Game 26 Report – Toledo Rockets

Pregame

UMass (0-1) at Toledo (1-0)
September 7th, 2024, 3:30 PM ET
Glass Bowl, Toledo, Ohio
Weather – Mostly Cloudy, 61 degrees

Game Recap

Toledo 38 – UMass 23

It took a while for things to get going in this ball game. Between both teams the first seven possessions all ended in three and outs. This made it a pretty dull first quarter.

The Rockets finally got the scoring going on their last position of the first quarter. After a quarterback run for the first first-down of the game, Tucket Gleason threw for a forty-yard touchdown to Jerjuan Newton.

The second quarter was a lot more exciting. The highlight was after UMass tied the game up at ten. Jaquez Stuart ran the ensuing kickoff back 98-yards to retake the lead at 17-10. UMass finished the half to bring the score to 17-13.

The Minutemen tacked on an additional field goal to bring the score to 17-16 in the third. Finally, Toledo started to put some distance between them with two consecutives touchdowns going into the fourth quarter. UMass tried to keep things close but Toledo was able to hold off for the win.

Final: Toledo 38 – UMass 23

Stadium Overview

It was a perfect day for a football game. It was 61 degrees at the 3:30 ET kickoff and mostly cloudy. The stadium was about 70% full for this contest.

The stadium was set up a single-level horseshoe with a small second deck on the east side. There was a field house in the north end zone with a medium sized video board rising above it. During the pre-game warm-ups they had the Allstate net up covering the board up which covered up parts of the display.

The student section was in the south end zone. They were handing out jerseys to the students and it was very disorganized. The students lined up along almost the entire east sideline to get one and it made it hard to walk through. They must have been there thirty minutes before they started handing them out.

There was nothing fancy about the concession areas. They did have a couple of tents for Chick Fil A and Maumee Brewing, but other than that all the stands just had normal concessions. As always, I appreciated that they sold bottled soda instead of fountain drinks.

Hot dog – $5.00

Bottled Soda – $4.00

Canned Domestic Beer (16 oz) – $9.00

Other Sporting Event – N/A

There were no other Toledo teams playing home games during the time I was in Toledo.

Originally, there was a Bowling Green men’s soccer game scheduled for Friday night, which was about a 20-minute drive away. At some point during the week, however, the game was moved from Friday night to Saturday night. This made it so I was not able to attend.

I also looked at a few smaller colleges in the area to try to find an event to attend. This was also unsuccessful.

Campus Overview

The University of Toledo was a large campus with a lot of open spaces. Being founded in 1872, there was a lot of history around the area.

The main open area was Centennial Mall. This gave a great view of the major part of the campus. It also led to the student union including a beautiful fountain in front.

In other parts of the campus, the front of University Hall was gorgeous. It had a large clock tower sprawling up above the campus. Next to that, Libby Hall is one of the oldest buildings on campus and had an authentic feel to it. It is the main building perspective students start at, which I think is a great choice.

Across the Ottawa river is the South part of campus. This is the area where all the athletic facilities reside, including the Glass Bowl where the football game took place.

Overall, this was a beautiful campus and one that was fun to walk through. Since there were no roads through the main part of campus it made it peaceful to walk through.

Attractions

National Museum of the Great Lakes

The National Museum of the Great Lakes is located along the Maumee River, just slightly away from Lake Erie. It explores the history of all the Great Lakes.

There were two main parts to this museum. The first is the museum itself. It showed a lot about the history of boating on the great lakes. Some of the items it covered including how communication changed over the years as well as the different types of materials used to create life vests. There were also some features on how different types of weather can cause havoc for boats on the lakes.

The highlight of this attraction though were the two boats outside. For an extra $6 cost you could tour a large freighter as well as a tugboat. Most of the time here was touring these ships.

The pure size of the freighter was impressive. They let you go down into the ship and see how large everything was. On the top side you were able to see the galley where meals were cooked as well as the quarterdeck where you could see the steering and other systems of the ship.

Toledo Art Museum

The Toledo art museum is a very large museum with a lot of different types of artwork throughout. It is a place where you could easily spend several hours if you wanted to take everything in.

The museum itself is free, though there is a ten-dollar cost for parking. There was also a special exhibit, Ethiopia at the Crossroads, which also had a ten-dollar fee. The employees at the front desk were very friendly and provided a map and talked through the museum as you went in.

The main building was two stories tall. They had art from all over the world from many different centuries. In one area there were paintings from all over Europe from the 1700s and 1800s. In another area they had many Roman and Greek artifacts from over a thousand years ago.

Across the street there was also the Glass House, which was an extension of the museum. In this area they had a painting from Monet and Van Gogh. There were also many glass sculptures pointing to Toledo’s history as the Glass City.

Toledo Botanical Gardens

With a couple hours to spare and the weather being so nice, I took a quick trip to the Toledo Botanical Gardens on the West side of town. The park the gardens were in was fairly large, so it made for a nice walk through the area.

It was busy at the time, but I was able to find a parking space. There were several groups and families taking pictures throughout.

The nicest area of the park was the perennial garden. This is where most of the in-bloom flowers were. Most of the area was closed off by shrubs meaning you could take in the flowers in a quieter atmosphere.

There was also a rose garden on the North side of the park, but most of the roses were out of bloom at this point of the year.

All in all, it was a nice place to get out for some exercise though not the most expansive set of flowers and plants that you would expect at a place like this.

Toledo Zoo

The Toledo Zoo was a pretty large facility for a city of its size. It is located on both sides of a major road, with a bridge connecting the two sections.

Both the primate area and the ape areas were the most fun to watch. There were a couple orangutans that were playing and chasing each other all across their habitat. With the apes, the male was just sitting in the corner but after a few minutes walked across and banged hard on the glass as everyone was watching the mother with a baby.

