Tucker Gleason threw for two touchdowns and capped a career-best 336-yard performance with a game-winning two-point conversion pass to Junior Vandeross III to propel Toledo to a 48-46, six-overtime victory over Pitt in the GameAbove Sports Bowl Thursday in Detroit.
Vandeross also had a career day, posting personal bests of 12 passes for 194 yards for the Rockets (8-5), who, with the win over the Panthers (7-6), beat two power-conference opponents in the same season for just the second time in school history. Toledo needed to come back from a 10-point deficit early in the fourth quarter to force overtime and then had two earlier stops in the extra sessions nullified by a penalty and a replay reversal.
Still, Toledo pulled out a victory in the first six-overtime bowl game in college football history — breaking a record set by the five-overtime Hawaii Bowl two days prior.
“It just showed what Toledo is about,” Vandeross, who earned game MVP honors, told ESPN during the award ceremony. “The hard work we’ve been putting in since January. A testament (to) our team.”
It appeared Toledo would have the game in hand in the first half. Gleason and Vandeross connected on a 67-yard touchdown pass to give the Rockets a 13-12 lead midway through the second quarter. Then, just 14 seconds later, cornerback Braden Awls picked off a David Lynch pass on Pitt’s first play and returned it 42 yards to extend the lead to eight points.
The loss overshadowed the debut of Pitt freshman Julian Dugger, who replaced fellow freshman Lynch in the third quarter after his second interception. The Pittsburgh native completed 7 of 13 passes for 72 yards and two scores to help the Panthers take a 30-20 lead early in the fourth quarter. He also ran 21 times for 88 yards with a touchdown in the first extra period, but his throw for Kenny Johnson was incomplete in the sixth OT as the Rockets prevailed.
Dugger also threw an interception with 7:49 left in regulation that Darius Alexander returned 58 yards for a touchdown that cut the Panthers’ lead to 30-27. Dylan Cunanan tied the game with 1:45 left on a 51-yard field goal.
Desmond Reid, an all-purpose All-American, ran for a season-high 165 yards on 32 carries for the Panthers, who collected 301 of their 438 yards on the ground.
Cunanan kicked a 33-yard field goal to start the second overtime and make it 40-37 Toledo. Pitt then had four plays within the Toledo 3 to on its possession. Neither Reid, who had been battling apparent cramps late in the game, nor Dugger touched the ball on any of the first three plays. Rather than try for the win on fourth-and-goal at the 1, coach Pat Narduzzi opted for an 18-yard field goal by Ben Sauls to extend the game.
“Fourth-and-one, if you don’t get it, you lose the game,” Narduzzi told reporters after the game. “I don’t want to end like that. I want our kids to make plays … For the coach to make a decision to lose the game or win the game, I’m not for that.”
The Panthers finished the season losing six straight thanks to injuries decimating the roster. That included Eli Holstein, a freshman quarterback who threw for 2,228 yards but was unable to play in the bowl due to an ankle injury he suffered at Louisville on Nov. 23. Lynch, a walk-on freshman who threw just nine passes in the regular season, got the start.
–Field Level Media
