Toledo, Pitt make bowl game history in extended contest that becomes instant classic

Bowl season is always crazy, but on the day after Christmas, college football fans saw something they had never seen before.

Thursday’s GameAbove Sports Bowl between Pittsburgh and Toledo took nearly five hours to finish because of a bowl game first.

The contest saw six overtimes, the most ever in a bowl game, en route to Toledo’s 48-46 victory.

Overtime was established in college football in 1996, and it was just a month ago that we saw Georgia and Georgia Tech go to eight overtimes. The most in any game is nine from an Illinois-Penn State battle in 2021.

In the first half, Toledo was down 12-6 but scored two touchdowns in a 14-second span – a 67-yard pass and then a 40-yard pick-six – to take a 20-12 lead.

Pitt rallied to go up 30-20 at a point, but Pitt tied the game with just under five minutes to go in regulation.

Both teams scored field goals on their first overtime possession, and then they matched one another with field goals on their next. New overtime rules state that from the third overtime on, teams must convert two-point conversion plays.

Both teams converted on each of their first three tries, but in the sixth overtime, after Toledo hit their fourth-straight, Pitt’s pass fell incomplete.

In the fourth overtime, though, Toledo had actually celebrated twice. But their first stop was called back due to a penalty, and after thinking they stopped Pitt again, replay review reversed the call and continued the game. The Rockets got the victory anyway.

Toledo’s Tucker Gleason went 26-for-50 for 336 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for a score. Junior Vandeross III had 12 catches for 194 yards and a touchdown.

Desmond Reid ran for 165 yards on 32 carries for Pitt in the losing effort.

Toledo is now 12-10 in their bowl game history; it was the fourth year in a row they made a bowl game.