Bowling Green opens their 2024 campaign at home before their tough non-conference stretch away from Northwest Ohio
Bowling Green opens the 2024 season at home for the first time since 2019. The Falcons welcome their FCS opponent, the Fordham Rams, to the Doyt for their first ever meeting. The Falcons look to keep making forward progress in the rebuild. Their previous step was a winning season. Is the next step winning their bowl game? Or do they go a step further and make it to Detroit? Thursday night will be the first sneak peek.
Game notes
- Time and Date: Thursday, August 29th, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
- Location: Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio
- Weather: 81 degrees and mostly sunny at kickoff, with an east-northeasterly 10 MPH wind. Temps decrease slightly throughout.
- Gambling considerations: Bowling Green (-17.5), over/under 55.5, per DraftKings.
- Viewing options: The game will be available exclusively via ESPN+. A valid subscription is required for viewing. Joey Lindstrom (play-by-play) and Ryan Cavanaugh (color) will provide commentary.
- Radio options: Todd Walker (play-by-play) and John Gibson (color) will provide the BGSU call for Eagle FM 99.
- All-time series: First-ever meeting
Bowling Green Falcons outlook
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The Falcons ended 2023 at 7-6, a one game improvement from 2022. What can fans expect to see? Will the Falcons keep taking steps forward? Or will a lot of the same inconsistency keep them at the same level?
Connor Bazelak and Cam Orth return as the quarterback duo. Connor Bazelak finished under 2,000 passing yards last season (1,935). Even though that was good for fifth, we’ve seen the flashes of brilliance that could make him a conference passing leader this year. It’s expected that the two will continue to split duties, with Bazelak seeing most of the snaps.
Terion Stewart will hopefully have a full healthy season, aiming to be the Falcons’ first 1,000 yard rusher since 2016. More importantly, Stewart was the first 700+ yard rusher for the Falcons since Andrew Clair in 2018.
Newcomers Malcolm Johnson and RJ Garcia II join a receiver corps that lost some big pieces, but return some sneaky good production in Jaylon Tillman and Finn Hogan.
Defensively, the Falcons allowed 38.3 percent of third-down conversions last season. In addition, they allowed 48.4 percent of fourth down conversions.
Bowling Green was one of the most penalized teams in 2023 with 90 penalties (22nd in FBS) for 792 yards, averaging almost seven penalties and almost 61 penalty yards per game. The Falcons need to continue working on their discipline if they want to keep taking the next steps.
Fordham Rams outlook
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This will be the first time that Bowling Green will play Fordham, but the Rams are no stranger to MACtion.
Last season, Fordham erased an early 21-3 deficit to beat Buffalo by a final score of 40-37. Fordham also held a late lead against Ohio in 2022, before ultimately losing to the Bobcats 59-52.
This is definitely what many would call a trap game. While the Rams have finished 21-13 over their last three seasons, adding on an FCS championship appearance in 2022, they have taken the MAC down to the wire in recent years.
Junior quarterback CJ Montes returns for Fordham after passing for exactly 3,000 yards in 2023 (ninth in FCS) with 26 touchdowns (eighth in FCS) and only one interception. In addition to a 3,000 yard passer, the Rams do have a 1,000-yard rusher on the roster in senior running back Julius Loughridge, who finished 2023 with 1,146 rushing yards (11th in FCS).
While the Rams lost their top receiver to graduation, they have equally explosive receivers in Garrett Cody (856 yards, seven touchdowns in 2023) and Mekai Felton (513 yards, eight touchdowns in 2023.)
Defensively, Fordham finished 83rd in FCS for third-down conversion prevention, allowing 41.2 percent. They also finished tied for 59th in fourth-down conversion prevention, allowing 52.4 percent.
One final thing to note is that Fordham was one of the most penalized teams in FCS with 86 penalties, averaging almost eight penalties per game. If the Rams want to knock off the MAC two years in a row, they’ll need to maintain discipline.
What Each Team Needs
Outside of running the football for Bowling Green, the quarterbacks need to perform well to start the year. While they did finish fifth in the MAC for passing yards in 2023, they did not have a 2,000 yard passer due in part to their rotation. If the Falcons want to be explosive on offense, the quarterbacks need to get the ball to their receivers.
For Fordham, they’ll need to make sure their offense is very efficient. This offense only gave up eight turnovers all of 2023, one interception and lost seven fumbles. Bowling Green’s defense forced 16 interceptions in 2023. Fordham will have to make the right throws, and hold the football.