Bowling Green vs Georgia Tech Recap 2023

The Orange and Brown Offense Explodes As Bowling Green Stings Georgia Tech!

WR Finn Hogan (photo via BG Athletics)

Takeaways 

    This. Freaking. Team. What else could you expect in the Scot Loeffler era of BGSU football? BGSU looked lifeless in 2019 before stunning Toledo for the first win in a decade in our big rivalry game. In 2021 a 4-8 season was highlighted by beating Big10 Minnesota at their homecoming game 14-10. In 2022 after losing to FCS Eastern Kentucky BG upsets a Marshall team that just beat Notre Dame to celebrate the 100th Bowling Green homecoming in overtime. Then upset Toledo again 42-35 in the Glass Bowl to go bowling after a lifeless loss to Kent State. Now here in 2023, right after I rip into this team because of the offensive performances against Liberty and Ohio, this team rallies to upset Georgia Tech for another program defining win. 

    As any college football fan knows, a G5 team beating a P5 team is monumental. It creates a legacy in the program for years to come and no matter what else happens this 2023 team will always have this game. The offensive line finally look IMPRESSIVE. The big boys were pushing around GTech. The defense finally got the pass defense locked in and at the line of scrimmage did not give the Yellow Jackets an inch like it was WW1 trench warfare. Terion Stewart did what he always does and broke a million tackles and maybe the biggest spotlight should be on Connor Bazelak who against FBS teams had 0 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He finally looked like the QB who was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2020. Watching Cam Orth today, in the bowl game nd Miss State last year, against Michigan and Liberty he is clearly talented and truly provides a lot with his legs. However after today, it seems clear Bazelak should be QB1 and Orth should come in for specific packages. 

    So much credit needs to go to Scot Loeffler, who the kids clearly love and want to play for. This team had every excuse in the world to get blown out here. They paid us 1.1 million dollars to play them, they are a P5 team, BG got embarrassed by Ohio on homecoming, the team is injured. Then down 14-0 instantly it seemed that way but this team, this staff, this program turned things around and scored 38 unanswered points. The offense finally made getting first downs look easy and the 31 points scored by offensive scores is the 4th most (in regulation) in the Loeffler era. Hopefully this team can build on this and keep the momentum rolling into MACtion. Getting to another bowl game now seems very much in play as just 4-4 is needed in MAC play unlike needing 5-3 last year. 

Recap

1st Quarter 

Game starts as bad as possible, one play touchdown for Georgia Tech. Jack Sauder with kickoff duties. Starting o line was Kam Stewart, Tunde Fatukasi, Alex Padgett, Nate Pabst, Alex Wollschalaeger with Bronson Warner and Jake Burns coming in at guard throughout the game. From the start of the game, Connor Bazelak looked a lot tougher and calmer in the pocket. BG gets a first down with Terion Stewart and Taron Keith but a sack stalls the drive and leads to a punt Jackson Kleather with the first punt. GTech with a 5 play td drive, long play after long play, game looked OVER. BG responded with a 10 play 75 yard td drive. Starting with good runs by Keith and Stewart, then on 3rd down Connor looks calm in the pocket and takes the check down to Andrew Bench for a first down. Terion breaks off a 30 yard run, O line pushing GTech around up front. On 3rd and long a quick slant to OJ goes for a first down. Then Cam Orth came in for a few QB runs, stopped in the backfield and broke three tackles and dove into the end zone. Absolute grit and toughness so happy Cam got his first touchdown in a game we would win. BG forces a 3 and out, then BG punts after one first down as penalties stall the drive. 7-14 in favor of GTech. 

2nd Quarter

The Bowling Green defense forces another 3 and out. Terion Stewart was running tough all day and it continued early on this drive. Then on 3rd down Bazelak did a beautiful play action, stepped up into the pocket and got the big first down throw to Terion. Jake Burns and Bronson Warner subbing in at guards seemed to work just as well as the Fatukasi and Pabst combo. Penalties help stall drive, Alan Anaya field goal is good. BG forces a punt which is fumbled and recovered by Finn Hogan, BGSU ball at the GTech 40 yard line. Huge 4th down conversion by Bazelak to Osborne, stayed cool in pocket and great yards after catch by Osborne. The Falcons got a penalty but then a big first down run by Terion in which QB Bazelak threw a nice edge block downfield, Seeing your QB blocking downfield especially when fighting for the starting job is a great sign. Two plays later, Bazelak did a great job keeping the play alive and giving his man a 50/50 ball with 3 Georgia Tech guys in his face. Connor just threw a lob ball to the end zone where Finn Hogan made an insane, OBJ replica, one handed catch with a defender draped all over him. BG forces another punt behind tackles from Jordan Porter, sack from Billie Roberts, then a sack/forced intentional grounding by Chace Davis, half ends 17-14 Falcons.

