One thing you can say about Bowling Green’s performance at Northern Illinois is the effort was spirited and obvious.

Despite a late second half rally, the BGSU Falcons fell 34-26 to the Northern Illinois Huskies on Saturday.

The Falcons (2-5, 0-3 MAC) came into the matchup off the heels of a 35-20 loss to the Akron Zips last week, and were seeking to wipe the bad memory out of their heads.

In the first quarter, tight end Christian Sims got the Falcons on the board first, with a jet sweep, four-yard touchdown run to take an early 7-0 lead.

In the second quarter, the Huskies scored a pair of touchdowns to take a 14-7 lead, with scores coming from a three-yard touchdown run from quarterback Rocky Lombardi, and a 17-yard run from running back Mason Blakemore.

After a 23-yard field goal from Falcons’ kicker Nate Needham, who made four field goals on the day, the Huskies would deliver a special team blow. Wide receiver Trayvon Rudolph returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown to extend the Huskies’ lead to 21-10.

Later in the third quarter, with the Huskies leading 24-16, Rudolph scored again for the Huskies, connecting with Lombardi on a 20-yard touchdown pass to put the Falcons in a 15-point hole.

In the fourth, with the Falcons trailing 34-19, after a defensive stand, quarterback Matt McDonald found his reliable target in wide receiver Austin Osborne for a 36-yard touchdown to cut the Huskies lead to 34-26. However, the strong running game closed out the game for the Huskies and gave them the win.

McDonald, who finished 16/41 for 235 yards and one touchdown, spoke about how his team needs to convert more field goals into touchdowns.

“We’re hurting ourselves right now,” McDonald said. “We gotta get six points instead of three because if we got six points in two or three out of those times we were winning that game, so that’s where we got to improve, and we’re going to do that.”

Head coach Scot Loeffler knows that his team is battling hard, but needs to find ways to break through adversity.

“I told our guys at the end of the game that we are competitive now and these games are going to come down to two, three or four plays and you never know when they are going to show up,” Loeffler said. “We have to work our tail off to push this boulder over the hill and finish games.”

For the Huskies, they would find great success in their running game, as they would finish with 319-yards rushing. Running back Jay Ducker would lead the committee with 218 yards on 33 carries.

The Falcons will be returning home to the Doyt on Oct. 23 at noon to take on Eastern Michigan on senior day.