2022 Saturday MACtion Recap

I like to break down the season just like Coach Loeffler does. There is the 4 game non-conference season, the 4 Saturday MAC games, and the 4 weeknight MAC games. So lets break down the Saturday portion of MAC play. 

photo: Toledo Blade 

The Good

1. Winning 

    The Falcons were able to do exactly what they needed to, and that was to rattle off 3 wins in the first 4 MAC games. Akron is still in a rebuild under a first year head coach, Miami OH and Central Michigan seem to be having a down year. Buffalo seems poised to win the conference so understanding that the 4 midweek games will be tough, one portion of the season needed to only have 1 loss to make a bowl game. While the wins over Akron and Miami were close, it does not matter. They were gritty, tough, conference wins in a league with equal talent. BG itself still is not a world beater so close wins are not the same than if a team like Ohio State only beat Indiana by 3 points. CMU was a bigger win that finally saw all 3 phases of the game playing in sync. The Buffalo loss was really bad, but overall could just be an outlier on the year as the Falcons responded to it with 2 straight wins. It was a resilient final 2 games especially and showed this team can bring the energy and get fired up to beat teams.  

2. Seen defensive growth

    The defense had a tough non-con and did themselves no favors with the Eastern Kentucky disaster. The BG defense got burned against Buffalo and just ran over, but responded by holding Miami OH to under 100 yards rushing and just 13 points. Central Michigan's offense was also held down to less than 20 points and saw the defense gather 3 turnovers. Akron scored 28 but the defense got a pick six and was able to come up with big stops down the stretch of the game. The D line especially in Karl Brooks, Demetrius Hardamon, and Walter Haire have been eating, combining for 16.5 sacks so far this year. The defense really carried the Miami win and had a much better stretch so far during MAC play since the EKU game. There has been pressure on the QBs like crazy and the D line is living up the the offseason hype. Karl Brooks has a chance to become the all time Bowling Green sack leader if he can get 7 more sacks. 

3. Turnovers

    In Bowling Green's wins over Akron and CMU, BG won the turnover battle 1-7! That is an absurd margin and when you win games close, those turnovers matter a heck of a lot more. In the Miami win, the Falcons lost the turnover battle 2-1 but with it being that close it still is not a bad game in that aspect. That game was ugly but it was a great win. Now in BG's loss to Buffalo, the turnovers were lost 4-1 and they were painful turnovers. Protecting the football and winning the turnover battle is massive in MAC play and BG did a great job with it in 3 of the 4 games. 

4. O Line

    The O line has been doing a much better job run blocking and have finally gotten settled in as a unit. Starting all 4 games were RT Alex Wollschlaeger, RG Bronson Warner, C Jakari Robinson, LG Jalen Grant. At LT there has been a rotation of Kam Stewart and Tunde Fatukasi who Coach Loeffler said will continue to rotate for now. In the 3 wins, the line was actually pushing people around and ran for 175 against Akron, 176 against Miami, and 159 (sack adjusted) against CMU. The line is much better with the veteran Jakari anchoring at center. Jalen Grant is the only returning starter from last year so this group needed a few games to gel together and they have. 

The Bad

1. The Buffalo Loss

    The Buffalo loss was really bad. The play was sloppy, the energy was pathetic, it was truly a throwback to old BG beatdowns of the last few years. If you want to hear me rant about this game go read my recap I will not go into another tirade about this game. It already seems like an outlier to the best team in the MAC.   

2. Penalties

    The penalties are just insane. 12 in the loss to Buffalo, 8 in the win against Akron, 8 against Miami OH, and 17 against CMU. Those also do not count for penalties that are unaccepted such as offsides on defense when they got a free play or holding on an incomplete pass. The penalties need to get cleaned up and I have confidence they will but 17 penalties is going to get you beat against 99% of the MAC. 

Looking ahead

Going forward, its midweek MACtion. I LOVE midweek games. I don't care that there's like 100 people in the stands because BG gets so many eyeballs because it is prime time football on weeknights. I only heard of BGSU through watching the midweek games in high school so I may be biased. With the success BG had in the last 4 games, 2-2 is needed to end our bowl drought. I keep saying it over and over but I do think the Falcons need this win streak to extend to 3 games. WMU is down this year while Kent, Toledo, and Ohio are by far the hardest 3 game stretch on this schedule. If the Falcons can beat the Broncos in 2 weeks they will need just 1 more win. BG needs to clean up the penalties, continue to bring their own energy to games, and keep winning the turnover battle. The Falcon's defense need to keep eating and if they do and Matty keeps playing efficiently this team can for sure go bowling.