Very few college football rivalries are as intense as the one between the Toledo Rockets and the Bowling Green Falcons. That might come as a bit of a surprise because neither program has been relevant in quite some time but the bad blood is very real.
They hate each other!!
Even though the college football rivalry has not been super close in recent years, the tide might be starting to switch. Eddie George changes the entire landscape of the Battle of I-75.
Toledo aimed a rocket at Bowling Green.
Technically speaking, the University of Toledo does not have any legitimate tie to its mascot. It got its nickname, the Rockets, in 1923 when a student labeled them as the ‘Skyrockets’ because he was impressed by the football team’s flashy play against a superior opponent.
The full story goes much deeper but local sportswriters ultimately shortened the student’s assessment to the ‘Rockets’ and the rest is history. The name stuck.
Even though Toledo does not boast a world-class engineering program or anything of that nature, it leaned all of the way in to its mascot. A literal rocket is located outside of its football stadium.
A real Nike Ajax missile at the front entrance of The Glass Bowl is pointed in a very specific direction. If it was to be launched at full speed, it would land at the 50-yard-line of Doyt Perry Stadium.
Doyt Perry Stadium is home to Bowling Green.
Needless to say, the rivalry runs deep. The Rockets are prepared to launch a rocket at the Falcons.
Enter Eddie George…
Toledo currently leads the all-time series against Bowling Green 43-42-4. It also won 12 of the last 14.
However, the Falcons made a big-splash hire during the offseason and they hope to change that trend.
Eddie George was named in March as the 21st head coach in program history after four years at Tennessee State. The 51-year-old led the Tigers to a conference championship and was named as the Big South-OVC Coach of the Year last season.
Of course, he was also one of the greatest running backs of all-time. The buzz is palpable.
Single-game ticket sales are up 113% year over year for the Falcons. They also added more than 700 new season ticket holders since the hire became official.
With this new regime in place and excitement on the rise, Bowling Green State University boldly decided to plant its flag where it may not belong. The Falcons did so in form of a billboard.
The Falcons are laying claim to Rockets territory!
According to Dave Briggs, Bowling Green installed three different billboards in the state of Ohio— two in Columbus (George is an Ohio State legend), one in Toledo. Take a look:
And the billboard in Toledo was not installed just anywhere in the city…
It is located right across from the University of Toledo campus on Dorr Street. That was on purpose!
“It’s our goal to stand out instead of standing still,” said Bowling Green assistant AD for marketing and brand enhancement Taylor Jefferson to the Toledo Blade. “We just wanted to be in the [Toledo] market. A lot of our ticket holders come from Toledo, and we’ve got plenty of fans there. They should know what we’re doing and that we’re excited.”
The Falcons want to get the people going!
“If nobody has any issues, then you’re not doing enough to stand out,” Jefferson added.
Mission accomplished. Toledo fans are not excited to see their rival head coach’s face near their campus. Hopefully it does not escalate to the launching of the missile!