Homecoming! Road to CFB Visits A Bowling Green Football Game Day

From 2015-18, I spent dozens of Saturdays at Doyt Perry Stadium. Since graduating from Bowling Green State University, I’ve visited a few times and watched a handful of games. But, for some reason, I’ve never highlighted my Falcons on this site. So, here’s your Bowling Green football game day guide on my 22nd visit to the Doyt.

To sweeten the pot, this weekend was homecoming. It was also just the third time I watched Bowling Green football from the stands.

So, dig in to this play-by-play for a Bowling Green football game day. I’ve included some tips for parking, your spots for pre- and post-game, and longstanding traditions from my alma mater. Ay Ziggy!

Ay Ziggy Zoomba!

The Midwest’s Best-Kept Secret

When I served as a campus tour guide at Bowling Green, I was consistently asked whether BG was a party school. My answer was always, “any school is a party school if you make it.”

Bowling Green has more bars per capita than most college towns. They’re all centrally located around the intersection of Main Street and East Wooster, creating a vibrant town square. Downtown BG is a short walk from campus but about 1.5 miles through campus from Doyt Perry Stadium. It’s perfectly walkable when the weather is right. If nightlife is what you’re after, Brathaus is the place to go – located just off the main square, “Brat” is the choice location for upperclassmen, graduate students, and alumni. Try the famed Legal Joint or tackle the Stoplight Shot.

Other top choices from an alum myself include Doc’s Saloon, Downtown, and Ziggy’s.

However, compared to other college towns (i.e. Athens), BG lacks in iconic local eateries. Beckett’s, known for its burgers, is my personal favorite and Campus Pollyeyes–famous for their foot-long “breadsticks” that are more akin to Stromboli with their fillings–is the go-to for multiple generations of Falcons. For top-notch pizza (albeit with a price), check out Pizza Pub 516. The other best eateries are regional chains like Fricker’s and Mr. Spot’s.

Bowling Green is a college town for college students. If you enjoy that atmosphere, this is the Midwest college gem for you.

Juniper Brewing is a relatively new spot to Bowling Green. It teamed up with the athletic department to create Ale Ziggy Zoomba, a light beer with terrific can art. Stop in early for house-brewed coffee and a great brunch, too. It’s a versatile spot right in the heart of Downtown.

Homecoming In Bowling Green

You could name over 120 other FBS schools with better tailgating scenes than Bowling Green. On your standard game day, there may be a few dozen tents and a smattering of fans around the stadium greens. The school pushes fan zones and on-campus organizations carry much of the load for the bustle around Doyt Perry Stadium. It’s an unfortunate truth for my own school.

But this Saturday was different. One of college football’s most famous names, Eddie George, took the reins at Bowling Green this past offseason and this week marked his first Saturday home game on the sidelines. Pair that with a fair day in the mid-70s and homecoming, and the grounds around The Doyt never looked better.

If you don’t have a tailgate of your own, I recommend grabbing lunch downtown and hanging out there. This crowd is late-arriving and options leading up to kickoff are limited. Spots downtown may have some fans, but it’s far from crowded. Campus is an easy and flat stroll; Old Campus in the southwest corner of the school is worth the walk. You may notice a large cemetery in the middle of campus – it was originally on the outskirts but campus expansion just went right around it.

The Falcon Marching Band stands over 500 strong, making it one of the largest in the FBS. They lead the team down a concrete pathway from the Stroh Center (basketball) to The Doyt in the Falcon March about 90 minutes prior to kickoff.

For the 2025 season, and likely ensuing ones, catch Pudge, the famous team cat. He has his own security detail and travels with the team after becoming an internet sensation right before the season.

BGSU is one of the rare schools who allows free on-campus parking for game days. Arrive early to snag any spot (besides the Doyt Stadium and Stroh Center lots) for free all day and enjoy convenient parking both for the game and downtown. Side streets also offer ample street parking. Avoid paying here!

