BOWLING GREEN — His bags packed and the team bus idling, Matt McDonald was set to start his first ever college football game the next day.
McDonald won the starting job in his first season at Bowling Green, and as the Falcons prepared to play at Kansas State in September, 2019, all McDonald needed was clearance from the NCAA — given to a number of high-profile transfer quarterbacks such as Justin Fields and Tate Martell — on his waiver request to play immediately.
The rules, however, had grown more stringent by the time McDonald’s case was up for review.