Bowling Green's record is lying.
The Falcons are 1-5 with a blowout loss to Northwestern and an eight-point loss to FCS South Dakota. For the season, it looks bad.
But last week, Bowling Green beat Miami 37-29 in Oxford. The win was surprising, to say the least, but it more importantly revitalized a Falcons team that needed a Mid-American Conference win.
"They have come alive a little bit," coach Frank Solich said. "That was huge win for them against a very good Miami football team, so their confidence is shooting through the roof. So obviously we're going to be taking that on."
Ohio will get the pleasure of facing that refreshed and newly-confident Bowling Green team.
Breakdown
Bowling Green's quarterback situation is muddy.
The team played three quarterbacks against Akron two weeks ago, despite sticking with James Morgan for the entire game against Miami.
Morgan got the win, but he completed less than half of his passes and finished with an 11-of-25 stat-line for 222 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
The way the Falcons beat teams through the air is in the short game. Ohio's linebackers, Chad Moore, Quentin Poling and Evan Croutch will have to defeat the short game this Saturday.
Morgan has better legs than he might get credit for, so the Bobcats defense will also have to be on the lookout for that, too.
But on the ground was where Bowling Green really hurt Akron. The Falcons lost 34-23, but had two different running backs rush for more than 100 yards.
Depending on the week, Bowling Green will have a different part of its offense stand out. Against Akron, it happened to be the running attack.
At the 1:04:34 mark of the YouTube video below, Bowling Green lines up in the pistol, with a fullback to the left.
At the snap, Morgan hands to Matt Domer on a dive play. It's a simple play designed to eat up yards. But Domer, facing an Akron blitz, breaks through the line.
His fullback powers through the line and blocks one of the few linebackers still on the second level. Domer makes a cut and is gone.
Domer wasn't even one of the 100-yard rushers, so the Falcons will have a stable of three backs ready to go at any time.
He's finally brought down at the 1-yard line, just short of a touchdown.
Judgement
Ohio will have to be prepared for whatever Bowling Green throws at it on Saturday.
The Bobcats have little room for error left in the MAC, so with two weeks before Miami, each win is incredibly valuable.
For Ohio, that will start with the defense on Saturday.
@Andrew_Gillis70
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