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.
“We’ve been through a lot the whole year,” Finn said. “It’s been a rollercoaster for us. Up and down, fought through adversity and had some rough patches. But ultimately, we stayed together as one.”
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.
“This is everybody’s goal,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said of the conference championship. “This is what everybody wants to do. This is where everybody says they’re going to be. It’s one thing to get there. It’s another to win it.”
Sieh Bangura rushed for 56 yards on 20 carries and the lone touchdown for the Bobcats (9-4), whose seven-game 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 season-ending knee injury.
Ohio is 0-5 in the MAC title game.
“My heart hurts for our football team,” coach Tim Albin said. “This has been about our journey, not a destination. I boldly said on MAC (preseason) media day I thought we could make a championship run. That’s what we did and we came up short.”
The Rockets led 10-7 at halftime.
They drove 75 yards after the opening kickoff with Stuart scoring on his 29-yard run up the middle.
“Very efficient,” Candle said of first possession. “That kind of built some confidence to play efficient offense the rest of the way.”
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.
Ohio was limited to 262 yards of total offense.
“Their front seven controlled it, particularly in the second half,” Albin said. “We had trouble running the ball in between the tackles and it made us one-dimensional.”
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.
UP NEXT
Both teams are headed to bowl games TBD on Sunday. Toledo is bowl eligible for the 13th straight season.
