BOWLING GREEN — The season officially will come to an end for Bowling Green on Friday with a game at Buffalo, which is playing to assure it earns another game.
The Falcons (3-8, 2-5 Mid-American Conference) have not won their final game since 2016, when they last beat the Bulls at Doyt Perry Stadium. Buffalo (6-5, 4-3) is out of the race for the MAC East, but can all but assure a bowl bid with another win.
Three things to watch for in the noon kickoff at UB Stadium:
1. Turnovers
Bowling Green has lost big two weeks in a row, and turnovers played a major role in both games. The Falcons surrendered a season-high five turnovers in last week’s 66-24 loss to Ohio, and threw three interceptions the week prior in a 44-3 defeat at Miami. Now comes a Buffalo team that ranks among the best in the MAC in forcing turnovers. The Bulls have collected 20 takeaways in 11 games, which ranks second only to Ball State’s 22. For the Falcons to pull off a major upset — they’re 29-point underdogs — they have to win the turnover battle.
2. Bowling Green’s pass protection
Buffalo leads the MAC with 3.45 sacks per game, good enough for fifth-best in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. Bowling Green, however, has been great at keeping their quarterbacks upright. The Falcons’ mix of quick throws, a mobile quarterback, and standard pass protection has yielded just more than a sack per game, which ranks 13th in the FBS.
3. Final-week wildness
The MAC can (and often does) produce some craziness during the last week of the season. In recent memory, the eventual MAC champ lost as a double-digit favorite on the final day (2008), a coach who resigned and was in his last game scored a surprise win that altered a division race (2011), a 7-win team got left out of bowl season because of a surprise loss (2013), and a ranked team lost as a touchdown-favorite one day and lost their coach the next (2015). With only one game to play, things can get a little dicey in the MAC. Even more than normal.
First Published November 28, 2019, 3:00 p.m.
