Tucker Gleason ran for one overtime score and threw for four more as Toledo beat Pittsburgh 48-46 in a bowl-record six overtimes at the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Detroit’s Ford Field on Thursday.
The game surpassed 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.
Pitt 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.
After Gleason and Dugger traded rushing touchdowns in the first overtime, each team got a field goal in the second. Each threw two-point passes in the third overtime, and Gleason got another in the fourth to make it 44-42.
Dugger was sacked, apparently ending the game, but the Rockets were called for holding. 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 Panthers played without starting quarterback Eli Holstein (leg) and backup Nate Yarnell (transfer portal). David Lynch, a redshirt freshman walk-on, started his first game but was pulled in the third quarter after throwing two interceptions.
Dugger led the Panthers to two touchdowns and a field goal on his first three drives, turning a 20-12 deficit into a 30-20 lead.
However, Toledo got their second pick-6 of the game when Darius Alexander returned Dugger’s interception 58 yards for a touchdown. The extra point made it 30-27 with 7:49 left and the Rockets kicked a tying field goal with 1:45 to play.
Toledo started quickly, driving for a Gleason touchdown pass on the game’s opening drive, but Kyle Louis blocked the extra point and returned it for Pitt’s first defensive two-point conversion since 1990.
Desmond Reid’s 3-yard run and Ben Sauls’ 57-yard field goal gave Pittsburgh a 12-6 lead, but Gleason’s 67-yard touchdown pass to Junior Vandeross III put the Rockets up 13-12 midway through the second quarter.
On the next play from scrimmage, Braden Awls picked off Lynch’s pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown and a 20-12 halftime lead.
Kansas State rallies to beat Rutgers
Dylan Edwards ran for 196 yards and scored his third touchdown on a 36-yard run in the fourth quarter, helping Kansas State rally past Rutgers 44-41 in the Rate Bowl at Phoenix.
The Scarlet Knights (7-6) led by 10 at halftime and went up 34-17 on Ja’shon Benjamin’s 7-yard touchdown catch on the opening drive of the second half. But Edwards and the Wildcats (9-4) stormed back.
Edwards scored on 65-yard touchdown run and, after an interception thrown by Rutgers’ Athan Kaliakmanis, Garrett Oakley caught a 13-yard touchdown pass to pull Kansas State within five. The Wildcats failed 2-point conversions after both touchdowns.
Rutgers briefly regained momentum, going up 41-29 early in the fourth quarter on Antwan Raymond’s 1-yard TD run on a fake tush push.
Kansas State answered with Avery Johnson’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Jadon Jackson. Edwards followed with his 36-yard score, capping an impressive night in place of DJ Giddens, who opted out of the bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft.
Kansas State closed it out by stopping Rutgers on fourth down near midfield with just under two minutes left
Johnson threw for three touchdowns, including a 26-yarder to Edwards in the second quarter, finishing with 195 yards on 15-of-30 passing.
Raymond ran for 113 yards and three touchdowns in place of leading rusher Kyle Monangai, who also opted out to prepare for the NFL draft.
Kaliakmanis threw for 237 yards and a touchdown with an interception on 14-of-32 passing.
Holiday Bowl
Syracuse coach Fran Brown and Washington State acting coach Pete Kaligis shared a heartfelt hug after their Holiday Bowl news conference on Thursday.
Kaligis can certainly use all the support he can get, especially an embrace and some encouraging words from the opposing coach.
No. 22 Syracuse (9-3, No. 21 CFP), led by national passing leader Kyle McCord, is a 17-point favorite according to BetMGM in today’s Holiday Bowl against the depleted Cougars (8-4), whose season has nosedived since mid-November.
After beating future Pac-12 opponent San Diego State 29-26 on Oct. 26 at Snapdragon Stadium, coach Jake Dickert, quarterback John Mateer and the rest of the Cougars were 7-1 and about to jump into The Associated Press Top 25.
Now the Cougars are barely recognizable as they return to Snapdragon. Dickert was hired away by Wake Forest, Mateer transferred to Oklahoma and running back Wayshawn Parker left for Utah. Numerous coaches, including the offensive and defensive coordinators, are gone, and more than 20 players have entered the transfer portal.
The Cougars, who lost their last three games, are a prime example of how college football’s rapidly changing landscape can dramatically affect a program.
“Going into the ins-and-outs of the game tomorrow doesn’t matter,” Kaligis said. “We are who we are, we have what we have. I know that’s for both of us.”