Bowling Green will be looking to gain some momentum this season as they take on Buffalo Tuesday night.
The game will be at Doyt Perry Stadium at 7 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.
Despite a blowout loss last week, there were signs of improvements in this team. The defense had stretches of good play. The rushing offense stood out as they had a team total of 260 yards. Freshman running back Terion Stewart took over in the second half with 162 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
But despite the impressive numbers by the true freshman, Head Coach Scot Loeffler knows that he still has a lot to learn.
“Terion Stewart ran the football as good as we’ve had a guy run the football in a long time. He also got Matt McDonald killed twice. Terion Stewart busted the protection, he’s a freshman. He was a rockstar, but he doesn’t know the right protections yet,” Loeffler said.
Buffalo is coming off a dominant performance against Miami. The Bulls had 558 total yards of offense while holding Miami to 258 total yards. Quarterback Kyle Vantrease stole the show with 353 yards passing and four touchdowns. Preseason All-American Jaret Patterson had two touchdowns in the game as well.
The Bowling Green defense will look to slow down the explosive Buffalo offense. Last season, Buffalo defeated Bowling Green 49-7. Patterson had a game that day with 298 yards rushing and six touchdowns. Buffalo also features another good back in Kevin Marks, who rushed for over 100 yards against the Falcons last season.
The Bulls also feature a great passing game with Vantrease and wide receiver Antonio Nunn. In the first two games this season, Nunn has had over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown in each game. Buffalo’s last game had touchdown passes for 78 and 82 yards.
Bowling Green through two games have let up 595.5 yards per game. They have let up a conference worst 302.5 rushing yards per game so far. Things won’t get easier with Buffalo. It will be up to the Falcons’ front seven to contain Patterson and Marks. Linebackers Kholbe Coleman and Darren Anders will have to be on their game in order to shut down the Buffalo rushing attack.
The Falcons’ offense will look to build upon their offensive performance from a week ago. The passing game struggled again with Matt McDonald going 6 of 20 for 105 yards. It is not all McDonald’s fault. There has been drops by the receivers and the offensive line has had troubles this season.
“We had breakdowns everywhere. We had seven dropped passes, we had six pass pros completely busted, Matt missed two throws and we had a receiver fall down and we also had a horrific route by a receiver,” Loeffler said.
Buffalo will field an experienced and talented defensive line Tuesday night. It all starts with defensive end Malcolm Koonce, who led the MAC with nine sacks last season. Koonce was also All-MAC first team last season.
Loeffler in particular knows how strong they are up front, and it doesn’t end with the defensive side of the ball.
“The thing that I love about their system I mean up front they are right on both sides of the ball, I mean they are so right. They might be the most right on both sides of the ball in terms of up front,” Loffler said.
So far this season, the Buffalo defense has proven to be fierce. They already have three defensive touchdowns on the season. They are also second in the conference in yards given up per game with 327.5. There is no weak spot to this defense.
Bowling Green will try to get into the win column on Tuesday. Buffalo will look to keep pace with Kent State in the MAC West with a win.
