The Bulldogs had a plan of attack for the GLIAC/GLVC challenge this past weekend when Ferris played host to the Cougars of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and the Kentucky Wesleyan.

“Plain and simple: execution and rebounding. When we execute, we will get the shots we want. When those shots don’t fall, we need to rebound the ball and finish plays. When they do fall, we are really fun to watch, as we are capable of putting big points on the scoreboard," said Tracy Dorow, head coach.

“It all begins at the defensive end though. We must defend and make it harder for the GLVC opponents to get good shots and then we need to rebound the ball and push it. We are at our best when we are attacking in transition and then we also have a very solid half-court game, but we like to mix it up so we don’t appear so predictable,” Dorow said.

The Bulldogs executed and rebounded as they swept the GLVC opponents. They knocked off the Cougars 77-69 on Friday night and the Panthers 73-69 on Saturday.

The Bulldogs fought the Panthers for the first 14 minutes on Friday’s game before senior forward/center Rachel Folcik’s lay up put the Bulldogs up by two. That was all the Bulldogs needed before they took control and capitalized on Panther errors.

Junior guard Teghan Thelen was fouled behind the three point line with 5:15 left in the first half. Thelen capitalized on the free throws by making all three putting the Bulldogs up 29-23.

A jumper put up by Cougar Whitney Sykes cut the Bulldog lead to six, and was rewarded a free throw shot after sophomore forward/center Andrea Clancy fouled her on the play to cut the Bulldog lead down to five, 31-26.

Clancy got the points back on the Bulldogs next possession as she recorded a jumper of her own to put the Bulldogs up 33-25.

The Cougars weren’t out as Lindsey Rujawitz made a free throw to cut the Bulldog lead 34-31 with 42 seconds left in the first half.

Sykes tied the score at 33 all, with 32 seconds into the second half. The Bulldogs weren’t worried and senior guard Katie Loosvelt answered with a three point shot to reclaim the Bulldog lead. The Bulldogs wouldn’t allow the Cougars to tie the score again as the Bulldogs went up 16 points, 63-47, after Folcik made a free throw.

The Cougars cut the lead down to four with 5:38 remaining, before Thelen retaliated with a fast break putting the Bulldogs up 67-61. The Bulldogs were led by Folcik’s double-double, with 20 points and a night high 10 rebounds. Thelen played Robin to Folcik’s Batman recording 19 points and eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs didn’t receive the memo to be nice to their guests Saturday night as the Bulldogs defeated the Panthers 73-69.

The Panthers took control early, until nine minutes into the first half when Folcik's layup tied the score at 15 all. Thelen tied the score at 23 with six minutes remaining.

In the final minute of the first half, junior guard/forward Sam Johns grabbed the first Bulldog lead of the night as she made a field goal in the final second, to end the half with a Bulldog lead 34-32.

The Panthers grabbed the momentum in the second half and had an eight point lead at the 12:09 mark. The Bulldogs were just warming up as they chipped the Panther’s lead down to one and took a 55-54 lead off Houdek’s fast break lay up. The Bulldogs were able to roll the rest of the half as they claimed their second victory of the weekend.

The Bulldogs begin their GLIAC season tomorrow when they host Saginaw Valley State at 6 p.m., and travel to Midland, Mich. on Friday to take on Northwood at 6 p.m.

The Ferris State Bulldogs recorded a loss and a win in a two game series against the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks on Friday, Nov. 16 and Sunday, Nov. 18.

The series brings the Bulldogs record to 5-6-1 overall and 4-4 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA).

The first game saw five different skaters score for the Bulldogs as they blew past the Mavericks with a 5-1 victory.

Freshmen goalie Patrick Nagle started in goal for the Bulldogs and stopped 31 Maverick shots as he recorded his third win of the season.

The game marked an end to a two game losing streak for the Bulldogs and was the first win at University Nebraska-Omaha (UNO) since Jan. 7, 2004.

The fate of the Mavericks was decided in the first period as the Bulldogs were able to register three goals in the first 20 minutes of the game.

Junior left winger Brendan Connolly opened up the scoring for the Bulldogs as he pounded home his fourth goal of the year to give his team a one goal advantage.

Sophomore center Cody Chupp then was able to grab the puck in his own zone, blow past the Maverick defense and slide the puck to Connolly who was able to bang home his own rebound.

Freshmen defenseman Scott Wietecha scored on a Bulldog power play as he one timed a pass from junior right winger Corey Couturier past the Mavericks goalie.

The goal put the Bulldogs up by two and marked Wietecha’s first collegiate goal.

