#1 Ferris State Opens 2025 With Big Home Win Over #9 Pittsburg State

Postgame Highights 
Postgame Press Conference 
Postgame Review 

Big Rapids, Mich. - Defending national champion and the nation's preseason #1 Ferris State Bulldogs opened 2025 with a bang by beating #9 Pittsburg State (Kan.) 34-17 in the season opener before a large crowd on Thursday (Aug. 28) night at FSU's Top Taggart Field.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 20-3 first-half lead and came up with several critical defensive stops in the second half to avenge a season-opening road setback versus the Gorillas a year ago.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Wyatt Bower earned the start and ran for a game-high 99 yards on 25 carries with two scores while adding 11-of-18 pass completions for 112 yards and a touchdown in his debut.

Ferris State also got 44 yards rushing and 47 yards receiving from junior slot receiver Taariik Brett while senior slot Brady Rose ran for 28 yards and a score in addition to catching four balls for 53 yards.

Overall, the Bulldog offense totaled 331 yards with 200 coming on the ground and 131 in the air.

Defensively, Ferris State held the Gorillas to only 67 yards rushing on 28 tries. PSU finished with 361 yards of total offense as Jackson Berry threw for 294 yards on 18-of-41 passing.

The Gorillas struck first as a long completion from Berry got them into Bulldog territory on their opening drive before they settled for a 47-yard field goal only three minutes into the tilt, taking a 3-0 lead.

However, the Bulldogs answered quickly as Bower engineered an eight-play, 56-yard drive and found the endzone for the first time on an eight-yard keeper midway thru the initial stanza.

Ferris State took a 14-3 lead on tailback Zak Ahern's three-yard scoring run at the end of the first period, which finished a 48-yard drive on 12 plays.

The lead grew to 20-3 with 6:31 to play in the first half when Bower scored from 11 yards out. His run capped a long 13-play, 94-yard scoring march.

The FSU lead was cut to 20-10 at halftime as Berry hooked up with Kuron Parchman on a 60-yard scoring completion with only 58 seconds left in the opening half.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs pushed the advantage to 27-10 when Rose found paydirt with 7:45 to play in the period. His scoring run finished off a short six play, 26-yard jaunt.

Pitt State trimmed the deficit to 27-17 with 5:14 to go in the third period as Cleo Chandler, Jr. reached the endzone on a short three-yard carry.

From there, though, the Bulldogs added a 24-yard TD throw from Bower to Brett with only 8:40 left for the final score and the FSU defense kept the Gorillas off the board the rest of the way to preserve the win.

On the defensive side, Isiah Byars had a team-high nine stops for the Bulldogs. Senior Jalen Jones also intercepted a pass in the win.

The victory was the Bulldogs' 15th-straight since last fall's season-opening setback to Pittsburg State.

Ferris State will hit the road for another non-league contest next Saturday, Sept. 6, versus Lake Erie in Painesville, Ohio. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. (ET).