West Virginia vs Bowling Green Football Preview

On the raw merits, a matchup between the Bowling Green Falcons and the West Virginia Mountaineers is no match at all. However, the forces of Old Demon Letdown might make this Saturday’s nonconference encounter far more interesting than an NFL combine comparison might first suggest.

It’s obviously true that West Virginia will put more players in the NFL than Bowling Green will when 2012 rolls around. The Mountaineers own the bulk in the trenches and the speed on the perimeter that Bowling Green can only dream of. West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith owns the athleticism and the arm strength to get a shot in the big show once his collegiate playing days are over, and receiver Tavon Austin is a first-rate athlete with the motor to match. In a comparison of raw talent, Bowling Green can’t keep up with West Virginia. The Mountaineers didn’t beat No. 1 LSU last Saturday in college football’s game of the week, but they did land their share of body blows against the Tigers’ formidable defense, racking up 533 yards and scoring three touchdowns in the first three quarters. Few other offenses are going to do that well against LSU’s supreme specimens over the course of the regular season.

With all this having been said, however, Bowling Green certainly has a path to victory – the path marked by depression and sadness in Morgantown, West Virginia.

When this game kicks off at Milan Puskar Stadium on the WVU campus, the home team will need to be ready to play. West Virginia poured so much emotion and energy into the LSU contest that there will be an undeniable sense of lingering disappointment when this game against Bowling Green kicks off. The intensity won’t be the same, and the stakes won’t be as large as they were against the top team in the United States. Human nature being what it is, West Virginia is likely to slog through the first quarter with the memory of the LSU loss still on the minds of many players.

Come the second quarter, however, the Mountaineers will need to shrug off the events of the previous weekend, because Bowling Green has the ability to make this contest a fight. Quarterback Matt Schilz has excelled so far in 2011, throwing for just under 1,200 yards in four games while leading the Falcons to a top-25 ranking in points scored. Schilz has thrown 14 touchdown passes in the young season, keeping pace with Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III and other top-tier passers in the sport. If West Virginia’s defense relaxes and the Mountaineers don’t put together early touchdown drives, Bowling Green – a 3-1 team and by far the most pleasant surprise in the Mid-American Conference’s East Division – will stick around for four quarters.

If the Falcons should somehow engineer an upset, the depression already existing in West Virginia will only deepen dramatically. That’s something the Mountaineer Nation will want to avoid at all costs.

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By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer