MOBILE, Ala. — There have been plenty of distractions for the Bowling Green State University football team since it arrived Saturday to play in the GoDaddy Bowl.

Make that “potential” distractions, because interim coach Brian Ward said Sunday the team has managed to separate the work needed to prepare for Wednesday’s contest against Georgia Southern from the opportunities for fun a bowl provides.

“When the ball hits the line and we blow the whistle, it’s just football,” Ward said. “From Day 1, this group has just enjoyed being around each other and enjoyed playing the game. … We haven’t changed anything; we’re still doing what we do. We’re just working to put together four good quarters of football against Georgia Southern.”

Ward said much of the Falcons preparation for the bowl already took place in Bowling Green in the week before the team flew to Mobile.

“Right now this is cleanup time,” he said. “We’re just getting used to the surroundings, and making sure the extracurricular activities don’t overtake the preparation that already has gone in to this game.”

Often coaches will use extra practice days as an opportunity to give redshirts, freshmen, and walk-ons a chance to get extra work with coaches help their development.

Because Ward and a majority of the staff will leave after the bowl game to join Dino Babers at Syracuse, BG’s practices have not been used toward that end.

“It is a unique situation,” Ward said. “I would say that football concepts and principles such as tackling and leverage, or blocking and other fundamentals … the more you do it, the more it becomes natural.

“Because of the MAC championship game and because of the bowl game, we’re going to get 15 practices most teams won’t get. With a young football team, the more they get to practice, the more that will help in their development.”

Ward did say he thought the extra preparation time could help the Falcons defense prepare to face Georgia Southern’s option offense, a style of play BG saw only for a brief time in the Ohio game this season.

“From the defensive standpoint, the more football these guys have played, the better they have gotten,” he said. 

“I hope that holds true in the bowl game — and the future of the program.”

HISTORY TOUR: On Sunday the Falcons toured the battleship USS Alabama, now a museum moored in Mobile Bay. 

The attraction also features the submarine USS Drum as well as a pavilion filled with a variety of different war aircrafts.

Just before the tour began the Falcons were treated to a lunch with featured speaker Sherman Williams, a standout football player who won a national title at Alabama in 1992 and a Super Bowl with the Cowboys in 1996.

Williams also was sent to 15 years in prison on drug and counterfeiting charges. He spoke to both BG and Georgia Southern about his life, which is chronicled in a book entitled, “Crimson Cowboy.”

TODAY’S SCHEDULE: Selected members of the BG football team will begin the day with a visit to South Alabama Children's and Women's Hospital in the morning.

Then the team will practice in the midafternoon at UMS-Wright High School before competing in the Camellia Lanes Bowling Challenge in the evening.

WEATHER REPORT: Clouds started to descent on Mobile late Sunday, and the rain is supposed to begin today.

The temperature is expected to reach 70 during the day and won’t get much cooler than the low 60s at night, but occasional rain during the day is supposed to turn into one to two inches of rain by Tuesday morning.

Contact John Wagner at: jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481 or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.

First Published December 21, 2015, 5:50 a.m.