
Glass Bowl – Toledo, OH
American Sports Network/ESPN3
The I-75 Trophy will be at stake Saturday when Bowling Green visits Toledo. The Rockets took last year’s contest, 44-28, and have had the upper hand in recent years. It’s the 81st meeting of the two programs, but the I-75 Trophy has only been around since 2011 – and that is with an asterisk. The trophy wasn’t actually available in time for the game that year.
Toledo won the 2011 game, as well as series games in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Overall, UT leads the series 39-37-4.
Here’s more on the two teams . . .
-- The Falcons will be trying to break a four-game losing streak. However, BG has been within one touchdown in both MAC losses. Eastern Michigan pulled out a 28-25 victory in the MAC opener and Ohio prevailed 30-24 last week.
-- Turnovers have been a major issue for Bowling Green, which ranks last among MAC teams in turnover margin (-13 overall, -2.17 turnovers per game). That is more than twice the No. 11 team – Northern Illinois (-6, -1.00 per game).
-- Running back Fred Coppet rushed 19 times for 66 yards last week against Ohio. He now has 4541 yards this season and is on pace to break his single-season high of 825 yards. His 2,254 career rushing yards puts him in ninth place among Falcon rushers.
-- Punter Joseph Davidson ranks fourth nationally in yards per punt and third in net punting average. He booted a career-best 79-yarder at Ohio. It’s the top punt in the NCAA this year. Davidson has four 60-plus-yard punts in the past three weeks.
-- Bowling Green’s Falcon Fast pace (80.5 plays per game) ranks 11th nationally.
-- Redshirt freshman James Morgan took over as starting quarterback in Week Five. He is the first freshman quarterback at BGSU to throw for 250 or more yards in back-to-back games since Matt Schilz in 2010.
-- Wide receiver Scott Miller leads the team with 772 all-purpose yards. He pulled in six passes for 56 yards against Ohio. The last was a spectacular 37-yard TD off a richochet on 4th and 17. His 6.5 receptions per game are second in the MAC and 20th among all FBS teams.
-- Linebacker Trenton Green owns 60 tackles, while defensive lineman Gus Schwieterman has 6.- tfl and 3.0 sacks among his 11 tackles.
-- DB Brandon Harris has 24 hits and two picks.
-- Mike Jinks took over as head coach this year after Dino Babers left for Syracuse following the 2015 MAC championship season.
-- Ronnie Moore ranks eighth all-time in receiving yards at BGSU.
-- The Falcons lone victory of 2016 was a 27-26 win over North Dakota.
TOLEDO ROCKETS (4-1, 1-0 MAC)
-- The Rockets rank second among MAC teams in both scoring offense (43.2 ppg) and scoring defense (21.0 ppg).
-- UT tops the MAC in pass efficiency and pass defense efficiency.
-- Toledo has the MAC leader in both rushing and passing average. Kareem hunt, who cracked 4,000 career rushing yards last week at Eastern Michigan, leads the conference with an average of 110.8 rushing yards per game. Meanwhile, Logan Woodside has completed 105 of 151 passes for 1,691 yards with 20 TDs and three interceptions. Woodside is second in the nation in passing efficiency, tied for third in TD passes and tops in yards per attempt (11.2).
-- Hunt has fumbled just once in 627 career carries. He recovered his own fumble that day ( against Buffalo, ’13), so he has not lost a fumble over his career.
-- UT runners have not lost a fumble in 23 of their last 24 games.
-- Junior wide receiver Cody Thompson is second in the nation with a 28.2 yards per catch average.
-- Toledo leads the nation in successful third-down attempts, converting 42 of 74 (56.8%). Conversely, UT’s defense has forced 27 three-and-outs (40.9 %).
-- Senior tight end Michael Roberts has six touchdowns among his 19 receptions this season. He needs four ore TD grabs to break the UT single-season record for tight ends.
-- Toledo’s offensive line has allowed just three sacks this year. That is tied for second-fewest in the nation.
-- The Rockets only loss in 2016 was a 55-53 setback at BYU. That game was decided on a field goal as time expired.
-- Linebacker Ja’Wuan Woodley has 31 tackles with 4.0 tfl and 2.0 sacks. DB Brandon Harris owns 24 stops and two interceptions.