Quick Lane Bowl set: Bowling Green vs. New Mexico State in Scot Loeffler's return
For the first time since 2018, the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field won’t have a team from Michigan competing.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be Michigan ties as Bowling Green (6-6) takes on New Mexico State (6-6) at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 26 on ESPN; Scot Loeffler, who spent a season as the Detroit Lions’ quarterbacks coach and is now leading BGSU, can get his first win at Ford Field.
Loeffler was the Lions’ QB coach in 2008, when the franchise turned in the first 0-16 season in NFL history. The former Michigan quarterback began his coaching career in Ann Arbor as a student assistant in 1996-97 before spending two seasons as a grad assistant for U-M, two seasons as Central Michigan’s QB coach and five seasons as Michigan’s QB coach. He has been at Bowling Green, his first head coaching job, since the 2019 season; this is the Falcons’ first bowl-eligible season under Loeffler.
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New Mexico State’s coach, Jerry Kill, didn’t take nearly as long to turn his program around, as the Aggies reached six wins — albeit with two victories over FCS-level teams, requiring an NCAA waiver to become bowl-eligible — in their first season with Kill at the helm.
Kill will be looking for his first bowl win; he’s 0-5 after taking Minnesota to the postseason from 2012-14 and Northern Illinois from 2008-09. The Aggies last won a bowl in 2017, when they took down Utah State in the Arizona Bowl.
The bowl berth for NMSU was somewhat unexpected entering this season; the Aggies had won five games in their previous three seasons combined, then lost five of their first six this season with a schedule that, thanks to their lack of a conference, included a 38-point blowout at Minnesota and a 59-point loss at Wisconsin. But the Aggies won five of their final six, as well, including thumpings of FCS-level Lamar on Nov. 12 and Valparaiso on Saturday.
The Falcons, meanwhile, are playing in their first bowl since the GoDaddy Bowl in 2015. The program has been to Detroit before, however, with an appearance in the 2013 Little Caesars Bowl at Ford Field, as well as three straight appearances in the MAC championship game from 2013-15.
NMSU is led by dual-threat QB Diego Pavia, who passed for 1,283 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions and rushed 81 times for 443 yards (an average of 5.5 yards per carry) and six touchdowns. No Aggie WR reached 20 receptions; Jonathan Brady (267 yards, three TDs), Justice Powers (398 yards, one TD) and Kordell David (289 yards, four TDs) are tied for the team lead with 19 catches.
The Falcons, meanwhile, feature senior Matt McDonald, a one-time Boston College QB who has spent three seasons at Bowling Green. This season, he has completed 61.3% of his passes for 2,639 yards, 22 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Tickets for the post-Christmas game are available at quicklanebowl.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2022 Quick Lane Bowl set: Bowling Green vs. New Mexico State
