Written by 
It took six overtimes, and two premature celebrations, but Toledo was eventually victorious, beating Pitt 48-46 in the GameAbove Sports Bowl.
The Rockets rushed the field twice during the overtimes, thinking that they had won the game, but the Panthers stayed alive with some well-timed refereeing. Eventually, the Rockets took home the win after making one final game-winning stop in the sixth OT.
Thursday’s game marked the first time in NCAA postseason history for a game to head to six or more overtimes — two days after South Florida and San Jose State reset the record with five OTs at the Hawaii Bowl.
Toledo was up 20-12 at halftime, but Pitt outscored the Rockets in the third quarter to take the lead. In the fourth quarter, Toledo got a pick-six and a game-tying field goal to send the game to OT.
In the first overtime, Pitt made the odd choice of going for the tie with a PAT rather than a two-point conversion to win. As a result, the game kept going, with both teams hitting field goals in the second OT to send things to the two-point conversion round.
After both converting in the third OT, Toledo nabbed two points in OT 4 and sacked Pitt QB Julian Dugger in what should have been a game-winning stop, rushing the field to celebrate the victory. But a holding flag on Rockets cornerback Avery Smith gave Pitt another chance.
Pitt then went for the conversion on the ground. Although Toledo thought it had gotten another stop, the Panthers were awarded the two points after review showed that the ball had crossed the line, and the game went on.
Both teams converted in the fifth overtime, managing to convert even more two-point conversion plays. Toledo scored first in the sixth OT, and had yet another chance to finish the game with a defensive stop. The Rockets put pressure on Dugger, whose throw into the end zone went straight to the turf.
This time, when Toledo rushed the field, it was for real. Overtimes aside, the Rockets took the well-fought win in the end.