Falcons Fall to ODU, 30-27

Saturday, September 28

Bowling Green, Ohio

5 p.m.

Bowling Green State University

1-3 , 0-0

Old Dominion

1-3 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Old Dominion

Bowling Green

Harold Fannin Jr. heads into the end zone for one of his two touchdowns on Saturday

Photo by: Scott W. Grau

September 28, 2024 | Football

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Fannin has yet another monster game

By: BGSU Strategic Communications

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Aaron Young's short touchdown run with 24 seconds remaining lifted Old Dominion University to a 30-27 win over the Bowling Green State University football team Saturday evening (Sept. 28) at Doyt L. Perry Stadium.

The Falcons (1-3) fell despite a monster game from tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who had 12 receptions for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Connor Bazelak threw for 303 yards and those two scores, going 27-of-36 through the air.

Terion Stewart and Jaison Patterson each scored a touchdown on the ground for the Orange and Brown, but Pat Conroy had 99 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Monarchs (1-3), who played South Carolina, East Carolina and Virginia Tech prior to meeting the Falcons on Saturday.

BGSU had a 23-16 advantage in first downs and a 399-333 lead in total offense.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Monarchs took the opening kickoff and went 75 yards in eight plays, with Grant Wilson finding Pat Conroy for a nine-yard touchdown strike.
• BGSU drove to the ODU 43 before turning it over on downs. But, the Falcon defense forced the visitors into a three-and-out, with Dontrez Brown and Charles Rosser teaming up for a third-down sack.
• The Falcons tied the game wth a 10-play, 76-yard drive. On a third-and-9 play, Connor Bazelak connected with Levi Gazarek for 17 yards and a first down at the ODU 46.
• Then, Bazelak found Harold Fannin Jr. for a 30-yard gain to the 16. And, three plays later, Bazelak spotted Fannin in the left corner of the end zone for an 18-yard scoring strike. Jackson Kleather's kick made it a 7-7 game with 31 seconds left in the opening quarter.
• But, on the first play of the next drive, Wilson hooked up with Conroy again for a 75-yard catch and run, with the PAT giving the visitors a 14-7 lead after 15 minutes.
• The Falcons had an answer. The next drive covered 81 yards in nine plays. The second-to-last play of that drive saw Bazelak stand in the pocket and find Rahkeem Smith for 28 yards, and Jaison Patterson then turned the corner and took the ball the final 17 yards into the end zone. Kleather's kick knotted the score, 14-14, with 10:22 left before halftime.
• The visitors retook the lead on a 53-yard field goal by Ethan Sanchez with 8:33 remaining in the quarter, capping a seven-play, 39-yard drive.
• The Falcons' next drive included a 43-yard pass from Bazelak to Fannin, down to the ODU 21. But, penalties moved the Falcons back, and the drive ended with a 51-yard field-goal attempt that was just short, grazing the bottom of the crossbar.
• The BGSU defense stepped up and held the Monarchs on the final drive of the half. The hosts were forced to punt on the opening drive of the second half, but on the next drive, a third-down sack by Ali Saad forced the visitors to punt the ball back to the Falcons.
• And, Bazelak spotted Fannin for a spectacular 59-yard catch-and-run play down the right sideline for a score. Kleather's kick was good, giving the hosts a 21-17 lead with 11:34 left in the third quarter.
• The Monarchs' next drive resulted in a fourth-and-19, as CJ Brown tackled a receiver for a six-yard loss on first down, and Joseph Sipp Jr sacked quarterback Colton Joseph on the next play. But, a fumble on the next drive, recovered by the Falcons, stalled the ensuing drive. John Henderson's 50-yard punt gave the ball back to the visitors at the ODU 33-yard line.
• The Monarchs picked up 26 yards on a scramble by Joseph to get into BGSU territory on the next drive, but an Anthony Hawkins sack and a third-down incompletion stalled that drive, and BGSU took over at the Falcons' 16-yard line. The hosts were forced to punt the ball back, but Henderson's kick was downed at the ODU 7 on the first play of the fourth quarter.
• The Falcon defense held the Monarchs to a three-and-out, and after the ensuing punt, BGSU took over at the ODU 43. But, an interception by Jahron Manning on the second play of the next drive put the visitors in business at the BGSU 21 with 12:39 to go.
• Two plays later, Joseph ran off right tackle for a 14-yard score with 11:57 on the clock. The PAT, however, was no good, and the Monarchs' lead was 23-21.
• On the next drive, Terion Stewart took over. Stewart gained 30 yards on the first three plays of the drive, moving BGSU into ODU territory.
• But, the ODU defense held, and BGSU was forced to punt. Darius Lorfils downed Henderson's punt at the 1-yard line. Three plays gained just four yards, and after a punt, the Falcons took over at the ODU 44-yard line with 8:07 on the clock.
• On a third-and-5 play, Bazelak found Fannin for six yards and a first down at the 33. The ODU defense held, and on fourth down, a 51-yard field-goal attempt was no good. But, a personal-foul penalty on the Monarchs extended the drive and gave BGSU a first down at the 18 with 3:51 on the clock.
• Two plays later – a five-yard run by Stewart and a 13-yard run by Stewart – the Falcons retook the lead. BGSU's two-point conversion attempt failed, and the Falcons had a 27-23 lead with 3:01 remaining.
• The next drive saw ODU's Aaron Young rush for 15 yards and a first down at his team's 36-yard line on the first play. Then, on a fourth-down play, the Monarchs converted, as a pass to Conroy put the ball at the BG 45-yard line.
• After a four-yard gain by Young, the visitors used a timeout with 1:25 to go. Joseph carried up the middle for three yards, and Young's run up the middle gave ODU a first down at the 35.
• Joseph rushed right for four yards to the 31 with 50 seconds left, and his pass to Diante Vines put the ball at the 25 with 45 seconds to go. After an incomplete pass, Joseph scrambled to his left on second down, and got all the way to the four-yard line, before Young took it the rest of the way with 24 seconds to go. The next drive saw BGSU get as far as the Falcons' 40-yard line before running out of time.

