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Minnesota suffers embarrassing loss to Bowling Green

275133747_4796292347117549_592518599057046758_nby:Jonathan Wagner•09/25/21•

Jonathan Wagner

Matt Kingsbury
David Berding via Getty Images.

Minnesota has been stunned with a close loss against Bowling Green on Saturday. The loss snaps a streak of 21 consecutive non-conference victories for Minnesota.

Minnesota quarterback struggled mightily in the loss, completed five of his 13 passes for 59 yards and two interceptions. Bowling Green quarterback Matt McDonald completed 19 of his 35 passes for 170 yards and an interception, also rushing for two touchdowns.

Morgan’s two interceptions came on Minnesota’s final two possessions as they tried to fight down the field. Both interceptions came on the first play of both drives.

Bowling Green came into the game as 30.5 underdogs. The massive upset ties for the largest upset between two FBS teams since 2012 when Texas State defeated Houston.

The win is the biggest win of Scot Loeffler’s career as Bowling Green’s coach

For Bowling Green, the win snaps a streak of ten consecutive losses to FBS opponents. Bowling Green’s last win over another FBS opponent came in November of 2019. The last time Bowling Green defeated a team in the Big Ten was in 2015 over Purdue, per The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach.

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Last season, Bowling Green did not win a single game in MAC play and finished winless at 0-5 on the season. Bowling Green has not won more than three games in a single season since 2016, when it won three in a row to end the season with wins over Akron, Kent State, and Buffalo.

The result of the game is equally as stunning for a Minnesota team that had a solid start to the season as it was for Bowling Green. Minnesota lost 45-31 in a hard fought game against Ohio State in Week 1. In Week 2, Minnesota defeated Miami (OH) 31-26. The Golden Gophers dominated Colorado last week with a 30-0 victory on the road.

If there was one play that could perfectly describe this game, it would be this one. Minnesota fumbled a punt return, and both teams scrambled to recover it with multiple players from each team just simply missing the ball. The ball was eventually recovered by Minnesota.