Thursday, September 2
Knoxville, TN
8:00 PM ET
Bowling Green State University
0-1 , 0-0
6
at
38
Tennessee
1-0 , 0-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Bowling Green
0
6
0
0
6
Tennessee
14
0
14
10
38
Photo by: USA Today Sports
Falcons Fall at Tennessee in Season Opener
September 03, 2021 | Football
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Bowling Green State University football team opened the 2021 season Thursday night (Sept. 2), falling to the University of Tennessee before a crowd in excess of 84,000 at Neyland Stadium.
The Falcons trailed by just eight points, 14-6, at the half, before the hosts scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to seize control.
Nate Needham kicked a pair of field goals, including a career-high 50-yarder, and Matt McDonald completed a career-high 25 passes on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Volunteers scored touchdowns on each of the first two drives, going 66 and 67 yards, respectively. The second score gave the hosts a 14-0 lead with 6:52 remaining in the opening quarter.
• After that second TD, however, the BGSU defense held the Vols to just 39 total yards in the final three drives of the opening half.
• Meanwhile, after being forced to punt on three-straight drives to begin the game, the BG offense had back-to-back 11-play drives, going 70 yards on the first and picking up 48 yards on the second. Nate Needham kicked a 42-yard field goal to end the first drive, putting BG within 14-3 after one quarter.
• Then, Needham booted a career-long 50-yard FG on the next drive to make it a 14-6 game. The Falcons trailed by that score at the half.
• The Vols, however, scored on two of their first three drives in the third quarter, taking a 28-6 lead midway through the period.
• Early in the fourth quarter, Darren Anders had a strip-sack of Vols quarterback Joe Milton III, giving the Falcons the ball in Tennessee territory. But, on the ensuing drive, a fourth-down play came up just shy of the first-down marker.
• The Vols added a field goal with 9:36 to go to make it a 31-6 game, and got a TD pass with 5:11 on the clock to cap the scoring.
STAT LEADERS
• QB Matt McDonald
25-of-38 passing, 187 passing yards
• WR Austin Osborne
8 receptions, 46 receiving yards
• WR Cavon Croom
75 receptions, 45 receiving yards
• LB Darren Anders
14 tackles, 1.0 sacks, 1 FF, 1 FR
NOTABLES
• Cade Zimmerly made his first career start at center. He was the only true freshman walk-on in the nation to be listed as a starter at any position during the opening weekend.
• QB Matt McDonald completed a career-high 25 passes, surpassing his previous best of 17 against Buffalo in 2020.
• WR Jaedyn McKinstry made his first collegiate reception in the first quarter on a 13-yard passing strike from Matt McDonald.
• WR Cavon Croom made his first career receptions in the game. He finished with five receptions for 45 yards.
• RB Jamal Johnson made his first career reception on a 31-yard pass play in the second quarter, which led to Bowling Green's first score of the game on a 42-yard field goal by PK Nate Needham.
• Needham connected on a career-long 50-yard field goal in the second quarter. His previous long was 43 yards against Miami (OH) in 2018.
• WR Austin Osborne finished with a career-high eight receptions and a career-high 46 receiving yards.
• TE Levi Gazarek made his first career reception in the third quarter. Gazarek finished with three receptions for 23 receiving yards.
• LB Darren Anders tied his career high with 14 tackles. He also had 14 stops vs. Buffalo last season.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
"I told our players in there that there's no such nothing as moral victories, and there's not. But, with this young team, there was a ton to build off of in this game. We've got a lot of cleanup work to do. We lost the field position battle, which led to quick scores. We couldn't run the football very well and we had a bunch of young guys in there for the first time who need to be able to find a way to run the ball. I thought that young offensive line hung in there and at least battled their tails off. I thought our defense tackled better. I think we're making improvement in that end. It was pretty evident that with not having two of our best targets, we can throw the football better. There's a lot to build on. We have a long way to go. We've got to get the penalties cleaned up. Defensively, I'm really proud of the effort. I thought they really settled down in the second quarter. I think with time, we're going to eventually have a Bowling Green defense here. I think this young offensive line is going to continue to get better. We need to keep the quarterback upright. We need to find a way—and we can with (Tyrone) Broden and (Christian) Sims back next week—to push the ball vertically. We needed to do that in this game and we struggled with it. There were some positives. I told these guys—and this is really important to our program—they were procrastinators this week. I mean that as they crammed for the test on Friday and Saturday. We did not have a good Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday practice. If this football team can learn how to practice and learn how to have juice and energy on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we'll improve and that will carry over to Saturdays." - Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler
UP NEXT
• The Falcons open the home portion of the schedule a week from Saturday, Sept. 11. BGSU will host South Alabama in a 4:00 p.m. start at Perry Stadium.
The Falcons trailed by just eight points, 14-6, at the half, before the hosts scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to seize control.
Nate Needham kicked a pair of field goals, including a career-high 50-yarder, and Matt McDonald completed a career-high 25 passes on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Volunteers scored touchdowns on each of the first two drives, going 66 and 67 yards, respectively. The second score gave the hosts a 14-0 lead with 6:52 remaining in the opening quarter.
• After that second TD, however, the BGSU defense held the Vols to just 39 total yards in the final three drives of the opening half.
