BOWLING GREEN — Bowling Green defended its home field and the Anniversary Award on Tuesday night, holding off Kent State 33-28 in a Mid-American Conference game at Doyt Perry Stadium. The final score was confirmed by multiple live-score services carrying the Tuesday night game, which aired on ESPNU.
The Falcons and Golden Flashes meet every year for the Anniversary Award, one of the MAC’s long-running rivalry trophies, and Tuesday’s meeting was the featured MACtion matchup of the night in northwest Ohio. Bowling Green made the home crowd’s trip worth it, coming out on top in a five-point game that stayed within one score at the finish.
Midweek MACtion has become a November tradition in the conference, putting MAC programs in a national television window on Tuesday nights. For Bowling Green, a home win in that window — against a rival, with a trophy on the line — is the kind of result that carries weight well beyond one week in the standings.
Kent State did not go quietly. The Golden Flashes put 28 points on the board on the road and kept the pressure on into the closing minutes, forcing the Falcons to protect a one-score lead at the end rather than coast home.
The win keeps the Anniversary Award in Bowling Green for the year ahead, and it gives the Falcons a rivalry result to build on as the MAC schedule turns toward the final weeks of the regular season. Kent State leaves with a narrow road loss in a game that was there to be taken in the fourth quarter.
What happens next for both programs is the closing stretch of the MAC slate, where every result shapes bowl eligibility and the race for the conference championship game. Bowling Green returns to action next week with the trophy secured; Kent State will try to turn a close rivalry loss into a late-season win.
Fans who missed the game can find the Falcons’ full schedule and ticket information through Bowling Green State University athletics. The Anniversary Award rivalry resumes next season, when Kent State gets its next chance to take the trophy back.
Photo: Mbrickn, CC BY