KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Bowling Green State University football heads to Western Michigan Tuesday hoping to become the first BGSU team since 2015 to finish with a winning record.

The Falcons, already bowl-eligible at 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Mid-American Conference, take on the Broncos (4-7, 3-4) at 7 p.m. at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

For the Falcons, being bowl-eligible is not enough, but coach Scot Loeffler says his team will treat it like they do any other game.

“I don’t see us acting any different,” Loeffler said. “We’ve got the opportunity to have the first winning team winning record here since 2015.

“We’ve got a chance to win eight ball games with the toughest schedule in the MAC and we’re good football team. We found who we are and I think our program just keeps on getting better and that’s what I want and that’s what our whole goal is.

“Every year we’ve gotten better and we need to finish. Now we’ve got to finish against Western Michigan who is a darned good team. If you look at who they played. Wow.

“I mean for a brand new program (new coaches) and having that schedule, come on now, they’ve been through the ringer. So, we’ve got to go out and find a way to play our best football and we’re beat up.

“So we’ve got to get guys to step up and I don’t see a letdown and if so I’d be really disappointed, but we’ve got great character on our team, we’ve got great character as a staff.

“We’re going to go up there and try to win our seventh ball game. Be the first team that’s had a winning record here, and then take a little break. (Then), get healthy and go find a way to win a bowl game.”

The Falcons have won five of their last seven, and were riding a four-game winning streak until allowing an 18-point halftime lead (28-10) disappear against Toledo last Tuesday at Doyt Perry Stadium, then falling to the Rockets, 32-31, on a late touchdown.

The first half showed what the Falcons can do, putting up four touchdowns while holding the Rockets to a field goal after Toledo scored the first touchdown on the game’s opening possession.

“It was a team effort. It shows how explosive and how dominant we can be,” Loeffler said. “You saw it against Georgia Tech, we can beat anyone in the country.

“Our guys know that, and our team knows that. We did it all fall camp back in August, we’ve done it in a couple games this year. It stinks that we couldn’t put it together for four quarters.”

Toledo, the defending MAC champions, have already won the West Division championship and are headed to the league championship game against Miami (9-2, 6-1).

For any team to hang with Toledo, 10-1 overall and 7-0 in the MAC, is saying something in itself.

“I think over the last five weeks our football team is playing as well as anyone in our conference. I think we really started becoming consistent,” Loeffler said.

“Playing good football, finding ways to play good ball with some key players out, and that’s what good teams do.

“And the fact of the matter is, on Tuesday night you had two really good football teams, playing each other in a great rivalry game, and the game was very, very similar to last year. Great football game,” Loeffler continued.

“That’s what that game supposed to look like, and I’ve been on both sides of great rivalries where you’ve won and you’ve lost and it hurts like no other whenever you don’t find a way to beat your rival.

“And just like last year’s game (BGSU win over Toledo in 2022), it came down to two or three plays on each side of the ball, and that’s what happened. We didn’t make two or three plays on offense in the second half. We didn’t make two or three plays on defense in the second half.

“You make half of those, you win the game and we found a way last year to make those two or three plays in the second half to give ourselves a chance to win, so I’m very, very proud of our football team.

“We finally have gotten to that rivalry the way that it’s supposed to look, and obviously we will always want to come on the other end of that, but unfortunately it didn’t happen, but that’s why they’re rivalries.”

Loeffler says that is the ultimate goal for any coaching staff, no matter how the record turns out, is to improve as the season goes on, even as the team has gotten more and more banged up.

“Crazy things happen but just like I said, I’m really, really proud of our kids, our coaches, and I’m really proud of how we’ve become a better football team,” Loeffler said.

“You always have evaluate do you become better as the year goes on and we have and we’ve had injuries and all that and it started out poor.

“I thought the beginning of the season, we got hurt in the Michigan game and didn’t find our way till about the fifth week, sixth week of the season and we’re playing good football right now and we’re going to have to continue to do that.

“We’re playing a (Western Michigan) team that in my opinion, they played the second toughest schedule in this conference. We played the toughest, without a doubt, not even close.

“But these guys have played some really good football teams and we’re going to have to go up and we’re going to have to play extremely well, just like we have been.

“And you know, we’re banged up, fact of the matter is we’re beat to death and but that’s that time of year and it’s that time of year and we’ve got to go find a way to go play our very best and that’s what we want to do in this month so we got a challenge ahead of us.”