SORRY FOR THE DELAY BUT WE ARE BACK!
Spring has sprung and footballs are filling the air around the Doyt Perry Stadium in preparation of the Annual Spring Game 2012.
First allow me to apologize to you for the delay in getting this site updated. Please know that if you happen to own a computer, sometimes things go wrong…terribly wrong. Such was the case with my ever-lovin’ machine. A back-up failure followed by a hard drive dying was the one-two punch no one wants to ever get but….fortunately, most of the files were recovered and so we are back in time to talk about spring football and so much more. Thanks for your patience during this time.
NEW FORMAT FOR THE SPRING GAME
Friday, April 13th starting at 7:00 PM the annual Spring Game will take place on the BGSU campus at the Doyt Perry Stadium. This annual event culminates the winter workouts and the spring practices with what always is a lively, hard hitting event. There is no charge to come and tailgaters have already told us that they will be getting their grill on for the Spring Game. Make sure to come early to see old friends and make new ones as well.
This year the Spring Game will consist, we are told, of teams “drafted” rather than simply the first team offense vs. first team defense, seconds vs. seconds and thirds vs. thirds. The Senior Leadership Group will be in charge of holding the draft to select the two squad
s. To keep things even, if a starter is chosen by one team, his back-up will go automatically to the other squad in the same position. This way no one will be playing out of position. Even the coaches will be drafted so you know there is a lot riding on the line this game!
This should make for an energized game with lots of excitement coming from the players. Second, fans will get a look at the new scoreboard installed this spring. The new high-definition video board will be as good as anyone’s around the league and make game days even better.
Friday, April 13th starting at 7:00 PM the annual Spring Game will take place on the BGSU campus at the Doyt Perry Stadium. This annual event culminates the winter workouts and the spring practices with what always is a lively, hard hitting event. There is no charge to come and tailgaters have already told us that they will be getting their grill on for the Spring Game. Make sure to come early to see old friends and make new ones as well.
WATCH THE SPRING GAME ON-LINE
If you are unable to attend, the game is scheduled to be televised on-line Friday night. For more details, go to the official home of the Falcons at BGSUFalcons.com
SCHEDULE
The 2012 schedule is out and the early responses are very favorable. Only one weeknight game for the Falcons this year is scheduled for the road game in Athens Ohio to take on the Ohio Bobcats. This game is already set for ESPN2.
The final “home” game of t
he season will be about an hour and a half south of Bowling Green in Columbus at the Columbus Crew Stadium. This game vs. Buffalo is set for Friday, November 23rd at a time to be announced later. If you don’t know, the Columbus Crew is a Major League Soccer team beginning their 14th year in Columbus. The stadium opened in 1999 and seats 20,455.
The idea to move the game to Columbus does have several advantages for the final game of the season. It puts the game into a bigger market and should entice the Columbus area alumni to come to the game. It is also the night before the Michigan-Ohio State game at OSU so there could be a big local walk-up crowd as well. Considering that being the day after Thanksgiving and the BG campus closed, we should see a great crowd for the final regular season game.
This will be the first Division I college football game ever played here!
By the way, the BGSU Marching Band and the cheerleaders will all be at the game giving us that “home game” feel. If you are purchasing season tickets, this game is included as part of the ticket package.
Sat., Sept. 1 - at Florida
Sat., Sept. 8 - vs. Idaho
Sat., Sept. 15 - at Toledo
Sat., Sept. 22 - at Virginia Tech
Sat., Sept. 29 - vs. Rhode Island (Homecoming)
Sat., Oct. 6 - at Akron
Sat., Oct. 13 - vs. Miami (Family Weekend/Varsity BG Weekend)
Sat., Oct. 20 - at UMass
Sat., Oct. 27 - vs. Eastern Michigan
Wed., Nov. 7 - at Ohio, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sat., Nov. 17 - vs. Kent State
Fri., Nov. 23 - vs. Buffalo (ESPNU/ESPN3*)
* ESPN Multiple Game Selection Date
EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST UNLESS BG IS INVOLVED
During the winter, Mid-American conference officials switch the Falcons from the East Division to the West Division to balance out the league with the inclusion this year of the University of Massachusetts. UMass was the 14th team in the MAC for football until the sudden departure of Temple earlier this spring…a departure that cost Temple $6 million as the negotiated fee for them to leave the conference. Faced with the 13-team alignment, the MAC chose to leave the Falcons in the East Davison simply substituting UMass for Temple.
Besides Bowling Green, the East Division includes Akron, Buffalo, Kent State, UMass, Miami and Ohio. The West consists of Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Northern Illinois and Toledo.
