Skip to main content
BGSU homeAthletics News home
Story
8 of 10

BGSU Falls To Northern Illinois, 17-7

Ziggyville Population: 983
Sat, Oct 12, 2024

Ziggyville Population: 983
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University football team hosted the Northern Illinois Huskies at Doyt Perry Stadium Saturday (Oct. 12) for Kids Day. The first points of the game came via a field goal by NIU. Bowling Green answered with a Bazelak-Fannin touchdown, but Northern Illinois went on to score 14 unanswered to move in front 17-7 for the final. The Falcons are now 1-1 within Mid-American Conference play and will be back at home next Saturday (Oct. 19) against the Kent State Golden Flashes for a 3:30 p.m. kick. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Bowling Green won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half. Northern Illinois elected to receive with BGSU defending the north end zone.
  • On the first drive, Northern Illinois made it down to the cusp of the red zone at the BGSU 21, but the Falcon defense stood strong. A third down sack by Dontrez Brown and Todd Bumphis forced a 46-yard field goal by the Huskies for a 3-0 NIU score.
  • On the first offensive play for the Falcons, Connor Bazelak located Jamal Johnson down the left sideline on a wheel route for a gain of 36. Terion Stewart followed up with a gain of 28 on the ground on the second play, quickly putting the Falcons in the red zone, down to the NIU 11.
  • The Falcons capped off the drive with Bazelak finding Harold Fannin Jr. over the middle for an 11-yard touchdown. Jackson Kleather converted the field goal for a 7-3 Bowling Green lead. 
  • Northern Illinois worked their way down the field on the next drive into BGSU territory, but the defense stood strong again, this time on fourth down. The Huskies attempted a fourth down conversion but was stopped short on the run, giving the Falcons possession at the BGSU 39 with just over three minutes left in the first quarter. The score held through the end of the first.
  • In the second quarter, a strip sack for Northern Illinois gave them the ball at the Bowling Green 10, but the defense continued a strong half, forcing a field goal attempt. On the attempt, Ali Saad blocked the 24-yard try to keep the score at 7-3 BGSU.
  • Northern Illinois made a field goal attempt later in the quarter, converting from 21-yards out for a 7-6 score.
  • On the first drive of the second half, BGSU punter John Henderson pulled back a punt and ran for a gain of 23 and a new set of downs for the Falcons.
  • Northern Illinois found the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter, converting a two-point conversation to move in front 14-7.
  • With six minutes remaining in regulation, NIU added a 27-yard field goal to their tally for a 17-7 lead.

BOOM!!!

Bazelak ➡️ Fannin

Harold Fannin Jr. breaks the BGSU single-season receiving yards record (Mark Dowdell, 679, 1983) for a tight end on this 11-yard touchdown strike.

BGSU leads, 7-3.

📺 ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/BzcBhQse1B

— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) October 12, 2024

GAME NOTES

  • TE Harold Fannin Jr. finished with 25 receiving yards, which breaks Mark Dowdell's (679, 1983) BGSU record for single-season receiving yards by a tight end. Fannin now has 701 receiving yards on the season through six games.
  • With four receptions, Fannin has at least one reception in 24-straight games.
  • Fannin scored BGSU's lone touchdown in the first quarter. He extends his BGSU career record for receiving touchdowns by a tight end to 12.
  • Fannin now has five receiving touchdowns on the season, which ties him with Dowdell (1983) for No. 3 on the BGSU single-season list for receiving touchdowns by a tight end.
  • Fannin's four receptions moves him to 113 for his career. He passed Kyle Hockman (110, 1987-89) for No. 3 all-time in career receptions by a tight end. 
  • QB Connor Bazelak finished the game with eight completions, surpassing 1,000 for his career. He is the 41st quarterback in FBS history to reach the 1,000-completion plateau. He is the third active player to reach 1,000 completions.
  • With 69 rushing yards, RB Terion Stewart moves into the Top-20 in career rushing at Bowling Green. Stewart now has 1,808 career rushing yards, which ranks No. 19 in the BGSU annals. 
  • CB Todd Bumphis made his first collegiate start. 
  • DL Ali Saad blocked a 24-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter. It was the first block of his career. 

STAT LEADERS

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
"Give credit to Northern Illinois. They were the more physical team at the end of the day. I thought defensively we stopped the run, played probably our best game in a long time here. I thought we were exceptional stopping the run, considering we're playing one of the best rush offenses in this conference. Disappointed up front. I'm looking at my call sheet, we can never get into our game plan at all. We just flat got our tails kicked up front from the tight ends to the offensive line. I don't know how well we blocked even at the running back position; we've been exceptional with that. The fact of the matter is we just lost in the trenches on offense. Just like I said we couldn't even remotely touch or get into what we game plan and that's frustrating. That's hard whenever you're getting knocked back in the backfield, its pretty hard to get things going. I thought the first drive we were able to get into stuff that we can actually attack this team with, and had a good plan down in the red zone, when we hit Harold, got max splits. But that's the only drive that I can even think of that we were even remotely able to touch what we worked on all week. That's tough, whenever you're playing a really good team, you got to be able to get into your game plan and functions. And not happy with penalties. We get a first down and had a guy that's not lined up on the ball, that's attention to detail, and that's my responsibility, but we got to get some things cleaned up front. We got to play better and again that's just not the offensive line, that's collective. We have to tackle and you got to block, and I thought we tackled really well with that. I don't think we blocked worth a damn, that's the long short of it and missed field goals. So you got to be able to make your points whenever you're playing a game like this, and got to be able to block better and we didn't. We got to get it cleaned up, everything is still in front of us but we got to play better. That was my message to the team, I thought up front on defense we were exceptional. We weren't so good on offense, we left points off the board and, the strip sack or interception, whatever you call it, that's a 25-yard game if we protect, we just got knocked right back into the quarterback and had Harold Fannin down the seam, had Finn [Hogan] down the seam and just couldn't get into anything to attack this team, because we were just disrupted up front." --Scot Loeffler UP NEXT

  • Bowling Green will remain at home for their next game, slated to host Kent State next Saturday (Oct. 19) for a 3:30 p.m. kick at Doyt Perry Stadium. The Falcons and Golden Flashes will square off for the Anniversary Award with it being Family Weekend, Hall of Fame Weekend, Senior Day and Band Day at BGSU. 

Latest Football News