There Goes That MAN!!!

Harold Fannin Jr. goes 59 yards on the record-breaking touchdown. The junior now holds the BGSU record for receiving TDs by a tight end with 11 😤

BGSU leads, 21-17.

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— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) September 28, 2024

TEAM NOTES
• BGSU celebrated its 102nd Homecoming
• BGSU won the toss for the second game in a row and for the second time this season.
• BGSU record 4.0+ sacks for the second time this season.
• Eight different Falcons recorded at least one reception.

PLAYER NOTES
• TE Harold Fannin Jr. set the BGSU single-game record for receiving yards in a game by a tight end with 192 receiving yards. His 12 receptions are second-most by a BGSU tight end in a game.
• With 12 receptions, TE Harold Fannin Jr. has at least one reception in 22-straight games. The 12 receptions were a career high.
• Fannin finished with two receiving touchdowns, which broke the BGSU record for career receiving touchdowns by a tight end. He passed Mark Dowdell (1981-84) and Alex Bayer (2010-13) who shared the previous record with 10. Fannin now has 11 for his career.
• Fannin scored on passes of 18 and 59 yards.
• Fannin tallied a career-high 192 yards receiving. It is the third game in a row he set a career high.
• Fannin has secured 100+ receiving yards for the third game in a row and the fourth time in his career. A BGSU tight end has notched 100+ receiving yards in a game only seven times in program history and Fannin owns four of those games. He is the only BGSU tight end to accomplish the feat more than once.
• QB Connor Bazelak finished with 303 passing yards to push him past 10,000 for his career. He is one of five active FBS players with 10,000+ passing yards.
• Bazelak threw for over 200+ yards for the third time this season and the 31st time in his career.
• The 303 passing yards is Bazelak's first 300+-yard passing game of the season and 10th of his career.
• RB Jaison Patterson scored his first touchdown of the season on a 17-yard rush in the second period.
• Charles Rosser had a career-high eight tackles.

FROM THE LOCKER ROOM -- Head Coach Scot Loeffler
"My hat's off to ODU. Like we said whenever we were prepping for this game, this would be a dogfight, and unfortunately, we came up on the wrong side of the stick. [I'm] proud of our guys. I thought they prepped really hard. This was a tough prep on defense. It was a tough prep on offense [and] special teams. [We're] very similar teams, very, very similar, and they made one more play than we did, probably on both sides of the ball. What we have to do is we have to find a way to finish. Just like I said last week in the [Texas] A&M game, as painful as this is, we're getting ready to enter our season when everything's on the line. We need to learn from this and understand that we have to make one or two more plays on each side of the ball. There were a lot of really good things that was done everywhere. We just didn't make what was one or two plays to finish the game."

UP NEXT
• The Falcons open Mid-American Conference play next Saturday (Oct. 5) at Akron, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m.

• Then, BGSU returns to Perry Stadium the following Saturday (Oct. 12), hosting Northern Illinois.