Sep 63 min read

No. 8 Penn State, Bowling Green to Battle at Beaver Stadium

James Franklin — © Ben Queen-Imagn Images

No. 8 Penn State (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten Conference) will host Bowling Green (1-0, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) at noon EST on Sept. 7 at Beaver Stadium. Penn State will play host to Bowling Green for a third time. The two previous encounters in 1987 and 1998 were Joe Paterno’s 200th and 300th career wins at Penn State.

What's at Stake?

After Penn State’s dominant 34-12 win against West Virginia (0-1), they look to tune things up over the next three weeks. With two MAC teams and their first bye, it presents an opportunity for Penn State to get everyone involved in the passing game and test the depth chart. Overall, Penn State is 30-3 all-time against MAC schools and is 54-10 in home openers at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions have won 20 of their last 22 home openers. Penn State’s last loss to a MAC school came in the 2012 home opening loss against Ohio, 24-14.

Bowling Green defeated Fordham 41-17 in its 2024 season opener. All time, Bowling Green is 5-24 versus Associated Press Top 25-ranked teams. Two of the five wins came against Purdue in 1972 and 2003. Overall, Bowling Green is 9-26 versus Big Ten opponents, with their last wins coming in 2015 against Maryland (48-27) and Purdue (35-28).

Nicholas Singleton — © Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Key Players: Penn State

There will be a point of emphasis on wide receiver Julian Fleming. Fleming was not targeted against West Virginia.

Fleming was praised for his efforts in supporting his teammates in blocking by head coach James Franklin this week.

“We thought he played really well. Couple times where we tried to get the ball to him, but, again, based on coverage just didn't play out that way," Franklin said. "We definitely want to get him more involved in this game early in the game, but I think the most important thing is the things that he could control, he controlled. He blocked really well, ran really good routes. If you go back and watch the play that we threw the touchdown, [quarterback] Beau [Pribula] threw the touchdown to Tyler Warren, that's because of Julian.”

Bowling Green should be an opportunity to see who immediately follows running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen in the depth chart. Redshirt freshman Cam Wallace and true freshman Quinton Martin should have ample opportunity to display the depth in the running back room. Outside of running backs, we might see more of former five-star tight end Luke Reynolds. Reynolds was involved on a few snaps at West Virginia. Outside of Reynolds, Andrew Rappleyea needs more meaningful reps to see if he lives up to the “Baby Gronk” tag.

Defensively, many will notice what linebacker Tony Rojas will do while he is playing with the first team. Keep an eye on redshirt freshman Ta’Mere Robinson, who plays linebacker and special teams. Robinson was recognized as the Special Teams Player of the Game for his two key tackles. Robinson should have ample opportunities to shine and display depth at the linebacker position.

Key Players: Bowling Green

Running back Terion Stewart, who was also named to the 2024 Maxwell Award Watch List, returned with a vengeance against Fordham. Stewart finished with 161 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Prior to Stewart’s injury last season, he led the nation with 78 broken tackles and yards per carry after contact with an average of 4.81.

Quarterback Connor Bazelak enters the game ranked No. 3 nationally among active starters in career completions. Bazelak needs 103 more completions to become the 41st player in FBS history to have 1,000 or more completions.

After being named MAC Special Teams Player of the Week, running back Justin Pegues looks for a repeat performance. Last week, Pegues set a Bowling Green school record with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Trends to Watch

The strength of Bowling Green’s offense is Stewart. With his propensity to break tackles and make plays in space he can be a threat to help Bowling Green become the first MAC team to break 100 yards rushing against Penn State since Buffalo did it in 2019. In that game, the Bulls rushed for 184 yards as a team in a 45-13 loss.