Tarleton St 20, Bowling Green 13

Tarleton State TexansvsBowling Green Falcons

TAR 20/BGSU 13

ESPN+Doyt L. Perry Stadium

Things to say

Tarleton State beat Bowling Green 20-13 on the road at Doyt Perry Stadium.

opener

Tarleton went into Bowling Green and just took it, 20-13. An FCS team walking into a MAC house and winning smashmouth. That's a bad look for the Falcons.

key player

Tylan Hines was the whole game. 26 carries, 250 yards on the ground. BGSU never got him stopped at the line of scrimmage all day.

hot take

Bowling Green outgained them through the air and still lost. When you can't run it and can't stop the run, the box score doesn't matter.

deep cut

Tarleton put up 17 in the first half and then just sat on it with field goals. Anderson only threw 24 times, they let Hines eat the clock.

exit

Rough opener for BGSU at 0-1. We'll see if they figure out the run defense before it costs them again.

The recap

Tarleton State walked into Doyt Perry, punched Bowling Green in the mouth early, and never gave the lead back in a 20-13 win. Tylan Hines was the whole story on the ground, grinding out 250 yards on 26 carries and letting the Texans dictate time of possession, while Kaden Anderson tossed two touchdowns to build a 17-0 hole the Falcons spent the rest of the day climbing out of.

Bowling Green moved the ball plenty — Jay Kastantin threw for 262 and Jeremiah Scoby caught ten balls — but they kept stalling and settling for field goals instead of finding the end zone. When you can't cash in in the red zone against a team that's controlling the clock, this is what a 0-1 start looks like.