As Eddie George, Pudge and record enrollment make waves, BGSU now tops Division I for increase in football attendance

Home crowds have packed Doyt L. Perry Stadium through the midway point, increasing attendance more than 60% compared to last season

As the NCAA football season nears its halfway point, nobody in Division I has improved its year-over-year attendance more than Bowling Green State University.

Attendance at home Bowling Green football games has surged more than 60% from last year, the largest percentage increase in the country. Saturday's game against rival Toledo has already been announced as a sellout.

BGSU football is drawing an average of more than 21,000 fans, which represents the biggest growth of any Division I program when compared to final 2024 attendance figures.

“What’s happening on game days at Doyt Perry Stadium is a reflection of what’s happening across our entire campus — energy, pride and belief in Bowling Green State University." said Derek van der Merwe, the vice president for athletics strategy and director of athletics. "Our fans, students and community have embraced this team and this experience. You can feel it on game day.

"‘The Doyt’ has become the place to be on Saturdays, and that speaks volumes about the direction we’re heading as a university and an athletics program.”

First-year Falcons head coach Eddie George, a Heisman Trophy winner who played in the Super Bowl as member of the Tennessee Titans, has brought a new excitement into the football program, which takes on rival Toledo on Saturday.

The Falcons drew more than 23,000 fans at their most recent home game, the largest home BGSU crowd in 10 years.

"I had goosebumps coming into the stadium," George said during the post-game press conference after Bowling Green beat Liberty University during the Homecoming game. "It was awesome to see all the fans out tailgating. The Warrior Walk was awesome energy. It was a great scene with alumni, fans engaged, packed. You could sense it, and it felt good."

Pudge the Cat, featured on ESPN, Associated Press, CBS and more, has reached celebrity status, with the friendly feline’s meet-and-greet booth at BGSU Homecoming drawing hundreds of fans and millions of impressions across BGSU social media.

In recent years, BGSU also has seen a resurgence of the Falcon Fanatics, the student-run fan supporters group that has decked out the University's sports venues in orange and always provided energy in cheering on the Falcons' sports teams. 

A lively game day atmosphere at Doyt L. Perry Stadium has been the latest instance of forward momentum at the University, which began the 2025-26 school year in record-breaking fashion.

Earlier this school year, BGSU set a new enrollment high mark, welcoming its largest freshman class in history of over 4,000 students. The newest class of Falcons emphasized a continued trend at BGSU, which broke enrollment records two years in a row and has seen a 36% surge in enrollment during the past four years.

The freshman class also is the most accomplished in BGSU history, enrolling with a cumulative grade-point average of 3.74, also setting a new record.

The University also once again drew high marks in the Wall Street Journal’s Best Colleges annual report, ranking in the top five in the nation and No. 3 among all public universities for its student-recommendation score, a metric that uses survey data to track student satisfaction with their comprehensive university experience.

When asked if they would choose their university again, an overwhelming majority of BGSU students once again said they would. For the sixth straight year, BGSU holds the No. 1 overall ranking in Ohio as a university students said they would choose again.

While the WSJ rankings also honored other aspects of the BGSU experience – including ranking first among Ohio public universities for career preparation, learning opportunities and learning facilities – the volume of BGSU students who love their time at the University is particularly special.

“There are all sorts of rankings that measure a variety of datasets for universities and colleges, but being top-rated by the students who have actually experienced what we have to offer is the ultimate five-star review,” BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers said.

Increasingly, more fans are seeing all that BGSU has to offer on Saturdays, as the Doyt has been an orange-and-brown campus hub each time the Falcons have played host to a game this year.

BGSU will be home again next week with an Oct. 18 date against Central Michigan. Tickets for the CMU game are available at bgsufalcons.com.