Toledo wins first MAC title since 2017
DETROIT » Dequan Finn passed for a touchdown and rushed for 86 yards on 18 carries as Toledo captured its first Mid-American Conference championship since 2017 by defeating Ohio 17-7 on Saturday afternoon.
Finn completed 16 of 25 passes for 154 yards. Jacquez Stuart rushed for 93 yards on nine carries, including a 29-yard touchdown. Micah Kelly added 53 rushing yards for the Rockets (8-5), who lost their last two conference games.
Toledo is headed to a bowl game but since the MAC doesn’t have a postseason pecking order, its destination is unknown. The Arizona, Idaho Potato and Quick Lane bowls — the latter also at Detroit’s Ford Field — are the most likely possibilities.
Sieh Bangura rushed for 56 yards on 20 carries and the lone touchdown for the Bobcats (9-4), whose sevengame winning streak was snapped. CJ Harris completed 17 of 31 passes for 163 yards and was intercepted once.
Harris was making his second start since MAC Player of the Year Kurtis Rourke suffered a seasonending knee injury.
Ohio is 0-5 in the MAC title game.
The Rockets led 10-7 at halftime.
They drove 75 yards after the opening kickoff with Stuart scoring on his 29yard run up the middle.
Ohio tied it on Bangura’s 2-yard run midway through the second quarter, finishing off an 84-yard drive.
Toledo’s Thomas Cluckey kicked a 44-yard field goal with 16 seconds left in the half.
The Rockets drove to the Bobcats’ 10 midway through the third quarter but passed up a field goal attempt and turned the ball over on downs.
Finn’s 16-yard scoring pass to Demeer Blankumsee completed a methodical 16-play, 90-yard drive that gave Toledo a 17-7 lead with 10:36 remaining.
The takeaway
Toledo is now 4-3 in the MAC title game, with its previous championships coming in 2001, ‘04 and ’17. Ohio’s long drought without a conference championship continued. The Bobcats haven’t won a MAC championship since 1968.