an example of the importance of this early season vote, Dominic Flewellyn was smiling when he got the news. Of course, it’s worth noting that BG’s senior lineman didn’t hear about the votes until a full day after they were announced.

“It’s not something we worry about every day,” Flewellyn said. “We know that, if we keep winning, and we keep doing the right things, that stuff will take care of itself.”

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.