Bowling Green 23, Liberty 13

Support for Bowling Green football has rarely been better. The Doyt nearly sold out for the first time in a long while with a strong showing from the students. During the pregame band show, about 50% of the away stands had yet to fill but folks did file in by the third drive of the game. Of the thousands of tailgaters that Saturday afternoon, more than half entered the stadium gates but hundreds opted to watch from the parking lots on TV.

The north end zone of Doyt Perry Stadium is enclosed by the Sebo Center, a state-of-the-art athletic facility that doubles as donor seating. Across the way, there’s other luxury seating options that include two two-story shipping container party blocks. They’re season-long buys and are rarely accessible to standard fans. The best seating option here is General Admission that spans several sections, upper and lower, on the away side.

In front of nearly 24,000, Bowling Green led a rock fight over visiting Liberty. The Flames committed four turnovers and scored just 13 points in the second edition of a home-and-home started in 2023. The slow pace suited the Falcons just fine, who slugged their way to a 23-13 victory at home.

Stick around for the final whistle here. Fans are not just allowed, but welcomed, on the field after the game. It’s not a field storm, but gates are opened to all once the visiting team vacates the premises. It’s a long-standing and very little known tradition that’s worth taking advantage of. Outside of a rare field storm, when is the next time you’ll find yourself on FBS turf?

Fun fact: The Cleveland Browns used Bowling Green’s facilities for training camps back in the late 1940s for their first five seasons. As a thank you, Cleveland adopted BG’s orange and brown color scheme in the NFL. The original 50-yard-line of that stadium is marked on campus green by the clock tower.

Bowling Green Football Game Day Picks

Best pizza: Pizza Pub 516 (honorable mention: Pisanello’s)
Best burgers: Beckett’s. You can’t go wrong, but the Bobcat Burger features bacon, spicy cheese curds, and queso over a burger.
For local beers: Juniper Brewing. They’re the ones behind the Ale Ziggy Zoomba.
Postgame: Brathaus. It’s a bar aimed toward upperclassmen, students, and alumni. A new patio makes it Bowling Green’s best spot.
Under-the-radar: Downtown. It’s less crowded than other bars with outstanding deals.

Bowling Green Football Game Day Grades

Stadium: C. The Doyt has a cult following but this venue is very average. All seating options give you a good view of the action and the Sebo Athletic Center in the north end zone is a great facility. The south end zone has seen lots of improvement, but it’s not accessible to the standard fan. The stadium is getting old and its press box and luxury seating options lack. The turf also needs serious renovating.

Tradition: C. Ay Ziggy Zoomba is a unique song and the Falcon Marching Band is a particular strength. BG’s cheer squad is nationally competitive, winning a championship in 2025, and mascots Freddie and Freda Falcon are among the MAC’s best. You get the Falcon screech after a first down and that’s about it. There’s few pregame traditions outside of a BG-SU stadium cheer.

Atmosphere: D-. On this exact game day, much better. But the Doyt typically has more empty seats than filled ones and the crowd isn’t a particular problem. The student section is tame and the average game is extremely sleepy, even on Saturdays. Pregame is lackadaisical, especially during midweek MACtion games. The potential is there, but inside the Doyt lacks behind most of the FBS.

Tailgating: F. Again, outside of this exact game day, there’s almost no tailgating to speak of. As a former marketing intern in the late 2010s, I was tasked with finding a different Tailgater of the Game. By Week 7, we had exhausted all of our options. Saturday, that tailgating was closer to a C than an F, but this is for the average BG game day. There’s no tailgating despite more than enough room to do so.

Fans: D. The student section is tame and rather quiet. There’s little disruption pre-play when the opponent is on offense. Fans are late to arrive and students are early to leave. They’re all friendly and respectful, but support for Falcon football is really disappointing when the circumstances aren’t exactly perfect. Even at its best, BG is outdone by multiple other MAC schools.

Extracurriculars: C+. Bowling Green is a great college town with plenty to do on weekend evenings. There’s multiple citywide events throughout the warm months. Around BG, well, there’s cornfields and Toledo. For a day trip, you’d have to travel to Ann Arbor or Sandusky for something really exciting to do. The town itself is great but if you want something beyond small Midwest college town, there’s not much.

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