BOWLING GREEN — It may only count in horseshoes and hand grenades — and for seven points in Scrabble — but what if close today means a cigar tomorrow?
Hard not to wonder with Bowling Green football.
In a notable paradox, the Mid-American Conference team that’s displayed the most consistency through the first month is the one with a losing record.
Consider: All last season, just eight power-conference teams either beat or played at least two ranked opponents within a touchdown on the road.
Little old Bowling Green (1-2) just did it twice in a row, declining to follow the house rules — lose by 50, sign the guestbook, cash check — at two of the nation’s largest and loudest stadiums.
In exchange for $1.5 million from No. 8 Penn State, the Falcons — 35-point underdogs — rudely opened a double-digit lead and kept the heat on in a 34-27 loss.
In exchange for $1.6 million from No. 25 Texas A&M, they rapped on the door just as hard in a 26-20 defeat.
Bowling Green came to play, and just maybe is here to stay.
Tellingly, there was no laughter on the way to the bank late Saturday night.
The loss was …
“Gut-wrenching,” receiver Trey Johnson said.
“When we walked into games like that three years ago, you're just hoping to survive,” coach Scot Loeffler said Monday. “We would have been jumping up and down and doing cartwheels and somersaults all the way back from College Station three years ago.
“That's not our mindset anymore. … ‘Oh, you guys did so great? It’s a moral victory?’ No, we lost the football game, and were in position to win.”
In other words, welcome back, Bowling Green football.
UP NEXT ■ Who : Old Dominion (0-3) at Bowling Green (1-2).
■ When : Saturday, 5 p.m.
■ TV : ESPN+
■
Follow along : Updates and analysis will be published throughout the game at
toledoblade.com .
Six years ago, Loeffler inherited a program that should have been investigated for insurance fraud — so sloppily had it been burned to the ground — and pledged to rebuild it in a manner that would make the community proud.
He’s done just that.
No, the road was not linear.
Loeffler himself this week brought up perhaps his darkest hour, just two seasons ago, when the Falcons were run off their own field in a 38-7 loss to Buffalo — weeks after a loss to FCS Eastern Kentucky. “We had two crushing, devastating losses,” he said, “and everyone said, ‘You're going to get fired’ and all this other stuff.”
But, credit where due, we’re seeing his vision.
While the sport has changed dramatically since his arrival — Loeffler’s vow to build his team almost exclusively through high school recruiting now sounds as quaint as a nickel Coke at the soda fountain — he has built a winning program on a real foundation.
A year after the Falcons (7-6) rolled to five wins in their final six conference games (average margin of victory: 18.8 points) to clinch their first winning season since 2015, they are back for more, including 14 starters, many of whom bypassed more lucrative offers elsewhere to chase a league title at BG.
We’ll see what happens from here.
It’s one thing to have expectations and another to meet them, week after week in a league filled with parity. “We're not going to eat that rat poison that's out there,” Loeffler said.
I won’t add to it.
But, if I were to, I’d say BG looks like the cream of the conference.
The Falcons just played two of the nation’s 11 most talented teams — based on their players’ recruiting rankings, per 247Sports — and woulda, coulda, maybe even shoulda won.
There was no fluke about it.
Most impressive, someone forgot to tell Bowling Green that when a MAC team plays a good SEC or Big Ten school, the line play is supposed to resemble a combine vs. a stalk of wheat. The Falcons more than held their own.
Through three games, an offensive line that returns 84 career starts has allowed just two sacks while the D-line has as many sacks (eight) as Georgia.
Those two units will win BG games on their own, and that’s before adding in the playmakers, including a solid 24-year-old quarterback (Connor Bazelak) and two of the league’s top offensive threats: running back Terion Stewart and tight end Harold Fannin, Jr.
The latter reminds me of Quinyon Mitchell, the former Toledo star cornerback who offered but the latest proof that you don’t have to chase the brightest spotlight. If you’re good enough, it will find you.
So it is with Fannin, a 6-4, 230-pound junior from Canton. He is a beast, big and fast and tough with hands that double as vises. No FBS tight end has more receiving yards (349) or first-down catches (19), broken more tackles (10), or dropped fewer passes (0).
He is a top NFL prospect, and, like Mitchell, he could have transferred to a lot of places.
Fannin chose to stay at Bowling Green, reasoning that — with the top of the mountain at last in sight — the climb would be more meaningful right here.
The Falcons are close.
As much as that hurts today, it may yet make their arrival all the sweeter.
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