by State College, Pennsylvania- The Bowling Green Falcons coming off of a win in week one gave the 8th best team in the nation, the Penn State Nittany Lions a scare. Bowling Green led early on as they attempted to hold the Lions back and maintain their 10 point lead. They would fail to do so in a seven point loss to Penn State 34-27 in what will be viewed as an all time effort against a ranked Big Ten opponent.
Bowling Green showed from the start that they weren’t scared of the Penn State defense on their very first drive. A well scripted start to the game had the Nittany Lions on their heels guessing where the Falcons were going to hit. After a strong ground game in week one Penn State filled the box with the expectation that the Falcons would keep the rock on the ground. That wasn’t the case for Connor Bazelak and company, as they drove down the field with grace. Harold Fannin Jr proved to Happy Valley that he is one of the best TE’s in the country on this drive. A reception to start the drive got things going as he capped it off for the star Tight End with a six yard touchdown reception.
Penn State responded right away to the Falcons, a team with top tier talent like the Nittany Lions weren’t just going to let Bowling Green take the lead without a response. In six plays Allar led his team down the field to even up the score at seven a piece. The next few possessions silenced the crowd for the first half.
Bowling Green made a 33 yard field goal then followed that up with a defensive stop and a touchdown that saw the Falcons obtain a 17-7 lead in the first half of play. The touchdown was from the arm of Bazelak to the hands of Malcom Johnson Jr who had an impressive game for the Falcons.
With the crowd out of the game Penn State had to come back from a 10 point deficit in the first half of play. This was proven to be a difficult task thanks to the physical defensive line of Bowling Green. The rough and tough Falcons defensive line gave Penn State fits in the first half of play thanks to two sacks on Allar that caused setbacks for the Lions. Despite the struggles, a three play drive which resulted in a passing touchdown followed by a field goal that tied the game up.
Scoring was not done yet for either side, the running attack was effective in the first half for the Falcons led by Jamal Johnson. Bowling Green marched to the Penn State 41 yard line and gave Jamal Johnson a chance to break loose into the secondary. All Johnson needed was space and he took advantage of that as he bolted to the endzone. Penn State scored a field goal in response, but it wasn’t enough to take back the lead as the Falcons maintained a 24-20 lead into halftime.
The second half was a different story, Bowling Green was held off the scoreboard until the the final minute of the game when the score was out of reach. Penn State scored two touchdowns in the second half, one from the arm of Allar to Singleton and another off the legs of Singleton to close the game out.
