By Bryce Hudik

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – David nicked and bloodied the ear of Goliath Saturday in Beaver Stadium.

Bowling Green State University football led Penn State, 24-20, at the half and played the eighth-ranked Nittany Lions razor-close the entire game.

The Falcons, picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference, went right at the Nittany Lions. The Lions pulled away in the fourth quarter to win, 34-27.

“I thought our kids played hard,” BGSU coach Scot Loeffler said. “Offensively in the first half we had an excellent game plan handling the man coverage. We ran the ball fairly well against an unbelievable defense in my opinion.

“I think they are the best defense in the country. Defensively, I think we made some great adjustments at halftime. We slowed the stretch play down. At the end of the game, those last couple drives we just ran out of bullets.

“We gave ourselves a shot in the end. The thought process was find a way to score, on-side kick – take a shot and see if you can shock the world.”

At the half, BGSU had 286 all-purpose yards, 14 first downs, and 18:53 minutes of possession time. In all these categories and more, they were superior to Penn State.

Most impressively, they did this without their starting running back Terion Stewart and a few key wide receivers who were out due to injury.

Bowling Green’s first drive of the game went for 71 yards on six plays. Gilding down the field against the highly touted defense without much resistance they capped the impressive offensive showing off when senior quarterback Connor Bazelak threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Harold Fannin Jr.

“They could make a run at the playoffs,” said Bazelak. “They’re a really good team, but so are we. We feel like we can compete with anybody.”

Penn State answered with their own score, going six plays for 75 yards with a Drew Allar rushing touchdown.

A few Penn State penalties helped on BGSU’s next drive, propelling them down the field. They held the Falcons to a field goal and a Bowling Green defensive stop on the next possession marked the end of the first quarter with the score 10-7 in favor of the Falcons.

Starting the second quarter, BGSU drove straight down the field yet again. A 15-yard Bazelak pass to Auburn transfer Malcolm Johnson Jr. in the corner of the end zone gave the Falcons a 10-point lead.

Penn State answered immediately, scoring in just three plays. Allar threw a pass to wide receiver Omari Evans for a 29-yard touchdown with 11:48 left until halftime.

The next possession BGSU turned it over on a fourth down try, handing the ball over to Penn State at midfield but a gritty defensive hold by the Falcons allowed only a field goal.

Facing a stout, star-studded defense Bowling Green did not bat an eyelash, needing just four plays to score and answer the call. A gashing run up the gut by running back Jamal Johnson from 41 yards out made the score 24-17 with 3:32 left in the quarter.

To end the half, once again BGSU held the high-powered offense of Penn State to a mere field goal. BG was up on the Big Ten powerhouse, 24-20, at the break.

“We had a really good gameplan in the first half and ran the ball well against one of the best defenses in the nation. But they made some really good adjustments at halftime,” said Loeffler.

Home fans booed the Nittany Lions off the field at halftime.

“The last three years (Bowling Green) beat Minnesota, they beat Georgia Tech, Michigan last year was 14-6 at the half, 32 seniors,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “They played their tails off. The moment wasn’t too big for them.”

Even though Penn State’s defense played its worst half of football in years, Penn State first-year defensive coordinator Tom Allen didn’t raise his voice at halftime. Allen said his players could rebound; they just needed to refocus.

“You can’t take anyone for granted,” Penn State safety Jaylen Reed said. “I felt like we came out a little slow, not up to our standard.”

Penn State received the ball at the half and was stonewalled by the Falcons. A sack by BGSU linebacker Charles Rosser on third down forced a punt.

Unfortunately for BGSU, this is where the Falcons’ offense sputtered as those Penn State adjustments came into play. The Falcons would only score once more on a field goal.

Drew Allar threw a dot over the middle to running back Nicholas Singleton for a touchdown, putting the score at 27-24 with 6:13 left in the third quarter.

Penn State was knocking again in the dwindling minutes of the third but Bowling Green cornerback Jacorey Benjamin came up with a clutch interception deep in his own end zone, but he ran it out to the three-yard line instead of taking a touchback.

As a result, the Falcon’s couldn’t do much with the turnover and were forced to punt again.

Penn State drove again, but a crucial holding call nullified their third down conversion. Allar took a deep shot, but the pass was played masterfully by BG cornerback Jordan Oladokun, who deflected the pass.

BG took over with 10:03 left in the fourth quarter, trailing by just three but Bazelak threw his first interception of the game. Penn State got the ball in prime field position, but another impressive stop returned the ball to the Falcons.

