Bowling Green vs Toledo Recap 11/15/2022

Bowling Green Stuns Rival in Battle of I-75!

    Bowling Green wins an instant classic in the storied history of BGSU vs Toledo. The premiere MAC rivalry separated by just 25 miles, these 2 schools have had an amazing rivalry however Toledo has won 11 of the last 12 matchups. Entering the night as 15.5 point underdogs, BG started off hot and eventually had to make a historic 1 minute drive to pull off the upset 42-35. This not only was a huge rivalry win but Bowling Green is now BOWL ELIGIBLE for the first time since 2015. Not to mention this is the first win at the Glass Bowl since 2008. On top of all of that, BG is still alive to win the MAC East. I will also just say it here, the refs were absolute clowns and should all be fired. Even the broadcast team thought it was crazy, the refs were absolute idiot clowns all night and even the broadcast team thought it was wild all the missed called on the Falcons. Justice prevailed luckily as the Falcons capped off a historic game. 

photo: BGSU Athletics

1st Quarter 

    The first quarter could not have started any better. After trading punts, the BG defense forced a 3 and out that allowed the BG offense to start at the Toledo 38 yard line. After back to back QB runs by Cam Orth, Matt McDonald lobbed up a 25 yard dime to OJ Hiliare for a touchdown. The defense forced their 3rd straight 3 and out, Karl Brooks and DJ Taylor just tackling machines all night. This led to a 6 play 68 yard touchdown drive for the Falcons. Hilaire and McDonald connected for a 50 yard catch and run to start the drive. After a couple of Harold Fannin runs, Matty Ice connected with Andrew Bench on a beautifully called play action pass by Coach Loeffler for a 3 yard score. BG and Toledo would trade punts again. 

    The 1st quarter ended with the Orange and Brown up 14-0. An offense that has really struggled in 4 of the last 5 games came to life with big plays by OJ Hilaire and Matt McDonald. The defense was eating and only gave up one first down all quarter. Perfect start.  

2nd Quarter

    The 2nd started even better, after sacks by Karl Brooks and Walter Haire forced Toledo to punt. The punt was blocked by PaSean Wimberly and recovered by Pat Day in the endzone for a touchdown. Toledo then drove down the field but ultimately missed a 36 yard field goal. At this point I thought a BG score would end the game, but one of Matt's few mistakes of the game was a pick that allowed Toledo to score a touchdown on just a 15 play drive. BGSU would then punt on a 3 and out, which Toledo would take right down the field and score again, this time on 4th and goal. A short punt into the wind would set Toledo up for a hail mary which was intercepted in the endzone by Trent Simms. I should mention before BG punted, Jhaylin Embry returned a kick return for a touchdown which had 2 absolute bullshit flags on BG. Even the broadcast team thought it was crazy, the refs were absolute idiot clowns all night and even the broadcast team thought it was wild all the missed called on the Falcons. 

    The 2nd quarter was rough for BG who gained just 8 yards. Despite Toledo looking much better on offense, the score was still 21-14 in favor of the Falcons. The refs showed absolute bias in favor of Toledo so the boys needed to start the half hot especially after the kick return touchdown was taken away. 

3rd Quarter

    The Falcons came out flying in the 2nd half, taking the top off of the defense for a 54 yard bomb from McDonald to Hilaire. The drive did stall but Mason Lawler drilled the field goal from 39 yards out. The Toledo offense also came out hot, driving on BG until Chris Bacon forced a fumble by DEMOLISHING a dude at the 3 yard line which was recovered by Jordan Anderson. It was a massive stand for this defense but being pinned so far back the BG offense punted on a 3 and out. With a short field, Toledo looked sure to score until DeShawn Jones came up with a massive interception. The offense got some points, going deep again for a 48 yard catch and run by none other than Hilaire. There was a perfectly dialed up screen for Ta'ron Keith but after a couple of penalties the Falcons were able to get another field goal from Lawler. Toledo and BG would trade punts again to end the quarter. 

