Thursday, Dec. 26  |  9 p.m.  |  Hancock Whitney Stadium  |  Mobile, Ala.  |  68 Ventures Bowl

Sweet Home Alabama for the Holidays
• Bowling Green State University flies south as the Falcons take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves in the 26th Annual 68 Ventures Bowl on Thursday, Dec. 26, in Mobile, Ala.
• The game will kick at 9 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN

Bowl Season for the Orange and Brown
• BGSU is playing in the 68 Ventures Bowl for the fourth time. The Falcons previously appeared in Mobile in 2004 and 2008 when it was the GMAC Bowl. Most recently, BGSU faced Georgia Southern in 2015 when it was the GoDaddy Bowl.
• The 68 Ventures Bowl marks BGSU's 16th all-time bowl appearance.

Five  Top Storylines
• BGSU head coach Scot Loeffler and Arkansas State head coach Butch Jones were on staff together at Central Michigan from 2000-01.
• TE Harold Fannin Jr. is a consensus All-American and was a finalist for the John Mackey Award. Among all receivers entering Bowl Season, he is No. 2 in the nation in receiving yards with 1,342 and No. 2 in receptions with 100. He leads the nation's tight ends in 21+ offensive categories, including receptions (100), yards after catch (750), first downs (64), broken tackles (31) and receiving touchdowns (9). Nationally, he is additionally ranked No. 1 in broken tackles, No. 3 in first downs and No. 2 in yards after catch. Fannin was the only tight end that was a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award.
• Fannin ranks second all-time in FBS history for single-season receiving yards by a tight end. He needs just 11 yards to surpass the FBS record of 1,352 yards set by Texas Tech's Jace Amaro in 2013. With 100 receptions this season, Fannin is third all-time in single-season catches by a tight end. He needs 12 more receptions to break the record held by Rice's James Casey, who totaled 111 in 2008.
• Fannin's 31 broken tackles are the most ever by a tight end since Pro Football Focus started tracking games 11 seasons ago. The closest tight end had 24. This year that number is 17.
• QB Connor Bazelak  is playing his final college game. He needs 41 yards to become the 49th player in FBS history to reach 12,000 career passing yards. He is currently No. 19 in FBS history with 1,119 career completions.

Bowling Green  vs. Arkansas State
• Bowling Green leads the all-time series against Arkansas State, 1-0, after a 17-0 win in 1974. Arkansas State was an NCAA DII team playing in the Southland Conference in 1974.
• BGSU alum and College Football Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen.
• Heading into the game in 1974, it was a matchup of BGSU's offense vs. Arkansas State's defense. It was the ninth game of the 1974 season in which BGSU running back Dave Preston gained over 100 yards, finishing with 127 rushing yards on 33 carries.
• Fittingly, the following week after beating Arkansas State at Doyt Perry Stadium, BGSU traveled to Mobile, Ala., to play Southern Miss at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The Southern Miss campus, located about 1.5 hours from Mobile, used Ladd-Peebles as an alternate site for home games from 1950-1974. The BGSU game was the last alternate home site game in Mobile for Southern Miss.

Bowling Green vs. Sun Belt
• Bowling Green is 28-13 all-time against current members of the Sun Belt, with games against Arkansas State (1-0), Georgia Southern (0-1), Marshall (22-8), Old Dominion (0-1), South Alabama (1-1), Southern Miss (3-1), and Troy (1-1).
• BGSU hosted Old Dominion on Sept. 28 and fell in the final minute, 30-27.
• Bowling Green is scheduled to travel to ODU on Sept. 13, 2031. BGSU will also visit Marshall on Sept. 25, 2027, and return to Mobile to face South Alabama on Sept. 16, 2028.

Fannin Has Big Day Against Sun Belt's Old Dominion
• Tight end Harold Fannin Jr. had a career day against Old Dominion on Sept. 28. For the third game in a row, he set a career high in receiving yards. Against the Monarchs, he broke the BGSU single-game record for receiving yards in a game with 193. His 12 receptions also rank No. 2 all-time at BGSU for receptions by a tight end in a game.
• Fannin also had two touchdowns, which gave him enough to pass Alex Bayer and Mark Dowdell for the most career touchdowns by a BGSU tight end.

The Scot Loeffler/Butch Jones Connection
• Bowling Green head coach Scot Loeffler and Arkansas State head coach Butch Jones served on staff together at Central Michigan under former head coach Mike DeBord.
• Loeffler was the quarterbacks coach at CMU from 2000-01. In 2000, Jones was the running backs coach. In 2001, Jones was named the offensive coordinator.