On Bowling Green’s ensuing drive, they were marching but Bazelak’s second interception of the drive cut them off there. This set up a 41-yard Singleton rushing touchdown that put Penn State up 34-24.

When they got the ball back, BG was able to kick a 42-yard field goal with 47 seconds left, narrowing the gap to a one score game.

Bowling Green’s onside kick attempt was thwarted, and Penn State went into victory formation to end the game.

“In the end we just ran out of bullets,” said Loeffler. “They went to two-man at the end and we just didn’t prepare for it very well. We have stuff to beat that but when you prepare for a team like this, you have a thousand things to solve. We just need to keep getting better week in and week out and tip that needle in the right direction.”

Big day for tight ends

Penn State tight end Tyler Warren broke the single game school receiving record for a tight end, in the third quarter. He ended the game with eight receptions and 146 yards.

“This game plan had some shots for tight ends,” Warren said. “And I was open.”

That being said Bowling Green tight end Harold Fannin Jr. rivaled this with 11 receptions, 137 yards receiving and one touchdown. Two of the very best tight ends in the country, both highly-touted NFL prospects, went head-to-head in this one.

Fannin now has a reception in 20-straight games. The 11 receptions push Fannin past Gerry Bayless (75) and Quintin Morris (75) for fifth all-time at BGSU in career receptions by a tight end. With 137 receiving yards, Fannin became the 43rd Falcon to reach 1,000-career receiving yards.

Fannin also surpassed Christian Sims for fourth all-time at BGSU for career receiving yards by a tight end. Both the 137 receiving yards and 11 receptions are a career high for Fannin. The 137 receiving yards marks the second time in Fannin’s career.

With one receiving touchdown, Fannin moves into a tie for third all-time at BGSU in career receiving touchdowns by a tight end with eight. He shares the mark with Jimmy Scheidler (2007-09).

BGSU wide receiver Malcolm Johnson Jr had eight receptions for 81 yards and a touchdowns, breaking his career high for in receptions the second game in a row and he also set a career high for receiving yards.

“I really appreciate him (Bazelak),” said Johnson when asked about their developing chemistry. “I came over here early so we could get reps in together and it’s paying off.”

Offenses on equal footing

The seven-point loss to Penn State is the fewest points the Falcons have lost to a Top-10 Associated Press opponent. The previous low was 16 points to then-No. 2 Oklahoma in 2004 (40-24).

Bowling Green scored a touchdown on its opening drive of the game, which snapped Penn State’s streak of 28 games not allowing an opponent to score a first-drive touchdown. It was the longest active streak in the nation entering the game.

Penn State had 438 yards of total offense to Bowling Green’s 375 and Penn State narrowly etched BG in first downs 21-20. Penn State was penalized seven times for 76 yards while BG was penalized just three for 18 yards.

Bazelak looked every bit Allar’s equal. Allar was 13 for 20 for 204 yards for the game.

For BGSU, Bazelak was 25-for-39 for 254 yards and two touchdowns, surpassing 900 completions for his career, now at 922. With two passing touchdowns, Bazelak surpassed 50 for his career. He currently has 50 career passing touchdowns. It is the 29th time in his career that he has thrown for 200-plus yards in a game.

BGSU place kicker Jackson Kleather connected on a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter. It was his first career field goal attempt and make. He later made a kick from 42 yards.

The Falcons’ running back Jamal Johnson scored on a 41-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter. It is the first career rushing touchdown of Johnson’s career.

Defensively, Joseph Sipp Jr. had eight tackles, including his involvement in a tackle for a loss, Charles Rosser had eight tackles and sack, and C.J. Brown had six tackles and a pass breakup.

Cornerback Jacorey Benjamin collected his first interception of his BGSU career to end the third quarter. It was his first FBS career interception. He notched six previous ones at the FCS level at Texas Southern.

Restless crowd

There were 103,861 fans at today’s game. That is back-to-back years BGSU has played a game in front of 100,000-plus fans. In 2023 BGSU played in front 109,955 at Michigan.

After Allar’s go-ahead toss to Singleton in the third, Bowling Green sputtered when a reanimated student section made life difficult for the Falcons.

As the noise swelled, multiple Falcons twitched to set up second and long. It got louder and they had to burn a timeout to avoid another penalty. A short run and incompletion later, Penn State’s punt return squad ran onto the field to the loudest cheers of the day.

Bowling Green travels to Texas A&M on Sept. 21. Penn State is off next week then hosts Kent State on Sept. 21.

( – includes contributions by Associated Press sportswriter Travis Johnson and BGSU Athletics)