Lonnie McMillan Photo

The struggling Bobcats offense racked up 513 yards on a school-record 110 plays and held the high-powered Falcons offense was limited to 355 yards. Ohio had more first downs, 29-19, and had nearly double the possession time of Bowling Green. Yet it was not nearly enough to overcome 16 penalties for 153 yards.

“You can’t finish drives off and put points on the board when you are heavily penalized, and you’re also if you’re heavily penalized form the defensive standpoint, you allow them to continue drives and put points on the board. That has not been a problem for us all year. I’m not quite sure of the game and how it unfolded as to how that many penalties were accessed. We’ll have to look at it. It just seemed like the flag was coming out every time I looked around. You cannot beat yourself in that matter and expect to put points on the board.”

As has been a frequent problem, the Bobcats (3-4, 1-2 Mid-American Conference) allowed a couple of quick scores and never recovered. The Falcons (5-2, 3-0 MAC) scored twice in the game’s first three minutes, and their lead for most of the game was at least two scores.

Bowling Green used the screen pass effectively in the game’s first few minutes and turned three short passes into big gains. Ryan Burbrink had a 29-yard gain, and the Falcons scored first on 27-yard pass from James Knapke to Travis Greene. After Ohio quarterback JD Sprague fumbled on his team’s first play, the Falcons got a 17-yard pass to Burbrink and scored on an Andre Givens 2-yard run.

“The first two possessions when they scored in the boundary, they kept running screens and the receiver would crack the linebacker and the corner would be pressed, so basically it was the two-for-one technique and the safety was left alone with two or three blockers,” Ohio cornerback Ian Wells said.

Ohio settled in defensively, but the offense failed to turn yards into touchdowns. Josiah Yazdani kicked a 25-yard field goal late in the first quarter and a 37-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter to get the Bobcats to within 14-6. They had a chance to get within a point but another drive stalled and this tie Yazdani missed from 38 yards.

Instead, Roger Lewis beat Wells deep for a 61-yard gain that set up a 1-yard Fred Coppet touchdown run, and the Falcons led by two or more scores the rest of the way.

“What does it come down to? Big and explosive plays,” Solich said. “They got four touchdowns off of that. When it came to really driving against us and doing that with any kind of consistency, that did not happen. That’s frustrating when you play defense well enough to not allow drives, but you give up big plays.”

Greene’s 30-yard run on a third-and-6 play midway through the third quarter pushed Bowling Green’s lead to 28-6.

The Bobcats turned the ball over on downs on their next two possessions, and Jovon Johnson’s 44-yard interception return for a touchdown was wiped out by offsetting penalties that did not even count into the totals.

“We were just shooting ourselves in the foot,” Sprague said. “We can’t do that and expect to win, especially against a high-powered offense like Bowling Green.”

Ohio finally did find the end zone, but it took 17 plays and much clock time before Tim Edmond powered in from 2 yards out with 9:26 remaining.

Within two touchdowns, the Bobcats needed a stop, but with a pair of personal foul penalties on one play for 30 yards, the Falcons got into position for the game-clinching 26-yard Tyler Tate field goal.

“That’s an example of how we hurt ourselves,” Solich said. “… I love what their all about in terms of how they’ll battle to win a game. You cannot hurt your team with penalties and allow the opposing team to benefit from it. Maybe it’s a part of maturing, but I’ll take a very close look at that on film and if it’s a big a problem as the officials apparently thought it was, we’ll address it.”

Even with the outcome decided, Ohio’s struggles to find the end zone continued. Greg Windham effectively moved the Bobcats down the field with seven straight pass completions, but he fumbled after reaching the 1-yard line.

It was by no means a clean game for Bowling Green as far as penalties go. The Falcons were flagged eight times for 75 yards.

Sprague was 27-of-56 passing for 325 yards and rushed for a team-best 49 yards despite being sacked five times. Back to action after missing last week, A.J. Oullette carried 16 times for 45 yards.

Young receivers for Ohio were a bright spot. Sebastian Smith made nine catches for 86 yards, Jordan Reid caught six passes for 84 yards and Brendan Cope had five grabs for 67 yards.

“There’ some good things happening out there and that’s the frustrating part,” Solich said. “Even though there’s good things, we find ways to hurt ourselves.”

Lewis led the Falcons with 100 yards on six catches, while Burbrink had five for 77 yards. Knapke was 20-of-39 passing for 260 yards.

Ohio hosts Akron at 2 p.m. Saturday at Peden Stadium.