Bowling For 'Bama
•  The 69 Ventures Bowl marks the fifth time BGSU will play a bowl game in the state of Alabama.
• By playing a bowl game in Alabama in 2024, BGSU will break a three-way tie for the state that has hosted the most BGSU bowl games. BGSU has played in California four times and Michigan four times, including in the last two seasons.

Sweet Home Alabama
•  Two Falcons call Alabama home. All-MAC cornerback Jacorey Benjamin hails from Mobile, though his family later moved to the Houston, Texas, area where he attended high school.
• RB Justin Pegues is from Birmingham and attended Thompson High School.

Bowling Green - ASU connections
• Arkansas State wide receivers coach Derrick Lett was a four-year letterwinner at Bowling Green from 2001-05.
• Lett played for Bowling Green in the 68 Ventures Bowl in 2004 when it was known as the GMAC Bowl.
• He appeared in 49 consecutive games, helping the Falcons to two bowl-game victories. At one point, his team achieved a No. 16 national ranking. Lett was part of a wide receiver corps ranked third in the country by Athlon Sports and an offense that finished fourth nationally in scoring.
• Lett, who earned the school's Coaches Award at BGSU, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 2006.
• Lett also spent four years as an assistant coach at Bowling Green High School. He was in charge of the secondary during his first two years before becoming the passing game coordinator, primarily responsible for quarterbacks and wide receivers. He implemented a new offense that more than doubled passing production, helping three of his players earn college scholarships. In addition to his football coaching duties, he also coached the varsity track team.

Fannin Tracking Amaro's FBS Tight End Receiving Record
• Heading into Bowl Season, Harold Fannin Jr. needs 11 receiving yards to set the FBS single-season record for receiving yards by a tight end. Texas Tech's Jace Amaro set the record with 1,352 yards in 13 games during the 2013 season. BGSU Assistant AD for Strategic Communications Vincent Briedis was at the 2013 Holiday Bowl as a fan in San Diego when Amaro set the record against Arizona State.
• Fannin is also 12 receptions away from breaking the single-season receptions record for a tight end (111), set by Rice's James Casey in 2008.
• During Amaro's record-setting season in 2013, he had 165 targets in 13 games for 1,352 receiving yards at 8.1 yards per target. In comparison, Fannin enters the 68 Ventures Bowl with 1,342 yards on 128 targets and 10.5 yards per target.
• In 2013, Texas Tech attempted 714 passes, while in 2024 Bowling Green has thrown 369 passes this season with a more balanced offensive attack (401 rushes).
• Fannin set the tight end regular-season record for receiving yards in game No. 11 at Ball State and finished the regular season No. 2 in receptions (100) before postseason games.

When It comes to Fannin, The Numbers Don't Lie
•  TE Harold Fannin Jr. is playing at an elite level during the 2024 season.
• Fannin leads the nation's tight ends in 21+ categories and ranks in the Top 5 among all receivers in 13+ offensive categories.
• Among tight ends, he ranks No. 1 in receptions (100), receiving yards (1,342), first downs (64), yards after catch (YAC) (750), broken tackles (31), and receiving touchdowns (9).
• His 1,342 receiving yards rank No. 1 in the nation among all receivers (he was the second receiver in the nation to surpass 1,000 yards this season). His 100 receptions rank No. 2 among all receivers, his 750 YAC is No. 2, and his 31 broken tackles are No. 1. Additionally, his 64 first downs rank No. 3 among all receivers.
• Per Pro Football Focus, Fannin has the No. 1 overall grade in the FBS at 95.6 and the No. 1 pass route grade among all receivers at 95.9.
• Through the regular season, Fannin's performances against then-No. 8 Penn State (137 yards) and then-No. 25 Texas A&M (145 yards) remain the most receiving yards those teams have allowed to a single player in 2024. Until the Big Ten Championship game, no other player had 100+ receiving yards against Penn State.
• Fannin has recorded seven games with 100+ receiving yards this season and has eight for his career. He owns eight of the 11 all-time BGSU games where a tight end recorded 100+ receiving yards.
• Fannin leads the nation with seven 100+-yard receiving games this season and leads all tight ends with 100+-yard receiving games against Associated Press Top-25 teams.
• Entering Bowl Season, Fannin ranks No. 2 in the nation with three receptions of 60+ yards, the most by a tight end. He is No. 3 with 56 receptions (the most by a tight end) that have gone for 10+ yards. The next closest tight end has 47. Fannin also ranks No. 1 in the nation with 21 receptions of 20+ yards. He is No. 4 in the country with 11 receptions of 30+ yards; the next closest tight end has six.