It’s been 27 days since the Bowling Green Falcons played in front of a home crowd at Doyt L Perry Stadium.
The Falcons had themselves a long road trip and they return home with a posted record of 2-1 over that span.
Today, BG welcome the Akron Zips into town for an in-division clash. This is both Bowling Green and Akron’s fourth MAC game of the year.
The Zips currently sit tied for last in the MAC East division with a record of 1-6 on the year and 0-3 in MAC play.
But that record does not fool Scot Loeffler, he’s coached 1-6 teams before and knows what that looks like and believes this Akron team is nothing like a 1-6 team.
“Trust me I know what a 1-6 team looks like in this league and we were my first two years here we were god-awful and we were 1-6 and 0-6, I know what that looks like and this Akron team doesn’t look like that at all. You just watch their games and nothing on tape shows that they’re a 1-6 team. It’s an even game in my opinion,” said Loeffler on Monday.
So Bowling Green will have their work cut out for them.
This Akron team is led by second-year head football coach, Joe Moorhead. Moorhead enters his second year as the Zips lead man and is building something special there. With that, he knows it takes time.
Moorhead knows this will be a tough game and has all praise.
“They had a big win over Buffalo, they notched a power 5 win over Georgia Tech. So always a well-coached team, a lot of physicality and athleticism on both sides of the ball,” said Moorhead. “I haven’t been to Doyt Perry but I know it’s a very challenging place to play. Like every MAC game, you look at Toledo vs Ball State from this past weekend, Toledo was a heavy favorite going into the game and it ended 13-6 in favor of Toledo. So the parity of the MAC is what makes this conference special.”
Loeffler also had praise to say about Moorhead’s team.
“I think they’re right on par with becoming a really good MAC defense. Offensively any time you lose your starting quarterback, that’s hard and I mean really hard. They’ve done a really good job at adapting to that situation but this isn’t a 1-6 team we’re playing,” said Loeffler.
Akron enters this game ranked 10th in the MAC offensively only posting 13 touchdowns on the year while averaging 280 yards per game.
As on defense they’re giving up 348 yards per game each week which ranked them sixth in the MAC.
Akron’s lone win came back in week two where they defeated Morgan State 24-21 at home. Since then their opponents have outscored them 149 to 64. That includes a quadruple overtime loss against Big Ten opponent Indiana where they lost 30-27.
Bowling Green enters this game ranked 8th offensively in the MAC just two spots ahead of Akron as the Falcons average 302 yards per game.
An offense that is powered by the run game with Terion Stewart and Ta’ron Keith being the leading backs with Stewart ranking fourth in the MAC in total yards and yards per game.
“They really run the ball behind a really big offensive line. I believe they created five turnovers against Buffalo, so coach Loeffler and his staff always do a nice job having his guys prepared and they’re always well coached,” said Moorhead.
This is also an offense where as we enter into week eight, we still don’t truly have a starting quarterback.
Last week against Buffalo we saw Camden Orth get the start and the win as Connor Bazelak was out with an injury.
Loeffler says the decision of who is starting will be upon kickoff.
“We’re still dealing with some injuries right now and that will completely be a game-time decision.”
On the defensive side of the ball we see Bowling Green ranked fourth in the MAC giving up 337 yards per game.
With takeaways however, Bowling Green leads the MAC in interceptions and is second in the whole country with 16 takeaways on the defensive side of the ball.
If this Bowling Green defense continues to play at the rate they have been playing at these past few games, then we could potentially see Bowling Green stand alone at the top of the nation in takeaways.
The last time these two teams matchup was just over a year ago when Bowling Green just edged out Akron with a 31-28 win.
Akron’s last win versus Bowling Green came here at the Doyt in 2021 where Akron defeated Bowling Green 35-20.
However Bowling Green has won five out of their last eight games against Akron dating back to 2015.
Bowling Green will be honoring the 2003 Falcon team Saturday, a team that drew in ESPN’s College Gameday to Doyt L Perry Stadium 20 years ago.
Kickoff is set to be at 2:00 p.m.
For more stories related to BGSU Athletics, follow Falcon Media Sports Network on X (@bg_fmsn).
Join me and Kalen Lumpkins on the call with the pregame at 1:45 p.m.
