BOWLING GREEN — What a long, strange trip it’s been for Bowling Green in 2022.
The Falcons have endured every kind of game in the opening half of their season — overtime games, close regulation games, and blowouts, against Power Five, FCS, and MAC opponents. Coach Scot Loeffler has missed a game due to health issues, and senior quarterback Matt McDonald due to hip pointers. Bowling Green has shown flashes on offense, defense, and special teams -— but seemingly never at the same time.
At the season’s midpoint, the 2-4 Falcons are reeling from a massive 38-7 letdown against Buffalo, but have shown tentative signs of improvement with a lot of football left to be played.
Here are 10 statistics that portray the ups, downs, and weirdness of a Bowling Green football season unlike any other.
8 (overtimes)
Bowling Green has played eight overtimes this season spread over two games, including seven in its 59-57 loss to Eastern Kentucky and one in its 34-31 win over Marshall. The Falcons became the first team ever to play an overtime in their next game immediately following a seven-overtime game. Previously, the most overtimes Bowling Green had played in any one season was three — all in a 48-40 win over Buffalo in 2006. Thanks to rule changes, dumb luck, a few amazing plays by the Colonels, and a comeback against the Thundering Herd, no team in the FBS has played more extra football than the Falcons in 2022.
11-1
Bowling Green’s 45-17 and 45-14 losses to UCLA and Mississippi State, respectively, loom as black eyes on the Falcons’ otherwise average start. But neither loss appears as crushing in hindsight as in the moment, on account of the fact that the Bruins and Bulldogs — ranked No. 11 and No. 16 in the AP Top 25, respectively — currently carry a combined record of 11-1 between them. Keeping this in mind, it’s impressive that Bowling Green hasn’t worn down further with such a difficult schedule.
131.8
McDonald currently boasts a passer rating of 131.8, a career high and a substantial jump from both 2020 and 2021. In the pandemic year, he posted an 85.5 rating, throwing just one touchdown against six interceptions. Last season, he amassed a 121.2 rating as he threw 12 touchdowns against seven picks. This year, McDonald already has 14 touchdowns against just two interceptions. When he’s been on, Bowling Green has been on, as he’s found a symbiosis with the receiving corps he hasn’t had in previous seasons. Sixty-minute consistency after tough starts against Marshall and Buffalo is the next step.
15
Look no further than the number 15 for insight into Bowling Green’s offensive personnel flux in 2022: 15 Falcons have at least one rushing attempt in 2022, and 15 players have at least one reception. The cast of characters surrounding McDonald (and his backup, junior Camden Orth) has varied from Bowling Green’s leading rusher and receiver — sophomore running back Jaison Patterson and senior Odieu Hiliare — to pieces such as senior kicker Mason Lawler, charged with a rushing attempt after the Falcons’ ill-fated fake field goal attempt against Buffalo. Loeffler has emphasized, correctly, that Bowling Green has more weapons around McDonald than in past year, but the Falcons are still in the process of figuring out how best to use them.
102.3
The verdict on one of the preseason’s most pressing questions — how will Bowling Green’s running game fare without running back Terion Stewart? — has been decidedly mixed. The Falcons are averaging 102.3 yards per game on the ground, 117th in the country and next to last in the MAC. In a dual indictment of Bowling Green’s offense and defense, only Akron has gained fewer yards per game on the ground — and the Zips gashed the Falcons for 184 yards when they played. If McDonald is clicking, the Falcons’ lack of a rushing attack isn’t a huge issue, but when he hasn’t succeeded, Bowling Green’s offense has lacked a second dimension.
30
Every team in the MAC has a player in the top 15 in the league in scoring with 30 points or more, except for one — Bowling Green (even Akron running back Clyde Price III has 30 points on the dot, as much as the Zips have struggled offensively). It’s another statistic illustrative of just how unsettled the Falcons have been around McDonald — Hiliare and senior wide receiver CJ Lewis have emerged as favorite targets but haven’t quite made the leap to true No. 1 and No. 2 receivers Bowling Green seemed to envision in the offseason.
8 (fumble recoveries)
Good defensive news has been few and far between for Bowling Green in what has been a year to forget apart from a few key sequences. But the Falcons have been opportunistic: they’ve made eight fumble recoveries, second in the country to Coastal Carolina. Junior inside linebacker JB Brown has forced a conference-high three on his own. This could be both good news (Bowling Green has shown a nose for finding and dislodging the football) and bad news (turnover luck is extremely fungible) going forward.
311.2
Bowling Green’s struggles against the run in recent weeks have obscured the fact the Falcons have statistically the third-worst passing defense in the nation — 129th, behind only Ohio and Vanderbilt. In its first four games of the season, Bowling Green surrendered 357, 324, 356, and 420 yards through the air to UCLA, Eastern Kentucky, Marshall, and Mississippi State respectively. The Falcons have undeniably been better against the pass since September, but plus passers such as Kent State’s Collin Schlee, Toledo’s Dequan Finn, and Ohio’s Kurtis Rourke loom as second-half obstacles.
46.4
According to Pro Football Focus data, Bowling Green’s lowest seasonal team grade so far in 2022 has been in the tackling realm. The Falcons have amassed a collective score of 46.4, 11th-lowest in the nation and second lowest in the MAC behind only Ohio. Defensive players who’ve otherwise been solid — senior defensive lineman Karl Brooks, senior outside linebacker Demetrius Hardamon, and Brown among them — have struggled to tackle, with those three players recording grades of 53.0, 44.4, and 41.3. This might explain Bowling Green’s penchant for giving up explosive plays.
2
Its early success is a distant memory now — indeed, Loeffler has put the unit under the microscope in recent weeks — but Bowling Green hung its hat on special teams in the season’s opening weeks. No Falcon on special teams was more invaluable early on than junior running back and Whitmer graduate PaSean Wimberly, who blocked punts against UCLA and Eastern Kentucky. On the strength of those successes, he was given a crucial carry against Marshall, running 23 yards on the first play of overtime to set up Bowling Green’s winning score.
First Published October 12, 2022, 7:41 p.m.
