After taking a week off to recuperate and return to as healthy as possible, Bowling Green is back on the road this week with a primetime matchup down in College Station, Texas, against #25 Texas A&M.
“We had a great bye. [We] spent Monday and Wednesday of last week doing a bunch of walkthroughs, keeping our mental game up. Did a bunch of lifting Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and had two really good practices, full-padded practices on Tuesday,” head coach Scot Loeffler said at his weekly press conference on Monday, Sept. 16. “We’ll still have a few guys out for this game, but for the most part we were able to get a little healthy after a really physical battle with Penn State.”
After an injury-ravaged 2023 campaign, keeping the key players as healthy as possible is the main focus for Loeffler and company, which is why junior running back Terion Stewart was shelved for the Penn State game, despite going through warm-ups.
Kansas State transfer wide receiver RJ Garcia II has yet to log a snap this season, as does backup quarterback Camden Orth, who started two games last season. Also on that list is outside linebacker Demetrius Hardamon, who suffered a season-ending injury last season against Michigan.
When asked about the availability of Stewart, who was listed as questionable before the Penn State game, Loeffler at first replied, “We’ll see,” but came out and said that Stewart will play.
“Terion Stewart was probably 60 percent, maybe closer towards 50 percent, and I just know that whenever you’re walking into that lion’s den that we were walking into [at Penn State] where you have a bunch of fast, physical dudes that can tackle and fly to the ball, you could get really hurt really fast being 50%,” he said. “Do I expect Terion to play? Of course, I do. He’s going to play this Saturday. He’s healthy. He’s ready to rock and roll. I was going to play the old wait until Saturday game, but he’s going to play.”
Staying healthy is important, especially in a tough Mid-American Conference (MAC), which can’t seem to stop playing some of the best teams in the country extremely close.
Both #23 Northern Illinois and Toledo have upset Power Four schools in the last two weeks, the former besting then fifth-ranked Notre Dame on Sept. 7 and the latter beating down Mississippi State on Sept. 14.
“This is an excellent group, and I am proud of the MAC. I think we have good football here. I think we have really good coaches. I think there’s some teams that can go and compete against anyone week in and week out,” Loeffler said. “The big thing that we have to do is we have to prepare like savages. We have to get ready. We have to deal with the crowd noise. We have to have a great Tuesday practice, a great Wednesday practice and then a great Friday. We just have to keep getting better.”
There’s also a major reunion set to take place on Saturday. A name that should sound familiar and may be called quite a lot come game time, Texas A&M edge rusher Cashius Howell spent the last three seasons with the orange and brown, leading the MAC in sacks last season with 9.5.
“I’m super happy for Cashius [Howell]. We recruited Cashius. [I] love him and his family. Him and I are super close, and he’s doing well down there [at Texas A&M],” Loeffler said. “I love to watch our guys do well, and he’s doing great. [I’m] proud of him.”
For another transfer, it’s more of a homecoming.
Bowling Green senior defensive back Jacorey Benjamin is less than two weeks removed from recording his first interception against Penn State. Next, he has the opportunity to make some noise against his favorite team in his home state.
Benjamin grew up in Houston, Texas, as a die-hard Texas A&M fan and played football at Texas Southern – just under two hours south of College Station – for the last five seasons.
“[Texas A&M] was my team when I was younger, so I love Texas A&M, I’m a die-hard Texas A&M fan,” Benjamin said. “Seeing the bright lights and everything, it’s going to be very emotional. I ain’t really used to that, so to play at Kyle Field, that’s going to be an awesome experience.”
Beating a team like Texas A&M will be difficult, but Bowling Green does have someone who at least has experience against them.
Senior wideout Malcolm Johnson Jr. played against the Aggies twice in his four seasons at Auburn, once in each of the last two years.
“I think that it’s a great environment to be in. I think the more people that are there, I feel like for certain individuals, you play better, and I think that’s me,” Johnson said. “It’s just a beautiful place to be at, and I actually like away games.”
While he didn’t record any stats in either context against A&M, the experience and preparation are what matters.
As for playing better the more people there are in a crowd, his stats already show that to be true.
In week one against Fordham, in front of a crowd of only 12,000, Johnson recorded just three catches for 33 yards. He followed that up with eight receptions for 81 yards and a score against Penn State in front of a rowdy 103,000.
Maybe it’s a small sample size, but would the numbers really lie?
Kickoff from Aggieland is set for 7:30 on Sept. 21, and the game will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.
