“In any of these big-time games, it’s gonna be discipline. It’s gonna come down to three or four plays. It’s gonna dictate the game, and it’s going to be it’ll be a slugfest for sure. So I’m really looking forward to it.”
Those were the words of Scott Loeffler this past Monday at his press conference.
Loeffler couldn’t have been more right.
This game was a slugfest, and it did come down to three to four plays, which resulted in why Bowling Green lost.
Bowling Green lost this game because of four particular plays, and with Loeffler predicting the future, he paid his dues in the postgame.
“When you look at it, there were four plays in the first half that we didn’t make. Then we had to come out, and we’re gonna swing the bat and had to win the explosion out of the second half. They made four plays. We didn’t make four plays.”
“Whoever makes the two to three plays, unfortunately, it was four, is gonna win the game.”
The first play occurred when Miami scored in one play after getting granted great field position due to a John Henderson punt that went for 13 yards, which gave Miami the ball at BG’s 30-yard line.
Which then resulted in play number two that Miami made. The Redhawks scored while capitalizing on the field position in just one play to give Miami the 7-0 lead.
Play number three had us in the red zone in which we saw a well-defended ball by Jacorey Benjamin, but the ball was tipped, and Reggie Virgil was in the right place at the right time as the ball fell into his hands for the walk-in touchdown to give Miami the 14-5 lead nearing the end of the half.
Loeffler said the football gods just weren’t on their side for that play.
“One of their explosion plays was a tipped ball for a touchdown. Football gods weren’t with us there.”
The fourth play was the dagger—a two-play drive that lasted 54 seconds for 76 yards and a touchdown for Miami.
Bowling Green, a drive before, had just found their groove on offense and found the endzone for six to make the game just a two-point deficit.
A drive that Connor Bazelak believed they found their rhythm in.
“That was one of those drives that I felt like we really had some rhythm and flow going.”
But lightning struck as Javon Tracy completed a 72-yard touchdown to punch in the dagger.
Jordan Oladokun, who snagged an interception today, said trying to stay positive after that was the motive.
“Just trying to keep the energy up on the sideline as much as possible. It was still, I think, a two-point game. So we could’ve easily gone down and scored and had to be back out there making another big stop. So just trying to stay as positive as we can and try to uplift all these things.”
So, four plays dictated this game?
Sounds weird to say, but it’s true. Suppose any of those plays gave a bounce BG’s way. The game could be looked at differently.
But Loeffler loves this squad and the seniors, who have brought the program’s standard back and have changed the culture for the better.
“I’m extremely proud of those kids, particularly seniors. We fought, we fought back, we fought and brought the program back, and unfortunately, it didn’t happen for us today. And we’re going to wake up tomorrow morning, we’re going to wipe off blood and tears, this team will stick together, and this team will go play in a bowl game, and we need to send these seniors off the right way.” said Loeffler. “Because the fact of the matter is, they came here whenever we sucked and every aspect of the word suck and worked their tails off to take us to three bowl games, put ourselves in a chance to go to the championship, and they’ve left the legacy because they changed the program back to the winning ways.”
