BGSU Secures Winning Season With Dominant Win Over Western Michigan

Tuesday, November 21

Kalamazoo, Mich.

7 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

7-5 , 5-3

Western Michigan

4-8 , 3-5

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Bowling Green

Western Michigan

Photo by: Kimberly Moss/BGSU Athletics

BGSU Secures Winning Season With Dominant Win Over Western Michigan

November 21, 2023 | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Bowling Green Postgame Notes Photo Gallery

31-Point First Half Sends Falcons Soaring Over Broncos, 34-10

By: BGSU Strategic Communications

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University football team wrapped up the regular season with a 34-10 win over the Western Michigan Broncos in Kalamazoo, Mich. Tuesday night (Nov. 21). A 31-point first half propelled the Falcons to the victory. The win secures a winning season for the Orange and Brown for the first time since 2015 with a bowl game still to play this season.

The Falcons struck early and often in the first half, registering 10 points in less than five minutes of action. The first drive resulted in a 35-yard field goal by Alan Anaya for the first points of the game. Darius Lorfils carried the momentum to the defensive side of the ball with his first career interception. On the very next play, Connor Bazelak located Jaylon Tillman for a 35-yard touchdown to push the BGSU lead to 10-0.

Bowling Green held the 10-0 lead through the end of the first quarter before adding to it with touchdowns on both of their second quarter drives, including a pick-6 by Jordan Oladokun less than a minute into the second quarter. Oladokun's trip to the house made it a 17-0 BGSU lead. The Falcons added to their tally with a touchdown pass from Bazelak to Odieu Hiliare followed by a rushing touchdown for Ta'Ron Keith to make it a 31-0 lead.

Western Michigan tallied a field goal before half to send the teams to the locker rooms with a 31-0 score. In the second half, Anaya added his second field goal of the game and WMU logged a late score for the 34-10 final.

FROM THE INTERVIEW ROOM – COACH LOEFFLER
"Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We came out and got our seventh win. Just like I said last week, we're playing good football right now. We were a point away from being undefeated in November, which that's what we wanted to do and came up a point short. Super proud of our guys for putting last week to bed and coming out playing really good ball. Defensively, special teams, offense, I think we played complimentary football. We need to get healthy. We need to take some time off. We need to go recruiting. And we need to get ready for this bowl game and find a way to get our eighth win. We keep taking steps, we keep learning and we keep moving the needle of the program."

TOUCHDOWN BGSU 💪

Bazelak ➡️ Tillman

Jaylon Tillman collects his first reception of the season on the 35-yard scoring strike and BGSU is up 10-0.

📺 @ESPNU pic.twitter.com/pEI31rKaqQ
— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) November 22, 2023

HOW IT HAPPENED

On the opening drive, Harold Fannin Jr. snagged a pair of catches for first downs, taking the first 11 yards before breaking free for 35 on the second catch to move the Falcons into the red zone.
The first drive of the game resulted in three points for the Falcons with Alan Anaya booting a 35-yard kick to push BGSU in front 3-0.
Western Michigan ran just three plays before a BGSU turnover with Darius Lorfils jumping the route for an interception to give BGSU possession at the WMU 35.
The Falcons struck quickly with a touchdown on the first play after the turnover. Connor Bazelak found a sprinting Jaylon Tillman after a play action for the 35-yard score to push the BGSU lead to 10-0.
The 10-0 tally held through the end of the quarter. Just over a minute into the second quarter, Jordan Oladokun picked off the second BGSU interception of the game, taking it to the house for the Falcons to push their lead to 17-0.
Western Michigan stalled out on their next drive. Jordan Jackson recorded a nine-yard tackle for loss followed by sacks for Dierre Kelly and Jordan Porter to force a WMU punt that gave BGSU possession at the WMU 43.
The Falcons worked their way down field, capping it off with a three-yard touchdown pass from Bazelak to Odieu Hiliare to stretch the BGSU advantage to 24-0.
The Bowling Green defense forced a three-and-out to regain possession. On the offensive side, the Falcons repeated the previous drive, working their way down the field before a seven-yard rushing touchdown by Ta'ron Keith to stretch the lead to 31-0.
Western Michigan added a field goal as time expired in the first half to make it a 31-3 halftime score.
The first points of the second half came in the same form as the first points of the first half. Anaya hit another field goal for the Falcons, this time from 25-yards out, to push the lead to 34-3.
On the next drive, Western Michigan went for it on fourth down with a yard to gain, but the BGSU defensive line stood strong and forced a turnover on downs.
The Orange and Brown ran clock on their next drive, getting the third quarter to expire, but the drive ended with a missed field goal.
Western Michigan added a touchdown in the fourth quarter to move the score to 34-10.

GAME NOTES

With the win, the Falcons secured a winning season for the first time since 2015.
BGSU forced two WMU turnovers. BGSU now has forced a turnover in 13-straight games.
BGSU had a pick-6 in the second quarter. It is the second pick-6 BGSU has had this season and first since the Georgia Tech game.
The Falcons had 4.0 sacks and 6.0 TFLs in the first half.
With 5.0 sacks, BGSU moves to No. 4 all-time in program history in team sacks, which is tied with the 2014 team.
Seven different Falcons caught at least one pass.
With 217 passing yards, QB Connor Bazelak surpassed 9,000 career passing yards.
With two passing touchdowns, Bazelak has notched his third multi-td game of the season and 17th of his career.
Bazelak recorded his fourth game of 200+ passing yards on the season and 27th of his career.
S Darius Lorfils recorded his first career interception in the first quarter.
WR Jaylon Tillman recorded his first reception of the season and first with BGSU in the first quarter on a 35-yard scoring strike from Connor Bazelak. It was the seventh career touchdown for Tillman. He scored six during his two seasons at Grand Valley State (2021-22).
CB Jordan Oladokun recorded his fourth interception of the season and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. It is his first career pick-6.
S Patrick Day secured his first sack of the season.
DL Jordan Porter had a career-high 2.0 sacks.

STAT LEADERS

Connor Bazelak: 18-of-26 passing, 217 passing yards, 14 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns
Harold Fannin Jr.: 8 receptions, 99 receiving yards
Odieu Hiliare: 4 receptions, 42 receiving yards, 1 touchdown
Ta'ron Keith: 66 rushing yards, 17 receiving yards, 1 touchdown
Darius Lorfils: 7 tackles, 1 interceptions, 1 pass breakup
Darren Anders: 7 tackles, 1 pass breakup
Jordan Porter: 4 tackles, 2 sacks

UP NEXT

The Falcons will continue their season with a bowl game. The opponent, location and date have yet to be determined. Check bgsufalcons.com for updates.