
Quick Lane Bowl – Bowling Green -3.5 vs New Mexico State – The Quick Lane Bowl features two teams making unexpected bowl appearances. Vegas set both Bowling Green and New Mexico State’s win totals well below 5 at the start of the season, so both teams should be excited to be here, even if it is Detroit. Look for both teams to bring their A-game.
Too bad their A game would be a C- minus for most teams. These guys stink at football. Come up with a statistically category and they are likely to be well below average if not 100th or worse.
New Mexico State hasn’t made a bowl game since 2017 and has been a laughing stock since. Former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill was brought in to turn around the program and he is off to a fast start, taking a program that had not finished better than 3-10 since 2018 to a bowl appearance.
Not to be outdone, Bowling Green hasn’t had a winning record since the 2015 season, Scot Loeffler took over the program in 2019 and is making his first bowl appearance with the Falcons this season. While his turnaround has not been as rapid, he is starting to rebuild the Falcons program.
Put an asterisk next to MNSU’s bowl eligibility. The Aggies got a break from the NCAA because a tragedy at San Jose State forced a cancelation of a midseason game. They scrounged around and found a 12th opponent, pounding FCS Valparaiso 65-3 to get to six wins. But since two of their six wins were against FCS opponent, NMSU applied and was granted a waiver and made plans to come to the Motor City.
New Mexico State started the year 1-5 but won five of their final six games to finish the year at .500 and earn a bowl bid for the first time since 2017. The Aggies are 6-6 on the season with their signature win a 49-14 road demolition of Liberty.
Too bad their A game would be a C- minus for most teams. These guys stink at football. Come up with a statistically category and they are likely to be well below average if not 100th or worse.
New Mexico State hasn’t made a bowl game since 2017 and has been a laughing stock since. Former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill was brought in to turn around the program and he is off to a fast start, taking a program that had not finished better than 3-10 since 2018 to a bowl appearance.
Not to be outdone, Bowling Green hasn’t had a winning record since the 2015 season, Scot Loeffler took over the program in 2019 and is making his first bowl appearance with the Falcons this season. While his turnaround has not been as rapid, he is starting to rebuild the Falcons program.
Put an asterisk next to MNSU’s bowl eligibility. The Aggies got a break from the NCAA because a tragedy at San Jose State forced a cancelation of a midseason game. They scrounged around and found a 12th opponent, pounding FCS Valparaiso 65-3 to get to six wins. But since two of their six wins were against FCS opponent, NMSU applied and was granted a waiver and made plans to come to the Motor City.
New Mexico State started the year 1-5 but won five of their final six games to finish the year at .500 and earn a bowl bid for the first time since 2017. The Aggies are 6-6 on the season with their signature win a 49-14 road demolition of Liberty.

Bowling Green started the year 2-4, in what looked to be another lost year, but then won four of five to become bowl eligible, before getting waxed in their finale against Ohio. The Falcons ended the year 6-6 overall and finished tied for second in the MAC East with a 5-3 conference mark.
Bowling Green might not run all that well, and the offensive line is miserable in pass protection, but Matt McDonald is able to get the offense moving through the air when it gets on a little bit of a roll.
The defense is hit or miss too, but the pass rush was as strong as any in the MAC and should be disruptive enough to force a few mistakes. New Mexico State doesn’t have big problems giving the ball away, but the Falcon isn’t great at generating mistakes.
NMSU’s QB Diego Pavia can be inconsistent throwing the ball but he threw seven touchdown passes in his last two games and 11 over the last five – and he can run a little bit, too. The New Mexico State offensive front is good in pass protection so he will have time to take shots down the field, and in perfect conditions indoors, the offense should stretch the field.
The decisive factor in the game will be the Aggies pass defense against the Falcons passing game. Statistically, New Mexico State looks fine but a deeper dive shows that the best passing attack they have faced is Liberty’s (78th) with half the teams they faced were 112th or worse.
This game is unbettable. Both teams are bad but motivated, a weird combo. I consulted the Big Flippy and he went with BGSU to cover. Keep your quatloos in your pocket for better investing opportunities.
Bowling Green might not run all that well, and the offensive line is miserable in pass protection, but Matt McDonald is able to get the offense moving through the air when it gets on a little bit of a roll.
The defense is hit or miss too, but the pass rush was as strong as any in the MAC and should be disruptive enough to force a few mistakes. New Mexico State doesn’t have big problems giving the ball away, but the Falcon isn’t great at generating mistakes.
NMSU’s QB Diego Pavia can be inconsistent throwing the ball but he threw seven touchdown passes in his last two games and 11 over the last five – and he can run a little bit, too. The New Mexico State offensive front is good in pass protection so he will have time to take shots down the field, and in perfect conditions indoors, the offense should stretch the field.
The decisive factor in the game will be the Aggies pass defense against the Falcons passing game. Statistically, New Mexico State looks fine but a deeper dive shows that the best passing attack they have faced is Liberty’s (78th) with half the teams they faced were 112th or worse.
This game is unbettable. Both teams are bad but motivated, a weird combo. I consulted the Big Flippy and he went with BGSU to cover. Keep your quatloos in your pocket for better investing opportunities.