There was also a large aquarium in the zoo. Within there were a few stations where you could touch various marine life like stingrays. This zoo probably also had the largest crocodile I have ever seen!

The one thing that seemed a little strange was the section for the National History Museum. They had some exhibits around history, but it was also where they kept the reptiles and insects. Without any signs about that, it seems like a section that people would miss if they were only interested in seeing the animals.

Magee Marsh Wildlife Area

The Magee Marsh Wildlife Area is located about a half hour East of Toledo along the shore of Lake Erie. Although the park itself was open the visitor center was closed on the Sunday I went.

There are a lot of different hiking paths along the area. I started off along the paths next to the visitor’s center. The area is mainly known as being a bird habitat and a place where they nest. I could definitely hear birds in the area but did not see very many.

Because there were no other people in that area, I ended up coming across a couple animals. In the woods I came across a beaver along one of the logs. Also, at one point I came within just a few yards of a skunk which made me decide to turn around and walk back along the path I came.

After that hike I drove a couple miles further down to the beach. There were a few more people in this area. Several were looking for shells that might have washed up upon the shore. There were also some large birds flying around.

The most popular time of the year to visit the marsh is around May for the spring warbler migration. I think it would be interesting to be around for that time of year.

Dining

Schmucker’s

Schmucker’s is an old-school diner that has been around since 1948. It has a fairly small seating area but a large counter which is where I sat. Even though I came in the early afternoon it was still quite busy which shows how popular it is.

They have a wide variety of food including daily specials. I went with the Swiss steak with a side of home fries. A Swiss steak is basically hamburger steak topped with tomato sauce.

The steak was very good. It was a good thickness and tender and easy to cut through. The sauce made it almost like a meat loaf. The home fries were also delicious and had onions in it, which always increases my enjoyment of a dish.

Finally, Schmucker’s has a very large variety of pie as well, probably close to twenty different varieties. I decided to get a slice of the custard pie to go. When I asked for it, the waitress made sure to ask again since apparently a lot of people assume it’s like a donut-filled custard.

When I confirmed and had my pie later that night, I found it very good as well. The crust was a little mushy from the custard that was sitting on top of it, but the flavor is what you would expect from a classic custard pie.

The Stubborn Brother Pizza Bar

Stubborn Brother is located close to campus which made it a great place to go on Gameday. They had televisions all around the restaurant showing all the early games of the day. They had a very large bar as well which is where I sat since they were quite busy.

I always appreciate pizza places that sell by the slice since I’m only one person and don’t need a whole pizza. Sausage is always my go to, so I went with two slices to enjoy while watching the games.

The slices were New York style so they were both large and thin crust. The crust had a nice crunch to it and the cheese and sauce were both good. There was a little less sausage than I expected, but nothing worth complaining about.

The only mistake I made was to order both slices together. By the time I got to the end of the second piece it had cooled down a lot. The person next to me was the smart one and ordered each piece individually as he was ready to eat them to make sure they were both hot.

Overall, not the best pizza out there, but a really fun Gameday atmosphere that makes it worthwhile.

Tony Packo’s

Tony Packo’s is one of the restaurants that is famous in Toledo. The thing to keep in mind is there are multiple locations, but the original location on Front Street is the one that you should visit.

A lot of famous people have visited over the years. They all sign hot dog buns that are hung all around the restaurant.

For my meal I went with the hot dog platter. This came with a Hungarian hot dog that was topped with mustard, diced onions, and hot dog sauce. It also came with a cup of chili and a side. I chose the German potato salad.

The chili came out first and it was great. The chili was thick and not overly spicy. It was also topped with diced onion and cheese. It came with oyster crackers on the side as well.

The hot dog was also perfectly cooked. It had a perfect amount of sauce which covered the entire dog. The German potato salad was not the best I’ve ever had, but still tasted good and had that nice vinegar taste I enjoy.

It would be interesting to try some of the other locations that are more of a fast-food model to see if the taste holds there. But the original location was a huge win and probably my favorite meal of the entire trip.

G & R Tavern – Waldo

G & R Tavern is located in the small town of Waldo, Ohio, approximately 45 minutes north of Columbus. When trying to find a unique place to eat on my drive up to Toledo, this place stuck out as having a famous fried bologna sandwich. After reading some positive reviews I decided to give it a shot.

The restaurant is exactly what you would expect from a small, yet popular, joint. Very busy with a lot of locals that all knew each other. I was able to sneak into a seat at the bar pretty easily though there was a wait for tables.

Of course, the bologna sandwich was the ticket for the day. I ordered mine with cheese. The sandwich came with a gigantic piece of sliced onion that covered the entire sandwich as well as sweet pickles. I also ordered a side of curly fries.

The sandwich lived up to the hype. The bologna itself was sliced thick; a lot more than you would get on a normal sandwich you grew up eating at home. Having the onion cover the entire sandwich guaranteed you would get a piece with every bite.

A lot of times, it is the small-town places that offer the best food, and this tavern was a great example of that theory. Would definitely recommend.

Kewpee Burgers – Lima

Kewpee is a fast-food joint that first opened in Flint, Michigan, in 1918, with the first Lima location opening in 1928. The main downtown location that I visited, one of three restaurants all in Lima, was opened in 1939.

I went with a classic meal of a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate malt. The unique thing about the place was the serving of the chocolate malt in a real glass.

The malt was one of the thickest I’ve had. I would compare it to a Wendy’s Frosty as far as texture. It required a spoon to eat it instead of a straw, but it was delicious none the less.

The burger and fries were both tasty as well. The burger reminded me a lot of a burger you would get at Whataburger and the fries were hot and fresh. In fact, everything was made fresh and quickly. You could tell why this was a Lima institution and why it was so popular with a drive through line that backed out into the street.