The 1961 Bowling Green Falcons football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Bowling Green State University Bowling Green State University (BGSU) is a public research university in Bowling Green, Ohio. The main academic and residential campus is south of Toledo, Ohio. The university has nationally recognized programs and research facilities in the ...

in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(MAC) during the

1961 NCAA University Division football season During the 20th century, the NCAA had no playoff for the major college football teams in the University Division, later known as Division I-A. The NCAA did recognize a national champion based upon the final results of "wire service" ( AP and UPI) ...

. In their seventh season under head coach

Doyt Perry Doyt L. Perry (January 6, 1910February 10, 1992) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as head football coach at Bowling Green State University from 1955 to 1964, compiling a record of 77–11–5, a ...

, the Falcons compiled an 8–2 record (5–1 against MAC opponents), won the MAC championship, and outscored opponents by a combined total of 194 to 78. On November 23, 1961, Bowling Green concluded its season with a 36–6 loss to

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

in the

Mercy Bowl The Mercy Bowl was the name to two one-off charity bowl games played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The first was played between Fresno State University and Bowling Green State University on November 23, 1961, as a ...

at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

. The game was Bowling Green's first bowl appearance. The game was a fundraiser for the families of members of the

Cal Poly Mustangs football The Cal Poly Mustangs are the football team representing California Polytechnic State University located in San Luis Obispo, California. The team plays its home games at Mustang Memorial Field, at the NCAA Division I FCS level in the Big Sky Conf ...

team who died in a C-46 plane crash while returning home after a game at Bowling Green on October 29, 1960.

Schedule

References

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

Bowling Green Falcons football seasons Mid-American Conference football champion seasons

Bowling Green Falcons football The Bowling Green Falcons football program is the intercollegiate football team of Bowling Green State University. The team is a member of the NCAA, playing at the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly Division I-A, level; BGSU football ...

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