The Mavericks were able to bring the game back within one just halfway through the first as they put the puck past Nagle on a wrist shot.

The Bulldogs took control of the game just a few minutes later as Couturier picked up the puck on a Connolly dump and skated out to the hash marks where he blew the puck over the Mavericks goalie's shoulder.

The second period only showed one goal as sophomore right winger Blair Riley accepted a pass from senior defenseman Adam Welch and one timed the puck through the five-hole to give the Bulldogs a three goal lead.

Junior right winger J.T. Dahlinger scored the last goal of the game as he tipped the puck into the net to give the Bulldogs a four goal lead.

“I feel the team played very well last weekend, especially in regards to our goal tending and defensive play.” Head Coach Bob Daniels said.

“On Friday we were strong in all areas of the game including both the power play and penalty kill.”

Sunday proved to be a different game as the Mavericks were able to shut out the Bulldogs for the first time in 21 meetings defeating the Bulldogs 2-0.

“On Sunday, we were very strong defensively but had a difficult time generating offense. I give UNO full credit on Sunday for their ability to shut down our offense.” Daniels said.

The first period proved scoreless for both teams as it looked to be a defensive game.

The Mavericks notched the first goal on a five-on-three power play. The shot slipped passed junior goaltender Mitch O’Keefe's stick side just three minutes into the second.

Despite many scoring chances throughout the rest of the period the Bulldogs were unable to connect and they headed into the third down by one.

Goal tending was the key in the last period as both goalies stood strong for their teams.

But regardless of O’Keefe’s impressive play, the Mavericks were able to connect with less than five minutes left in the game, tallying another goal and pulling the game out of reach for the Bulldogs.

O’Keefe stopped 20 shots while the offense was able to produce 18 shots on the Mavericks' goalie.

Despite two power-play opportunities Ferris was unable to connect while the Mavericks were able to convert on one of five attempts.

“We are about 1/3 of the way through the season and I see many areas to be happy with.” Daniels said.

“Our goal tending ranks in the top 3 of the CCHA and our defensive play continues to be strong. Areas of weakness appear to be our ability to generate offense on a consistent basis; one night we score five goals and the next night we don’t score at all. Also, we need to be more disciplined. We continue to take too many unnecessary penalties.”

The Bulldogs were idle over Thanksgiving weekend but jump back against the Western Michigan Broncos in a home series. Ferris will host the first game at Ewigleben Arena (Nov. 30) before they travel to WMU’s Lawson Arena to finish up the series.

Ferris State men’s basketball went 2-2 over Thanksgiving break as they fell to Hillsdale on Saturday (Nov.17), defeated Grace Bible on Monday (Nov.19), defeated Alma on Wednesday (Nov.21) and lost to Northern Kentucky on Saturday (Nov.24).

Although the Bulldogs lost their season opener 84-72 to the Hillsdale Chargers, they showed fans why they should stay under the porch if they can’t hang with the big dogs by posting a 103-63 win over Grace Bible.

The win marked the first of the season for men’s basketball. The Bulldogs had no problem sealing the win as they led by 30 points at halftime.

“We knew we had a great chance of winning if we went out, played hard, and executed on both ends of the floor,” junior gurard Jessie York commented.

Freshman gurad Matt DeHart scored 19 points and had four assists. Eighteen of his points came from behind the arc.

Freshman Darryl Nobles recorded 17 points, forward Justin Keenan had 15 and 12 rebounds, and DeJuan Wright scored 12 to help lead the Bulldogs.

Ferris shot less than 50 percent from the floor but was more than 50 percent from three point range.

Grace Bible Tigers were led by Matt Jamieson with 15 points respectively.

In addition to having more than 11 players put points on the board for the Bulldogs, they hustled to grab 24 offensive rebounds. The Bulldogs also posted a 49-30 rebounding mark over the Tigers.

With 23 assists and 11 steals, Ferris proved it was ready to rumble.

With York out until December and a roster filled with freshman, the Bulldogs discovered not all wins would come as easy.

Ferris posted a 47-43 road victory over Alma College on Wednesday.

Alma led 28-16 at halftime but Ferris recovered during the second half to out score them 31-15.

The Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run early in the second half. Freshman guard Darien Gay gave the Bulldogs the lead off a three pointer with less than eight minutes left to play. Gay then helped Ferris keep the lead off a layup. Seven free throws after that sealed the win.

However, the Bulldogs seal was almost broken when Alma reduced the lead to one point with 22 seconds left.

“We are very young but our freshman have to become sophomores this season. They are motivated to learn from coach Sall,” York said.