Speaking of Toledo, you will see that this great rivalry game is set early in the schedule this year, September 15th at Toledo.
WELCOME TO FRESHMEN PARENTS AND PARENTS OF PLAYERS WHO COMMITTED TO THE FALCONS IN FEBRUARY
Last year at this time, your son was finishing his senior year of high school or, was being deeply involved in the recruiting process for this year’s National Signing Day. We hope that all of you will be able to come to the Annual Spring Game and get to know the rest of the parents of players. For the parents of current freshmen, you have been through the hardest part of college and that is the freshman fall semester.
Now your son is fully integrated into the system, has made lots of life long friends and has been through the cold, dreary winter months of conditioning, lifting and meeting. The Spring Game is run just like a regular college game and for many freshmen, a chance to show you and the coaches just how much they have learned and morphed into a Division 1 football player. For those parents of incoming freshmen, don’t worry! Everyone on this year’s roster was an incoming freshman too just a year or two or three or four ago.
Having watched a practice and their first scrimmage, there seems to be great competition as well as wonderful camaraderie. Everyone is pushing each other to be great on the field, the older players are really working with the younger players to help them on learn the system and giving them their guidance and tips.
With three full offensive and defensive units this year, everyone is getting a lot of work and experience. The first scrimmage had around 150 plays with everyone seeing action. For many of the younger players it was the first time that they have been on the field running the Flacon’s system. rather than running the next opponent’s offense or defense on the scout team.
SEASON TICKETS
Here is an unabashed plug for you to consider purchasing Season Tickets for the upcoming season. While players dressing for home games are afforded four complimentary tickets as per NCAA rules, having season tickets is a very nice way to give back a little to the university as well as getting you some great seats. If you purchase season tickets by the Annual Spring Game you will also receive a free parking pass for all home games at the Doyt.
Tickets for players’ families are located right behind the team bench so if you like to be a little higher up and not blocked by the players, season tickets are a great option to get you higher up in the stadium for an unobstructed view.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
This is the site which will have all of the travel information in plenty of time for you to make your fight and hotel reservations. As we have done in the past, we will have the hotel information from the team with regard to the hotels the team will be using for away games and we will work with the hotels to negotiate BG Parents’ rates. As a cautionary note, the final regular season game in Columbus is the night before the Michigan-Ohio State game so it may not be a bad idea to look at booking a room now in case our rooms at the team hotel in Columbus are limited. The Crew Stadium is in on I-71 just west of the OSU campus and there are many hotel options on the north and west side of Columbus.
As far as flying to games, we always recommend flying in a day before the game and flying out the day after the game. You never know what the weather will hold or other delays so keep this in mind when booking your flight. As we get closer to the season we will also have the itineraries for the away games so you will know when you can see your son while on the road.
Keep in mind that for away games, the team has limited time to see you and it normally at the end of the day after all the meetings, on-field walk-thrus, dinner and more meetings. Game day mornings are also tied up with pre-game meals, meetings, and taping. After the games, we meet with the players outside the locker room before they board the busses. The team does not stay in a hotel after the game but they head back to campus.
MORE TO COME...
We promise to keep you up to date with the latest news and information about the team, the upcoming summer and more. Keep checking back and please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about anything football with regard to the Falcons. Our mission to keep you informed and to make sure that you make friends with the other players’ family and friends.
TEAM, POSITION & INDIVIDUAL PIX READY
IF YOU DIDN"T PURCHASE PHOTOS FROM LAST YEAR YOU STILL CAN.
The pictures taken at Media Day are up and on-line and with picture packages available to order the pictures you want. USA Foto has team, position and individual player pictures, including the round picture buttons. Be sure to look at the site and order your picture packages.
To navigate their site, from the main page, look at the left side and place your mouse on "Gallery." More choices will pop up and scroll down to "Sports College 2011" A list of college teams will pop up and Bowling Green will be at the top of the list. From there you can select individual, position and team photos. Under "Options and Pricing" you can scroll through to see the various packages as well as picture button information. If you want the buttons quickly order them as the Photo Button Express. USA Foot does a good job in getting these out fast.
PICTURES YOU TAKE ON GAME DAY
A question was asked after the game about sharing pictures that you might take on game-day and want to share. The best place to post your pictures is on our Facebook page. Just load them up for all to see.
NEW TAILGATE LOCATION
For those who have joined us for the pregame tailgate, we are moving just south of where we used to be to the new Stroh Center parking lot. The team will get off their buses and come into the Stroh Center for a quick pep rally and then proceed from their to the Doyt Perry Stadium with THE WALK.