The Bowling Green Falcons (1-2) fell just shy of another signature upset, losing 26-20 to the #25 Texas A&M Aggies (3-1) in College Station, Texas, on Saturday evening.
Bowling Green won the coin toss and deferred, giving the Aggies the football to start.
A&M drove down the field, going 75 yards on 11 plays, capping off the drive with a 27-yard touchdown strike from Aggie quarterback Marcel Reed to his 6’6 Swedish tight end Theo Melin Ohrstrom, mossing Bowling Green safety Darius Lorfils in the process.
The Aggies converted two third down attempts and a fourth down on the drive.
Bowling Green’s offense struggled to move the football until their third drive. After two punts on their first two drives, a defensive pass interference call against Texas A&M’s Will Lee III set Bowling Green up at A&M’s 21-yard line, giving the offense a little life.
A holding penalty negated a big play from Harold Fannin Jr. and forced BG to settle for three; Jackson Kleather found the back of the net from 33 yards out to get the Falcons on the board, 7-3.
The Aggies answered with a field goal of their own – also aided by a DPI call on Edward Rhambo – Randy Bond connected on a 28-yarder to put Texas A&M back up by seven.
After another Bowling Green punt, A&M put together their longest drive of the half, a methodical 18-play, 77-yard drive that took over six minutes off the clock. After getting into the red zone, an impeccable defensive stand by the Falcons forced the Aggies to settle for another field goal—Bond connected from 29 yards to send the game to the halftime break.
After a quiet first half, Bowling Green finally started to get their star tight end going.
On the first play of the second half, Connor Bazelak connected with a wide-open Fannin for a 65-yard score, a career-long for the tight end, to cut A&M’s lead to 13-10.
The Aggies answered back, putting together another long touchdown drive, ending with a 5-yard TD pass from Reed to Jahdae Walker to put Texas A&M back up by double-digits.
After surviving a 2nd-and-18 situation, head coach Scot Loeffler got tricky. Backup QB Lucian Anderson III subbed in for Bazelak and successfully pulled off a reverse to Delaware State transfer Rahkeem Smith, who took the reverse 40 yards to the crib.
After forcing an Aggie three-and-out, redshirt freshman Trey Johnson got home on the punt, forcing a block and setting Bowling Green up with a goal-to-go situation.
Inside the 10-yard line, Bowling Green went backwards, losing two yards on first down, followed by an incomplete trick play pass and a missed 28-yard field goal by Kleather, his first miss of the season.
After getting back into the red zone, A&M’s offense stalled out once more, and Bond snuck his third field goal of the night through the uprights to give the Aggies a 23-17 lead.
A quick three-and-out by Bowling Green gave TAMU the football back with a six-point lead and over 11 minutes to kill. After a four-minute drive, Bond added another three points to the Aggie lead, this time from 42 yards out.
On the ensuing drive, Bowling Green converted two fourth downs to keep the drive alive, one to Fannin and the other to Finn Hogan.
BG got the ball all the way down to the 15-yard line before Marcus Ratcliffe picked Bazelak off in the endzone for what should’ve been the game-sealing interception.
On the first carry of the next drive, BGSU senior inside linebacker Brock Horne punched the football out of Le’Veon Moss’ grasp after he had gained the yardage needed for a first down, forcing a fumble, the second turnover forced by Bowling Green in 2024.
Following a big gain by Fannin on the first play of the drive, Bowling Green was unable to move any deeper into Aggie territory, and Kleather came on to attempt his third field goal of the night, connecting from 23 yards out to cut A&M’s lead to six.
With 38 seconds remaining in regulation, Bowling Green attempted an onside kick to keep their hopes alive. A&M’s hands team was all over it, falling on the football to secure a 26-20 victory.
Connor Bazelak completed 20 of his 36 pass attempts for 250 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. Only four of Bazelak’s passes were completed to wide receivers.
145 of those yards came from Fannin, who hauled in eight passes, including a 65-yard touchdown reception to open the second half, further solidifying himself as one of the best tight ends in the country.
Next up, Bowling Green is back at home for the first time since Aug. 29, where they’ll welcome the Old Dominion Monarchs to the Doyt for Homecoming on Sept. 28. Kickoff is set for 5:00 p.m. Falcon Media Sports Network’s Rhys Patrykus and Carter Leonard will have the call on Falcon Radio starting at 4:45 p.m. for pregame.
