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 On the one hand, give Wyoming some credit as the Cowboys took advantage of their opportunities.
On the other hand, Bowling Green self-destructed with six turnovers and two blocked kicks.
The end result was a 28-27 Wyoming victory on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Perry Stadium.
The game was finally decided when Wyoming’s Gabe Knapton and Josh Biezuns blocked Kyle Burkhardt’s point-after touchdown kick attempt with 2.1 seconds remaining in the game.
The Falcons, with Matt Schilz going 8-of-10 passing for 89 yards, had scored a TD to pull within one point. After the blocked PAT, the Cowboys recovered the on-side kick as time ran out.
“To not even be able to hit an extra point to put a game into overtime is embarrassing. Just snap it, protect it, kick it,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said. “At the end of the day you have to be able to kick an extra-point. To not be able to execute, that is a hard way to go down.”
“That exact field goal block, we have worked to death this week ... We protected it all week,” Clawson added. “I would guess the kick was probably a little bit low. So a lot of times you can give up those inside pressures, but if your snap is good and your timing is good and the kick is high, you survive it.”
Clawson said he did not consider going for a 2-point conversion.
“We’re at home. I believe we were the better football team ... The way our defense was playing and the way we were moving the football it was a pretty quick decision,” Clawson said. “I felt at that point if we go to overtime we would win the game.”
Bowling Green started well, taking a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game on a Schilz 40-yard TD pass to Alex Bayer.
Later, on a third-and-goal from the 2-yard line with 3:15 left in the first quarter, Schilz was credited with a lost fumble and Wyoming recovered.
The Cowboys tied the game after an interception early in the second quarter. They used the short field, and Alvester Alexander scored on a 17-yard run.
Bowling Green took advantage of Wyoming’s only turnover of the game, a lost fumble, to pull ahead 14-7 with 5:03 left in the first half. Kamar Jorden caught a 13-yard scoring pass from Schilz, making a good effort to beat Tashaun Gipson on the play.
Wyoming scored on the opening possession of the second half on Ghaali Muhammad’s 6-yard run to tie the game at 14.
Bowling Green then turned the ball over on its next two possessions, including fumbling the kickoff after Muhammad’s run. The Falcons held the Cowboys out of the end zone after the turnover, stopping a fourth-and-two run by Brett Smith after a dropped third down pass. However, BG fumbled on the second play after the stop and Marqueston Huff returned the ball 8-yards for a TD to put the Cowboys up 21-14.
Bowling Green then moved into scoring position on a 56-yard pass from Schilz to Adrian Hodges. But after getting the ball to the 12-yard line, BG was hit with a 15-yard personal foul penalty and Burkhardt’s 44-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
Less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Schilz was stripped of the ball and the Cowboys recovered at the Falcons’ 22-yard line. Four plays later Wyoming had a 28-14 lead.
The Falcons had a turnover and were stopped on a fourth-and-five from the 8-yard line on their next two possessions, but BG’s defense was also holding the Cowboys.
Then in the final five minutes, BG scored twice. The first TD was a 32-yard pass from Schilz to Jorden with 4:16 remaining. Schilz was 6-of-8 on the drive for 67 yards.
Wyoming’s ensuing drive looked like it would be short, but with the Cowboys facing fourth-and-one at their own 39, the Falcons a were pulled offsides to allow Wyoming to keep the ball with 1:44 remaining.
“To jump on a fourth-and-one when the whole stadium knows they are going to hard count us ... We just really did some poor things out there today,” Clawson said.
BG used three time outs but finally forced a punt and got the ball back at its own 11-yard line with 1:18 remaining. Schilz was then 8-of-10 for 89 yards, hitting Ray Hutson with a 10-yard scoring pass with 2.1 seconds left to set the stage for the blocked PAT. Eugene Cooper had five catches for 57 yards on the drive.
“We gave them 35 points on turnovers,” Clawson said. “We had two turnovers in our red zone; a turnover they picked up and scored on; we had two more turnovers that led to their scores.
“I’m sure they got their hands in there and did some good things, but some of it was just us not being fundamentally good.”
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