MUNCIE, Ind. – Toledo redshirt freshman quarterback Carter Bradley was thrown into the fire in a crucial Mid-American Conference game at Ball State on Saturday in his first career start.
Bradley, who was starting in place of injured starting quarterback Mitch Guadagni, struggled early on in third down situations and finished the game 14-of-34 passing for 137 yards and one interception after going just 4-of-16 in the opening half.
The score got out of hand quickly in Ball State's 52-14 blowout victory and Bradley was forced to try to play catch-up for most of the game.
“We put him in some tough spots early on in the second quarter there and on some of the early drives,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said. “We were just trying to find some type of rhythm and trying to get him some confidence moving forward.”
Despite his struggles in the first half and a 38-0 deficit at halftime, Candle decided to stick with Bradley in the second half in hopes of building up some confidence and resolve.
“Ball State's corners did a good job of taking away some of the easy things,” Candle said. “When a quarterback has a hard time getting into a rhythm it's a hard deal to consistently gain confidence. I wanted to try to get him some easy throws to get him going. The score of the game probably allowed that to be the case a little bit.”
There should be growing pains along the way, which is to be expected, but those on the Toledo offense are confident that Bradley will make the proper adjustments as he gains more experience.
“I feel like Carter is doing well,” Toledo senior tight end Reggie Gilliam said. “He just has to get more comfortable and learn the offense and do his thing. Once he gets in a rhythm, he'll be just fine. He has a hard time picking up the rhythm with plays going wrong sometimes and sometimes everything isn't going exactly the way he wants. We'll get him going and he will be fine.”
Candle echoed the sentiments of Gilliam saying he trusts that Bradley puts in the work necessary to make the improvements that he needs to at a young age.
“Carter will be fine,” Candle said. “He's a fighter and a tough kid and a guy that was in a tough spot today. This is a road conference game in your first start. We didn't get off to a good start and we couldn't anything worth a darn on third down in the first quarter. We got behind the eight-ball a little bit.”
RESOLVE TESTED: It's been a rough two weeks for Toledo after a nine-game winning streak in the Battle of I-75 was snapped a week ago in a 20-7 loss at rival Bowling Green.
Couple that with another head-scratcher on Saturday in Muncie and the character of this team will really be tested. Candle talked about adversity after the Bowling Green game but that just reached a whole new level after a historic loss to Ball State.
“It's been tough to swallow,” Toledo senior defensive tackle Nate Childress said. “But no one really cares. We have to just get up off the mat and keep going and get better. We've had really good practices. We just need to put it together in the game and have that transfer over to the games.”
Childress said he still believes that the struggles of the past few games can be fixed in the near future.
“Definitely,” he said. “It's small things that we need to correct. It will take care of itself and we'll get it corrected and we'll be fine.”
Gilliam said there are no excuses for what happened, but the team and the coaching staff has to do their best to learn from the loss on Saturday.
“It's going to be tough to get back and watch the film tomorrow morning, but we are going to have to do it and learn from it or this is going to keep happening,” Gilliam said. “We have to get back in and correct it.”
First Published October 20, 2019, 12:28 a.m.
