PREVIEW: Bowling Green Falcons look to build on 2016 in pursuit of MAC Championship

By: Ryan Strodtbeck

BOWLING GREEN— Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Zoomba
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Ze
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Zoomba
Ay Ziggy Zoomba Zoomba Ze
Roll along you BG warriors
Roll along and win for BGSU!

Bowling Green will certainly like to sing this song more times than not this upcoming season, that being the unofficial fight song that plays for the Falcons after a big play.

Well, where shall we begin? We can start with the positives, for example, the Falcons winning their final three games of the season in 2016. Or, we can go to the negative side in that their win total decreased by six in a matter of a year, coming off a Mid-American Conference Championship.

That was last year’s team, however, I am from Cleveland where one of the mottos is, “There is always next year.” Well, next year is here for this Falcon team and they are looking to improve on what was their worst year in football since 2011 when the team finished 5-7 under Dave Clawson.

Coaching/ Recruiting

Let’s begin with the Head Coach Mike Jinks. He finished his first year as head coach with a 4-8 record. I am not putting much of the blame on Coach Jinks right now. I mean how can you? The team lost three of its best receivers, one of the best quarterbacks in the history of BGSU and a lot of the defensive assets. On top of that, you had injuries and other uncontrollable situations that arose on defense to begin the year. It’s hard enough to come in and produce at the same level when you have all that going on, much less trying to do it in your first year as head coach.

The beginning didn’t start too well, but if you constantly improve, then there will be some hope going into next season. He turned a disaster of a season into one that the Falcons can build on by winning the final three games of the season. Hey, the final three opponents may not have been the cream of the crop, but if you look at it, Bowling Green wasn’t that great either.

The verdict on Jinks may still be out, and this season will be a good barometer on what Jinks can bring to the table.

I am clumping recruiting and coaching here, because they go hand in hand. So far, so good on Jinks’ first recruiting class as head coach of the Falcons. He got the Falcons one of the top three classes in the MAC, which is a huge improvement over what the previous coach did. So as far as recruiting goes, Mike Jinks is an improvement, which is good to see as they try to build for the future.

Offense

The Falcons are returning some key components of their team, including their redshirt sophomore quarterback James Morgan. Although, passing may not be the focal point of the Falcons come next season. The orange and brown will also be returning two very dominate backfield running mates that finished the year well. Running backs Josh Cleveland and Donovan Wilson will be back trying to build off of last year’s running game resurgence for the Falcons. Cleveland is more of speed back and Wilson is a grinder, which is a great one-two punch the Falcons have.

The receiving core for the Falcons should be somewhat improved from last season. They added former Oregon State wide receiver, Dartin Guyton. He has the height and the speed to be the number one target for Morgan. Behind him is Teo Redding and Scottie Miller, who was Morgan’s favorite target last year. The two are almost always seen with each other on campus, which shows a good sign of chemistry.

The line may have lost some starters, but should be solid still behind Tim McAuliffe at the Center position, as he was a Third Team All-MAC selection. Although three starters may need to be replaced, there were still plenty of reasons to believe in the o-line including incoming grad transfer John Kurtz, who should help with depth and experience.

Defense

In recent years, the defense seems to be a consistent Falcons weak point. When Dino Barbers was here, the defense’s job was just to go out there and try to stop the other team from scoring. If not, the attitude was that’s ok because we believe that we can outscore anybody. However, when you lose some key offensive weapons, then the defense is going to have to step up and at times they just seemed lost out there.

Mike Jinks seems to have the team trending in the right direction. After allowing two teams to put up 77 points on them in the first couple weeks of the season in 2016, the defense started improving and looked more comfortable by the season’s end.

The defense this year will be led by linebackers Nate Locke and Brandon Harris and the secondary should be a much more seasoned product by the start of the season. Unfortunately, the Falcons did just recently lose one of their only All-MAC Defensive Players in Jamari Bozeman, as he will be out for quite some time and potentially the whole season. The Falcons look to make the defense a focal point this year and are looking to turn around early season struggles.

Special Teams

Now to the special teams. A focal point of this group will be All-MAC Punter Joe Davidson. He stands at 6’7 and recorded a punt of 82 yards last year. Did I mention that he also gets it done in the classroom having a GPA of 3.7? Talk about a student-athlete. Basically, last yearDavidson was the lone bright spot on a somewhat inexperienced special teams squad.

Outlook

Can the Falcons come out on top on a very weak MAC East? Only time will tell, but this team has the talent to take the MAC East crown. Can they win the MAC Championship? Sure, anyone can win in one game, but it is going to be an uphill battle, and I wouldn’t necessarily put my money on it. The Falcons have a rough non-conference schedule and face two of the best MAC West teams in Toledo and NIU. This year, the team looks to improve on last season’s ending and make it back to a bowl game. The first test comes Sept. 2nd at Michigan State.

Falcons outlook this year: bullish.

Ryan Strodtbeck is a junior at BGSU. He is the executive director of the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization. Follow him on Twitter @RStro25.