Bowling Green Football dropped their second straight Mid-American Conference game, falling to Miami (OH) down in Oxford, 27-0. It’s the first time the Falcons have been shutout since October 5, 2019, against No. 9 Notre Dame.
‘On both sides of the ball, I didn’t think we played well up front,” head coach Scot Loeffler said postgame. “Defense couldn’t get off the field. Offensively, we didn’t play well up front. Had some tremendous in the back end of just wide-open guys, just didn’t make the plays.”
Miami drew blood first, draining 11 minutes and 31 seconds on their opening drive. Running back Rashad Amos took care of scoring duties, punching it in from a yard out on third down to put his RedHawks up 7-0 early, overcoming two big penalties on the drive.
“We were in third-and-short, third-and-medium the entire drive, we were in man coverage on a majority of those third downs and just didn’t play tight enough coverage,” Loeffler said. “The quarterback made a couple of good plays.”
After Connor Bazelak opened completing three of his first four pass attempts, Miami forced a Bowling Green punt after a third down, eight-yard sack from Miami’s Corey Suttle.
Trent Simms forced a fumble on Joe Wilkins that Darren Anders recovered and returned 17 yards, setting the offense up at their own 37-yard line, but were forced to punt after just five plays.
Back and forth punts and turnovers were the story until the final drive of the first half, where after an almost-interception by Jordan Oladokun, a roughing the passer call on Anders kept the drive alive for the RedHawks.
After driving 82 yards, Miami struck again: Brett Gabbert connected with his big tight end Nate Muersch in the back right corner of the end zone for another score to close out the first half.
“I believe a major, major swing in the game occurred in the second quarter,” Loeffler said. “We would’ve had the ball at the 50-yard line, we intercepted the ball and there was a roughing the passer. At worst, you want to come off and be seven points down at half and getting the ball.”
Bowling Green, after deferring the opening coin toss, got the ball to open half number two.
After facing third down twice and going for it on fourth down once, big receptions by Harold Fannin Jr. and Georgia Tech hero Finn Hogan kept the drive alive.
It sputtered out around the 28-yard line, and a missed field goal by Alan Anaya left the score at 14-0 and gave Miami the ball back in their own territory.
Despite penalties, Miami capitalized again: Gabbert found his back out of the backfield, connecting with Kenny Tracy who was left uncovered and took it 39 yards to the house untouched.
“Those ones were definitely tough on us. We thought we were getting off the field a couple times,” safety Trent Simms said after the game.
On the ensuing drive, after a nice run from Terion Stewart, Bazelak was forced to step up and throw on the run, and he threw it right into the hands of Miami’s Ty Wise, Bazelak’s first interception since the Ohio game.
The defense bent, but didn’t break, forcing Miami to take three. Graham Nicholson nailed a 52-yarder, his longest of the 2023 season to extend Miami’s lead to 24.
Bazelak was sacked twice on the next drive for a total of 10 yards, forcing another Bowling Green punt, giving Miami the ball back on their own 35-yard line with 13 minutes to kill.
The RedHawks drove down and kicked another field goal, extending their lead to 27.
Bowling Green punted one more time and Miami kneeled away the clock, officially cementing the shutout.
Gabbert finished the day 15 of 18 for 170 yards and two touchdowns, including completing his first seven passes of the day.
Stewart was the main playmaker on offense for Bowling Green, totaling 63 yards on eight carries.
“We’ve got to regroup and go beat Buffalo and go have a great second half,” said Loeffler.
Bowling Green drops to 2-4 (0-2 MAC) this season, and next up is the final game of their three-game road trip, this time out in northern New York where they duel with the Buffalo Bulls, who have won two straight games after starting the season 0-4.
Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. on October 14.
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