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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University football team took on the Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday (Oct. 19) in front of 20,850 fans at Doyt Perry Stadium. A beautiful day in Bowling Green was only made better by a 27-6 victory for the Falcons, pushing BGSU to 3-4 on the season and 2-1 within the Mid-American Conference. Bowling Green will now shift their attention to the Battle of I-75 next weekend in Toledo.
 
Offensively, Terion Stewart ran for 124 yards, while Connor Bazelak completed 23 of his 27 passes for 313 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Harold Fannin Jr. caught 10 of those passes for 171 yards.
 
Defensively, the Falcons held Kent State to just 204 yards of total offense. KSU quarterbacks combined to go just 7-for-29, and BGSU came up with three interceptions in the win.
 
KSU wide receiver Chrishon McCray had a combined 401 yards and five touchdowns in the Golden Flashes' last two games, against Eastern Michigan and Ball State. But, on Saturday, Jordan Olodokun and the BGSU defense held McCray to just three catches for 21 yards.
 

Gallery: (10-19-2024) 101924 fb v Kent State - Scott Grau

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Kent State won the opening coin toss and deferred to the second half. Bowling Green elected to receive to start the game, defending the north end zone.
• After a touchback, Terion Stewart gave the BGSU offense a jump start, rushing for 26 yards on the first play of the game, quickly moving BGSU into Kent State territory.
• On the defensive side of the ball, Myles Bradley ended the first Kent State drive with a third down sack, forcing a punt from the Golden Flashes.
• Bowling Green found momentum on their next drive. Connor Bazelak found Harold Fannin Jr. on back-to-back passes for gains of 32 and 16 followed by a 19-yard rush by Jaison Patterson to move inside the Kent State 15.
• Zach Long capped off the drive with a 32-yard field goal for the Falcons, putting BGSU on the board first with a 3-0 lead.
• Kent State answered on the following drive with a 37-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
• The Falcons quickly put up a response. A pair of first down runs for Terion Stewart peppered into the offense put BGSU at midfield. Bazelak dropped back and found Malcolm Johnson Jr. at the 39, taking it all 50 yards to the house for the first touchdown of the day and a 10-3 Bowling Green lead.
• The Falcon defense stood strong on the following drive, forcing a 3-and-out to finish out the first quarter.
• In the second quarter, BGSU made their way inside the Kent State 10, but had to settle for a 25-yard field goal from Long to push the lead to 13-3.
• Later in the quarter with just under three minutes left in the half, Kent State added a 30-yard field goal to cut the lead down to 13-6.
• The Falcons dinked and dunked their way down the field before a big third down conversion with Bazelak finding Jared Merk for a gain of 14, moving the ball into the red zone.
• A defensive pass interference call on the next play moved the ball to the 2-yard line, setting up a rushing touchdown for Lucian Anderson III to put BGSU up 20-6.
• The second half started with a 3-and-out by the Golden Flash offense. Justin Pegues took the following punt into Kent State territory, being brought down at the 39 following a 23-yard return.
• Neither team tallied points in the third quarter, but as time expired on the period the Falcons were in the midst of a 12-play 75-yard drive when the quarter transitioned to the fourth.
• In totality, the drive for BGSU spanned 15 plays burning just shy of nine minutes of game clock.
• On the next Kent State drive, Edward Rhambo hauled in an interception, tapping his toes inbounds to secure the turnover for the Falcons.
• Following the turnover, the Falcons worked their way down the field ending in a touchdown from Bazelak to Jamal Johnson from seven yards out. The nine-play, 63-yard drive spanned over five-and-a-half minutes and gave the Falcons a 27-6 lead.
• Kent State's next drive went similarly to their previous. Patrick Day leapt and picked off the Golden Flashes for the second-straight BGSU interception of the game, coming with just under six minutes left to play.
• KSU's following drive saw the Flashes turn the ball over on downs after four-straight incompletions, and the visitors' last drive of the game ended with a Todd Bumphis interception.

  — BGSU Football (@BG_Football) October 19, 2024

 
STAT LEADERS

• Connor Bazelak: 23-of-27, 313 yards, 2 TDs
• Terion Stewart: 25 carries, 124 yards
• Harold Fannin Jr.: 10 receptions, 171 yards, 91 YAC
• Jamal Johnson: 5 receptions, 44 yards, TD
• Malcolm Johnson Jr.: 2 receptions, 66 yards, TD
   

GAME NOTES

•  TE Harold Fannin Jr. finished with 171 receiving yards, pushing him into sole place of No. 1 all-time at BGSU in career receiving yards by a tight end. He entered the game tied with his position coach, Alex Bayer, who had 1,543 during his career from 2010-13. Fannin now has 1,714 career receiving yards.
• Fannin's 171 receiving yards is the third-best single-game mark by a BGSU tight end. Fannin owns five of the top six single-game marks.
• It was Fannin's fifth game this season with 100+ receiving yards and sixth of his career. His five games with 100+ receiving yards this season extends his single-season BGSU record for a tight end.
• With 10 receptions, Fannin has at least one reception in 25-straight games. The 10 receptions are tied for No. 4 on most by a BGSU tight end in a game.
• Fannin owns four of the top six BGSU outputs by a tight end in a game.
• RB Terion Stewart rushed 25 times for 124 yards. It is the second 100+-yard rushing game of the season for him and eighth of his career. 
• WR Malcolm Johnson Jr. notched a 50-yard touchdown reception from Connor Bazelak in the first quarter. It was a career long reception for Johnson. 
• QB Connor Bazelak finished with 313 passing yards. It is the fifth game this season and 33rd time in his career with 200+ passing yards. 
• It was the 11th time in his career he passed for more than 300 passing yards.
• Bazelak was 23-of-27 passing. His 85.2 passing percentage is No. 1 in program history for a single game where the quarterback had 15+ attempts. 
• OLB Myles Bradley notched his first career sack in the first quarter. 
• CB Jordan Oladokun limited Kent State's Chrishon McCray to two catches for five yards while guarding him. McCray had 13 receptions for 401 receiving yards and five touchdowns in MAC play coming into the day.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
"I thought the defensive line played well, and I thought Jordan Oladokun and the rest of the secondary did a nice job. I think there was the guy that Jordan was covering [Chrishon McCray] had almost like 180 yards last week, and I think he had five whenever Jordan was on him. I thought we covered well, but that starts up front, obviously. I thought we pressured the quarterback well ... We did a great job. There were a lot of people that stepped up in terms of being able to walk into some really, really tough spot. I mean, [Jared] Merk on his catch on third down – if we would have sat here and said that Merk was going to be a major contributor in this game during training camp, that's probably not the case. There were a lot of really, really good efforts by a lot of people that typically would be playing down the road and [are] the future of our program." 
 
UP NEXT

• Bowling Green and Toledo will add another matchup to the Battle of I-75 rivalry next Saturday (Oct. 26) with the Falcons and Rockets scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. meeting at the Glass Bowl.
• The next home game for the Orange and Brown is set for Nov. 12 when the Falcons welcome Western Michigan to the Doyt for Tuesday night MACtion.