ATLANTA — While Bowling Green players celebrated a memorable win for their football team, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key was left to seek answers for a loss — or explain why the game wasn’t even close.
Finn Hogan’s 1-handed touchdown catch late in the first half gave Bowling Green the lead, Deshawn Jones Jr. returned an interception 45 yards for another score, and the Falcons of the Mid-American Conference upset Power Five conference program Georgia Tech 38-27 on Saturday.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Key said.
Tech, favored by 22 1/2 points at home, was overwhelmed after taking a 14-0 lead. Bowling Green (2-3) scored the next 38 points to secure its first win over an active member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Falcons held the ball more than 42 minutes, more than doubling the time of possession of the Yellow Jackets.
“As anybody who saw the game knows, it was an embarrassing display of football on our part,” Key said. “As epic of a failure as you can possibly have. All three phases, all aspects of the program didn’t succeed. … It’s on me to make changes to get this thing fixed.”
Key acknowledged the game “was not even really close after the first two possessions.”
Tech (2-3) wore black uniforms as a nod to its “Black Watch” defenses of the 1980s. With former coach Bill Curry attending, the Jackets’ performance didn’t inspire comparisons to those stingy units.
Powerful running back Terion Stewart ran for 138 yards and a touchdown for Bowling Green, while Connor Bazelak passed for 263 yards and a score. The 5-foot-9, 225-pound Stewart made the visitors look like the Power Five team on the field on this day as he consistently broke tackles.
After going down 14-0, the Falcons scored 38 consecutive points.
“When our mind is right, when our heart is right, when we’re doing things the right way, we’re all right,” coach Scot Loeffler said. “We’re pretty good.”
Haynes King’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Malik Rutherford with 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter produced the Jackets’ first points since their second possession. It was a jolting disappointment for them after last week’s 30-16 ACC win at Wake Forest.
“Inconsistency from week to week is not acceptable,” said Key, who led the Jackets on an interim basis for the final eight games last season, going 4-4 before Tech made him the head coach.
Bazelak and the Falcons were down 14-10 when he lofted a pass toward Hogan into the end zone. Tech safety LaMiles Brooks had his arm around Hogan, but the 6-foot-5 receiver still reached with his right hand to pull the ball in and held on for the improbable catch while landing on his back.
“Obviously the catch is cool, but there’s a lot of parts that go into it,” Hogan said. “… It’s backyard football at that point, so it just gives me an opportunity, and that’s my job. I’ve got to go make a play and stuff like that, so I’m just super blessed that he trusted me enough to throw it up there for me.”
The Falcons consistently found ways to convert third downs and extend drives. Bowling Green was 7-of-11 third down in the first half and 10-of-16 for the game. The Falcons held the ball for 42 minutes, 25 seconds, more than 25 minutes longer than the home team.
Through two possessions, Tech’s King was 5-for-5 passing for 104 yards and two touchdowns. He completed a 53-yard pass to Eric Singleton for a touchdown on the Jackets’ first play, and he threw an 11-yard pass to Christian Leary to cap Tech’s second drive with another score. After the dominant start for a 14-0 lead, Tech couldn’t maintain and King was 23-of-37 passing in the game for 348 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Tech fell to 1-2 against the MAC with its second loss to a team from the conference in three years. The Jackets beat Bowling Green 63-17 in 2018 before losing to Northern Illinois 22-21 in their 2021 opener.
The Jackets, who split their first two ACC games this year, resume their conference schedule when they play at No. 18 Miami (4-0, 0-0) next Saturday.