KUSports.com - Know the foe

Kansas v. Bowling Green:

LJW report: Can Falcons repeat 8-win season?

MP3 clip: Coach Mangino on the Falcons play

More audio: Big 12 Coaches' teleconference

More audio: More Falcon analysis from Mangino

Bowling Green home page

Game Time: 6:00 p.m.
Point Spread: Bowling Green by 10
KU's preview notes: .pdf file
Tickets: Cheapest in town
Stats: KU | B. Green
Rosters: KU | B. Green

This is the first-ever meeting between Kansas and Bowling Green. Against the Big 12, the Falcons have compiled a 3-6 record, with all three wins coming against Missouri. The Falconse have lost once each to Baylor, Kansas State, Missouri and Oklahoma State, and lost to Iowa State twice.

The last game between Kansas and a Mid-America Conference team resulted in a KU victory over Ball State. Against the MAC, Kansas has compiled a 4-3 record, defeating Ball State (twice), Kent State and Toledo. Losses were to Ohio, Kent State and Northern Illinois.

Falcons' coach Urban Meyer is in his second year at the helm. He compiled an 8-3 record in his debut, earning him MAC Coach of the Year honors. That season saw Bowling Green defeat three different BCS league schools (Missouri, Temple, Northwestern), the first MAC team ever to do so.

Before coming to Bowling Green, Meyer spent five years as the receivers coach at Notre Dame. He has extensive bowl experience, most recently helping the Fighting Irich to the Fiesta Bowl in 2000.

Football began at Bowling Green in 1919, with an inauspicious opening. Not only did the fledgling Falcons fail to win a game, they also failed to score a single point all season.

Manpower may have been the problem in those early years - the founding team was made up of 19 of the 30 male students enrolled at the time. They would score in their 1920 season opener, but would have to wait until the final game that year for their first win.

Remarkably, the 1921 team won the Northwest Conference championship, going
3-1-1. That year saw the Falcons defeat Findlay by the score of 151-0. Bowling Green won a total of five Northwest Conference titles until Joining the MAC in 1952. Since then, they have captured 10 MAC crowns, the most recent in 1992.