Western Michigan shows up to Halloween as the freshest champion in the MAC. Bowling Green shows up hoping a brand-new quarterback finally fixes last year's mess.
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BGSUWMU
BGSUWMU
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Best BetWestern Michigan
Western Michigan brings back its reigning MAC Offensive Player of the Year and a top-heavy skill group that just won a conference title, while Bowling Green is still betting on a QB transfer to fix a unit that threw more picks than touchdowns last season. The safer money is on the Broncos to get the win.
Bowling Green
+Landed Oregon transfer Novosad to fix the passing game
+Closed 2025 with a 45-14 win, first since 2021
+New coordinators bring a fresh offensive approach
−Finished 4-8 (2-6 MAC) in Eddie George's year one
−Allowed 28 sacks, threw 12 INTs vs. 13 TDs in 2025
−Started 4 different QBs last season, no stability
Western Michigan
+Reigning MAC champs, first title since 2016
+Broc Lowry returns as reigning MAC Offensive Player of Year
+10 returning starters, best returning group in the MAC
−Defense that allowed 17.4 ppg returns only 3 starters
−Target on their back as defending champs
Western Michigan enters this season as the class of the MAC after snapping a decade-long championship drought, and Broc Lowry, the league's reigning Offensive Player of the Year, is back to defend the crown. Bowling Green counters with a fresh face under center in Oregon transfer Austin Novosad, brought in specifically to fix a passing game that produced more interceptions than touchdowns a year ago.
The Broncos also bring back running back Jalen Buckley and their top returning receivers in Aveion Chenault and Baylin Brooks, giving Kalamazoo one of the more complete offenses in the conference. Bowling Green's problem was never a shortage of skill talent, it was 28 sacks allowed and four different starting quarterbacks cycling through in 2025, and Eddie George's staff spent the offseason retooling the roster to keep Novosad upright behind center.
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BGSU Bowling Green
WMU Western Michigan
Where this game actually gets interesting is on the other side of the ball. Western Michigan won it all last year on a defense that allowed just 17.4 points a game, but that group returns only 3 starters, which means the Broncos' margin for error against an improved BGSU passing attack isn't as wide as last season's record suggests.
Both programs are shaping their seasons around stretches like this one. Western Michigan closed 2025 by winning 10 of its last 11 games, capping the run with a MAC title and a Myrtle Beach Bowl blowout of Kennesaw State, a level of momentum the program hadn't hit since 2016. Bowling Green needed a 45-14 win over UMass just to salvage a winning finish to close the year, its first season-ending win since 2021.
Bowling Green Falcons
Oct 16?vs Ball State—
Oct 9?vs Sacramento State—
Oct 2?@ Miami (OH)—
Sep 25?vs South Florida—
Sep 19?@ Iowa State—
Sep 12?@ Nebraska—
Sep 5?vs Tarleton State—
Western Michigan Broncos
Oct 16?@ Central Michigan—
Oct 9?vs Kent State—
Oct 2?@ Buffalo—
Sep 25?vs Boise State—
Sep 19?@ Rice—
Sep 12?vs Monmouth—
Sep 5?@ Michigan—
Recent form.
By the time these two meet, both rosters will have had two months to answer their biggest questions: whether Novosad has actually stabilized the BGSU offense, and whether Western Michigan's rebuilt defense can hold up the way last year's group did. That's the whole story here, a proven MAC contender trying to prove it wasn't a one-year fluke against a rebuilding bottom-feeder trying to prove the same about its own down year.
Bowling Green Falcons
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Western Michigan Broncos
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Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
The talent gap still favors Western Michigan on paper, 10 returning starters against a team that ran through four quarterbacks worth of instability last season is not a fair fight. But Bowling Green's offense, at least, should look far more functional than the version that got run out of the building for most of 2025.
