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For most people, “University of Toledo football” means one thing. The Toledo Rockets’ Division I program.
But there’s another team wearing midnight blue and gold, playing full-contact football in that same stadium and it is quietly becoming one of the top club programs in the country.
Founded in 2020, the University of Toledo Club Football team is coming off its most successful season yet, finishing No. 5 nationally in the National Club Football Association (NCFA).
“This is college football being played,” said founder and general manager Dylan Brown. “We’re not the NCAA team, but we are very much a college football team.”
From idea to reality
The program started with a simple realization.
“I saw Ohio State’s Club Football team was ranked No. 1 in the country at the same time as their varsity team,” Brown said of his discovery in 2019. “I was like, ‘Club football? What is this?’”
Photo by Amy South.
That moment quickly turned into something bigger.
“I was like, wow, this is actually really cool. This is legit,” he said.
After discovering the NCFA, Brown worked with University of Toledo officials to launch the program just before the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020, creating an immediate challenge in building awareness and recruiting a roster.
“No one was going to know what this is until we were putting the word out there,” he said.
Through social media, word of mouth and campus outreach, the program gradually gained traction.
The results followed. Toledo went 3 and 3 in its first season and improved to 6 and 2 in 2025, emerging as one of the top programs in the country.
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League structure
The NCFA, founded around 2010, includes 14 teams across four conferences. Toledo competes in the Great Lakes East with programs like Ohio State Club Football, a program that has won multiple national titles and, as Brown put it, “is the standard right now.”
“They’ve been extremely impressive,” Brown said.
While the structure differs from NCAA football, the game itself does not.
“We use the NCAA rulebook,” Brown said. “Our league rules are just a list of exceptions.”
Those differences are minimal, including a capped roster size of 50 players (compared to 105 at the Division I level) and minor game-management differences, allowing the on-field product to mirror traditional college football closely.
Teams are organized into conference standings throughout the season, with records determining postseason positioning. The top teams advance to conference semifinals and championship games, with winners moving on to compete for a national title.
An ongoing opportunity for players
For many athletes, Toledo Club Football provides a path to keep playing beyond high school, whether continuing to develop or pursuing opportunities outside the traditional NCAA route.
“It’s a legitimate opportunity,” Brown said.
The program has already produced results, with players walking on to the Toledo Rockets and others transferring to NCAA programs.
Players must be enrolled in at least six credit hours, which creates flexibility not always available at the NCAA level. That can include taking classes at the University of Toledo or through partnerships like Owens Community College, allowing athletes to stay eligible while continuing their education.
Because the team is not part of the NCAA, players can compete without using a year of eligibility, something Brown says can be a major advantage when building the roster.
“There’s a lot of talent in this area,” he said. “A lot of guys hang up the cleats after high school because they don’t think they have an opportunity. This club shows them they do.”
For players interested in joining, the program hosts informational meetings each Tuesday in May at Fetterman Indoor Field, with summer training beginning in early June.
A game day worth discovering
Home games are played at the Glass Bowl and are typically held on Sundays, with some broadcast on BCSN and others streamed online through the club’s website. The team is set to open its 2026 season on Sunday, September 20, at the Glass Bowl against Cinci United. Tickets are expected to cost around $7, making it one of the most affordable ways to watch live football in Toledo.
“We want to create the experience you expect when you come to a college football game,” Brown said.
For fans, that means a chance to sit in a Division I stadium, watch competitive football and support a growing local program that many are just now discovering.
And for a team that did not exist just a few years ago, that experience is only growing.
Sunday home games at the Glass Bowl. $7. University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft St., Toledo. toledofootballclub.com.
