The Falcons took on the Murray State Racers in week three of the 2021 season. This was their second home game this season. But it wasn’t any regular game, it was the Homecoming football game. The Falcons looked to turn their season around after a rough 0-2 start.
The game started out hot as the Falcons took an early 7-0 lead, after an interception by linebacker Brock Horne which led to good field positioning resulting in a two yard rushing touchdown for Jaison Patterson. Later in the quarter, the Falcons put up a field goal to grow their lead to 10-0. However, 10 unanswered points by the Murray State offense tied the game at halftime.
In the second half, the Bowling Green offense started out with a rushing touchdown from quarterback Matt McDonald. The defense is the story in this one, coming up with a total of two takeaways and not allowing Murray State’s offense to score a single point in the second half.
Matt McDonald completed 22/28 passing attempts for 229 yards and one passing touchdown in the air. The Falcon’s running attack also had a nice game rushing for 123 yards and a total of three touchdowns on the ground. This combination of good offense and a very solid defense propelled the Bowling Green Falcons to their first victory of the season with a 27-10 win over Murray State.
BGSU Quarterback Matt McDonald talked about what a win does for team confidence moving forward.
“It gives us all the confidence in the world. We just [have] to minimize the mistakes and stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We can be better, the sky’s the limit,” he said.
Saturday night marked the Falcons’ first win since they defeated conference foe Akron on Senior Day in 2019.
“I’m excited for those guys. Last week was horrible – it was miserable. I give them credit. We’re a young team that could’ve tanked it, but they came out with a great attitude. We’re just going to keep getting better and better. That’s the goal,” Head Coach Scot Loeffler said of the win’s importance.
The Falcons will look to ride their momentum to Minneapolis to take on the Big Ten West’s Minnesota Golden Gophers. Kickoff is set for noon on Sept. 25, and can be viewed on ESPNU.
