– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DETROIT — The old adage goes that the third time is the charm, and only after the Toledo football team rushed the field in jubilation thrice did the Rockets finally, and officially, come away with one of the wildest wins of the bowl season.
Rockets quarterback Tucker Gleason ran and threw for a combined five touchdowns in overtime as Toledo outlasted Pittsburgh 48-46 in a bowl-record six overtimes at the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Ford Field on Thursday.
Pittsburgh freshman Julian Dugger, making his college debut, ran for two overtime scores and threw for two more, but his incomplete pass in the sixth overtime ended the game.
Toledo thought they had the game ended in the fourth overtime, after Gleason’s pass to Anthony Torres gave them a 44-42 lead. Dugger was sacked on the Panthers’ conversion attempt, but the Rockets were called for holding. On the retry, Dugger was ruled short on a sneak attempt, sending Toledo rushing onto the field for a second time, but replay ruled he crossed the plane.
In the fifth overtime, Dugger made it 46-44 with a scoring pass to Gavin Bartholomew, but Gleason tied it with his fifth scoring pass of the game. The sixth put Toledo back in front, and Dugger was pressured into a bad throw to end the game.
The game set the FBS record for most overtimes in a bowl game, surpassing the previous mark set 48 hours earlier when South Florida beat San Jose State 41-39 in five overtimes in the Hawaii Bowl on Tuesday. Since 2021, the NCAA overtime rules were changed so that teams alternated two-point conversion attempts after the second overtime.
Toledo wide receiver Junior Vandeross III was awarded MVP after catching 12 passes for 194 yards and a touchdown. Rockets head coach Jason Candle won his 73rd game as Toledo head coach, tying him with Gary Pinkel as the school’s all-time wins leader.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Aaron J. Thornton. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 31 pictures in total.
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