Bowling Green's Team Pet 'Pudge' Is Most Adorable Part of College Football's Return

College football is back, which means the return of all the little quirks that make each season so much fun.

Bowling Green took the field for the first time in their 2025 season Thursday, giving fans the much anticipated on-field debut of their locker room cat, Pudge. Pudge, the three-year-old exotic shorthair, picked up steam online over the offseason when Falcons players posted that they had a feline friend in the locker room.

Per WHIO-TV, senior long snapper George Carlson brought his Persian cat to the locker room earlier this month to help console a teammate. From there, the Pudge lore took off and Bowling Green is stepping on the gas now that the season is underway.

After a Bowling Green football player suffered an injury at practice, a player brought a cat to the stadium to boost morale.

They named him Pudge, and he now has his own jersey and locker.

(🎥 via leo.kemp/TikTok) pic.twitter.com/r9VI88QcsF
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) August 20, 2025

He quickly got his own Falcons jersey and became a staple in the team's locker room. The university has fully embraced Pudge, excitedly announcing him as the newest member of Bowling Green football with critical responsibilities.

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In the Falcons' first game of the season Thursday night against Lafayette, Pudge got some shine on the ESPN+ broadcast, which even prepared his very own player profile:

WE NEED TO SEE MORE PUDGE IMMEDIATELY ‼️ @BG_Football pic.twitter.com/htYlMZ0GCU
— Bleacher Report CFB (@BR_CFB) August 28, 2025

Maybe we'll even see Pudge as the newest version of the turnover chain as college football's very first "turnover cat." Bowling Green coach and legendary rusher Eddie George has fully embraced Pudge too, even if he was somewhat apprehensive at first.

"Well, initially, I'm allergic to cats," George said earlier this week about his thoughts on Pudge via WTOL-11's Chase Bachman. "So I was like, 'what the hell is a cat doing in the locker room?' But Pudge is cute and my wife loves Pudge. ... He's become a part of the family. I don't mind, I think it's cool. In fact I think they have a couple of his t-shirts to sell so I'm going to buy a couple of them so I can wear them around campus. Pudge stays out of my way, I stay out of Pudge's way and we are fine."

If the allergic George can get behind it, so can the rest of the country. Pudge's first appearance on the sideline worked out well for the Falcons, who defeated the Leopards 26–7. We'll see whether he travels with the team to their next contest at Cincinnati. It seems like he's got the transportation part locked down: