The Toledo football team returns from its bye week with a cross-country MACtion trip on Wednesday, Nov. 4, visiting Sacramento State for a 7 p.m. ET kickoff that will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network, according to the University of Toledo Athletics. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Rockets and the Hornets.
Toledo enters the game 6-2 overall, according to the University of Toledo Athletics, and 3-1 in Mid-American Conference play. The Rockets’ last game was a 45-38 home win over Western Michigan on Oct. 24 that positioned Toledo near the top of the MAC standings as the season enters its home stretch, the university reported.
In that Western Michigan win, Toledo built a 31-14 halftime lead and held off a second-half comeback, according to the Mid-American Conference’s Week 9 preview. CJ Miller rushed for 183 yards and the game-winning touchdown, John Alan Richter threw for 391 yards, and the Rockets clinched bowl eligibility for the 17th consecutive season, the conference reported.
Sacramento State is in its first season as an FBS and MAC program, and the Hornets enter Wednesday’s game 1-7, according to the team comparison published by Legion Report. The State Hornet, Sacramento State’s student publication, reported that the Hornets close their conference season with back-to-back Wednesday games — Toledo at home on Nov. 4 and Central Michigan on the road on Nov. 11 — their first Wednesday games in program history.
The unusual scheduling is the storyline around the trip: a Wednesday night kickoff in California, with Toledo crossing the country on a short week after its bye, followed by another Wednesday game at home against Massachusetts on Nov. 11. Punt and Rally’s Toledo team preview described the Sacramento trip as a game Toledo is favored to win on paper, with the travel and quick turnaround as the bigger challenges than the opponent’s record.
Toledo’s offense has been its engine this season, averaging 475.5 yards per game, a figure Legion Report’s comparison ranked No. 11 in the FBS, against 298.2 yards per game for Sacramento State. The Rockets have won four straight games entering Wednesday, according to Punt and Rally, after the Western Michigan win extended their streak.
After Wednesday’s game in Sacramento, the Rockets return to the Glass Bowl to host Massachusetts on Wednesday, Nov. 11, before the Battle of I-75 at home against Bowling Green later in November closes the home schedule, according to the University of Toledo Athletics schedule release. Wednesday’s result will shape Toledo’s place in the MAC championship race with three games left after it.
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