    The 3rd quarter saw the defense come up with 2 MASSIVE turnover and the offense do enough to get 2 field goals. Overall a solid quarter that saw BG enter the closing period up 27-14. 

4th Quarter

    The 4th quarter was absolutely wild. Toledo started with a long 69 yard touchdown drive in 12 plays. QB Tucker Gleason was really shining with his legs but opened up the game with his arm as well. The offense then scored in just 3 plays, as a nice dump off to Jaison Patterson set up a 59 yards one handed catch on a slant and run by Hilaire AGAIN. I for one thought that was it, game over. However, Toledo drove down 77 yards, at one point converting a 3rd and 20 to keep the game alive. With BG just up by 6, the offense needed to churn clock. After a nice gain of 15 by Harold Fannin, on 3rd and short Matty missed an open Fannin with pressure in his face. BG had to punt, great punt by Sami Sir. With the game on the line, Tucker Gleason carried this team 85 yards, converting a 4th and 7 to go up 35-34. BG let Toledo score when they were stopped at the 1 yard line, turned out a great idea. With just 47 seconds I was heartbroken, thinking this game was blown and possibly so was a possible bowl game. After a bad sack, Matty Ice scrambled and connected with Christian Sims for 35 yards to the Toledo 48. ALmost in field goal range, Matt scrambled yet again, avoided tackles, and found a streaking Ta'ron Keith for 42 yard catch and run in which Keith broke 3 tackles for the score. Then a perfectly dialed up 2 point play by Coach Loeffler was good from Matty to Keith again to make it 42-35 BGSU. After a great squib kick, Toledo ran one play for a few yards but the game was over. 

    The defense had a tough quarter but the offense answered the bell. Matt McDonald, Ta'ron Keith, OJ Hilaire all stepped up big down. Coach Loeffler had his best game of the year and the Falcons become bowl eligible for the first time since 2015 by stunning rival Toledo in their house. 

Offense

Passing

    The pass game was the best it has ever been in the Scot Loeffler era. Matt McDonald threw for 395, was 20/36 for 4 scores and a pick. Matty faced pressure all day and the run game was never in rhythm so he had to come through clutch and he did. The pick was a backbreaker and he did miss OJ open for a score but overall an all time game from our captain, our QB1. OJ Hilaire also had a legendary game, catching 8 balls for 2456 yards and 2 scores. Hilaire was an animal out there and finally was the key to this BG passing game going deep. Andrew Bench had one catch for a score, Fannin and CJ Lewis each had 2 catches while despite 2 ugly drops Christian Sims came up big when it mattered most on one 35 yard catch on the final drive. Ta'ron Keith had 5 catches for 64 yards and the game winning score to cap off his amazing season with a 3rd game winning touchdown, the previous 2 coming against Marshall and Miami OH. The O Line did not have a great day, allowing a solid amount of pressure from Toledo's powerful front 7 but overall came up with some really big blocks to allow the routes to develop. I saw it was the usual Alex Wollschlaeger at RT for the start but was eventually replaced by Jeremiah Banks-Wall. Bronson Warner was the RG, Jakari Robinson at C, Jalen Grant at LG and Tunde Fatukasi at LT for the whole game. 

    Again, cannot stress enough how good Matty, OJ and Keith were. I was begging for some quick routes to not force Matt to read the field and eventually get sacked and Coach Loeffler put on a clinic in scheming people open downfield, quickly. 

    

Rushing

    The run game was just not really there. Harold Fannin and Cam Orth had some interesting packages to get them going in the run game but Jaison Patterson was the main horse with 15 carries for 49 yards. It was all about the pass game tonight, I loved the idea of trying to establish the run, especially in that weather but it was clear early on the line could not get any push at the point of attack. Really surprising BG could not run the ball much but luckily despite the weather the pass game answered the call. 