3rd Quarter

    The second half starts with an easy play action flat throw to Hogan that he takes for 50 yards. Exactly what I have been begging to see from this offense, EASY completions. Another first down run for Terion, then a huge 3rd down conversion on a quick slant to OJ on a very accurate throw by Connor, who then runs it on a bootleg for a touchdown run two plays later. I am sure everyone was thinking okay, GTech is finally going to wake up after they slumped to control the 2nd half. Nope. Coach Loeffler and the boys come out and string together an opening touchdown drive. Then GTech drives down to the BG 15 yard line, then a QB sneak on 3rd and 1 goes no where. Then the Orange and Brown defense gets a HUGE stand on another QB sneak to force a turnover on downs. The D line got low, linebackers came over the top, and the defense made a huge play. That parlayed by the offense into a touchdown seemingly sealed the win and killed all Tech momentum. Offense went 86 yards in 10 plays for a Terion Stewart rushing score. After a penalty, it was 3rd and 16 from the BG 8 yard line and Coach Loeffler dials up a sneaky QB draw by Bazelak who fights for the first down with great downfield blocking by Padgett and Jaison Patterson out of the backfield. A GTech penalty and long completions to Hogan and Keith lead to a 6 yard td run by Terion. Bazelak led this team in crunch time, and on the penalty he threw a really nice ball after stepping up into the pocket. Burns and warner stepping up at guards and the line perfectly executed the half back sweep on the touchdown with Kam Stewart and Jake Burns pulling while Padgett, Warner, and Wollschlaeger washed down. Next drive got even better for BG as Deshawn Jones gets a pick six! GTech did respond with a long touchdown in less than two minutes to just about end the 3rd quarter with a score of 38-20 in favor of the good guys. 

4th Quarter 

Then a BG 3 and our GTech drove into the red zone before a huge pick by Jordan Oladokun on a tipped ball by Darren Anders. Even though the BG offense did not score again, the offense killed over 8 minutes with the ball the next possession, eventually turning it over on downs because it was too close to punt and too far to kick a field goal. Terion really churned the clock on the drive needing 4 people to bring him down at one point, with Bazelak and Osborne connecting on another nice 3rd down conversion, 3 of Osborne's 4 catches that game moved the chains. GTech then scored a TD to make it closer but still down 11 OJ recovered the onside kick and Bazelak kneed out the win 38-27.

Offense

Passing 

Connor Bazelak really impressed me. I ripped into him in my last blog which I still think was fair. Especially with CBS and 247 analyst Bud Elliot mentioning how scared Bazelak looked against Liberty. This was a career game. Sure it was not in the SEC or the Big10, but this one has to feel good for QB #7. Any QB that upsets a P5 team for a MAC school has left his legacy and this finally looked like the guy I saw torched the defending LSU national champions in 2020 when he was at Mizzou. Bazelak was 21/32 for 263, 1 TD and ZERO PICKS. Connor also got a second score on the ground showed some absolute grit blocking downfield and fighting on his QB draw that really gave BG some momentum and ended up extending the lead. 

CMU walk-on transfer Finn Hogan went off today with the insane one handed touchdown grab. Hogan led the team in catches with 6 and yards with 138. OJ and Abdul-Fatai each had 2 catches for around 20 yards and with the Yellow Jackets keying in on them, Hogan, Osborne and Ta'ron Keith stepped up. Osborne was moving the chains and Keith had 4 catches for 45 yards out of the backfield.  

Rushing

The run game was awesome. That is Ohio, blue collar BGS football. The 7 linemen did a good job with the guard combos of Fatukasi/Pabst and Burns/Warner swapping in and out. Big props to Kam Stewart and Alex Wollschglaeger for holding down the tackle spots and Alex Padgett who had his best game at Center and finally seems to be filling the shoes left by Jakari Robinson. They bullied Georgia Tech all day which I did not see any sign of based on the Ohio game. 

Terion is him. He should be the bell cow of this backfield, as talented as it is, Terion just gets so many yards after contact and I truly think he is our best offensive player. 26 carries for 138 yards and a score. Cam Orth scored as well, literally FIGHTING to get his score. I truly love watching Cam play, he has so much heart and I think provides another dimension to the offense but based on how today went I thin Bazelak should be QB1. 

Defense 

The defense had a really great day in the trenches and for the most part shut down GTech outside of the 3 big plays, which o course count, but to not let a P5 team run the ball down your throat is very impressive to me. I noticed early on defense Davon Ferguson, Joe Sipp, Darren Anders making plays all over the field. Jordon Oladokun and Deshawn Jones did not miss tackles on the perimeters for most of the game. Ali Saad, Dierre Kelly, Billie Roberts, Dontrez Brown, Anthony Hawkins, Chace Davis and Evan Branch-Haynes plugging run gaps all day in the trenches. Chace Davis has been making an impact all year and had a good game which is nice to see from the under the radar transfer portal additions. Davis, Adrian Wilson, and Billie Roberts each had a sack with Oladokun and Jones each got a pick. Those two were a great due last year on the perimeter with Trent Simms as well and all three of those dudes have looked even better this year. Sipp, Jalen Husky, Ferguson, Anders, and SImms all had 5 or more tackles. 

Special Teams

Mistake free game with a made field goal by Anaya, solid punts by Kleather and Sami Sir. Punt team recovered a muffed punt attempt. The special teams has at times helped win games, and helped lose games, today they were good and truly added another dimension to this team to aide in taking down Georgia Tech.