BOWLING GREEN — Following Bowling Green’s resounding 46-3 victory against Morgan State on Thursday, Scot Loeffler had only one major gripe about his first game as the Falcons’ head coach.
Loeffler said there was a culprit that cost the Falcons a shutout — himself.
The Falcons’ head coach chastised himself for being “greedy” with a play call late in the second half with the Falcons ahead 30-0. Loeffler looked for a deep shot on third-down inside BG territory that didn’t connect, which led to a poor punt followed by a penalty that put the Bears in field-goal territory for their only points of the night.
“I didn't play complementary football at all right before half,” Loeffler said. “We should have had a shutout [Thursday], and that was because of my error. Period, end.”
The overall results, however, left the Falcons with plenty of encouraging signs. The win against a lower-tier FCS program was to be expected, but the Falcons won in a dominant fashion absent in previous years.
In the previous three years, Bowling Green scored the same number of points that it allowed (96) in three games against FCS teams.
On Thursday, the Falcons outgained Morgan State 620-70, surrendered just four first downs, and had their highest-scoring half in four years.
Though Bowling Green’s quarterback shuffling has not been finalized due to the undecided status of Matt McDonald, the Falcons saw a reassuring 60 minutes from its quarterbacks.
Darius Wade completed 22 of his 32 passes for 263 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Grant Loy came off the bench to add another passing touchdown and 60 yards rushing on just 8 carries.
Loeffler said he thought his two quarterbacks played “decent” in Week 1.
“It was a tough situation all week. It’s been a tough situation all training camp,” Loeffler said. “Both Grant and Darius handled it like a rock star, and I was happy for both of them to be able to get in there and get some experience.”
Bowling Green’s defense surrendered a paltry 1.8 yards per play, and three points allowed was the Falcons’ best showing since shutting out Kent State in October, 2015.
For a defense that allowed 40 points per game last season, Bowling Green saw a measure of validation for its offseason work, during which the Falcons went all the way back to basic tackling and techniques.
“I feel like that’s what we really focused on throughout this whole camp and leading into this game: technique, technique, technique,” said Falcons linebacker Jerry Roberts, who tied for the team lead with 7 tackles. “As long as you execute your technique and then execute your job, we should be fine.”
Though Loeffler said several times that Bowling Green has plenty to correct in the coming weeks, including a Sept. 7 game at Kansas State, it was a start.
“Are we anywhere [near] where we need to be? No, we’re not,” Loeffler said. “We’ve got a long way to go, but I thought [Thursday], they made a step in the right direction. There was a ton of mistakes out there, but there was a lot of positive, too.”
First Published August 31, 2019, 12:00 p.m.