Defense

    The defense was dominant in the first 3 quarters but fell off towards the end. Overall despite 35 points a rather solid game as 21 came on the final 3 drives. The usual suspects led the tackling, Karl Brooks, DJ Taylor and Chris Bacon were monsters. Darren Anders and Jordan Anderson also had great games. Big Walt Haire had a good day as well did Anthony Hawkins. Brock Horne, Demetrius Hardamon, Dontrez Brown, countless names had big tackles. Jordan Oladukon and Deshawn Jones were the corners and did not have their best day towards the end but came up big with an interception. It was a collective team effort and if the refs did not miss all the holding calls (even the broadcast team was befuddled) then it would have been an even better day. Wish the staff would have blitzed more at the end but this unit had 14 tackles for loss to underline their solid performance. 

Special teams

    The punting by Sami Sir was good or bad depending on whether he was kicking into the wind, which went that way for both teams. Mason Lawler was a perfect 2/2 on field goals and Jhaylin Embry had a kick return touchdown called back by 2 horseshit calls. I have never seen an unsportsman like penalty on someone just diving into the endzone. Overall a really good day by special teams, especially kick and punt coverage. 

Takeaways

    I had a weird feeling about this game. Every writer at the Blade picked a big Toledo win, everyone I see do picks on twitter picked Toledo, even the Barstool college football show saw everyone take Toledo. It is a rivalry game, one in which was gonna lose it's luster had BG not rattled off this win to show 2019 was not just an aberration. No better way to claim improbable bowl eligibility than against Toledo, on their field in the snow. Another massive response by this team. I said in my state of the program blog I believed it could be done, just needed an offense that had scored less than 18 points in 4 of the last 5 games to have a big night. Matty Ice had a career day, OJ was phenomenal. The O line had solid pass protection and the play calling was a masterclass by Coach Loeffler. Finally the offense found big plays, not needing 15 play scoring drives. Finally we got over 300 yards passing and proved our new transfer weapons are crazy good. It was an excellent game plan by this staff, great play calling by Loeffler, and great execution on both offense and defense. My 3 keys to the game were to get the run game going which did not happen. The 2 that did however, were win the turnover battle which BG did 3-1 and to have more quick one read schemes which also did happen, that is how Hilaire gets 8 catches and his speed turned them into 246 and 3 scores. 

    All the true BG fans never lost hope. After the FCS heartbreaker, this team upsets Marshall on homecoming after they trounced Notre Dame. After a blowout loss to Buffalo, this team rallies for 3 straight wins. After a brutal beatdown by Kent, seemingly the last winnable game to go bowling, Coach Loeffler and these players rally again to stun their heavily favored rivals who despite winning the MAC West wanted to win this ever renowned rivalry more than anything. Statement win, legendary game, amazing in every way. Wish the Falcons would have blown them out but after thinking it was all over this team had a magical last minute drive to cement the rebuild as a success. This is the first time since 2015 BG has beaten a team that will end the year with a positive MAC record, first time since 2015 we have beaten a team that will go bowling, and BG has a perfect 3-0 record against the MAC West this year. Since 2015 BG's MAC West record is an absurd 2-14 heading into 2022. Program altering win, historic win, achieving a bowl and bragging rights all in the same night. Job not done yet but 5 MAC wins and a bowl is an unreal achievement considering where this team has been over the past 7 years. 

    BG now sits at 6-5 overall, 5-2 in MAC play. BG now needs to beat Ohio next week, and have Buffalo lose 1 of their last 2 games to rematch Toledo in Detroit. Obviously next week is huge, but this season is a success. Ended one of the longest bowl droughts in the country, beat our rival in instant classic fashion to get the 6th win. Resilient, this group has had multiple statement wins with a 3 game conference win streak sprinkled in. Again, my BGSU fandom did not start until I enrolled in 2016, so after being a die hard fan through the worst seasons for this program, it has made these wins so much sweeter and I am so happy these kids and this staff will go bowling and get a coveted rivalry win. Go Falcs!!! Ay Ziggy