Bowling Green State University’s 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior quarterback Connor Bazelak has never won a collegiate football championship, and this is his third college.

In his final year of eligibility, Bazelak thinks it is about time he gets one, and he believes the Falcons have what it takes to make a Mid-American Conference happen.

“I’ve never won a conference championship, so that is my goal to win a conference championship,” Bazelak said. “Whatever I have to do to get that for our team, I want to do that.”

Bazelak came to BGSU in 2023 after appearing in 34 career games with 29 career starts between Missouri (three years) and Indiana (one year). He enters 2024 with 9,301 career passing yards, 48 touchdowns and a 61.9 completion percentage for his career.

Last year, Bazelak started in 11 of BGSU’s 13 games, missing the Michigan and Buffalo games with an injury. He finished the season with 1,935 yards passing and 12 touchdowns, and he did that while still banged up from injuries.

Despite that, BGSU coach Scot Loeffler saw a quarterback who played his best football toward the end of the season while leading the team to a 7-6 season and an appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl, losing to Minnesota 24-20.

“The fact of the matter is, if you look at our season from last year, about halfway through the season Connor really became into who he is,” Loeffler said.

“He doesn’t need to do anything more than lead, take the right footwork, have the great body position, go from one to two to three to four, hit his first open receiver and be tough. All of those things he can do and he has shown it.

“I thought the last half of the year he was playing the best in our league, in my opinion, and he was hurt. When you are playing hurt and being productive the way that he was, he’s good enough to lead us to a championship.”

Bazelak says if he has to play that way again, he’ll do it.

“I feel good right now,” Bazelak said. “Obviously, last year I just played through it. I’m going to play through it if I can, and come January, it’s about 6½ months out, and feel good, I should be ready.”

Plus, the new season is his second with the Falcons, so he knows the offense that much more. That saves a lot of time.

“I think it always helps, year two in the offense,” Bazelak said. “You just go out there and let your preparation and talent do the work. I think that really helps me when I play like that. I’m hoping training camp goes well and we’ll get the whole offense going the way we want.”

‘Bunch of weapons’

Bazelak believes he has the receiver corps who can help him make that happen, including two transfers in 6-1, 195-pound senior Malcolm Johnson Jr. and 6-0, 180-pound senior R.J. Garcia II.

Johnson appeared in 29 career games over four seasons at Auburn, accumulating 14 receptions for 199 yards and one touchdown over his career with the Tigers. Garcia appeared in 29 career games over three seasons at Kansas State, catching 22 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think Malcom and R.J., our new guys, are likely going to start and really help us out in the pass game and be huge contributors to our offense,” Bazelak said.

“They’ve been great. They are really talented dudes and they work hard. We’ve let those two bond and both of those guys should seamlessly step in. We’re hoping we can get better production than what we’ve got the past few years. Obviously, Malcolm is unbelievable and R.J. can help us win a championship.

“Finn Hogan (6-5, 220-pound junior receiver) is back from last year and I think will play a lot of receiver and be a hybrid tight end kind of guy. Jaylon Tillman (6-0, 215-pound senior) will play a ton at receiver, back from last year,” Bazelak continued.

“We’ve got a bunch of weapons, we are super deep and if somebody goes down, we can slide somebody else in and feel good about them. I’m excited about that group.

“We haven’t done, obviously, a ton of practice work with them since I was out in the spring. We did some (reps) in the summer and everything looked really good. I’m excited for training camp to get some pads on and get those guys going against some contact against a defense.”

Returning QB trio

Plus, there is more to the quarterback room than Bazelak — 6-3, 225-pound senior Camden Orth and 6-3, 200-pound redshirt-freshman Lucian Anderson III return.

Orth often split duties with Bazelak, appearing in 12 of BGSU’s 13 games with two starts with certain plays designed for either. Anderson appeared in three games, but took over lead QB duties during spring practice while the other two were recovering from injuries.

“We’ve got a little more work to do with Cam with his shoulder,” Loeffler said. “He’ll be ready to go by the time the season rolls around.

“Connor will be full go, which is great. Everything has looked exceptional with him. It’s been a great learning experience and a great opportunity for Lucian to develop, so we’re excited about his growth.”

Bazelak believes three quarterbacks returning with experience is unique in college football.

“Cam is a great dude and we have a great relationship,” Bazelak said. “Lucian is back too from last year so I feel like not a lot of college teams in the country can say they have three of their quarterbacks coming back from the previous year, there are so many transfers and all of that.

“It’s great to have the same guys in the room. Those guys help me a ton in preparation and out on the field in practice, so it should be fun and exciting.”

Bazelak says he enjoyed watching Anderson during spring practice, and even worked with him at times.

“He developed a ton over the past year, just between last year as a freshman, and in the spring,” Bazelak said.

“I helped him a lot with the offense and just using my experiences. I’ve played a ton of football and there is no substitute for reps and experience. So, if I can give him some knowledge and some tips and help him out — I mean, he’s young and he can use that stuff.”

After starring at QB at two power five conference schools and then coming to BGSU, Bazelak says he has fallen in love with the community and is glad he can finish his career here.

“BG is awesome. I’m from Ohio (Kettering Alter), so it feels like home,” Bazelak said. “It’s a great college town. During my time at Missouri, Columbia is a college town but it’s just a little big bigger, which I loved, and Bowling Green is very similar, just a little smaller, and it’s great.

“The people are awesome. It’s a good balance between when you go out, people don’t bother you, and people sometimes know you and sometimes they don’t bother you, so it’s great. At some of the bigger schools you go out and everybody is trying to talk to you.”