We asked a beat writer for the Bowling Green Falcons to give us his 5 things to know about the Gophers opponent this Saturday and to give us his prediction.
Huge thanks to Corey Crisan of The Blade for contributing!
Follow Corey on Twitter: @cdcrisan
5 things to know about BGSU ahead of Saturday’s game:
- The Falcons are one of the youngest teams in FBS. They have 71 players rostered that graduated high school in 2020 or 2021, which is third-most in the nation. Expect to see plenty of redshirt freshmen and true freshmen take the field in arguably the biggest game of their careers to date.
- BGSU quarterback Matt McDonald and wide receiver Austin Osborne were high school teammates at Mission Viejo High School in California. McDonald graduated from Mission Viejo in 2017, and Osborne in 2018. In Osborne’s junior and McDonald’s senior year, they connected 36 times for 961 yards and 16 touchdowns. The two parted ways (McDonald went to Boston College, and Osborne to Washington) but have reunited at BGSU via the transfer portal. This year, Osborne is the team leader in catches (21) and yards (153).
- The running game is starting to come along. The Falcons rushed for 41 yards in their first two games combined to start the year. Last week against Murray State, BGSU rushed for 118 yards and two TDs. True Freshman Jaison Patterson paced the backfield with 14 carries.
- Falcons head coach Scot Loeffler is not a stranger to Big Ten football. He played quarterback at Michigan from 1993-1996 and joined Lloyd Carr’s staff as a graduate assistant afterwards from 1996-97 and 1998-99. He was also the Wolverines QBs coach from 2002-07. He has one season of experience in the NFL, as well, spending the 2008 season as the Detroit Lions’ QBs coach.
- Bowling Green linebacker Darren Anders is one of two players in FBS with all of the following: more than 25 tackles (he has 29), one interception, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one sack. Utah’s Devin Lloyd is the other.
Prediction: 42-10 Minnesota.