BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green lost a game it led for the first time with a minute left in regulation on Saturday, Oct. 17, falling 32-31 in overtime to Ball State at Doyt Perry Stadium after the Cardinals scored, then converted a two-point try to walk off with their first Mid-American Conference win under head coach Mike Uremovich.
The Falcons, who came in off back-to-back MAC wins and were seeking their first 3-0 conference start since 2015, trailed most of the afternoon. Ball State built a 10-0 lead on a Brody Boehm field goal and an 8-yard touchdown run by TJ Horton, set up by Keldric Luster’s 29-yard third-down pass to Isaiah Thacker.
Bowling Green answered before halftime. Brennan Ridley took a bubble screen 77 yards for a touchdown, and a 49-yard field goal at the end of an 11-play, 44-yard drive tied the game 10-10 at the break, despite Ball State holding a 191-142 edge in total yards. Luster then capped a 10-play, 96-yard drive with a 28-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and the Cardinals preserved the 17-10 lead when Will Yates intercepted Jay Kastantin near the goal line late in the third.
The fourth quarter unraveled and then reassembled in the final 72 seconds. Kastantin found Eli Jacon-Duffy for a 6-yard touchdown on third-and-goal with 1:12 left to tie the game at 17. On Ball State’s first snap of the ensuing drive, Luster fumbled, and D’kyah Banks scooped the ball and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown and Bowling Green’s first lead of the day, 24-17, with 1:01 to play.
Ball State still had one answer left. Luster scrambled and found a wide-open Eli Hohlt for a 20-yard touchdown with five seconds left in regulation, and the extra point sent the game to overtime tied at 24. Austyn Dendy ran it in from eight yards out on Bowling Green’s overtime possession to put the Falcons back in front, 31-24.
Horton scored on a rushing touchdown on Ball State’s possession, and instead of kicking to extend the game, the Cardinals went for two and the win. Luster found Alex Scherle for the conversion and the 32-31 final — Ball State’s first conference victory in more than a year under Uremovich and the program’s first road win since October 2024.
For Bowling Green, the loss is a stinging one: a 10-point second-half deficit erased, a go-ahead defensive touchdown in the final minute, and an overtime lead all slipped away at home. The Falcons leave the weekend having missed their chance at a 3-0 MAC start, while Ball State heads home with the kind of finish that can reset a season.