KENT, Ohio — The Bowling Green State University football team claimed a 44-16 victory against Kent State at Dix Stadium on Halloween night.
It was all treats for the Falcons, who improved to 2-7 overall and 2-3 in the Mid-American Conference, while the trick was on the Golden Flashes, who fell to 2-7 overall and 1-4 in the MAC.
Here are four things we learned about Bowling Green from this victory:
1. Take this result with a grain of salt, because Kent State is not good. Not good at all.
The Golden Flashes’ defense allowed a BG team missing two of its top linemen to run for 227 yards and three touchdowns. KSU did manage three sacks, but there wasn’t enough pressure applied to truly handicap the Falcons’ offense.
And Kent State was one-dimensional on offense — and that dimension, its running game, only gained 144 yards. The Falcons stacked the box to force the Golden Flashes to throw the ball, and KSU completed just 16 of 35 passes for 140 yards with no touchdowns and three interceptions — not to mention four sacks.
In short, part of the reason the Falcons looked good was because they were playing a bad team.
2. The Bowling Green defense posted its best performance of the season.
The Falcons allowed just 284 yards of offense, their lowest mark this season, and surrendered a season-low 16 points. BG used pressure to create four turnovers; that pressure also resulted in 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.
“When we get pressure on the quarterback, that makes the DB’s lives much easier,” said senior linebacker Nate Locke, whose eight tackles included four tackles for loss and a sack. “They have less time to throw the ball — and are more likely to make mistakes.”
Six of the Golden Flashes’ 11 drives lasted four plays or less, and five of those drives covered less than five yards.
What made the Falcons’ defensive performance more impressive was that it came against a team that changed its stripes: Kent State had spent eight games running a zone-read option offense from a pro-style formation. Tuesday night it used a lot of empty backfields and spread formations.
“We watched film on them, but the entire game they ran a completely different offense than they showed all season,” Locke said. “I’m really proud of our guys for making something we had never seen before. We had to adjust on the fly, and it was really cool to see our defense do that finally.”
3. A tattered and battered offensive line put together a solid performance against the Golden Flashes.
Bowling Green was missing center Tim McAuliffe, who has started 47 games at BG, and right guard Jack Kramer, who has eight starts. Their replacements were Caleb Bright, a redshirt freshman who had just one prior career start — and was making his first start at center— and Clark Clancy, a senior making his first collegiate start.
And when sophomore Lorenzo Taborn appeared to be injured in the second quarter, the Falcons had to hold their breath. But Cincinnati transfer John Kurtz entered the game, and the line held together.
“Hats off to Caleb Bright and Clark Clancy — they deserved the game ball,” Jinks said. “That’s Caleb’s first start at center and second start overall, and that’s Clark’s first start in five years. They went in and looked like they belonged.”
Yes, the line gave up three sacks. And there were more than a few other negative-yardage plays. But considering the situation, the Falcons’ offensive line more than held its own.
Bowling Green ran for 227 net yards and three touchdowns. And an undervalued statistic: The Falcons had only one three-and-out drive in the entire contest.
“I told our offense, ‘I have to warm back up because you guys have been out there for so long,’ ” Locke said. “It was encouraging, because a turnover or a three-and-out is so discouraging to our morale. ...
“It was a breath of fresh air to see them put points on the board.”
4. The Falcons are getting superb play on special teams.
Senior punter Joseph Davidson is having a season worthy of All-America honors; the Findlay native’s only punt of the day traveled 46 yards and pinned Kent State on its 6; two plays later the Golden Flashes fumbled and BG eventually kicked a field goal.
Speaking of which, junior kicker Jake Suder is having an All-MAC caliber season. The Central Catholic graduate made three field goals covering 28, 29, and 28 yards and now has connected on 16 of 18 field goals this season. That 88.9 percent conversion rate is best in the MAC and is a huge reason the Falcons also rank near the top of the MAC in red-zone conversion success.
On kickoff returns, true freshman Matt Wilcox was explosive. He had returns of 38, 21, and an important 61-yard return early in the fourth quarter. The return by Wilcox was important because Kent State had just shown signs of life by scoring a touchdown; Wilcox set BG up on the Flashes’ 38, and four plays later the Falcons scored and essentially iced the game.
On kickoffs, senior Nick Fields and the coverage crew allowed an average of 16 yards on the seven kickoffs Kent State did return. On the first seven of BG’s nine kickoffs, the Golden Flashes started on their own 25 or worse, which is impressive.
And let’s give a little love to Marcus Milton, who has been solid on punt returns this season. He correctly fair-caught one on BG’s 10 and allowed another to bounce into the end zone for a touchback.
Contact John Wagner at jwagner@theblade.com, 419-724-6481, or on Twitter @jwagnerblade.
First Published November 1, 2017, 5:34 p.m.
