Arkansas State holds off Bowling Green in the 68 Ventures Bowl, 38-31

Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin set records in Thursday night’s 68 Ventures Bowl, but Arkansas State won.

The Red Wolves came away with a 38-31 win at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, eclipsing a record-setting performance by the Falcons’ All-America tight end. Fannin caught 17 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown, setting FBS single-season marks for a tight end in both receptions and yards in the process.

“I think the biggest thing about the game, when you look back, is we never gave up momentum,” Arkansas State coach Butch Jones said. “We gained momentum right from the start and never let it go, even through the ebbs and flows of the game. I made some critical pieces that I needed. And I also showed some determination and some resilience. When things didn’t go our way, we were always able to make it up.”

Arkansas State (8-5) won for the third time in five trips to Mobile’s bowl game, but did so for the first time on South Alabama’s campus. The Red Wolves were 2-2 in bowl games played in the city from 2012-2015 at city-owned Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

Arkansas State’s Jaylen Raynor passed for 221 yards and two touchdowns on strikes of 79 and 6 yards to Corey Rucker — and also ran for a 5-yard score. The 79-yard TD pass was the longest in Mobile’s 26-year bowl game history.

The Red Wolves also scored on special teams, as Courtney Jackson returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter. Arkansas State’s Marcus Bradley also blocked a field goal in the second quarter.

Bowling Green (7-6) got its first touchdown on the kicking play as well, as backup quarterback Baron May snuck down the field in tight end formation and threw a 43-yard score to Malcolm Johnson. Regular quarterback Connor Bazelak had a big day in a losing effort, throwing for 390 yards and three touchdowns — eight yards to Jaison Patterson, 23 yards to Rahkeem Smith and four yards to Fannin, who a ball deflected by Arkansas State safety Justin Parks. as he fell behind the end zone.

Fannin finishes the season with 117 receptions for 1,555 yards, both the most by an FBS tight end. The catch total broke the record of 111 set by James Casey of Rice in 2008, while the total yards was previously held by Texas Tech’s Jace Amaro of 1,352 in 2013.

“Our theme was ‘Anyone but him (Fannin),’ but when you have a great player — and again, they do a great job schematically with different personnel groupings and being able to match him up,” Jones said. “Sometimes out of the backfield he was just running pick routes, so they do a good job there. But I thought we managed to make them one-dimensional. They weren’t able to run the ball consistently and effectively, so that made them one-dimensional.”

Arkansas State led 24-21 at halftime, then turned a Bowling Green fumble on the first play of the second half into a touchdown. Raynor capped a 6-play, 34-yard drive when he hit Rucker for a 6-yard touchdown and a 31-21 lead.

Bowling Green’s Zach Long connected on a 38-yard field goal for the only points of the third quarter. Arkansas State’s Clune Van Andel later hit left from 33 yards out — his first miss in 18 straight attempts dating back to early October — keeping it a one-score game in the fourth quarter.

Bowling Green’s Long missed a 32-yard field goal with 10:19 left in the game, keeping Arkansas State within seven. The Falcons went just 1-for-4 on field goals on the night, including the one that was blocked.

Arkansas State pulled back by two scores on Zak Wallace’s 14-yard touchdown run with 3:10 to play, but Bowling Green answered with Bazelak’s 23-yard pass to Smith to make it 38-31 at 1:42 a.m. The Falcons then attempted a punt, but Hunter Summers recovered for the Red Wolves, who were able to run out the clock for the win.

Bowling Green lost despite an overall advantage in yards (479 to 360) and time of possession (32:25 to 27:25). The Falcons missed three field goals and committed a number of red zone penalties on both sides of the ball.

“We were a pretty disciplined football team and unfortunately we shot ourselves in the foot a few times tonight,” Bowling Green coach Scot Loeffler said. “We’ve never been part of the game (where) statistically, we’re dominating the game and losing it. And when that happens, it’s either turnovers or self-inflicted injuries with penalties. And that’s what came up.”

Wallace finished the night with 99 yards on 15 carries, most of them in the second half. In addition to his late touchdown, he also had a 19-yard run on third down to ice the game.

Fannin was voted the game’s overall MVP despite being on the losing team. Raynor was the offensive MVP and Parks — who totaled 10 tackles with a forced fumble and a tackle for loss — was the defensive MVP and the Jackson special teams MVP.

Bowling Green is now 1-3 in bowl games played in Mobile, having defeated Memphis in the 2004 GMAC Bowl, then lost to Tulsa in 2008 and Georgia Southern in December 2015. (There were two bowl games played in Mobile in calendar year 2015). , with Arkansas State losing its January game against Toledo.)