Two of the Mid-American Conference’s top performers were on a collision course Friday afternoon in Perry
Stadium.
BG quarterback Tyler Sheehan was scrambling to reach the end zone against arch-rival Toledo.
UT safety Barry Church, maybe the top defensive player in the conference, was closing quickly to stop
Sheehan.
Church got the job done, knocking Sheehan out-of-bounds at the 1-yard line late in the first quarter of
BG’s 38-24 victory,
Sheehan was able to finish the game, although he said he hurt his left (non-throwing) shoulder on the
play.
However, Church was helped off the field with a possible concussion. He did not return. PHOTO
GALLERY
“I really don’t know what happened (on the play). I was out of it for a little while and dinged up my
shoulder a little bit,” Sheehan said. “I was just trying to get into the end zone and obviously he’s an
explosive player and he made a pretty good hit on me.”
“It was tough because Barry is one of the leaders on our defense, but I felt the defense rallied pretty
good,” said UT senior Lester Richmond.
Sheehan did not have one of his better days, hitting on 19-of-31 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
He came into the game, averaging 320.6 yards passing per game.
Sheehan also said the wind made it difficult to throw the ball.
“The wind was a little bit of a factor today, just blowing in different directions, you have to kind of
adjust to it,” Sheehan said.
“We preach ball security so much, he almost tried to be too perfect. They did a good job in coverage and
they did a good job taking away his first read with Freddie (Barnes) a lot of the day,” BG head coach
Dave Clawson said.
Sheehan passed the 10,000-yard mark for total offensive yards and has 10,123 total yards from scrimmage,
the most in school history.
Sheehan also became BG’s all-time leader in pass attempts during the game. He now has 1,447.
Meanwhile, Toledo’s Austin Dantin, a freshman, was 23-of-38 passing for 326 yards and two interceptions.

BARNES: Barnes finished with nine receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. He has 138 receptions, four
away from matching the all-time NCAA single-season mark of 142 catches set by Houston’s Manny Hazard in
1989. He is tied for third all-time in receptions.
Barnes has caught a TD pass in seven straight games.
GETER: Aided by a 61-yard yard run late in the fourth quarter, BG’s Willie Geter finished with 114 yards
rushing and three touchdowns on 16 carries.
Geter also caught four passes for 31 yards.
Geter has scored six touchdowns in his last four games.
PENALTY: UT head coach Tim Beckman, a former BG assistant coach, was hit with a 15-yard penalty while
arguing the fumble call on UT’s Eric Page late in the game when the Rockets were driving in an effort to
tie the score.
Beckman said that Page’s forward progress was stopped before the fumble.
“He (the official) said is was non-reviewable,” said Beckman, who added he would rather not comment on
what he said to the official that drew the penalty.
Clawson thought it was a good call.
“He was still leaning forward and our guy made a great strip on the ball,” Clawson said. “You have to
play to the fumble and even after the fumble he was leaning forward.”
TURNOVERS: BG won the turnover battle, 5-1.
RIVALS: BG has won three straight games in the rivalry against Toledo.
“It’s really special and I’m really proud of our team,” Sheehan said. “We’ve fought through a lot of
adversity this year and to be able to come out on top in our last home game against Toledo is something
that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
“To be able to go out like this is nice.”