KENT, Ohio — Bowling Green State University quarterback Connor Bazelak has had to make some unusual adjustments to playing weekday night games after spending the past four seasons in Power Five conferences.
A lot of his teammates have had to quickly adapt to MACtion, as well, and even fifth-year Falcons’ coach Scot Loeffler admits it’s hard to keep track of the enormous shift in the weekly schedule.
“We’re about entering into the No Man’s Land. I still know it’s Friday, but it’s Monday,” Loeffler said during Friday’s press conference. “But you get through this week, you’re completely in no man’s land.
“You literally get in a groove that next week, I’ll think this is truly Monday. You just do. The new players, they go, ‘This is the weirdest stuff I’ve ever seen ever.’ They just go ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, this is weird stuff.’”
After playing eight games in eight weeks to start the season and getting just a few days off before gearing up for midweek contests, BGSU got off to a solid start to begin the final month of the regular season with a 24-21 Mid-American Conference win over Ball State on Nov. 1. The Falcons will play their final two games on Tuesday nights after traveling to face Kent State on Wednesday.
“It’s kind of crazy, because we go from playing on Saturdays, and now on Saturdays you’re practicing. It’s kind of a weird transition, but after the first week, we kind of get used to it,” said BGSU sophomore linebacker Joseph Sipp Jr., the Falcons’ leader in solo (32) and total (59) tackles.
“You just forget what day it is and it’s kind of messed up, but once you get into the groove of it, it’s not as bad as you think.”
Bazelak, who transferred to BGSU this season after spending one year at Big Ten Conference school Indiana and three at Southeastern Conference program Missouri, said it was odd to get used to the new schedule at first. But as he and several other recent transfers continue to go through the change, the shift has become more comfortable.
“As a team, I feel like it’s been pretty smooth honestly. It definitely helped having the bye week, I think they scheduled that pretty well knowing that we’ll have a short week,” Bazelak said. “It’s kind of a shorter bye week, but the coaches did a great job of giving us some time off and then kind of transitioning into that new schedule, the Saturday and Sunday practices, and obviously playing during the week.
“But it’s like anything, you learn how to do it, get in a routine, and then once you do it once or twice, it’s easy. I feel like the team’s done a good job of doing that, and I thought last week we had a good week of practice.”
The Falcons had 11 days between a 41-14 win over Akron on Oct. 21 — the last Saturday game of the regular season — and the victory against Ball State. Loeffler was happy with the team’s practice when they returned on Oct. 27 to prepare for Ball State.
“Normally that first day of really getting back into it stinks, and it didn’t,” Loeffler said. “That was positive.”
With the Falcons (5-4, 3-2 MAC) one victory away from bowl eligibility and their first four-game winning streak under Loeffler, the team has plenty of motivation to make the most of its November schedule.
“The coaches have been preaching, people remember teams that win in November. I think that’s true, that’s a big part of MACtion, too,” Bazelak said. “We’ve got to find ways to win games.
“I think it was my first time playing at night this year (in the Ball State game), if I remember correctly; I didn’t play against Michigan. It was fun, I like playing under the lights, and that’s how it’s going to be for the next three weeks too. Tt was good to get that first MACtion win, get used to the schedule throughout the week.”
First Published November 8, 2023, 6:29 p.m.
