Bowling Green under Dave Clawson

Dave Clawson took over the helm as the Bowling Green head football coach starting with the 2009 season and finished as head football coach after accepting the head football coaching position at Wake Forest.  Here is my analysis of the Bowling Green Falcon's football team during coach Clawson's tenure at Bowling Green using the using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model starting with his first season as head football coach.  Below is a chart with the Falcons ranking over the last five seasons as well as the worst team in the Football Bowl Subdivision during that time as well.  As you can see, Bowling Green has been a program on the rise over the last three seasons, and has been above average for the last two seasons.

2009
In Clawson's first season as head football coach, the Falcons finished the regular season at 7-5 making them bowl eligible but lost to #78 ranked Idaho to finish overall at 7-6.  Bowling Green played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average, meaning that their actual SOS was within one standard deviation of the "league" average.  The Falcon's best game was a victory over #49 ranked Troy and their worst game was a loss to #90 ranked Marshall.  Overall, the Falcon's had the #52 ranked team with the #32 ranked offense and the #84 ranked defense.

2010
This was Clawson's worst season as head football coach, as the Falcons finished the regular season at 2-10 making them bowl ineligible.  Bowling Green again played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average.  The Falcon's best game was a victory over #82 ranked Marshall and their worst game was a loss to #99 ranked Buffalo.  Overall, the Falcons had the #110 ranked team with the #112 ranked offense and the #99 ranked defense.

2011
This was the second to worst season under Clawson even though the Falcons improved their regular season in the win/loss column to 5-7, still making the Falcons bowl ineligible.  Bowling Green again played against an "average" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average.  The Falcon's best game was a victory over #13 ranked Temple and their worst game was a loss to #85 ranked Kent State.  Overall, the Falcons had the #98 ranked team with the #102 ranked offense and the #87 ranked defense.

2012
This was the season that turned Bowling Green around, with the Falcons finishing the regular season at 8-4 and playing in a post-season bowl.  While the Falcons lost to #12 ranked San Jose State to finish overall at 8-5, this is a big change from the previous two seasons.  Bowling Green again played against an "easier" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average, meaning that Bowling Green's SOS was between one and two standard deviations higher than the "league" average.  Bowling Green's best game was their victory over #54 ranked Ohio and their worst game was a loss to #71 ranked Toledo.  Overall, the Falcons had the #42 ranked team with the #77 ranked offense and the #13 ranked defense.

2013
In what ended up as Clawson's last season as Bowling Green head football coach, the Falcons finished the regular season at 8-4; and winning the Mid American Conference championship game over #16 ranked Northern Illinois to finish the regular season at 9-4.  The Falcons lost their bowl game (not coached by Clawson) to #67 ranked Pittsburg to finish overall at 9-5.  Bowling Green again played against an "easier" strength of schedule (SOS) as compared to the "league" average.  Bowling Green's best game was their Mid American Conference victory over #16 ranked Northern Illinois.  Their worst loss was to #77 ranked Indiana.  Overall, the Falcons had the #17 ranked team with the #25 ranked offense and the #17 ranked defense.

Analysis of 2013 NCAA FBS Head Coach Changes
Louisville and Charlie Strong
UAB and Garrick McGee
Western Kentucky and Bobby Petrino
Arkansas State and Bryan Harsin
Army and Rich Ellerson
Vanderbilt and James Franklin
Penn State and Bill O'Brien
UMass and Charley Molnar
Boise State and Chris Petersen
Texas and Mack Brown
Washington and Steve Sarkisian
Wake Forest and Jim Grobe
Wyoming and Dave Christensen
Eastern Michigan and Ron English
Florida Atlantic and Carl Pelini
Miami of Ohio and Don Treadwell
UConn and Paul Pasqualoni
USC and Lane Kiffen