Gay had four assists and three steals. In addition, Keenan had 11 points and seven rebounds to help lead the Bulldogs.

After two consecutive wins, the Bulldogs fell 67-45 to Northen Kentucky on Saturday in a nonleague match.

Ferris watched as Northern Kentucky Norse shot 55 percent from the floor and delivered on 12 three pointers. They led 40-24 at halftime and the Bulldogs never recovered. Kennan stepped up for the team by scoring 13 points and recovered seven rebounds. Nobles had 10 points respectively.

“I think coach Sall is taking a different approach this year than with his previous years of coaching. This year he is so much more relaxed and even more of a teacher,” York commented.

Ferris recorded 13 assists, four steals, and two blocks while Norse recorded 15 assists, four steals, and three blocks.

The Bulldogs will host Saginaw Valley State tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Jim Wink Arena.

The Lady Bulldogs wrapped up their volleyball season on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007 with a first-round loss to Northern Michigan in three games during the first round in the GLIAC tournament.

The Bulldogs missed the NCAA tournament bid by one spot, finishing ninth in the region. The team’s finish didn’t dampen the players’ spirits about the season.

“It was a great season. We as a team achieved a lot of goals we set and improved a lot. This team especially was a lot of fun to be a part of. We had the same goals working to achieve,” outside hitter Lindsay Johnson said.

Ferris recorded its ninth 20 win season in the last 10 years as it finished third in the GLIAC north (20-10, 12-6) behind first place rival Grand Valley State (17-1, 33-3) who is currently ranked fifth in the nation and behind Northern Michigan (13-5, 20-12), and were swept by both teams in regular season play.

The Bulldogs were picked in the pre-season coaches’ poll to finish third in the GLIAC. Ferris picked up 24 points from the leagues’ head coaches.

The Bulldogs were led by three seniors. Johnson, who recorded 27 kills and 148 digs this season and libero Jamie Palazzolo, who finished with 28 consecutive matches with double-digit digs recorded a total of 534 digs in the year.

Lindsay Tye led the team with 488 kills this season from her outside hitter spot, and finished the season ranked third in the GLIAC for kills per game, averaging 4.65.

“The seniors are a special group. They worked hard to perfect their skills and improve their game. They were also completely dedicated to the success of this team - on and off the court,” head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm said.

The Bulldogs outperformed their opponents in every category with a +307 margin of kills and +286 assist margin. The Bulldogs finished the season with 243 aces from the service line, and 1,781 total digs.

“I guess it's [final volleyball season] kind of a surreal feeling. It was a great experience. The team has been amazing the last four years,” Johnson said.

Four Bulldogs were named to the GLIAC team. Tye was the lone Bulldog on the GLIAC first team as Palazzolo and sophomore middle hitter Kristy Gilchrist were both named to the GLIAC second team. Junior setter Andrea Rich received a GLIAC honorable mention nod. Rich recorded 700 assists and 213 digs this season.

“This team is special because they improved so much and because they dedicated themselves to such high standards on and off the court. They are extremely close knit. They were incredible representatives of our university,” Brandel-Wilhelm said.

The Ferris State Bulldogs registered their fourth winning season in the last five years with a 6-5 overall record this season. It represents the program’s eighth winning campaign in 13 years under head coach Jeff Pierce and marks the 13th time in the last 19 years the Bulldogs have finished above 500 for the year.

The Bulldogs won their last two games to pull their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) record to an even 5-5.

“We had very high expectations heading into the season.” Pierce said.

“Having a winning season is always great. Especially in one of the most competitive divisions. I feel we ended up in the middle of the pack.”

The team accumulated 38 touchdowns with 25 coming on the ground and 13 through the air.

The Bulldogs totaled 4,311 yards of total offense as they rushed for 2,338 and passes for 1,973.

The rushing yards contributed to the third most rushing yards ever gained in a single season for a Bulldogs team.

The offense combined for an average of 391 yards per game with rushing leading the way with an average of 212.

Thirteen Bulldogs were named to the 2007 GLIAC football teams with junior defensive tackle Jake Visser and senior offensive guard Bill Bourdlais earning first-team recognition for the second consecutive season.

Visser also received the honor of being named the GLIAC’s Defensive Lineman of the Year. Visser tallied the team’s secondhighest tackles figure with 106 and led the squad in tackles for a loss with 14.5 for minus 62 yards which ranked fifth in the conference.

Receiving all-conference second team were senior slot receiver Robert Miller along with senior defensive tackle Kurt Hout, junior middle linebacker Kevin Noe, junior defensive back Terrell Heggins, and junior kicker Jim Yates.

