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Bowling Green’s Nick Mosley runs into the end zone for a touchdown against Eastern Michigan during a MAC football game at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green on Saturday.
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‘BG beat BG’: Falcons struggle in loss to Eastern Michigan

BLADE/REBECCA BENSON

‘BG beat BG’: Falcons struggle in loss to Eastern Michigan

BOWLING GREEN — Shades of 2020 were displayed on Saturday at Doyt Perry Stadium.

Futility struck the Bowling Green State University football program for at least 3 1/2 hours. The result was a meshing of mental lapses, the surrendering of big plays, and the inability to form any sort of consistency or flow on offense.

Those factors led to a 55-24 Eastern Michigan victory in a Mid-American Conference matchup. In head coach Scot Loeffler’s own words, in the first half, “BG beat BG.”

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“We’re not going to let last year’s play creep back in, but it was the first time this season that I’m disappointed,” Loeffler said. “We took steps backward, and it felt like last year. Come hell or high water, that’s not occurring, and it did, and that’s my responsibility. Our program is moving in the right direction, but it sure as hell didn’t move today, and that’s the facts.”

Swanton graduate Gunnar Oakes, right, led Eastern Michigan with 79 receiving yards, and he caught a touchdown in Saturday's game at Bowling Green.
Corey Crisan
Oakes leads former Toledo-area stars in Eastern Michigan win at Bowling Green

Bowling Green (2-6, 0-4 MAC) has lost four straight games since defeating Minnesota in Minneapolis on Sept. 25. That now feels like years, not a month, ago.

Bowling Green’s secondary, which has been its best unit and one of the tops in Football Bowl Subdivision, was torched for 325 yards by Eastern Michigan (5-3, 2-2 MAC). That is the most surrendered this season in a single game by BGSU, and the Eagles’ 55 points were the most they have scored in a game against the Falcons.

Over its past three games, BGSU has permitted an average of 210.3 yards through the air, which is 40.5 yards more than their season average of 169.8 yards per game after the defeat to EMU.

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“We just really missed our keys,” safety Jordan Anderson said. “We didn’t play up to our potential like we know we could, and we really just didn’t play hard enough like we know we should’ve.”

BGSU opened the game’s scoring with a 25-yard Nate Needham field goal after stalling at the Eastern Michigan 7-yard line on its first drive of the game. Just as the Falcons experienced last week at Northern Illinois, a should-have-been touchdown drive instead resulted in a field goal.

The Falcons took a 10-7 lead in the second quarter when Terion Stewart rumbled in for a 5-yard TD rush with 9:33 left in the first half. That was set up by a muffed punt by EMU’s Hassan Beydoun, which BGSU recovered at the EMU 10.

But that’s about where the positivity ends for the Falcons.

Bowling Green’s Nick Mosley, left, and QB Tucker Melton celebrate a touchdown against Eastern Michigan.
Rebecca Benson
Photo Gallery: Eastern Michigan 55, BGSU 24

Bowling Green was penalized eight times for 49 yards, including an unsportsmanlike penalty on Davon Ferguson that helped move EMU deep into BGSU territory. Eastern Michigan took a 14-10 lead on that drive with 6:07 to play in the first half and didn’t look back. 

The Eagles scored 21 straight points and kept BGSU off the board for nearly 20 full game minutes in jetting out to a 31-10 lead with just under 13 minutes to play in the third quarter. The Eagles went on another scoring run of 24 straight points for nearly one full quarter until Nick Mosley’s garbage-time TD for BGSU with 58 seconds left.

“We couldn’t get going, period,” Loeffler said. “We would — positive, positive, positive, 2nd-and-3, jump offsides — we’re not a football team right now that can overcome non-talent issued penalties. That’s my responsibility. We shouldn’t be jumping offsides left and right, and we definitely shouldn’t be getting a personal foul call when we make a great play, and that’s [on] me. That’s going to get solved fast.”

Eastern Michigan blocked a punt and recovered it for a touchdown to take a 21-10 lead, and a kickoff that landed at the feet of BGSU’s Taron Keith was recovered by the Eagles near the end of the third quarter. EMU running back Samson Evans completed a 16-yard TD pass to Dylan Drummond to give the Eagles a 45-17 lead following the recovered muffed kick.

Bowling Green had 374 yards of total offense against EMU, which was 12 yards fewer than their season-best 396 at Northern Illinois the week before. But penalties and mental miscues hindered BGSU’s ability to post points.

Matt McDonald completed 20 of 35 passes for 223 yards and an interception. He was sacked once. Stewart rushed eight times for 57 yards and a TD, and Mosley had seven carries for 43 yards.

“The game is hard enough as it is, and when we’re shooting ourselves in the foot, we just don’t give ourselves a chance,” McDonald said. “This was the first time where I felt like we had no fight in us and we kind of gave up, so that was disappointing because we really haven’t done that the rest of this season.”

EMU quarterback Ben Bryant completed 20 of 26 passes for 286 yards and two TDs, including a 37-yard TD strike to Swanton graduate Gunnar Oakes that gave the Eagles their 31-10 lead early in the third quarter.

“We didn’t play good defense today, however you skin it,” Loeffler said. “‘I’ violations weren’t disciplined. We need to get back, and we need to get to work.”

Bryant had a rushing TD, and Darius Boone also rushed for a score for the Eagles. Oakes paced the Eagles in receiving yards with 79 on four catches.

“It was a slow start, but then we got unhitched there early and just figured out how they were going to play us,” EMU coach Chris Creighton said. “Offensively, after the first series or two we got things going, and it was a great feeling.”

Loeffler pulled his first-team offense in favor of his second-team and some redshirt players with just under 9 minutes to play in the game. Tucker Melton completed a pass to Anthony Wayne product Bryce Boyer for a 21-yard gain, which was Boyer’s first career reception. True freshman and Central Catholic product Tae’Shaun Johnson set foot onto the field for the second time in his career at wide receiver.

First Published October 23, 2021, 9:50 p.m.

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Bowling Green’s Nick Mosley runs into the end zone for a touchdown against Eastern Michigan during a MAC football game at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green on Saturday.  (BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)
Eastern Michigan’s Samson Evans and Bowling Green’s Deshawn Jones, Jr., collide during a MAC football game at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green on Saturday.  (BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)
Bowling Green’s Davon Ferguson dives to bring down Eastern Michigan’s Bryson Moss during a MAC football game at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green on Saturday.  (BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)
BLADE/REBECCA BENSON
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