BG Still Not Good Enough, loses to UB

Watching a UB back shred a BG defense felt unpleasantly familiar.  This time it was Messiah Burch, who went for 184.  Other times it was Patterson for 298, Patterson for 301, McDuffie for 166 and Washington for 155....players are different--on both sides of the ball--but the pattern mysteriously continues.

This was a typical 2026 BG game: close enough to make us think we're not that far away and forget we are 2-6 and 2-2.  And, it ended with BG running down the field to catch up in a maddeningly bizarre 2-minute drill....and failing.  (We have had some good ones....but this was incompetent.)  And there were times when the offense drove the ball Woody Hayes-style and looked good, then moments when they looked completely lost.

The first half went really well.  BG had forced UB to punt 3 times, and scored twice, once on a 9-minute drive.  With 2 left, BG was up 14-7 and I tweeted the following.

28 minutes in, this is as well as BG has played on both sides of the ball this season.

— BGFalconBlog (@BGFalconBlog) October 24, 2026

I knew better.  I did.  But I really felt we were playing well, in a style we wanted, and in a way we could replicate.

 And then...Off a 29-yard Kingston punt, UB drove 63 yards on 9 plays.  The key play, as I was taught at BGSU, was foreshadowing.  BG had been containing Wright with a disciplined pass rush, but it broke down, and he ran for 39 yards to the BG 14.  They scored a couple of plays later on 3rd and 10, their second 3rd-down conversion of the drive, and it was tied heading into the half.

BG had the ball and went 3-and-out.  But they had one last chance to control the game when Myles Bradley forced a sack, Eriq George recovered the fumble, and BG had the ball on the UB 30 and scored three plays later, hitting Amarchee on the same play Kastantin overthrew last week.  Wide open again.  BG led 21-14.

Everything else from here is no good.

UB drove 75 yards in 6 plays.  Not one third down on the drive. Overall, 2:02. Burch with 39 yards on the drive and the score.  21-21,

Hey, it's still tied!  BG comes out, gives up 14 yards over 1st and 2nd down sacks, and Kingston nails a 47-yard punt to put them at their own 37.  They went on a long drive, 12 plays, 10 of them runs.  Yet, they converted a 3rd and 2 with a pass.  Finally, it was 2nd and 4 on the 11, and George took Messiah down for a 2-yard loss.  Wright was incomplete on 3rd down, and UB kicked a FG.  24-21.  Could have been worse.

BG had a chance to get back, but went 3-and-out.  And then Burch took it 73 yards to the house to make it 31-21.

BG gets the ball with 12 left in the game.  Need a score. Instead, on 3rd down, Kastantin throws an inexplicable INT into four defenders. They start on our 38.  Defense gets the stop, and BG is kept alive when UB's probable all-MAC K missed a 47-yarder.

Give JK credit.  He rallies.  He moved us down the field, a 23rd yarder to Jacon-Duffy and a 21-yarder to Kemp.   BG has it 3rd and 2 on the UB 8--obviously, a TD is key here--but the FB dive only gets 1 yard and BG hit a FG to make it 31-24.  At least it's one score.

UB gets the ball with 3:33 left.  Obviously, they think they can run the clock out.  They convert a 3rd and 7 (that hurts) with 3:07 left and then end up 4th and 1 at our 37.  They go for it, Wright tries to go up the middle, and George and Hines hit him for a loss, and BG had a last life, but with 1:02 to play.

The rest is best forgotten.  Kastantin scrambled up the middle twice for 7 yards that ate up :41. I almost felt it was like a basketball team encouraging the ball to be thrown into the corner.  He runs up the middle against 7-8 men dropping; how bad can it be?  BG did convert the first down, and then it was 1st and 10 from the UB 42, and BG threw the next pass 3 yards and in-bounds, and the game ended.

That was bad.

BG had periods where they ran the ball well, but you can see that UB had a significant edge. BG was clearly better in the pass game, but UB had probably their best pass game of the year. BG lost the turnover and explosive play battle, and UB's special teams were stronger than BG's, as expected.

Why do we alternate kickoff guys?

Red zone and 3rd-down conversions were a wash.  UB made some big ones, to be sure.

There were no real individual standouts for BG on offense.  Pringle, Pascal, and George had big games individually on defense.

Bowling Green vs. Buffalo

October 24, 2026 | Final: Buffalo 31, Bowling Green 24

Statistic	Bowling Green	Buffalo
Yards per rush	3.44	6.12
Yards per completion	11.42	9.77
Completion percentage	70.4%	61.9%
Yards per play	5.41	6.10
Third-down conversions	8/15 (53.3%)	8/15 (53.3%)
Red-zone points per trip	5.67	6.00
Turnovers	2	1
Explosive plays	5	8
Explosive-play yards	124	221
Special Teams Index	0	+3
Penalties (number-yards)	2-17	0-0

Explosive plays: rushes of 10+ yards and completed passes of 20+ yards. Special Teams Index uses the BG Football zero-based scoring system.

So, we are playing out the string.  I think I had us 4-8, and that is possible