As the Backyard Brawl commenced, the Mid-American Conference West Division title was settled.
Saturday night, the University of Toledo’s football team won the bragging rights for the next year, defeating Bowling Green, 42-24 in the Glass Bowl.
“This team is made up of a bunch of special guys,” said UT head coach Tom Amstutz. “They give it their all and play to win, and I am very proud of them. This is such a great feeling, keeping the Rocket tradition alive.”
Toledo will now advance to the MAC Championship game at Marshall University next Saturday. UT also received a bid to the Motor City Bowl on Dec. 26.
“We are very thankful to go back to the Motor City Bowl. Everything about the Motor City Bowl is first class, and we can’t wait to be a part of it again,” Amstutz said.
Saturday night’s game was a story of two halves, as the Falcons dominated the first and the Rockets took command of the second.
“I thought it was a hard-fought game,” said BG head coach Urban Meyer. “I thought it was a great game for the Mid-American Conference. [I] was very disappointed in our play. Obviously, you can’t give up 500 yards and win. The thing we have to do some evaluation of in the big games is our offense. They are not performing at the level they need to perform.”
The Rockets jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Falcons answered back.
Quarterback Josh Harris carried the ball three yards into the endzone to set a school record with his 20th touchdown of the season. He also set a MAC record with 59 combined rushing and receiving touchdowns in his career.
On the Falcons’ next drive, kicker Shaun Suisham kicked one through the goalposts to extend BG’s lead to 10-7.
The Rockets fumbled a snap on their next possession and BG defensive back Michael Malone recovered the ball for the Falcons on UT’s 30-yard line.
Harris led the Falcons 30 yards in 54 seconds and ran the ball 18 yards into the endzone for his second touchdown on the night, giving the Falcons a 17-7 lead.
Toledo’s quarterback Brian Jones then drove the Rockets 60 yards and threw a 20-yard pass to Andrew Clarke to cut the Falcons’ lead to 17-14.
“At the beginning of the season everybody underestimated Brian Jones — players, coaches and even Brian himself,” Amstutz said. “He has done a tremendous job this season. He is our leader and quite a football player.”
However, that would be the last score of the half for the Rockets. Running back B.J. Lane blocked the Rockets’ next punt and wide receiver Cornelius McGrady recovered at the UT 17-yard line. He returned the ball seven yards to the Rocket 10-yard line.
Harris kept the ball again and rushed one yard for another Falcon touchdown. At the end of the first half the Falcons led 24-14.
“Josh Harris is a great player,” Amstutz said. “He has tremendous talent. We made them [BGSU] play on a long field and we played strong team defense.”
The second half, however, was a different story, as the Falcons were unable to find the endzone.
Both teams were forced to punt on their first drives of the second half.
On the Falcons’ next drive, they faked a punt on fourth down and three. Linebacker Mitch Hewitt rushed two yards, but not enough to make the first down, so the Rockets took over.
Toledo’s Trinity Dawson rushed for three touchdowns, while Clarke caught another touchdown pass to give the Rockets a 42-24 victory over the Falcons.
Toledo outrushed the Falcons 269-77, while Harris completed 15 of 30 passes for 165 yards and was intercepted twice, both in the second half.
With 223 yards of total offense in the UT game, Harris set a new school single-season record in that category. Harris now has 3,162 yards of total offense in 2002, breaking Brian McClure’s record of 3,009 yards (1983).
The Falcons set a new MAC record for touchdowns in a season, with 65. Marshall’s 1997 team held the old mark of 64. BG finished the season 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the MAC, while Toledo ended the regular season 10-2 overall and 7-1 in MAC play.
“The next step of building our program is to win a game like this and to win a game like we had to play a couple of weeks ago,” Meyer said. “A year ago we won eight. This year we won nine. Our goal is to win 10 next year.”
The 2002 Falcon team is just the seventh in school history, and the first since 1994, to have nine overall wins The Falcons, after going 2-9 in 2000, have a record of 17-6 over the past two seasons.
