A week after its most complete game of the season, Bowling Green paired missed tackles with missed throws
in stumbling to a 38-20 home loss to Central Michigan.
A soft run defense was exploited by a two-headed CMU running attack, and the Chippewas repeatedly turned
wide open underneath routes into significant plays in racking up more than 550 yards of offense at Doyt
Perry Stadium.
BG’s offense — which had less than nine minutes of possession in the first half — never found a rhythm,
failed on three fourth-down attempts, converted just one third down, and missed a handful of
opportunities through the air to fall to 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the Mid-American Conference.
“I thought today in all three phases, it was self-inflicted wounds. We had on offense, 12 penalties,
turned the ball over, multiple opportunities to have explosion plays,” BG head coach Scot Loeffler said.
“And on defense we didn’t tackle well and at times I don’t think we played hard like we have been, and
that’s disappointing.”
The Chipps’ second touchdown of the game, early in the second quarter, was a 7-yard touchdown run by
Jonathan Ward. Ward, who punched in a game-high three touchdowns at the forefront of a punishing CMU
rushing attack, bounced off of his lineman and skipped past a defender for the score.
Ward’s touchdown was set up by a drive of missed BG tackles as Quinten Dormady completed four passes on
the drive, with the longest stretched to 22 yards to open the drive.
CMU was later forced to start inside its own five after a booming Matt Naranjo punt, but quickly jolted
into BG territory. Capitalizing on the Falcons’ inability to wrap up, the Chipps marched down to the 35.

Penalties set CMU back, and BG’s freshman safety Jordan Anderson — who, again, did not look overwhelmed
in his second start — used textbook coverage near the goal line along the right sideline to draw an
offensive pass interference penalty. Despite a missed offensive hold on David Konowalski, BG forced a
throw-away to push CMU to third-and-17.
The Chipps took advantage of an offsides penalty, converted a third-and-long and capped the drive with a
1-yard Ward touchdown.
“We just didn’t tackle well. We fundamentally didn’t tackle well, it was nothing earth-shattering,”
Loeffler said. “We just didn’t tackle, and that’s fundamentals.
“We tackled last week. We made those plays when the plays presented themselves. And we didn’t turn over
the ball. It’s not a complicated game. Tackle really well, run the football, stop the run, force
explosion plays on offense, stop explosion plays. And we did nothing today.
“Our plan to win today, we did not follow it on all three phases.”
Bowling Green’s offense never found a rhythm.
The Falcons’ first score came at the hands of defensive back Caleb Biggers. With CMU on the verge of
taking a 14-0 lead, Dormady took a keeper to the right side and pushed into the end zone. But the ball
popped out before crossing the goal line and Biggers, a step into the end zone’s orange turf, scooped
the ball and took it more than 100 yards to knot the score at 7-7.
“It was wide open, I couldn’t believe it,” Biggers said. “I took that chance and I got the ball and I
just wanted to take it home for my brothers.”
BG did not score the rest of the half, but trailing 28-14 late in the third quarterback Grant Loy had
Quintin Morris crossing the formation and open approaching the goal line. Loy’s pass was behind Morris,
and the tight end was unable to juggle the ball into his grasp.
BG failed to convert on the ensuing third and fourth downs.
“The turning point in the entire game was when the ball was on the right hash going away from the Sebo
Center, we had a walk-in touchdown to put us down seven and we didn’t make the play,” Loeffler said of
the play. “After that the game got out of hand.
“When you’re fifty percent in practice, what do you think’s going to happen on Saturday,” Loeffler said,
“it’s just going to happen?”
The Falcons finished 1 of 11 on third down tries and converted 2 of 5 fourth-down attempts — including
two missed tries with just one yard to gain — to push their season total to 5 of 20 on fourth down.
DAVON DOWN: Davon Jones, Bowling Green’s redshirt senior running back, spun off a swarm of tacklers and
fell forward for a 6-yard gain on his first carry of the game.
The carry was his last.
The 5-foot-10, 235-pound bruiser remained down on the field for a few minutes. He was helped off by the
training staff, but Jones did not put any pressure on his left leg.
Loeffler did not have an update on Jones.
“I’m not sure where he’s at,” Loeffler said.
RUNNING BACK RUINS: Bowling Green ran the ball with a listed running back just five times in the first
half, and 14 times for the game. The Falcons added 18 quarterback runs and five receiver runs in the
loss.
This was in part because of where their roster is at.
Andrew Clair, the team’s starter, did not play for the third consecutive game. Jones left in the first
quarter with an injury and did not return.
That left Bryson Denley, a listed running back used more as wildcard player across the formation, as the
only other scholarship running back on the BG roster.
“That wasn’t easy. Whenever you’ve got three running backs on scholarship right now, that’s not fun. And
two of them were out. We had to be creative,” Loeffler said. “But it is what it is. People are going to
get hurt. That isn’t an excuse whatsoever.
“So we have to go recruit, really, really well. … And we have to get our numbers right in all aspects.”

Trevon Raymore, a 5-10, 223-pound true freshman running back, had his first two carries of the season as
a result.