ATLANTA — Bowling Green State University football coach Scot Loeffler has gotten used to remarkable responses from his team the past handful of years.
The Falcons pulled off another all-time stunner on Saturday.
After falling behind 14-0 in the first five minutes against Georgia Tech, BGSU scored the next 38 points as the 22-point underdog Falcons dominated in a 38-27 win over the Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
It was BGSU’s first win against an active member of the Atlantic Coast Conference at the time of the game. It was the Falcons’ fourth win over a team currently in the ACC, as well.
And it came one week after BGSU’s dismal performance in a 38-7 Mid-American Conference loss at home against Ohio.
“Super proud of our team, and that’s who we are. I’ve said it a thousand times; we’re a team that can go out and do what we did last week and a team that can go beat a Power Five team,” Loeffler said. “I said it to them [in the locker room]; we’ve been here before. We went and beat Minnesota [in 2021] and then the next week came out and completely laid an egg. Our challenge is now to see if we can put it back-to-back.
“... We’re never going to out-talent anyone, but we’re going to be a team that has enough talent, but we have to play team football. We played team football today.”
BGSU (2-3) outgained Georgia Tech 438-417 in total yards. The Falcons converted 59 percent (10 of 17) of their third downs while holding the Yellow Jackets (2-3), who entered the game as one of the top teams in the FBS with a 51.7 percent mark, to just 25 percent (2 of 8).
Time of possession was critical, as well. BGSU had the ball for 42:45 in running 78 plays, while Georgia Tech had it for just 17:15 and ran 58 plays. The Falcons did not commit a turnover, either, and forced three.
“As anybody who saw the game knows, it was an embarrassing display of football on our part,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said. “As epic of a failure as you can possibly have, all three phases, all aspects of the program didn’t succeed.
“Bad football. … It’s the entire football program, and that starts with me. It’s on me to make changes to get this thing fixed.”
The Yellow Jackets stormed out of the gates with a pair of touchdowns in the opening six minutes. Haynes King found a wide-open Eric Singleton, Jr., for a 53-yard touchdown on the first play of the game, then connected with Christian Leary for an 11-yard score on its next possession as Georgia Tech took a 14-0 lead with 9:40 left in the first quarter.
From there, the Falcons took control.
Quarterback Connor Bazelak completed 21 of 32 passes for 263 yards and one highlight-reel touchdown. Late in the second quarter, Bazelak scrambled while facing heavy pressure and threw a jump ball into the end zone that 6-foot-5 sophomore wide receiver Finn Hogan snagged with just his right hand for a 14-yard touchdown on third-and-10.
The sensational catch gave BGSU a 17-14 lead with 2:37 left.
Bazelak added a 1-yard touchdown run to make it 24-14 early in the third quarter, while backup quarterback Camden Orth scored from 1 yard out late in the first to pull BGSU within seven. Terion Stewart rushed for 138 yards on 26 carries, including a 6-yard touchdown in the third quarter to push BGSU’s lead to 31-14.
Two plays after Stewart’s score, BGSU cornerback Deshawn Jones, Jr., intercepted King’s pass and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown as the lead swelled to 38-14.
“I just knew that we needed a play just to keep momentum,” Jones said. “At that point, I’m just looking at the quarterback. He’s looking at me, we made eye contact, so he threw the ball.
“I don’t know if he thought I wasn’t going to get it, but I just had to make a play for the defense just to put us up a lot more.”
Georgia Tech, which was among the top teams in the FBS in total offense at 480 yards per game entering Saturday, was held scoreless for nearly 40 minutes of game time. King’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Malik Rutherford with 25 seconds left in the third quarter ended BGSU’s run.
King completed 23 of 37 passes for 348 yards and four touchdowns, including a 16-yard score to Abdul Janneh in the fourth quarter. King had two interceptions, as well; he entered the game with just two this season.
Hogan hauled in six catches for 102 yards to lead BGSU’s receivers and had a fumble recovery on a Georgia Tech punting situation. Dominick Blaylock’s seven catches for 131 yards led Georgia Tech.
First Published October 1, 2023, 1:24 a.m.
