Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
Cincinnati
Falcons Stay In-State, Head to the “Queen City” on Saturday for a Non-Conference Tussle with Cincinnati
September 01, 2025 | Football
Saturday, Sept. 6 | 3:30 p.m. | Nippert Stadium | Cincinnati, Ohio |
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BOWLING GREEN
FALCONS (1-0, 0-0 MAC) |
vs. | CINCINNATI BEARCATS (0-1, 0-0 Big 12) |
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| WATCH : ESPN+ | LISTEN : WFRO The Eagle 99 | STATS : View | ||||
Falcons Stay In-State, Head to the "Queen City"
• Bowling Green State University hits the road for the first time in 2025 on Saturday to face the Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big 12 Conference.
• The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. and will air live on ESPN+.
Bowling Green vs. Cincinnati
• Bowling Green and Cincinnati are meeting for the fifth time in football and just the second time at Nippert Stadium.
• BGSU owns a 4-0 all-time record against the Bearcats, including a 38-0 triumph the last time the teams met in 1994.
• The first meeting in the series (1990) was played at Riverfront Stadium, where the Bearcats intermittently hosted home games between 1982-90.
Five Top Storylines
• RB Cameron Pettaway returned the season-opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown on the first touch of his career. It marked the second-straight season BGSU opened with a kickoff return TD. Researched in collaboration with the nation's FBS Sports Information Directors, this is the first time in FBS history that a team has accomplished the feat in consecutive seasons.
• PK Jackson Kleather was named MAC Special Teams Player of the Week on Sept. 1. His four field goals against Lafayette tied for the nation's best Week 1 total (with Penn State's Ryan Barker). The four FGs also tied for No. 2 in program history for a single game. His 56-yarder matched the second-longest field goal in school history.
• A win at Cincinnati would give the Falcons their first 2-0 start since 2013, when BGSU also opened the year with two straight victories. Current Special Teams Coordinator Alex Bayer was a standout tight end on that BGSU team that won the 2013 MAC Championship.
• Head coach Eddie George became the 11th Falcon head coach to win his debut following BGSU's 26-7 triumph over Lafayette. The Falcons have now opened the season with wins in back-to-back years for the first time since 2008-09.
• QB Drew Pyne started the season opener against Lafayette, making 2025 the fourth consecutive year he has started a game after previous stints at Notre Dame (2022), Arizona State (2023) and Missouri (2024). Among active FBS players, he is tied for No. 4 nationally in most consecutive seasons with at least one start. In the win, he connected with 10 different receivers.
Bowling Green vs. the Big 12
• BGSU is 7-14 all-time against current members of the Big 12 Conference, with wins over BYU (1), Cincinnati (4), Kansas (1) and UCF (1). The UCF win came during the Knights' time as a MAC member. The Falcons are 3-5 all-time when facing an opponent that was an active Big 12 member at the time of the game, with two wins over Missouri and one over Kansas.
• BGSU's two wins over Missouri came in 2001 (at Missouri) and 2002 (at BGSU) when Cincinnati alum Urban Meyer was the Falcons' head coach.
Gary Blackney Era Started in Midst of Cincinnati Series
• The second all-time meeting between BGSU and Cincinnati came in Gary Blackney's first season (1991).
• That 1991 matchup at Doyt Perry Stadium sparked a 10-game winning streak for the Falcons.
• BGSU's 20-16 win in 1991 is the only game in the series in which a Falcon did not rush for 100 yards.
Returning Home
• Eleven Falcons are returning home to the greater Cincinnati area this weekend.
• DE Bam Booker (Winton Woods HS), CB Jay'Quan Bostic (Robert A. Taft HS), S Preston EstoEsta (Mason HS), OT Vincent Giordano (Lakota West HS), TE Eli Jacon-Duffy (Archbishop Moeller), WR Jared Merk (Archbishop Moeller HS), LB TJ Nelson (Anderson HS), DE Jaimion Olverson (Princeton HS), OT Nate Pabst (Archbishop Moeller), WR Reis Stocksdale (Little Miami HS) and James Thomas Jr. (Fairfield HS) hail from the Greater Cincinnati suburbs/metro area.
BGSU vs. Power Conferences
• Over the past 25 seasons, MAC teams have tallied 78 wins over Power Conference opponents. Nearly half belong to NIU (14), Bowling Green (12) and Toledo (11). In total, 14 current and former MAC programs have posted at least one.
• BGSU's last Power Conference win came in 2023 at Georgia Tech, when the Falcons rallied from a 14-0 deficit to score 38 unanswered points in a 38-27 victory.
• In 2024, BGSU played two close games against Power opponents:
» Lost 34-27 at then-No. 8 Penn State after leading much of the game.
» Lost 26-20 at then-No. 25 Texas A&M.
Bowling Green - Cincinnati Connections
• OG Jake Burns spent the 2020 and 2021 seasons at Cincinnati. He was part of the Bearcats' AAC championship teams that advanced to the 2021 Peach Bowl (vs. Georgia) and the 2022 Cotton Bowl (vs. Alabama) in the College Football Playoff. He did not appear in any games for UC.
• Cincinnati safeties coach Adam Braithwaite served as defensive coordinator/safeties coach at Tennessee Tech in 2023 on the staff of current BGSU assistant head coach/tight ends coach Dewayne Alexander.
• Cincinnati co-defensive coordinator/LBs coach Cortney Braswell was on the Army staff (inside linebackers) during BGSU TE Blane Cleaver's first two seasons at West Point (2021-22).
• BGSU LB AJ Odom played at Memphis when Cincinnati RBs coach Sean Dawkins was the Tigers' RBs coach. DE Isaiah Thomison was also at Memphis in 2023, Dawkins' final season with UM.
New Opponents in 2025
• BGSU plays four foes from last year's schedule: Akron, Central Michigan, Kent State, and Toledo.
• This is the Falcons' fewest carryover opponents from one season to the next since only four rematches occurred from 1947 to 1948 (Central Michigan, Findlay, Kent State, and Ohio).
• Additionally, four opponents on the 2025 schedule have not faced BGSU in at least 10 years, if ever: Lafayette (first meeting), Cincinnati (last meeting 1994), Louisville (first meeting), and UMass (last meeting 2015).
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) and Buffalo (14.5) in 2021, Marshall (17) and Toledo (14.5) in 2022, and Georgia Tech (21.5) in 2023.
• All but the 2022 Marshall game were on the road.
BGSU Had Nine Make First Collegiate Starts vs. lafayette
• BGSU had nine players make their first collegiate start against Lafayette in the season opener. That is tied for No. 3 in the nation for most first-time starters.
• For BGSU on offense, first time starters are: WR RJ Garcia II, RB Chris McMillian, TE Jacob Harris. On defense, first time starters are: CB Kal-El Pascal, CB Key'on Washington, LB Dorian Pringle, DE Bam Booker, DT Evan Branch-Haynes, DE David Afogho.
