If Bowling Green is going to perform one of the biggest turnarounds in college football this year.
They may be riding their defense, which they did in the first half of Saturday’s 42-23 victory over Temple at Doyt Perry Stadium. The Falcons are now 3-0, their best start since 1985.
For their 3-0 start, BG received one Top 25 vote from the Associated Press.
The final point total, their highest since they scored 58 against Akron in 1998, belied the nature of the game.
The Falcons led 7-0 before the offense netted positive yardage on a play from scrimmage, thanks to safety Chad Long’s 30-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown. On the Falcons’ first play from scrimmage, they fumbled the ball away.
“Our defense carried our offense,” said quarterback Andy Sahm. “We were disappointed with our first half.”
BG protected their seven-point lead for most of the first half, but lost it on their second turnover. Temple offensive lineman Raheem Brock stepped in the way of a Sahm screen pass, intercepted it, and rumbled his 6-4, 257-pound frame around, over and through would-be tacklers 59 yards for a touchdown.
BG’s second touchdown was set by their first big offensive play of the game. In the middle of the second quarter, Sahm completed a 30-yard pass to James Hawkins that took the ball all the way to the Temple one-yard line. Sahm plunged across the goal line on the next play to put the Falcons up 14-7. The 55-yard drive that led to the score was BG’s most sustained offensive threat of the half.
With a little under five minutes left in the half, BG turned the ball over on downs, and Temple’s freshman quarterback Mike McGann looked like he was starting to gain a foothold. He led the Owls on an 11-play drive that consumed over four minutes, taking the ball from the Temple 38-yard line to the BG 23. Temple kicker Cap Poklemba nailed a 40-yard field goal and the Owls pulled to within four at 14-10.
Temple nearly gained the lead in the first half’s closing seconds. They recovered the ensuing onside kick at their own 26-yard line and drove all the way to the BG 27. McGann fired for the end zone, but cornerback Janssen Patton made a leaping, twisting interception in the end zone, preserving the 14-10 BG lead at the half.
“Janssen is our biggest playmaker right now,” said defensive lineman Brandon Hicks. “He’s earned it. He is an extremely hard worker.”
Patton gave the credit elsewhere.
“All the credit goes to the defensive line,” he said. “I was just able to make the play, rely on good location.”
Hicks got BG on the board in the second half when he intercepted an early third quarter pass from McGann and ran it 31 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-10.
Perhaps BG’s biggest offensive highlight of the game came on their next score later in the quarter. Sahm found a wide-open Kurt Gerling on a 45-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown gave the Falcons a 28-17 lead, and extended Gerling’s consecutive-game catch streak to 32.
Temple was down, but not out. On the next possession, McGann rallied the Owls to their second sustained offensive drive, 15 plays, 82 yards, and six minutes long. This time, they did cross the goal line as backup quarterback Mac DeVito hit tight end Eric Carpenter for a six-yard touchdown pass, cutting the BG lead to 11 at 28-17, the score at the end of the third quarter.
BG would answer back on the first drive of the fourth quarter as Sahm threw his second touchdown pass of the game, this time to David Bautista for 28 yards to make it 35-17.
Poklemba came up short on a 44-yard field goal attempt later in the third quarter, but the outcome of the game being essentially decided didn’t stop the teams from a wild, 13-point finish.
With a little over three minutes left, McGann hooked up with Chonn Lacey on a 60-yard touchdown pass, but a two-point conversion attempt failed, and the score stayed at 35-23.
The Owls made one last-ditch effort to claw back into the game with a second onside kick. The kick was recovered by Patton, who scampered 42 yards for the game’s last touchdown at 2:58 of the fourth quarter.
“This is as big a win as we have had this year,” BG coach Urban Meyer said. This game really concerned me because Temple is a good program.”
Meyer made reference to ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit, who listed Temple as one of his Cinderella teams.
Meyer said he learned something good about his team in seeing how their handled their initial offensive ineptitude.
“I am very proud of our ability to handle adversity,” he said. “BG had a label of being a team that would fold in the fourth quarter, but every time we went on that field, I just saw a bunch of energy.”
Temple coach Bobby Wallace was impressed with the defense on both side of the ball.
“Our defense played well early,” he said. “Both defenses played well, but BG’s passing game hurt us.”
