Saturday, Sept. 7  |  12 p.m.  |  Beaver Stadium  | University Park, Pa.

Falcons Soar East  to Happy Valley
• Bowling Green State University hits the road for the first time in 2024 on Saturday to face the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions of the Big Ten Conference.
• The game will be televised live on Big Ten Network at 12 p.m.

Bowling Green vs. Penn State
• Bowling Green and Penn State are meeting for the third time in series history. The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 2-0, with the first matchup dating back to 1987.

Five Top Storylines
• RB Terion Stewart rushed for 161 yards and three touchdowns in the season-opening win over Fordham. Of his 161 rushing yards, 137 came after contact. The 137 yards after contact rank No. 2 in the nation.
• RB Justin Pegues set a BGSU record with his 100-yard kick return for a touchdown against Fordham. The kick return was his first touch as a Falcon, occurring on the first play of the season. He was named MAC Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts.
• QB Connor Bazelak enters Saturday with 897 career completions, ranking No. 3 among active players (behind Will Rogers and Dillon Gabriel). He needs 103 more to become the 41st player in FBS history to reach 1,000 career completions. Against Fordham, Bazelak notched a start, giving him one in six straight seasons. He is one of six players who have played their entire careers at the FBS level to have already reached this milestone this season. Bazelak and Gabriel (Oregon) are currently the only active quarterbacks to boast this.
• Bowling Green recorded five sacks in its season opener against Fordham. Since the start of the 2022 season, BGSU has accumulated 76 team sacks, which ranks 13th in the nation and is the highest in the MAC. Saturday's opponent, Penn State, leads the nation over that period with 93 team sacks.
•  The Nittany Lions are ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press poll. BGSU is 5-24 all-time against AP-ranked opponents, with two of those wins coming against Big Ten opponents (Purdue in 1972, 2003).

Connor Bazelak is a Former Big Ten Starter
• BGSU quarterback Connor Bazelak is no stranger to the Big Ten, having appeared in 10 games for Indiana in 2022.
• Bazelak passed for 2,312 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2022 but missed the game against Penn State due to injury.
• Bazelak joined Indiana after playing at Missouri for three seasons (2019-21), where he was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Year in 2020.

Malcolm Johnson Jr. Has Faced the Nittany Lions
• BGSU wide receiver Malcolm Johnson Jr., a transfer from Auburn, made two catches for 28 yards against Penn State in the Nittany Lions' 41-12 road victory in 2022. He also caught one pass for 14 yards in Auburn's 28-20 setback at Penn State in 2021.

Bowling Green's Michigan Men No Strangers to Penn State
• BGSU head coach Scot Loeffler (Class of 1998), co-defensive coordinator (ILBs) Steve Morrison (Class of 1994), and passing game coordinator (WRs) Erik Campbell are all Michigan alums.
• Morrison played inside linebacker at Michigan from 1990-94, serving as a team captain in 1994. He became the first true freshman to start on defense at Michigan since 1987, but a season-ending injury in 1990 led to a medical redshirt. Due to the redshirt, Morrison was a rare five-year varsity letter winner for the Wolverines, earning Big Ten Conference Championships from 1990-92 and playing in the Rose Bowl in 1991 and 1992. At the time of his graduation, Morrison ranked third in career tackles at Michigan with 220. His 23 tackles in a single game still stand as a school record.
• Morrison and true freshman quarterback Scot Loeffler came to Happy Valley in October 1993 and beat then-No. 7 Penn State, 21-13. Film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author Spike Lee was on hand for the game to root for Michigan.
• Penn State didn't play in the Big Ten when Campbell was a Wolverine, but he, Loeffler, and Morrison previously coached against PSU often as members of Lloyd Carr's Michigan staff over the years.

Finn Hogan's One-Handed Catches
•  WR Finn Hogan gained widespread attention last year with his incredible one-handed touchdown catch at Georgia Tech, which became the top play on SportsCenter after BGSU defeated the Yellow Jackets.
• However, this wasn't Hogan's first one-handed touchdown. During the 2022 season at Central Michigan, Hogan made his first career touchdown with a one-handed grab against Penn State at Beaver Stadium (Sept. 24), cutting PSU's lead to 14-7 in the second quarter. He finished that game with two catches for eight yards.
• In his college career, both of Hogan's touchdowns have been made with one hand (at PSU and GT).

Bowling Green - Penn State Connections
• Penn State co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter and BGSU defensive line coach Cornell Brown were teammates on the Baltimore Ravens' Super Bowl XXXV championship team.
• BGSU defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach Derrick Jackson was on staff at Purdue with Poindexter in 2017 and 2018, where Poindexter was the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Jackson coached cornerbacks during his time at Purdue. In 2017, Purdue won the Foster Farms Bowl over Arizona, and in 2018, the Boilermakers lost to Auburn in the Music City Bowl.
• Penn State defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tom Allen was the head coach at Indiana in 2022 when BGSU quarterback Connor Bazelak started for the Hoosiers.
• Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein was the offensive line coach at Boston College in 2018 when BGSU head coach Scot Loeffler was deputy head coach of the offense, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach. BGSU running backs coach Brian White was also on the BC staff in 2018 with Trautwein and Loeffler as the running backs coach.
• PSU special teams coordinator, outside linebackers coach, and nickels coach Justin Lustig was on the same Vanderbilt staff the last two years with BGSU cornerbacks coach Robert Armand, who was a quality control assistant at Vanderbilt.

Loeffler Announces Six Team Captains
• On Aug. 22 head coach Scot Loeffler announced his team captains for the season.
• TE Levi Gazarek, DL Anthony Hawkins, ILB Brock Horne, CB Jordan Oladokun, RB PaSean Wimberly and OT Alex Wollschlaeger are the team captains.
• Gazarek and Hawkins repeat as captains after also being selected by peers last season.
• All captains wear the "C" etched into their jerseys.

Carry On  Terion
•  Terion Stewart is No. 13 all-time in BGSU history with seven games of at least 100 yards rushing. He is also the only Falcon with a career average of over six yards per rush.
• Among running backs with at least 100 carries last season, his 62.9 percent tackle avoidance rate was the best, per TruMedia. The next closest were USC's Marshawn Lloyd (40.9 percent) and Purdue's Tyrone Tracy (40.4 percent). Both Lloyd and Tracy were selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
• In 2023, his 4.81 yards per rush after contact ranked No. 2 in the nation among players with at least 100 rushing attempts.
• Stewart broke 78 tackles, ranking No. 4 in the nation in 2023.
• He was tied for No. 25 in the nation with 6.1 yards per rush in 2023.
• Through nine games before getting hurt in 2023, Stewart led the nation with 78 broken tackles, 4.81 yards per carry after contact, and ranked No. 6 in rushes of 10+ yards (31).
• Stewart's 6.6 yards per rush for his career is a BGSU record and ranks tied for No. 3 in the nation among active players. 
• His 11 broken tackles against Fordham is fourth-most in the nation after one week.