• Meanwhile, after being forced to punt on three-straight drives to begin the game, the BG offense had back-to-back 11-play drives, going 70 yards on the first and picking up 48 yards on the second. Nate Needham kicked a 42-yard field goal to end the first drive, putting BG within 14-3 after one quarter.
• Then, Needham booted a career-long 50-yard FG on the next drive to make it a 14-6 game. The Falcons trailed by that score at the half.
• The Vols, however, scored on two of their first three drives in the third quarter, taking a 28-6 lead midway through the period.
• Early in the fourth quarter, Darren Anders had a strip-sack of Vols quarterback Joe Milton III, giving the Falcons the ball in Tennessee territory. But, on the ensuing drive, a fourth-down play came up just shy of the first-down marker.
• The Vols added a field goal with 9:36 to go to make it a 31-6 game, and got a TD pass with 5:11 on the clock to cap the scoring.
STAT LEADERS
• QB Matt McDonald
25-of-38 passing, 187 passing yards
• WR Austin Osborne
8 receptions, 46 receiving yards
• WR Cavon Croom
75 receptions, 45 receiving yards
• LB Darren Anders
14 tackles, 1.0 sacks, 1 FF, 1 FR
Strip sack, fumble recovery by Anders. pic.twitter.com/gtkcC9bgzr
— BG Football (@BG_Football) September 3, 2021
NOTABLES
• Cade Zimmerly made his first career start at center. He was the only true freshman walk-on in the nation to be listed as a starter at any position during the opening weekend.
• QB Matt McDonald completed a career-high 25 passes, surpassing his previous best of 17 against Buffalo in 2020.
• WR Jaedyn McKinstry made his first collegiate reception in the first quarter on a 13-yard passing strike from Matt McDonald.
• WR Cavon Croom made his first career receptions in the game. He finished with five receptions for 45 yards.
• RB Jamal Johnson made his first career reception on a 31-yard pass play in the second quarter, which led to Bowling Green's first score of the game on a 42-yard field goal by PK Nate Needham.
• Needham connected on a career-long 50-yard field goal in the second quarter. His previous long was 43 yards against Miami (OH) in 2018.
• WR Austin Osborne finished with a career-high eight receptions and a career-high 46 receiving yards.
• TE Levi Gazarek made his first career reception in the third quarter. Gazarek finished with three receptions for 23 receiving yards.
• LB Darren Anders tied his career high with 14 tackles. He also had 14 stops vs. Buffalo last season.
FROM THE LOCKER ROOM
"I told our players in there that there's no such nothing as moral victories, and there's not. But, with this young team, there was a ton to build off of in this game. We've got a lot of cleanup work to do. We lost the field position battle, which led to quick scores. We couldn't run the football very well and we had a bunch of young guys in there for the first time who need to be able to find a way to run the ball. I thought that young offensive line hung in there and at least battled their tails off. I thought our defense tackled better. I think we're making improvement in that end. It was pretty evident that with not having two of our best targets, we can throw the football better. There's a lot to build on. We have a long way to go. We've got to get the penalties cleaned up. Defensively, I'm really proud of the effort. I thought they really settled down in the second quarter. I think with time, we're going to eventually have a Bowling Green defense here. I think this young offensive line is going to continue to get better. We need to keep the quarterback upright. We need to find a way—and we can with (Tyrone) Broden and (Christian) Sims back next week—to push the ball vertically. We needed to do that in this game and we struggled with it. There were some positives. I told these guys—and this is really important to our program—they were procrastinators this week. I mean that as they crammed for the test on Friday and Saturday. We did not have a good Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday practice. If this football team can learn how to practice and learn how to have juice and energy on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, we'll improve and that will carry over to Saturdays." - Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler
UP NEXT
• The Falcons open the home portion of the schedule a week from Saturday, Sept. 11. BGSU will host South Alabama in a 4:00 p.m. start at Perry Stadium.
Team Stats
BGS
TEN
Total Yards
219
475
Pass Yards
187
144
Rushing Yards
32
331
Penalty Yards
80
45
1st Downs
11
31
3rd Downs
2
7
4th Downs
0
1
TOP
33:53
26:07
1st Quarter
BGS 0, TEN 7
TEN - Milton III,Joe 4 yd run (McGrath,Chase kick), 11 plays, 66 yards, TOP 02:59
BGS 0, TEN 14
TEN - Small,Jabari 1 yd run (McGrath,Chase kick), 8 plays, 67 yards, TOP 02:01
2nd Quarter
BGS 3, TEN 14
BGS - Needham,Nate 42 yd field goal 11 plays, 70 yards, TOP 05:24
BGS 6, TEN 14
BGS - Needham,Nate 50 yd field goal 11 plays, 48 yards, TOP 07:16
3rd Quarter
BGS 6, TEN 21
TEN - Milton III,Joe 1 yd run (McGrath,Chase kick), 8 plays, 72 yards, TOP 01:58
BGS 6, TEN 28
TEN - Evans,Tiyon 19 yd run (McGrath,Chase kick), 5 plays, 58 yards, TOP 01:18
4th Quarter
BGS 6, TEN 31
TEN - McGrath,Chase 43 yd field goal 14 plays, 41 yards, TOP 03:28
BGS 6, TEN 38
TEN - Tillman,Cedric 40 yd pass from Milton III,Joe (McGrath,Chase kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 01:45
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
25
TD
0
YDS
187
INT
0
Players Mentioned
LB
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WR
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TE
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RB
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