BOWLING GREEN — The Bowling Green State University football team will not disagree with those unhappy with the team’s defensive performance at Buffalo Saturday.

The Falcons surrendered 500 yards of total offense as well as two fourth-quarter touchdowns, but held on to claim a 28-22 victory over the Bulls in the Mid-American Conference opener.

“It’s a huge confidence booster that we can play as badly as we thought we did and come out with the win,” linebacker Nate Locke said.

Saying the Falcons played “badly” may be a bit harsh, since Buffalo scored only 22 points. But the Bulls did finish with more passing yards (348) than the pass-happy BG offense (324), and 500 yards of total offense speaks for itself.

One area where Bowling Green did play well defensively was in the red zone. The Falcons bent but did not break in the first three quarters at Buffalo, allowing the Bulls to drive much of the field but giving up just three short field goals.

“When you get down into red zone and have your back against the wall, you focus more and your effort increases,” BG coach Dino Babers said. “The guys performed extremely well down there.”

Even when the Falcons did allow Buffalo to finally score a touchdown, it came as part of a 16-play drive. The Bulls actually had a first-and-goal from the BG 1-yard line but still needed four plays to score.

“Coach Ward repped our defense, I don’t know how many times, on the exact formation they used for the first three downs,” Locke said. “We knew what was coming.

“They had to get into a formation we had not seen and make a great play call [for the touchdown], and all they had to get was one yard.”

The most disappointing part of the defensive performance was Buffalo’s last drive, which saw the Bulls cover 62 yards in 1:16 and score a touchdown that cut the Falcons lead to a single score.

“We weren’t very satisfied with the performance,” Locke said. “The linebackers — me included — didn’t communicate as well as we could have. There were errors by the defensive linemen and holes in the back end that we’re lucky their quarterback didn’t see.”

Massachusetts coach Mark Whipple, whose team will take on the Falcons Saturday at Doyt Perry Stadium, said the BG defense has taken steps forward since the start of the season.

“They’re pretty stout up front, and [Zach] Colvin is a tremendous player,” Whipple said. “They have a bunch of guys running around on the back end who can cover, and they seem to be better at the safety position than they were last year.”

Locke said he and his teammates on defense continue to work on improving.

“I can’t imagine what it will look like when we take care of the mental errors and play a complete game,” he said.

NATIONAL NUMBERS: The Falcons continue to stand among the FBS leaders in several offensive categories, most notably ranking second in passing offense (418.6 yards per game) and sixth in total offense (580.6 yards/​game).

Individually, quarterback Matt Johnson leads the nation in passing yards with 2,084 yards and 416.8 yards per game. 

One of his targets, wide receiver Roger Lewis leads all Division I players with 760 receiving yards and 152 yards per game.

Defensively, Southview product Austin Valdez stands fifth nationally in tackles with 11.4 per game from his linebacker spot.

While Babers is pleased to have several players ranked among the national leaders, he does not put much stock in those numbers.

“I don’t look at statistics,” Babers said. “The guys who look at statistics are the ones who don’t have them.”

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

First Published October 7, 2015, 4:24 a.m.