The wait was supposed to be longer and more agonizing.
Luckily for the Bowling Green football team, the wait to receive a bowl bid ended just one week after losing to Toledo in the team’s regular season finale.
Normally a team in BG’s situation would be waiting it out to see if they could earn an at large bid.
“To get a bid at this time to a prestigious bowl like the GMAC Bowl really says a lot,” BG head coach Gregg Brandon said. “Not only for Bowling Green and our football program but for the Mid-American Conference.”
It was announced in a press conference yesterday afternoon that the Falcons would meet up with the Memphis Tigers at the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. December 22.
Murray Cape, chairman of the GMAC Bowl made the announcement to the media and some members of the team in a conference yesterday.
Brandon then asked his players jokingly if they accepted the bid from the GMAC.
Not a second later, center Scott Mruczkowski replied, “absolutely.”
The bowl bid caps off a season of great highs and almost insurmountable lows for the Falcons.
“I don’t know if great is the word to describe this season,” Brandon said. “We got off to a shaky start, everybody knew about the death of Aaron Richardson, that was very tough for me, our coaches and our players. It’s very difficult as a football program to overcome that.”
The Falcons then came out just 10 days later and had a loss to Northern Illinois that would’ve crushed a team with less character.
Not the Falcons.
“After the Northern loss, our team put together seven straight wins in impressive fashion,” Brandon said. “Our offense led the MAC in four categories, our defense led in scoring defense most of the way and our special teams was right up there.”
This year’s Falcons had close to a dream season, but their ultimate goals were cut short when they lost to Toledo last week.
“The Toledo game, that’s always a big game,” BG quarterback Omar Jacobs said. “You don’t feel better [about the loss] but you just have that chance to play another game … it’s a chance to give these seniors a chance to go out winners again.”
Finishing the season with a loss to Toledo wasn’t what the Falcons were looking for. Now the seniors get one last chance at a win to close out successful careers that have seen them become the only class to win eight games four years in a row.
“If we’d have ended like that, it would’ve left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth,” Mruczkowski said. “Now we’ve got one more chance to finish off our great careers.”
Now the team knows their mission, they just have to go out and accomplish it.
“It’s pretty cool,” Brandon said. “Now we’ve got a site, we’ve got an opponent and now we can start preparations.”
The Falcons have exactly three weeks to find out if they will go out on a sour note or if they can overcome adversity one more time when they meet up with Memphis in Mobile.
Tickets are already on sale for the game.
