Toledo outlasted Western Michigan 45-38 on Saturday at the Glass Bowl, becoming bowl eligible for the 17th straight season in a Mid-American Conference shootout that came down to a late interception.
Quarterback John Alan Richter threw for 391 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns for the Rockets, who improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in MAC play. Western Michigan fell to 5-3 after its comeback fell short in the final two minutes.
The Broncos got the ball back with 1:53 to play with a chance to tie the game, but quarterback Broc Lowry was intercepted at midfield, sealing Toledo’s win. It was a back-and-forth afternoon in which neither offense stayed quiet for long, and Toledo’s explosive passing attack proved to be the difference.
The victory also doubled as the 100th career win for Toledo head coach Mike Jacobs, who in his first season with the Rockets became, according to the MAC, the 17th-fastest coach across all NCAA divisions to reach 100 wins, doing so in 125 games. Jacobs entered the game 99-25 overall in his 11th season as a head coach.
Toledo came into the weekend having responded to a loss at Buffalo with a 34-14 win at Eastern Michigan, a game in which the Rockets scored on every first-half possession and held the Eagles to 34 rushing yards. Saturday’s win gave Toledo a second straight victory over a team that entered with an unbeaten MAC record.
Bowl eligibility extends one of the most consistent runs in the MAC. The Rockets had won nine straight home games before the Buffalo loss and are now 20-3 at the Glass Bowl since 2023, a home-field edge that showed again in a one-score game.
Toledo now heads into a bye on Halloween weekend before November’s midweek MACtion begins with a trip to Sacramento State on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Western Michigan returns home to host Bowling Green on Saturday at noon.