Six other Bulldogs gained GLIAC honorable mention including five seniors. Quarterback C.J. Van Wieren, defensive end Erik Schumacher, wide receiver Mike Guevara, flanker Nate Fricke, and safety Patrick Wells were each honored. Also chosen was linebacker Jordan Moore who has one season of eligibility remaining for Ferris.

Schumacher and Visser led the defense as they combined for 12 sacks for a total loss of 76 yards.

The remaining defense contributed an additional eight sacks bringing the total loss to 131.

The Bulldogs coaching staff also presented various players awards for their performance throughout the season.

Visser was recognized as the team’s most valuable player and claimed the team’s most valuable defensive lineman award for the second straight year.

The coaching staff presented the Most Valuable Offensive Skill Player honor to Van Wieren who ran for a career-high 1,015 rushing yards this season and completed 129-of-243 passes for 1835 yards.

Wells was picked as the teams Most Valuable Defensive Skill Player and Yates was the recipient of the Special Teams Player of the Year Award.

The coaching staff also recognized senior tailback Kirk Covey and Miller as coaches award honorees.

Freshmen offensive tackle Joe Doman, in addition to Noe, Wellmen, Heggins, Schumacher, Fricke, freshmen linebacker Chris Callender, and freshmen quarterback Tom Schnieder also received awards.

Additionally, the Bulldogs recognized Visser, Van Wieren, Bourdlais, and Schumacher for their roles in serving as team captains for the 2007 season.

Perhaps the most memorable game of the year was the home finale against the Northwood Timberwolves as the Bulldogs rallied late in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime where they were able to pull out the win.

“To come back from a 10 point deficit with under five minutes left in the game against a team of that caliber is great.” Pierce said.

On a day when people all over the country sit down for a family gathering to give thanks for all they have been blessed with, I found myself at the table with a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn’t from a bad piece of turkey or a rotten side dish or that nasty cranberry sauce. It was from the despicable display of football that I watched for the previous three and a half hours.

I watched in awe as the Lions failed to score touchdowns on their first two possessions; one coming off a Brett Favre fumble on his first play. But we couldn’t get into the end zone. I watched helplessly as countless passes were either dropped or overthrown.

I was impressed with how we integrated Calvin Johnson into the offense for once. But then, on the radio on Sunday, I heard that there was word passed down from Lions’ ownership (think: the Ford family) to Rod Marinelli and Mike Martz to throw the ball to Johnson. Wait, wait. Your name is Ford. As in the car company. You don’t make football decisions, you make car decisions! You can tell Martz and Marinelli to drive an F-150 but you cannot tell them who to get the ball to. It’s not fair to anyone on the team not to mention that it is illogical.

In the end, they lost to the ancient Favre and the once defeated Packers. Oh, and if they scored touchdowns on those first two possessions, they would have won. Happy Thanksgiving.

Jacksonville at Indianapolis
Indianapolis has not been the same team lately. Peyton Manning has struggled through two of the last three games and the Colts have significant injuries on offense and defense. This seems to be throwing their whole system out of whack.

Jacksonville is coming off a large win over Buffalo. The offense and defense basically had a scrimmage against the ever struggling Bills. The Jaguars are 8-3 and are very much in the playoff picture.

This could be the week that Colts’ WR Marvin Harrison comes back from an extensive injury. I think when he does return, the Colts will be back on the right track.

My Pick: Indianapolis

Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
Cincinnati Bengals seemed to finally break out of their shell last week against what has been an above average Titans’ defense. Carson Palmer had 283 yards and three touchdowns, all to Chad Johnson. The Bengals’ defense also held Tennessee to 64 yards rushing.

Pittsburgh missed Santonio Holmes on Monday with a minor injury and Nate Washington filled in. I’m writing this on Sunday night, but I’m still willing to bet that the Steelers did well against winless Miami. Before that, they were recovering from a loss at the hands of the Jets.

This injury with Holmes doesn’t seem too serious and he is an integral part of their offense. The Steelers also have a handful of injuries and the sooner these players come back the sooner they will be on the winning road.

My Pick: Pittsburgh

Here is a full list of teams that I think will pull of a victory this week.

Dallas, San Diego, Tennessee, Indianapolis, Washington, Carolina, Detroit, Miami, St. Louis, Seattle, Cleveland, Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and New England.

Last week I went 12-5 including two Monday night games due to the break. That brings me to 90-46 holding my season average at 66 percent.

Editor’s notes: results of the Monday game were unavailable at press time. ESPN.com was used as a resource.