TOLEDO AND PITT TO PLAY IN 2024 GAMEABOVE SPORTS™ BOWL AT FORD FIELD

DETROIT – The Toledo Rockets (MAC) and the Pittsburgh Panthers (ACC) are set to face off in the 2024 GameAbove Sports™ Bowl at Ford Field on Thursday, December 26 at 2:00 PM EST. Tickets start at $29 and are available at www.gameabovesportsbowl.com or in person at the Ford Field Ticket Office, Monday through Friday between 10 AM and 6 PM. The game will air on ESPN and ESPN+.

Toledo enters the GameAbove Sports™ Bowl with a 7-5 record, their 15th consecutive season without a losing record, which stands as the third-longest streak among FBS schools. The Rockets are led by ninth-year Head Coach Jason Candle, who has 72 wins with Toledo and has never had a losing season with the team. No team in the MAC has won more games than Toledo during Candle’s tenure. Candle has also won two MAC titles with the Rockets and twice been named the conference’s Coach of the Year. Leading Toledo’s offense is junior quarterback Tucker Gleason, who has a pair of first-team All-MAC wide receivers to target – Jerjuan Newton and Junior Vandeross. The defense is led by first-team All-MAC safety Maxen Hook, alongside second-team All-MAC players defensive tackle Darius Alexander and cornerback Avery Smith, and third-team linebacker Daniel Bolden. The Rockets are 12-9 in bowl games, going back to their first bowl win in the 1969 Tangerine Bowl. Toledo has played in bowl games in the Detroit area on four different occasions: the Motor City Bowl at the Pontiac Silverdome in 2001 and at Ford Field in 2002 and 2004, and the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2010. This is the Rockets’ first appearance in the GameAbove Sports™ Bowl.

The Pitt Panthers finished their 2024 regular season 7-5 and will compete in their 38th all-time bowl game appearance during the 2024 GameAbove Sports™ Bowl. The Panthers are led by Pat Narduzzi, who is in his 10th season at Pitt and is the second winningest coach in school history with 72 wins. This is Pitt’s second appearance in this bowl game, with a 34-30 victory over Eastern Michigan under Narduzzi in 2019. The team also competed in the now defunct Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field in 2013, defeating Bowling Green 30-27. The 2024 Panthers boast five All-ACC performers in all-purpose back Desmond Reid, linebacker Kyle Louis, safety Donovan McMillon, linebacker Rasheem Biles and placekicker Ben Sauls. Reid ranks sixth nationally in all-purpose yards per game and 10th in the country for yards per punt return. Louis is one of college football’s rising stars at linebacker, compiling 96 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks and four interceptions during his All-ACC campaign. Sauls concludes his career as one of the greatest specialists in Pitt history, with a team-high 95 points on the season, converting 18-of-21 field goals and each of his 41 extra-point tries, as well as five field goals of 50-plus yards this season – a Pitt record.

The participating teams will be introduced to Detroit through various activities, including a welcome dinner and private tour at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, and a friendly face-off at the Fowling Warehouse in Hamtramck. Both teams will also take a trip to Gleaners Community Food Bank to help pack potatoes for families in Southeastern Michigan. Since 2014, participating schools have packaged more than 290,000 pounds of food and provided over 200,000 meals for the local community.

2024 marks the 10th anniversary of this bowl game, which is owned, hosted and operated by the Detroit Lions. The Detroit Lions welcomed GameAbove Sports as the new title sponsor ahead of this year’s matchup. GameAbove Sports focuses on global sports business development and strategic investments. They seek to grow the global presence of the athletes, teams, leagues, youth academies and sports-related entities they partner with. GameAbove Sports’ partnership with the bowl game underscores its commitment to supporting and helping grow the sports ecosystem in the Detroit area and throughout Michigan.

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