Dino Babers lost his first game in charge of Bowling Green and has now lost his starting quarterback for the rest of 2014. Babers made the announcement on Wednesday morning.
"In the fourth quarter, Matt Johnson received an injury during the game, and he'll be out the entire year," coach Dino Babers said in a news conference Wednesday. "It was a hip injury ... and based off whatever the treatment's going to be, most likely he's going to be done for the year."
Bowling Green lost 59-31 to Western Kentucky on Saturday night in Babers' debut. Johnson went 25 of 36 for 313 yards and 1 touchdown.
Redshirt sophomore James Knapke will take over as the starter. He went 4 of 10 for 71 yards and a touchdown in backup action last year.
The loss of Johnson will hurt Bowling Green's chances of repeating as Mid-American Conference Champions. The Falcons were considered the favorite to win the MAC East and make a second straight MAC title game appearance.
Knapke will get a chance to ease into the offense with a home game against Virginia Military Institute. The waters get deeper after the game versus VMI with a home game against Indiana on September 13 and a road game versus Wisconsin on September 20 to close out the non-conference schedule.