ATHENS, Ohio — The Bowling Green State University football team needed a win over Ohio University on Tuesday to keep the Falcons in the hunt for a Mid-American Conference East Division title and a spot in the conference championship game.
The Falcons couldn’t fulfill their end of the scenario.
Bowling Green fell 38-14 to Ohio at Peden Stadium, ending the Falcons’ hopes of a MAC title game rematch with the University of Toledo.
The Bobcats (9-3, 7-1) will face the Rockets in the MAC championship game on Dec. 3 at Ford Field.
Had BG won, the Falcons would have needed a Buffalo loss against Kent State on Saturday in order to reach the MAC title game. As things stand, BG (6-6, 5-3) finishes with its best regular-season record since 2015.
“As painful as this is, not being able to finish and give yourself a chance to win the East, it's going to be a really good lesson,” BG coach Scot Loeffler said. “This whole thing has been a progression. We put ourselves in position, we've improved, we've moved the needle. It's still not good enough, but it's getting there.”
Ohio scored on each of its first three possessions of the second quarter. Bobcats quarterback CJ Harris scored on the first drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.
On the following drive, quarterback Matt McDonald was intercepted by Zack Sanders, a takeaway that led to a Bobcats scoring drive. Sam Wiglusz caught a 20-yard pass from Harris, and the Bobcats took a 14-7 lead.
Sieh Bangura recorded a 3-yard rushing touchdown for the third consecutive score.
“We've been a really good tackling team, and we ran out of gas in terms of that,” Loeffler said. “Whenever I'm watching our defense, who normally is absolutely flying to the ball, they were just step slow. We didn't tackle well.”
The Falcons received the ball with 39 seconds remaining in the second quarter. On McDonald’s first pass of that drive at Bowling Green’s 22, he was intercepted by Tariq Drake. Harris capped off the Bobcats’ 28-point quarter with an 8-yard touchdown for a 28-7 lead that effectively put the game out of reach.
In the absence of Kurtis Rourke, Ohio’s starting quarterback and the top passer in the MAC, Harris stepped up for the Bobcats. The redshirt sophomore completed 10 of 21 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown. Harris also rushed for 65 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries.
“I just feel like all around that we just needed to rally to the ball, and we didn't do that,” DJ Taylor, who led the Falcons with 11 tackles, said. “We were missing a couple tackles. We didn't really get to where we needed to get to. So of course [Harris] broke ’em out. Like I said, Ohio's a really good team. They got really good quarterback, both of ’em, and they just beat us.”
McDonald was intercepted three times, two of which led to scoring drives for the Bobcats. He finished with 16 of 29 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown.
Bowling Green had three-and-outs on its first and second drives in the first quarter. On the Falcons’ third possession, McDonald completed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Tyrone Broden.
The Bobcats’ defense, which entered Tuesday’s contest last in passing yards (312.3) and total yards (456.1), held the Falcons to 229 passing yards and 279 total yards. Bowling Green wasn’t able to find production on the ground: Nick Mosley was the leading rusher with 29 yards on four carries.
“Just like Loeffler said, we just ran out of gas as a team,” Christian Sims said. “We definitely left plays out there on the field. But we definitely made strides, but tonight we just ran out of gas. Simple as that.”
Ohio’s defensive effort was led by Bobcats linebacker Keye Thompson. Thompson had 11 tackles, two solo, one tackle for loss, one sack, and two quarterback hurries.
Camden Orth, who replaced McDonald at quarterback, had a 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Orth completed 2 of 3 passes for 12 yards. He also rushed for 27 yards and a touchdown on two carries.
First Published November 23, 2022, 4:53 a.m.
