Week 4 Ohio vs BGSU Recap

 Recap

Yikes. I mean... yikes. This game was just more of the same but felt like our worst game of the year by far. I mean at one point it was first and goal from the 3 yard line and resulted in ZERO points. The game started okay but then a 70 yard touchdown run and a kick return touchdown right after we scored just killed the morale of the game. The defense was bad as usual as the Bobcats just ran every which way and even special teams had blunders. Let's dive into the recap.

1st Quarter

Ohio scored 21 points in the first quarter. Oh yeah, it was ugly. Ohio drove down the field on their first drive and scored a rushing touchdown from 8 yards out by De'Monte Tuggle. A few minutes later, Tuggle scored again on a one play drive with a 70 yard rushing TD. The Falcons were then able to string together a nice drive, with Matt McDonald making some solid throws and Andrew Clair doing a great job on the ground. Shoutout to the O line for opening up big holes. BG settled for a FG but at least was able to make it 14-3. The Ohio returned a kick return 96 yards to the house to go up 21-3 in the first quarter.

2nd Quarter

The 2nd quarter started with our best drive of the entire season. Bowling Green had big plays from Clair, McDonald made good throws and then a touchdown was taken away by a flag. Then the Orange and Brown did something they almost never do, and came back from a penalty. Just two plays later, Matt McDonald threw the first touchdown pass to a wide receiver, Javonte Kinsey, since 2018 when Jarrett Doege was the starting QB. Carl Pelini was the interim Head Coach and it was actually a legendary touchdown in ab= blow out loss. It was Grant Loy in garbage time, the man who would lead one of the best wins in Bowling Green Football HISTORY as 27 point underdogs against Toledo at the Doyt, to Scott Miller who is the only Falcon drafted in the last 6 years and was an amazing athlete for BG. So back to this game, the Falcons are down just 21-10 and the Ohio drives down the field again and scores. 2 picks by McDonald later, and BG is down 45-10 at halftime and looks worse than ever.

3rd Quarter

The 3rd quarter wasn't terrible. Like I said earlier, Andrew Clair had a monster run to the 3 yard line, and then was subbed out as the Orange and Brown got stuffed 4 plays in a row. The Bobcats then drove 97 yards down the field to score, but that would be the last score of the final game. Despite the Bobcats scoring on 8 of their first 9 drives, which is really really awful, at least they only scored 7 in the 2nd half.  

4th Quarter

Boring quarter, and frustrating because Scot Loeffler took out Matt McDonald for a few plays and we got to see LeBronz Davis and yet he was only allowed to pass once. Not sure why Scot did not want to see what we may have for a backup. With McDonald hurt, Davis or Riley Keller may get the start against Akron.  

Bowling Green

Passing

Wow, this passing game was ugly with a capital U G L Y. Matt McDonald was 9/20 with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions. The 9 completions only accounted for 125 yards, 70 of them going to Quintin Morris. Morris had a few drops so I would not say he played great and I felt McDonald targeted him way too much. Julian Ortega-Jones, Andrew Clair, and Javonte Kinsey all got one catch with Kinsey's going for a touchdown. Not happy with the big step back taken by McDonald in this game.

Running

Once again, a good game on the ground for the Falcons. 32 carries to go for 181 yards, an average of 5.7 yards with zero touchdowns. Andrew Clair tallied 118 yards on only 15 carries. He looked explosive, elusive, and is too talented to be wasting away in Bowling Green. I love Clair, and when he is healthy he is great so I just hope he buys into the rebuild, and uses his last two years of eligibility to stay in the Orange and Brown. Bryson Denley gathered 36 yards on the ground with 10 carries and we even saw freshman Taron Keith get a few carries. The Falcons will need to pound the rock next week to keep Akron's offense on the field. 

Defense

355 yards of rushing against this defense. It was just a slow death all game, with Ohio only getting 90 yards through the air. The Bobcats went 13/15 from the air so the defense really does not have anything good to take away from this game except only allowing 7 points in the 2nd half. The Bobcats got over 7 yards per carry and it was so brutal to watch. Just have to hope that this will not be happening in two years when Loeffler gets a few more solid recruiting classes. 

Special Teams

Special teams was not great. a FG and an XP were made but Ohio returned a kickoff to the house. Also for some reason, BG tried to return a kickoff instead of kneeling it, got buried at the 11 yard line, went 3 and out, then Ohio took advantage of great field position and scored easy. Please fair catch in the endzone.

Future

I am on to Akron in my mind. Win this game, and the season is not as bad. Give these kids who have bought into the rebuild just a taste of winning and they will savor it. Use it in the off season for motivation. I am still buying in but it remains a big question as to who should start at QB considering McDonald is 40 of 97 (41%) for 577 yards with 1 touchdown to 6 picks. May be time to move off of McDonald. I really like Riley Keller and Syracuse transfer Drew Gunther. I still am buying into McDonald but I need to see something against Akron. Talons up.

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