That was exactly one week after the Falcons dropped a 59-57 seven-overtime game to Eastern Kentucky at home.
Those outcomes left Miami coach Chuck Martin wondering which Bowling Green team might show up on Saturday when his RedHawks (3-3, 1-1) meet the Falcons (2-4, 1-1) in a MAC East Division matchup at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green.
“Bowling Green’s like a lot of MAC teams,” Martin said. “They’re trying to find some consistency. They’ve had some really, really good games and some that weren’t so good.”
The latter includes the Falcons’ 38-7 MAC home loss to East Division-leading Buffalo last Saturday. Bowling Green had four fumbles and lost three of them.
“I’ve never seen more crazier turnovers in my career,” fourth-year Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler said. “Ball on the one-yard line going in to score, they rip it from our young running back. (Sophomore back) Jaison (Patterson’s) going in to put us in position to be on the 4-yard line, we get stripped from behind.
“I expected this would be a heck of a football game, and on paper it should have been. There’s something missing that you can go and play as well as we’ve ever played around here in a long time to playing as bad as you can play, and that’s the truth. The Marshall game, we played as well as you can possibly play. You play that type of competitive football, you have a chance to beat anyone in this league, but that was a debacle. We crushed ourselves, plain and simple. We beat ourselves in every aspect.
“We’re supposed to be competitive,” Loeffler added. “That team right there that we just played was equivalent to us, and we didn’t play well in all aspects. We need to figure it out. We need to get it fixed. We’re playing a good Miami of Ohio team next week, but that was as disappointing a half and disappointing a game that I’ve probably had in my career.”
“Everything that could go against them went against them,” Martin said.
Miami is coming off an impressive 27-24 home win over MAC East-rival Kent State that left the RedHawks tied with three other teams for second in the division behind front-running Buffalo. Miami ranks 11th in the 12-team MAC with an average of 20.8 points per game and last with an average of 141.2 passing yards per game, but the RedHawks lead the conference with an average of 25.3 points allowed per game, as well as 351.2 total offense yards allowed and 88.8 rushing yards allowed per game.
Meanwhile, Bowling Green ranks 11th with 102.3 rushing yards per game and last with an average of 41.0 points allowed per game. The Falcon also are second-last with averages of 311.2 passing yards allowed and 492.3 total yards allowed per game.
“Their O-line is vastly improved,” Miami junior defensive tackle Austin Ertl said on Monday. “They present a lot of challenges to a defense.”
Among them is senior quarterback Matt McDonald, who’s thrown for 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions
“He’s really having a really, really, really fine year,” Martin said. “They haven’t run the ball as well as they have in the past, but they have some skill on the perimeter. They have a lot of guys who are long and can do stuff downfield. They have some high-caliber MAC players.
“Offensively, they will be as big of a challenge as any team we go against.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Miami at Bowling Green, Noon, ESPN+, 980, 1450
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