Group of Five: Week 9 Access Bowl Power Rankings

Though they lost at home in Week 9, Toledo’s dreams of challenging Western Michigan for the MAC West title did not come crashing completely down to earth. Without the conference crown, the Access Bowl is out of reach, but the Rockets suffered only their first MAC loss of the year and need only to beat WMU head-to-head on Thanksgiving weekend to steal the division. Against the Bobcats, Logan Woodside threw for 438 yards and three scores. Toledo outgained Ohio in yards and first downs, but nine penalties and two turnovers proved costly in the end.

If the Rockets want their regular-season finale in Kalamazoo to mean something, they must win out in November. Another loss would eliminate them from the mix altogether, so there is no more margin for error. They play a Wednesday night game at Akron to kick off the month. Toledo then returns home for its next two MAC contests against Northern Illinois and Ball State. As long as they win all three of those games, Toledo will set themselves up for a winner-take-all showdown on Black Friday for the division title and the trip to Detroit for the championship game.