The Bowling Green Falcons (2-4-0) were defeated by the Northern Illinois Huskies (4-2-0) in a highly defensive bout, riddled with injuries and penalties.
Northern Illinois, who were previously ranked after defeating a top 10 opponent, entered the Doyt to take on the Falcons in a game where the Falcons were eager to win to bring them back to 500 on the season and 2-0 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play.
The Huskies, who received the ball first, were lucky on a string of penalties, which allowed them to march up the field. However, Bowling Green’s defense was able to make the stop and force a field goal that put the Huskies up by three midway through the first quarter.
Bowling Green had a fast start to their first drive with senior Connor Bazelak perfectly placing the ball in the hands of senior Jamal Johnson for a 36-yard gain. Immediately following this play, junior Terion Stewart made a crafty play to put the Falcons in the red zone.
On third down, Bazelak threw a touchdown to the three-time MAC offensive player of the week, junior Harold Fannin Jr., who not only recorded a touchdown but also broke a record for the most single-season receiving yards of any tight end in Bowling Green history. Sophomore Jackson Kleathler was also successful in scoring the extra point for BG.
NIU’s running back Gavin Williams was able to help out a ton on the offensive front for the Huskies, making some big plays early and bringing the Huskies within Bowling Green territory. Williams ended the night with 102 yards on 29 carries, which proved to be vital in the outcome.
Following Williams’ run, former Huskie CJ Brown made an incredible stop, laying out NIU’s quarterback in a violent fashion, ultimately forcing a fourth down that was unsuccessful in an attempt to convert it.
Unfortunately, after getting battered by the Bowling Green defense, Huskies starting quarterback Ethan Hampton was injured and sat for the rest of the match.
Bowling Green drove up the field but was held to a 42-yard missed field goal attempt.
After a Bazelak fumbled from a tipped pass, NIU was stuffed by Bowling Green. In an attempt to make a 24-yard field goal, senior Ali Saad made an intense block, which returned the ball to Bowling Green.
However, after another turnover from the Falcons, NIU was able to make a 21-yard field goal attempt, tightening their score deficit to one point.
Following this, Bazelak went down with an injury, leaving both starting quarterbacks out of the game.
Going into halftime, the Falcons led the Huskies (7-6) in a low-scoring first half with tons of injuries.
Thankfully, at the beginning of the half, Bazelak was able to step back in, appearing to have added more tape around his injured leg. However, he was quickly replaced and spotted entering the locker room with a bad hobble.
Redshirt freshman Lucian Anderson III filled in at quarterback for the remainder of the game.
After receiving the ball, the Falcons ended up in a 4th and 14 situation where junior John Henderson faked the punt and made a 23-yard dash, allowing a Bowling Green first down. However, after the great effort, Bowling Green missed a second field goal from 32 yards.
The rest of the game was in high favor of the Huskies, with Josh Holst making an eight-yard touchdown completion to Cam Thompson and another tacking on another field goal to finish out the game (17-7 NIU).
“We just flat got our tails kicked upfront from the tight ends to the offensive line. I don’t know how well we blocked even at the running back position; we’ve been exceptional with that. The fact of the matter is we just lost in the trenches on offense,” said head coach Scot Loeffler postgame. “Just like I said, we couldn’t even remotely touch or get into what we game plan, and that’s frustrating. That’s hard whenever you’re getting knocked back in the backfield; it’s pretty hard to get things going. I thought the first drive we were able to get into stuff that we could actually attack this team with and had a good plan down in the red zone, when we hit Harold, got max splits. But that’s the only drive that I can even think of that we were even remotely able to touch what we worked on all week.”
The loss is a definite blow to Bowling Green, but they will look to get back in the win column next Saturday, Oct. 19, against Kent State at home in the Doyt.
