The realization that Bowling Green won’t be MAC champion or make a bowl game has set in.
The best the Falcons can finish is third in the MAC East. Considering the two teams just ahead of BG, third place is an honorable position for a team that finished 2-9 last year. Both Marshall and Miami, who will fight for the Conference Championship Saturday, beat the Falcons in the closing minutes of each contest. For BG coach Urban Meyer and his crew, the season is far from over. With a win over Ohio Saturday, the third place finish is guaranteed for BG.
“Our goal is to compete in the MAC East,” said Meyer. “It’s a respectable finish for us. Marshall and Miami are competing for the championship and a win would give us third. I think that is about where we are.”
With a 1-7 overall record, Ohio looks like an easy target for the Falcons to pick up their sixth win of the season. The Bobcats are coming off an embarrassing 44-0 loss to Buffalo, a team BG manhandled earlier in the season. OU’s record has no significance to Meyer, though.
“One of my good friends, who is the defensive coordinator at Wake Forest, said they are the most talented team in the MAC besides Marshall,” Meyer said. “They’ve been a product of losing close games. That’s what happened to this team (BG) last year.”
Ohio was one of the preseason favorites to win the MAC, but like the Falcon team of last season, the Bobcats have been unable to win the close contest. Their first game of the season against conference foe Akron, the Bobcats lost 31-29 on a Zips field goal in the final minute. The Bobcats hung with West Virginia in their second game of the season all the way until the fourth quarter, where the Mountaineers scored 17 straight points to win 20-3. A strong Iowa State team found the same fortunes a week later, winning in the closing minutes 31-28.
“Losing is awful,” Meyer said. “There is nothing worse than losing, especially the way Ohio has.”
Despite their troubles, the Bobcats have held the advantage over the Falcons in their previous two meetings. Last year Ohio stole a fourth quarter lead to grab a 23-21 victory over the Falcons.
“We’re taking this game very seriously, especially since we’ve lost to them the last two years,” BG safety Karl Rose said. “If we don’t, they could really hurt us. They’ve been in a lot of games and lost in the fourth quarter.”
A win for the Falcons will also assure them their first winning season 1994.
