Thursday, Aug. 29 | 7p.m. | Doyt Perry Stadium | Bowling Green, Ohio | ||||
| BOWLING GREEN | vs. | FORDHAM RAMS (0-0, 0-0 PL) |
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| WATCH : ESPN+ | LISTEN : WFRO The Eagle 99 | STATS : View | ||||
BGSU Opens 106th Season of Football
• Bowling Green State University opens its 106th season of football on Thursday against Fordham.
• The game will be an "Orange Wave" at Doyt Perry Stadium.
• Bowling Green has a 50-48-7 all-time record in season openers and a 69-31-5 all-time record in home openers.
• The Falcons will open a season at home for the first time since 2019 when Morgan State came to Doyt Perry Stadium. That 2019 season opener was the first game of the Scot Loeffler era at BGSU and the last time the Falcons opened a year against an FCS opponent.
Bowling Green vs. Fordham
• Bowling Green and Fordham are meeting for the first time in football.
• Thursday's matchup is the first-ever meeting between Bowling Green and a Patriot League school.
• The Falcons will open the 2025 season on August 30 against another Patriot League school when Lafayette comes to town.
Five Top Storylines
• Bowling Green has 32 seniors on its roster for the 2024 season, tied for No. 6 in the nation. BGSU is tied with NIU and trails only Eastern Michigan (39), South Carolina (38), Indiana (36), Oklahoma State (34), and Hawaii (33).
• A win for the Falcons on Thursday would be the 175th all-time victory for BGSU at Doyt Perry Stadium. BGSU is 174-112-5 all-time at Doyt Perry Stadium. BGSU won the first game ever played in the venue on October 1, 1966, when the Falcons beat Dayton 13-0.
• QB Connor Bazelak enters 2024 with 882 career completions, which ranks No. 3 among active players (behind Will Rogers and Dillon Gabriel). He needs 118 more to become the 41st player in FBS history to reach 1,000 career completions. A start for Bazelak against Fordham would give the senior at least one start in each of the past six seasons. Bazelak is one of eight players who have played their entire careers at the FBS level who could reach that milestone this season. He is one of three quarterbacks that could do it joining Gabriel (Oregon) and QB Hank Bachmeier (Wake Forest).
• Bowling Green, which led the nation in takeaways in 2023 with 28, enters the 2024 season with at least one takeaway in 14-straight games. The streak started in the 2022 Quick Lane Bowl.
• RB Jaison Patterson needs 18 rushing yards to become the 40th Falcon to reach 1,000 career rushing yards.
Bowling Green - Fordhamconnections
• Bowling Green running backs coach Brian White began his coaching career at Fordham as a graduate assistant from 1986-87. White later took on various roles, including serving as offensive coordinator at Wisconsin and position coach at Wisconsin for Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne.
• Fordham's defensive line coach Corey Burns was a graduate assistant on the same Colorado State staff as BGSU running backs coach Brian White (2020-21).
• Fordham cornerbacks coach Tyler Henderson was a defensive graduate assistant at Bowling Green on Scot Loeffler's first two staffs (2019-20).
• Fordham's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Allen Gant's father, Tony, was teammates at Michigan with BGSU's passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Erik Campbell.
• Fordham's tight ends coach and special teams coordinator Andrew DiRienzo was an offensive graduate assistant at Rutgers when BGSU's Tunde Fatukasi was there in 2020 and 2021.
BGSU Has Stability
• Bowling Green is one of 27 FBS teams that returns its head coach, coordinators, and starting QB from the 2023 season.
• Of those 27 QBs, BGSU's Connor Bazelak ranks No. 1 in career passing yards with 9,301 yards.
A Program on the Rise
• BGSU is 10-6 in MAC play since the start of the 2022 season.
• Only Toledo, Ohio, and Miami (OH) have better records in conference play over that period. Miami (OH) is 11-5 during that span, while Toledo and Ohio are both 13-3.
• In the previous 16-game MAC window, BGSU was 2-14.
• The gains during Scot Loeffler's tenure began to take root in 2021, and by 2022, Bowling Green was back in a bowl game for the first time since 2015, participating in the Quick Lane Bowl.
• Bowling Green was one of four FBS programs in 2022 whose win totals improved by 4+ games from 2020 to 2021 and then by 2+ more games from 2021 to 2022. Joining BGSU on this list were Kansas State, Oregon State, and Tennessee.
• The Falcons are the only program in the nation to have improved their win totals by 4+ games from 2020 to 2021, followed by +2 wins from 2021 to 2022, and then by +1 from 2022 to 2023.
• BGSU's next MAC win will be the program's 300th. The Falcons rank No. 3 all-time in the MAC with 299 wins.
Go Ahead and Call Us a "Dog"
• Since 2021, no college football team has won as many games as double-digit underdogs as Bowling Green, with five victories.
• BGSU beat Minnesota (31-point underdog) and Buffalo (14.5-point underdog) in 2021, Marshall (17-point underdog) and Toledo (14.5-point underdog) in 2022, and Georgia Tech (21.5-point underdog) in 2023.
• All but the 2022 Marshall game were on the road.
Coaching Staff Changes
• BGSU head coach Scot Loeffler experienced minimal changes to his coaching staff.
