BOWLING GREEN — Matt McDonald’s arm is a key reason why the Bowling Green State University Falcons had a chance to earn their first win since November, 2019, on Saturday at Doyt Perry Stadium.
The senior quarterback who transferred from Boston College broke through for a personal best in passing yards against South Alabama, doing so by connecting with multiple receivers on big plays throughout the second half.
McDonald finished the day with 23 completions on 32 attempts (72 percent) for 309 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw an interception.
Ultimately, however, a newly established career high was diminished by a Falcons late-game collapse and a last-second field goal that lifted South Alabama to a 22-19 win.
“I know Matt, and we’re going to look at the film in the first half, and we’re going to go, ‘That was not a great performance,” Falcons head coach Scot Loeffler said after the game. “I thought he really changed and stepped it up in the second half. We had a comedy of errors in the first half, kind of went back and did some things that we did last year, [and] snapped back out of it, which I’m really proud of.”
McDonald completed 7 of 9 attempts for 71 yards in the first half, but he started to look downfield for options in a second half in which he completed 16 of 23 attempts for 238 yards and a touchdown.
He connected with three different receivers for big plays, including for the first offensive touchdown of the season for the Falcons when he found Genoa High School product Andrew Bench from 33 yards out with 9:08 left in the third. That touchdown was set up by McDonald’s 47-yard completion to Tyrone Broden two plays prior.
In the third, McDonald also found tight end Christian Sims for a 51-yard completion — the Falcons’ longest offensive play of the season — that resulted in a 40-yard field goal by Nate Needham.
McDonald completed passes of 25-or-more yards to six different receivers. In addition to Bench, Broden, and Sims, Austin Osborne recorded a 26-yard grab, Taron Keith caught a ball for 44 yards, and Jamal Johnson logged a 26-yard reception.
“We could’ve even hit some more there,” McDonald said after the game, “but we definitely stressed [throwing downfield,] and we knew that we could go after these guys vertically.”
In Week 1 against Tennessee, McDonald’s longest completion went for 31 yards (to Jamal Johnson). and the Falcons did not record another pass play for more than 25 yards. McDonald found Osborne for a 24-yard play at Tennessee.
Part of McDonald’s inflated numbers on Saturday was due to how ineffective BGSU’s running game was. The Falcons net nine rushing yards as a team, led by Terion Stewart’s 16 yards on five carries.
“We’re going to be able to be really effective in the throwing game as soon as we can run the ball,” Loeffler said. “The 23-of-32 [completions] ... when you look at it, probably should’ve been higher, but we can’t win in today’s football without some type of balance.
“To win the games here in this wind and everything else, you have to be able to run the ball.”
First Published September 12, 2021, 2:41 a.m.
