BOWLING GREEN — Improbably, Bowling Green will play a key role in the race for the Mid-American Conference championship after all.
The Falcons have long been eliminated from contention for the East Division title, yet they find themselves as a major factor in the final week of the regular season, during which they play host to division leader Buffalo on Friday at Doyt Perry Stadium.
Just weeks ago, the final day of the season seemed headed toward irrelevance in the East, but a series of surprising games in the division changed the stakes.
That starts with the resurgent Falcons, who are playing with an interim coach but have rallied with back-to-back road victories and enter the Buffalo game playing their most complete football this year.
“Sometimes when things are hanging over a program and change is made, there’s a chance for a team to kind of start anew, and you see this team doing that,” Buffalo coach Lance Leipold said of Bowling Green. “[They’re] playing loose, playing confident.”
Northern Illinois won the West, but three teams still have a chance to represent the East next week in the MAC Championship Game in Detroit.
If the Bulls (9-2, 6-1 MAC) win, they clinch the division outright. But Bowling Green (3-8, 2-5) will have a host of new fans in Oxford and Athens.
Miami, which has upset Ohio and Northern Illinois in back-to-back games, can win the East with a victory Tuesday against Ball State and a Falcons win.
Ohio still is alive, but it needs a win against Akron on Friday and losses by Miami and Buffalo.
While Bowling Green can play the role of spoiler, the Falcons are more concerned with a positive finish to what has been a trying season. This will be the final college game for the senior class and also a chance to finish the year with their first three-game winning streak since 2016.
“We’ve been looking good these last couple games,” senior offensive lineman Austin Labus said. “Basically, the culture for us seniors is we’re playing for each other, playing for our team. We love our guys and we just want to see this program have success.”
Although Bowling Green cannot advance any further this season no matter what happens against Buffalo, interim coach Carl Pelini said he challenged the Falcons’ seniors to approach the end of the season with the future in mind.
“I said to them, ‘You’re not playing for a championship anymore. You’re not playing for a bowl berth. But what you are playing for is Bowling Green football,’” Pelini said. “All the success that happens here in the future, [the seniors] can feel like the final four or five games of this season laid the foundation for that.”
The Bulls opened as 14-point favorites against Bowling Green, which has allowed just 20 points during the past two games but likely will see its biggest test in a Buffalo offense led by Anthony Johnson, an NFL prospect at receiver, and 6-foot-7 quarterback Tyree Jackson.
The circumstances are much different for the two sides, but the Falcons hope to continue their upward trajectory by taking a shot at perhaps the best team in the league.
“We’ve got to play our best game and see if we eliminate some of our early-game mistakes, put four quarters together, and see what happens,” Pelini said.
First Published November 19, 2018, 8:40 p.m.
