Meet Ohio's best intrastate rivalry: Toledo-Bowling Green. Sure, it's a Mid-American Conference matchup, but "The Battle of I-75" is, as Ron Burgundy may say, "kind of a big deal" around these areas.
Tuesday night the college football microscope takes a brief look in northwest Ohio where the best intrastate rivalry takes place for the 70th time: the University of Toledo Rockets and the Bowling Green State University Falcons.
► Meet the rivalry. The series began in 1919, but the annual match was put on hiatus, as told by UT's athletic fan site:
The series discontinued for 13 years following Toledo's 63-0 victory in 1935. BGSU officials reportedly ended the series due to the unruly behavior of UT fans following the victory, though many UT faithful claimed the decision had more to do with the outcome of the game.
While I vividly recall the last five games won by the home team, that streak actually extends two more years, back to 1998. This year the game is played in BGSU's Doyt Perry Stadium.
► Meet Toledo head coach Tom Amstutz. Granted, the man could be the manifested version of Jabba the Hutt, but "Toledo Tom" is the heart and soul of Rocket football. He was born in Toledo, played offensive line at Toledo, and coached at Toledo since 1977, except for a three-year period at Navy. When former coach Gary Pinkel bolted to Missouri, Amstutz was handed the team in 2001 and has a 43-18 winning record.
► Meet Toledo quarterback Bruce Gradkowski. You may have already met some of his Pennsylvania-bred predecessors: Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Joe Namath, George Blanda, Johnny Lujack and Terry Hanratty. They all went to rather prominent colleges: Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Alabama, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Notre Dame, respectively. Gradkowski had more passing yards his senior year of high school than any of them. Yet he was barely recruited at the Division I-A level. But Toledo knew what they were getting when they signed him.
He began starting for Toledo as a sophomore, and in each of his two full years had a 70 percent completion rate, second in the nation each year. In his senior year he has fallen off a bit completing only 62.4 percent. If he does not beat BG tonight, his team will likely not go to a bowl game and thus he will finish his college career with two straight losses.
Article comments
1 - Chelsea Snyder
So it's about time that I resurface on BC, and I figure if I'm going to do it, I'll do it as an overzealous alum:
GO FALCONS!!!!
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
Allow me to second the going of the Falcons, in that they go all over the Rockets.
Yes, I was able to write a fairly balanced perspective on the only football rivalry I have any stock in.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
That certainly didn't go to well from my side of the stands.
Toledo 44
Bowling Green 41
Double Overtime