Pittsburgh, Toledo find value in final season Detroit Bowl

On By Littum

Detroit ― If they’re being completely honest, it’s not exactly where any of these teams expected to be at this time of year, Pittsburgh after starting the season 7-0 and rising as high as No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25, and Toledo after a 7-3 start including a dominating power-conference win over Mississippi State.

Pittsburgh certainly had an eye on the College Football Playoff, while Toledo was going after a Mid-American Conference championship and a postseason destination where it wasn’t met with sleet.

But here they are, the Panthers and Rockets, both 7-5 after tough finishes, getting ready to meet in the GameAbove Sports Bowl at Ford Field the day after Christmas. Kickoff is at 14; the game, in its 10th game, is on ESPN.

Just try not to downplay the Detroit bowl against these two head coaches.

“I think Detroit is an excellent place for a bowl game,” said Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh’s head coach and the longtime defensive coordinator under Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. “It will be an excellent venue for a championship game.

“We’re there to play football … and what better place than Detroit and Ford Field?”

This is the Midwest’s only bowl game, and the 2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl has the second-shortest combined proximity from Detroit for the two competing schools, trailing only the 2019 game when Pittsburgh was last here, playing Eastern Michigan.

Toledo is only an hour from Detroit and Pittsburgh is about four hours, giving their fans a convenient excuse to get out of the house during the holidays.

Toledo head coach Jason Candle is looking forward to seeing the crowd. The game attendance record was 34,765 in 2019 when Pittsburgh beat Eastern Michigan 34-30.

“It’s a great opportunity for our fan base to come and support the team in our final game,” Candle said. “You can be out of the country or several different cities and some of them are not easy to get to. This is available.

“And one I think our fan base will be excited about.”

Pittsburgh and Toledo came to town over the weekend, Pitt hit Topgolf in Auburn Hills on Sunday and both teams got some practice in on Monday at Ford Field. The teams also packed food for the Gleaners Community Food Bank in Taylor and had a welcome dinner at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn on Monday evening. On Tuesday, teams and coaches alike were to be introduced to a Detroit sport, bowling-football combo fowling at the Fowling Warehouse in Hamtramck.

On Wednesday, they dine together for Christmas, with Narduzzi looking for recommendations for fish.

Then, the day after Christmas, they get another chance to put a bow on two seasons that had so much promise before they encounter some tough sledding. Pittsburgh was 7-0 after beating Syracuse on Oct. 24 and then lost its last five games, including to eventual CFP participants SMU and Clemson. Toledo, meanwhile, was 7-3 after beating Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan in back-to-back weeks in November before dropping its final two games.

“I’m always looking forward, not back,” said Narduzzi, 58, who is in his 10th season in Pittsburgh after a long run at MSU from 2007-14. (He attended Dantonio’s College Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Las Vegas earlier this month.) “Every win matters. We’re going to play the best football game we can.

“Every win is important.”

Pittsburgh expects to see the return of its starting quarterback, Eli Holstein, an Alabama transfer who was injured in the penultimate regular season game against Louisville. He didn’t play in the regular-season finale against Boston College, but Narduzzi said earlier this month that things were looking up for Holstein’s return in Detroit. Holstein, as a redshirt freshman, threw for more than 2,200 yards and 17 touchdowns to go with seven interceptions.

Pitt’s favorite target was senior receiver Konata Mumpfield, who had 813 receiving yards and five TDs. However, he has called it a career for college, and declared for the NFL Draft. Junior running back Desmond Reid, a first-team all-ACC selection, is the team’s leading rusher with 797 yards and four TDs. He has announced that he will return to Pitt for his senior season.

Toledo has a top-five offense and defense in the MAC, and is the MAC’s best passing team, led by junior quarterback Tucker Gleason and two first-team all-MAC receivers in Jerjuan Newton, a senior, and Junior Vandeross III, a junior.

This is the ninth full season for Candle, 45, as the head coach at Toledo, and his next win will be his 73rd, which would tie Gary Pinkel for the most in program history. This is the eighth bowl game he has coached in Toledo, although in recent years his name has increasingly been mentioned for power-conference jobs, including for offensive coordinator at Michigan this offseason. Candle has been passed over for some jobs and rejected for others. In a virtual press conference earlier this month, Candle didn’t promise he would never leave Toledo, but he prefers to stay for now.

“Any time your name is mentioned for something, it’s a reward … it means you’re doing a good job … and you have really good people around you,” Candle said. “I have a good job and a place I really love to be.”

And so far, that spot is in Detroit for a bowl game — and all things considered, that’s not too bad.

Despite the schools’ proximity, Pitt and Toledo have only played three other times, with Pitt winning twice. Toledo’s victory came in 2003, in a 35-31 contest when Pitt was ranked No. 9 in the country.

GameAbove Sports Bowl

PITTSBURGH VS. TOLEDO

Kickoff: 2 p.m. Thursday, Ford Field, Detroit

TV: ESPN

Records: Pittsburgh 7-5; Toledo 7-5

Outlook: This is the first year of GameAbove’s sponsorship, which takes over the old Quick Lane Bowl. Pittsburgh last played in this bowl game in 2019, beating Eastern Michigan 34-30. Toledo last played in a bowl in Detroit in 2010, in the old Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field, losing to Florida International, 34-32. The Rockets also played in the Motor City Bowl in 2001 at the Pontiac Silverdome and 2002 and 2004 at Ford Field.

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