Nothing about Thursday night in Toledo was pretty. In all actuality, it wasn't very pretty at all.
But for Ohio, it was romantic.
Coming off a game five days earlier — the shortest rest time this season — the Bobcats defused the Rockets 31-26 in the Glass Bowl.
Playing with a power offense and a depleted secondary while yo-yoing between quarterbacks, Ohio beat Toledo in an away game for the first time since 1967.
To put that in context, in 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. was still living, the American Basketball Association was created and the U.S. was in the Vietnam War.
Simply put: that’s a very long time.
That’s also one year before Ohio won its last Mid-American Conference title. And after a night like Thursday, it’s hard not to look at the Ohio season moving forward without whispering of a new conference title — or at least a trip to the championship game.
Courtesy of an Akron loss to Buffalo, the Bobcats just need to win the rest of their games against East Division teams to play in Detroit. With Toledo being a west team, a win wasn’t necessary, but it could be seen as an unexpected surprise that lights the Ohio fuse the rest of the season.
Offensively, Dorian Brown had the best game by an Ohio running back since 2008. Pounding out 212 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries, Brown was explosive while still keeping his contact-friendly approach.
Playing a position that was so hampered a month ago that coach Frank Solich called it an oddity, Brown’s efforts Thursday solidified his spot as the power back on a run-first team.
There’s no better time for that to happen, actually.
With the struggles at quarterback — Quinton Maxwell still struggling to adjust and Greg Windham leaving the game in crutches — it’ll be Brown who guides the offense forward.
Defensively, the unit is stout and packs swagger. It often was forced to save the offense to keep Ohio in games, on Thursday the group was just as resilient as its been throughout MAC play.
The Bobcats kept Toledo out of the end zone in the first half, a commendable feat considering Toledo’s high-octane offense.
Even after allowing a 98-yard touchdown to start the second half to make it 14-13 Ohio, the defense kept Toledo uncomfortable in its own stadium. The Bobcats hadn’t beaten the Rockets since 1988.
Perhaps the response to Ohio’s upset win is an overreaction. Maybe.
But at a time when the season easily could’ve skidded out of control, as previous seasons have, the Bobcats seem more on track than ever moving forward with three regular season games remaining.
Thursday night provided hope. And for a football team that hasn’t won a conference title since 1968, now is a good time to truly start believing.
