KENT, Ohio — Where did it pass wrong for Bowling Green on Saturday at Kent State? Take your pick — there have been lots of alternatives. The Falcons allowed 21 points inside the first 12 mins, squandered most of their offensive possessions with mistakes of every range, ran for forty-five yards within the first 3 quarters against what has been the worst run protection in college football, and had no rebuttal within the 2d 1/2 because the Flashes coasted to a sixty two-20 victory at Dix Stadium.
Kent State, which gained fewer video games than every person inside the Mid-American Conference throughout the past five years, scored its most factors in opposition to Bowling Green in the ninety-nine-year history of the rivalry and set a program report with an impressive 750 yards of general offense.
BG and Kent State have performed each season, however, one for the reason that 1946. “The effects these days were — in all three phases, they outcompeted us, simple and easy,” Falcons train Scot Loeffler said. “They beat us in every phase of the sport. We’re nonetheless struggling on the little matters, manifestly.”
Two weeks after Kent State (2-2, 1-zero MAC) wished beyond regular time to defeat FCS Kennesaw State 26-23 at domestic, the Flashes had no such problem with Bowling Green (1-three, zero-1). Kent State scored touchdowns the primary 3 times it touched the ball, traveling 60 or greater yards in 9 or fewer plays.
The Flashes struck first on a trick play as huge receiver Kavious Price threw a ten-backyard touchdown bypass to tight quit Keenan Orr. After a BG punt, the Flashes marched sixty-one yards on nine plays and scored Jo-El Shaw’s 1-backyard landing run. The Falcons countered with their best force of the 1/2, transferring seventy-five yards in just greater than mins and halving their deficit with Andrew Clair’s 3-yard landing run.
Kent State’s subsequent snaps ended in a 15-backyard face mask penalty on Bowling Green and Dustin Crum’s fifty-three-yard touchdown pass to Mike Carrigan. BG held Kent State to a lone area aim within the second sector however didn’t score, giving the Flashes a 24-7 lead at halftime. Against former offensive coordinator and contemporary Kent head instruct Sean Lewis, the Falcons saw their former offensive device flow the ball at will in opposition to their defense.
“I wouldn’t say they did something special,” Falcon’s defensive quit David Kowalski said. “It was us misfitting it, leverage, a lot of missed tackles. I don’t know about the stop again; however, there are quite a few miscommunications on the day’s stop. The tempo played an aspect a little bit. However, we’ve got to communicate whilst such things as that happen.”
The Falcons weren’t capable of mounting much of a project within the 2nd 1/2. Bowling Green drove within the Kent State 30 on its first ownership; however, a 3rd-down sack knocked the Falcons out of field-intention variety, and that they grew to become over the ball on downs on their next ownership.
BG gained 154 of its 360 yards inside the fourth area, even though Loeffler said the Falcons’ jogging recreation “now not good enough” and their passing offense became “hard to look at.” “We knew that we had to score factors, and we knew we had to run the ball, and we’re now not strolling the ball right now thoroughly,” Loeffler stated. “Whenever our quarterbacks make right throws, we drop the ball, and every time we’ve got guys extensive open, we omit them.”
Kent State had run its lead to 41-7 by the point BG scored on backup quarterback Grant Loy’s sixteen-backyard touchdown run early in the fourth region. The Flashes delivered 3 more touchdowns before the day changed into finished, which includes a 72-backyard score on the run up the middle on their very last play from scrimmage.
And it won’t get any easier for Bowling Green, which faces No. 7 Notre Dame in its subsequent sport on Oct. Five. “We’ve got to start doing the little matters in each thing of our application, and proper now, we’re no longer,” Loeffler stated. “We’re getting the effects of the one.”
