Was Bowling Green caught looking ahead?

Instead of having a 2-0 opponent coming off two wins against BCS teams, the Boise State Broncos will be hosting a 1-1 opponent Saturday who will be coming off a winnable loss to a very bad Big 10 school. Lower your expectations, everyone.

Bowling Green upset Pittsburgh on opening weekend and was primed to take out Minnesota last week. Not so fast said the Falcons' butterfingers.

Bowling Green had the Gophers right where they wanted them, which judging by how bad the Gophers play would be just about anywhere. But Bowling Green fumbled the game away. Four times for those of you scoring at home.

So with a loss to an easy opponent, and a completely incomplete performance to boot, one must wonder if the Falcons were looking ahead to their game against the Broncos. Here's the evidence:

• Bowling Green had five second-half turnovers.


• Bowling Green had only 260 passing yards against the worst defense in college football last season.


• Bowling Green head coach Gregg Brandon kept saying "Boise State" instead of "Minnesota" in his post-game press conference.

Now, we're not sure what to make of Bowling Green. They beat Pittsburgh on opening weekend, but is that even saying very much? Pittsburgh could turn out to be very bad, despite what the preseason expectations were. And then again, maybe Minnesota is much improved over last year. They've already doubled their win total (they are 2-0 to start the season and were 1-11 last year), so it seems like they're headed in the right direction.

Here's our take: Bowling Green will be a tough team to play on Saturday if they can take care of the ball and play smart football. That's what the Falcons did against Pittsburgh, and that's what they didn't do against Minnesota.

Or, we could just hope that they'll be looking ahead to their next game against Wyoming.

Gophers avenge '07 loss [Toledo Blade]