BOWLING GREEN — Justin Pegues and his Bowling Green State University football teammates had a pretty good feeling a big play was going to happen for the Falcons’ special teams.
It only took one play in his first game with the Falcons for Pegues to run into the BGSU record books.
The Falcons’ junior running back and transfer from Tennessee Tech took the opening kickoff a program-record 100 yards for a touchdown, and BGSU used that spark to start off strong and upend FCS opponent Fordham 41-17 on Thursday at Doyt Perry Stadium.
“Honestly, I have been telling the team all week that if they take a chance and kick it to me, it’s going to the crib, and that’s just what happened because God, the man above, spoke it into existence,” Pegues said. “Coach had been talking all week about starting the game off with a big play, and somebody had to start it, and I was like ‘why not me?’”
BGSU improved to 1-0 for the first time since 2019 when the Falcons beat Morgan State 46-3 in Scot Loeffler’s coaching debut.
“It was great to get our first win,” Loeffler said. “Whenever you look at this game, there were some positives. But when you look at it, too, we’ve got a lot to work on, too.
“I think if this team can continue to be selfless, continue to be one unit, I think this team’s going to be a really good football team. But we’ve got a long way to go. I like this team, I like our kids. But we need to clean some things up and just keep moving the needle in a positive direction.”
BGSU couldn’t have gotten off to a better start, with Pegues providing the fireworks and his teammates dishing out clutch blocks. While Pegues was running up the right sideline, teammate and fellow running back Jaison Patterson delivered a pair of blocks against Fordham kicker Bennett Henderson and defensive back Terrence Jones II to prevent any Rams’ player from catching up to him.
“I saw him, and I was like ‘JP just come on, just do it,’ and that’s what he does,” Pegues said. “Everybody knows that’s what this guy does.
“He’s one of the best players on the team that helps, and he wants to see everybody shine, and that’s what he did. He threw his body on the line for me.”
Loeffler said that after watching film of Fordham that he thought his team would get a score in the return game. So did running back Terion Stewart.
“That was crazy, and the crazy thing is, we called that out,” Stewart said. “Like two days before the game, it was like, if you don’t go score this, I’m going to go score it. But you better score it.”
The Falcons used that momentum to score touchdowns on each of their first three offensive possessions to take a 27-0 lead early in the second quarter. BGSU had 305 rushing yards, its most since notching 326 against Morgan State five years ago.
Stewart, playing in his first game since suffering a season-ending leg injury against Ball State late last year, rumbled for 161 yards on just 14 carries and had touchdown runs of 7 yards in the first quarter, 7 yards in the third quarter, and 73 yards in the fourth quarter.
“It felt great. I’ve just got to be there for my team despite the injuries and stuff,” Stewart said. “Just got to play through it and play hard because my O-line did so many great things today. I’m just happy to be back and be able to play with my team.”
A gamble on special teams in the third quarter paid off as punter John Henderson ran for a 28-yard gain on fourth-and 24 from the BGSU 49. Four plays later, Stewart scored his second touchdown to give the Falcons a 34-10 advantage.
“During halftime, we had to come together and just tell each other the game’s not over,” Stewart said. “Fordham’s not a bad team. They can come back, they did it before to teams. So we just had to stay consistent on what we’re doing.”
BGSU had a 475-401 advantage in total yards. Neither team committed a turnover, and BGSU racked up five sacks while not allowing any.
“They have a really good offense. They run a lot of tempo, so in order to stop the tempo, you’ve got to get on them early, so we wanted to win the first two downs, and I think we did a good job of doing that,” said BGSU defensive lineman Anthony Hawkins, who had a career-high two sacks.
Connor Bazelak finished 15 of 22 passing for 168 yards and had an 8-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter for BGSU. Harold Fannin, Jr., had six catches for 67 yards.
Julius Loughridge had 112 rushing yards on 16 carries and 66 receiving yards on four catches to lead Fordham. C.J. Montes (13 of 21 for 159 yards) and Jack Capaldi (1 of 2 for 60 yards) both had a touchdown pass.
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