When I started to write this, I had to dig a little to make sure I didn’t miss anything I wanted to say. To the college football world, Larry Smith is a former coach at Arizona, USC and Missouri, and a Hall of Fame coach at that. But to fellow Falcons, he’s one of us.

He grew up in Van Wert before heading to the U.S. Military Academy for college. Deciding he wanted to get into coaching, he transferred to BG. As a sophomore, he was part of a national championship, even though he was the last player in the last row of the team picture. The next year, Smith was named honorable mention All-Ohio by the UPI at end, and as a senior, he was named a team captain (not to mention front and center in the team picture) as the Falcons won their third MAC title.

As a lineman, his name doesn’t pepper the record books like so many other BG greats, but he’s just as accomplished as any of his teammates, if not more so. In fact, he’s not even the only “Larry Smith” on the all-time roster. His namesake put on the Brown and Orange four years after he graduated in 1962.

(Although, Smith did return to BG to earn a master’s degree in 1967. Coincidence?)

Media outlets from around his coaching stops have lengthy obituaries about their former coach, all mention Bowling Green, some in the Los Angeles area refer to the 1959 championship. The official athletic site at BG borrowed one of those obituaries, as did The Blade, though I hope in both cases, as the days pass, they write a more BG-centric story. Maureen Fulton at The Blade did a great “In Their Own Words” story a couple years back ($2.95 through the paper’s archive search), so I know there is a lot of information there.

He’s a member of the BG Athletic Hall of Fame (it’s on me to write up a bio for him still), and was on the field coaching Mizzou when Gary Blackney led the Falcons to a 17-10 win on September 9, 1995 (a game which I broadcast for WBGU and still have on tape somewhere). Smith got his revenge and a little more three years later, blanking a much different BG squad, 37-0.

It’s stories like Larry Smith’s that I set out to tell when I started BGSUsports.com almost three years ago, the Falcons that did great things, but didn’t necessarily get the headlines. It’s a fun project, but always a little sad when one passes away.

Roll along #83!

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So. That was a little less than pleasant.

Short of running play “EMU 24 Turbo Left” (you know, the one where we line up with trips to the right, send the RB in motion and have the QB drop back, gift wrap the ball and place it on our goal line and slowly walk away), BG did what they could to give away the GMAC Bowl, and with flying colors.

It was unpleasant, and there are issues that may be better discussed at an even later date (even two full days of forgetfulness doesn’t feel like it’s enough to get an emotion-free post), but it’s only fair to document it.

For the record, I’m in the “horrible aberration” camp. BG came out knowing they would be in a dogfight with Tulsa, and after a couple unfortunate accidents (I have a hard time blaming Freddie Barnes for dropping a pass he never appeared to have much of a handle on and having it ruled a fumble as he was hit), the Falcons were in full-on press mode, trying to make up for lost ground. Like the Barnes play, I always have a hard time getting mad at players who make “errors of effort”, like Anthony Turner (remember him, the one that took a position change and carried us through November?) coughing it up on a dive to the goal line.

And the 4th and 2 from the 3 that went incomplete? I questioned parts of it as it happened, but quickly recognized it. It was a mirror image of the “awesome play call” that picked up the winning two-point conversion at Minnesota at the start of the year. Just didn’t go this time. In fact, aside from an odd reliance on a Turner-free running game, even down a couple scores, the only play call I wasn’t huge on was the ever-popular draw play from 5 yards deep on 4th and a foot.

(Not including, of course, Tulsa’s choice of playcalls down the stretch, with their starting quarterback throwing at will up 49. They say they had their reasons, I still think their reasons border on classless, but then again, my team lost by 56.)

I already said more than I planned in this post, but I’m not ruling out more thoughts later.

But for now…how about that hockey team?

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The hockey team put up a valiant effort before falling to Miami(OH), so the weekend won’t be as perfect as previously suggested, but the men’s hoops team beating Ohio was pretty awesome and we have dessert yet to come.

I mentioned at AZZ.com, but can’t believe I missed it here, but Bowling Green’s eighth bowl appearance comes on what would have been Doyt Perry’s 98th birthday. Happy birthday Coach, and if you can find some time to help out your beloved Orange and Brown, it would be much appreciated!

GO BG!

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Remember a couple months (and about four posts) ago when we had a near-perfect weekend for BG athletics? Well, we’re 1/5 of the way through another that would make the first one look like an early season win over Urbana.

Last night, the hockey team dominated (then held on. Whew!) #1 Miami(OH) at the BG Ice Arena. They go back at it tonight, and while BG can probably expect to see a completely different (and desperate) team coming at them, a win to sweep the RedskinHawks might just seal the best weekend in Falcon hockey in 15 or more years. (The last win over a #1 team was 1993, I can’t imagine the last time they swept #1 over a weekend.)

But wait, there’s more. The women’s hoops team is currently up 17 on Chicago State (after seeing a 24-point lead dwindle before halftime) in an appetizer before the real fun begins. Or so we hope. The men open MAC play against Ohio at 4pm, and a win over a strong Bobcats team would be incredible. By all accounts, the guys were a bushel basket of turnovers away from being even more in a game against a tough Duquesne than they already were (they fought back to within four or five before losing it down the stretch, and watching the margin expand with free throws). Not saying they can click their heels and make turnovers go away, but if they can limit them, they might have a shot to beat OU, and send a throng of cocky Bobcat fans home with their tails between their legs.

Of course, after the second half of the hockey series Saturday night, the day we’ve been waiting for since we started turning things around in November has arrived. BG vs. Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl. The more I think about how strong Tulsa’s offense is, the more I think about how our defense stepped up against Toledo and shut down a Rocket offense that had been clicking through November.

And how.

Even though BG didn’t play for a MAC Championship, they were clearly one of the best teams (and CMU got awfully wishy-washy after locking up the MAC West) in the conference during the last four weeks, and make a damn fine bowl representative. Some grade/discipline-related issues thin the ranks a little in some key spots, but if we’ve learned anything with this team, it’s to never count them out.

A liveblog from afar might not be out of the question. GO BG!

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Here’s my suggestion for marketing BGSU men’s basketball for the next 2.5 years.

FEED OTIS!!!

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A little tidbit of information to restart the heart of AZZBlog, as we gear up for a Sunday night battle with Tulsa at the GMAC Bowl…

I was updating the football results database, and found out that back on November 9 at Eastern Michigan, Anthony Turner’s second quarter four-yard TD run put BG over the 17,000 point mark in their history. Pretty fitting for that to come on the legs of #17, don’t ya think?

Also, BG is obviously playing its first January game in school history Sunday, and a win over the Golden Hurricane would mean a winning record for every month in which the Falcons have played a game. That fact will be tested in the season opener at Pittsburgh in late August, as the Falcons are 4-3 in that month.

And since we all love to beat Toledo (and that was, after all, the last game we played)… the 37 points scored by BG in the game is the first time in series history they’ve scored exactly 37 points against the Rockets. Also, Jermiah Kelley’s ducking and dodging 52-yard touchdown put BG over the 1,400 point mark all-time against their rivals.

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