Five Things Learned: Bowling Green Falcons at Ohio Bobcats

Homecoming in Athens treated Bobcat alumni to a 30-24 victory at Peden Stadium, while Bowling Green fans saw their team drop to 1-5. Ohio has looked stellar but the Falcons are not as bad as their record. Here are a few major takeaways from the game.

1. Greg Windham and Ohio’s offensive performance at Miami was a fluke. For some reason Ohio struggled to move the ball a week ago, but yesterday Windham had a much better time involving multiple receivers on his way to 190 yards and a touchdown. Four Ohio wideouts had at least three catches and the team picked up 203 yards through the air.

2. Bowling Green needs to figure things out on the offensive line. The Falcons struggled to create running lanes for their backs as the team averaged just 2.9 yards a carry. In the passing game, James Morgan was running for his life as Ohio was able to get to the quarterback for four sacks on top of their seven tackles for loss. With offensive threats at the skill positions, giving Morgan more time will eliminate turnovers that could keep this offense on track.

3. Apparently, discipline is overrated. The teams combined for 16 penalties that added up to 179 total yards in this game that lasted nearly three and a half hours. Ohio committed 9 of the 16 for yet another over 100-yard penalty game.

4. Javon Hagan is officially one of the Ohio defensive playmakers. As part of the young secondary, Hagan had question marks surrounding him entering the season while Quentin Poling and Tarell Basham ate up most of the praise. This week Hagan had another big game with seven tackles, an interception and a forced fumble.

5. The East will likely not be decided until the final week of the season. With only Ohio and Akron above .500 on the year in the East, the showdown between the two will most likely decide who will represent the division in the MAC title game. While both teams are yet to play Toledo, Ohio also must play Central Michigan whereas Akron will have to play Western Michigan. Don’t make plans for Nov. 22, because the MACtion will be all the way turned up.