• Cornell Brown joins the BGSU staff, replacing Julian Campenni as the defensive line coach. Brown comes to Bowling Green with 19 years of coaching experience after a stellar seven-year NFL career with the Baltimore Ravens and Oakland Raiders, highlighted by Baltimore's Super Bowl XXXV championship.
• Most recently, Brown was a defensive line coach in the USFL with the New Orleans Breakers.
• Rob Armand returns to BGSU as the cornerbacks coach, replacing Beyah Rasool. Armand previously spent three seasons at Bowling Green (2019, 2020, 2021) on Loeffler's staff. He spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Vanderbilt in a defensive quality control role. He was hired in March 2024 to be the outside linebackers coach at Maine before leaving to return to Bowling Green.
Loeffler Quarterbacks and the Lombardi Trophy
• Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler has coached seven quarterbacks who went on to play in the NFL. Those seven quarterbacks have gone on to win a combined nine Super Bowl championships (Tom Brady - 7; Brian Griese - 1; Chad Henne - 1).
Fannin Jr. Poised For Big Year
• Harold Fannin Jr. was named a third-team All-American by CFN after one of the best seasons by a tight end in program history.
• He ranked No. 6 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC among tight ends with 623 receiving yards.
Fannin tied for No. 6 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC among tight ends with six receiving touchdowns.
• His 44 receptions were No. 1 in the MAC and No. 12 in the nation among tight ends.
• He averaged 14.2 yards per reception, ranking No. 3 in the nation among tight ends with at least 35 receptions.
• His 406 yards after catch (YAC) ranked second in the nation, behind only Brock Bowers (486) from Georgia.
Bazelak Milestones Entering 2024
• QB Connor Bazelak enters 2024 ranked No. 6 among all active quarterbacks with 9,301 career passing yards.
• His 8832completions rank No. 3 among active players, and he needs 117 more to become the 41st player in FBS history to reach 1,000 career completions.
• Bazelak, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Wake Forest quarterback Hank Bachmeier are the only quarterbacks in the nation poised to start in six straight seasons. All three are at their third school. Gabriel spent three years at UCF and two at Oklahoma before Oregon, while Bazelak spent three years at Missouri, one season at Indiana, and is now in his second year at Bowling Green. Bachmeier started at Boise State and went to Louisiana Tech before heading to Wake Forest.
Oladokun Will PutYou on Lockdown
• Jordan Oladokun is one of eight FBS players returning in 2024 who finished the 2023 season with 4+ interceptions, 30+ tackles, 6+ PBUs, and at least one pick-six.
Falcon Defense Flew High in 2023
• Bowling Green finished 2023 ranked high nationally in various categories, including No. 1 in takeaways (28), No. 4 in interceptions (17), No. 7 in fumble recoveries (11), No. 12 in passing yards allowed per game (179.8), No. 25 in total defense (326.1), No. 31 in sacks (33), and No. 6 in defensive improvement from the previous year.
• While leading the nation in takeaways, the Falcons forced National Champion Michigan into four of its eight total turnovers on the year. Michigan threw five interceptions all season, three of which were against the Falcons.
Getting to the Quarterback
• According to BGSU records, the Falcons have achieved two of their top-four seasons in team sack production in 2022 and 2023.
• BGSU recorded 38 sacks in 2022, which is tied for No. 1 in program history, while the 33 sacks in 2023 are tied for No. 4.
• BGSU's 71 sacks over the last two seasons are tied for No. 18 nationally.
Hardamon Making His Comeback
• DE Demetrius Hardamon suffered a season-ending injury at No. 2 Michigan when he was carted off the field with a neck injury in 2023.
• Hardamon is on the watch list for Comeback Player of the Year.
• Hardamon is a former walk-on at BGSU after transferring from NAIA Georgetown College in Kentucky, where he also walked on.
• He made his FBS debut in 2020 at Ohio, appearing in his only game for the Falcons that year.
• He made his first career start at Miami (OH) in 2021.
• He recorded a career-high 10 tackles at Buffalo in 2021.
• He made 20 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, and five QB hurries over BGSU's last five games of the 2021 season. He also blocked a PAT at Miami (OH) that year.
• Hardamon continued his strong performance in 2022, recording 25 tackles, 8.0 TFLs, 6.0 sacks, and four QB hurries.
• Heading into last season, Hardamon was the MAC's leading sack returnee with 6.0 sacks. He ranked No. 2 in the MAC and No. 28 nationally among linebackers in 2022 sacks.
• Hardamon is BGSU's nominee for the Campbell Trophy, known as the "Academic Heisman," awarded annually by the National Football Foundation. Every football student-athlete at the FBS, FCS, DII, DIII, and NAIA levels is eligible for the award.
Sipp Jr. is FillingUp the Middle onDefense
• ILB Joseph Sipp Jr. is BGSU's returning tackle leader with 73 stops.
• Sipp had a career-high 12 tackles in the 2023 season opener at Liberty. It was the second year in a row he led the team in tackles in the season opener. Sipp had 10 stops at UCLA to open 2022 when he became the only freshman in the nation to notch 10+ tackles in a collegiate debut last year.
• Sipp led BGSU in tackles in six of Bowling Green's 13 games in 2023.
