DEKALB Ill. — After a historic performance in just his third career start, Carter Bradley deflected the focus of Toledo’s bounce-back win Saturday onto his teammates, and praised game preparation from his coaching staff.

In his first start of the season, the sophomore quarterback led UT to a 41-24 win at Northern Illinois in Huskie Stadium, a place it hadn’t left with a victory since 2006, and was all smiles postgame detailing what he called a team win across the board.

Bradley’s 432 yards passing, the seventh-most in Toledo football history, was enough for head coach Jason Candle to do the boasting instead.

“Carter’s being humble because that’s who he is and that’s how he was raised, but my gosh,” Candle said. “Four-hundred-and-thirty-two yards as the backup quarterback, you come into this game, you’re on the road. Eli [Peters] can’t make the trip, we’ve got guys banged up all on the offensive line.”

“Credit to Carter for executing at a high level and keeping his poise and composure.”

Bradley was called upon 44 times in the passing game. The Rockets (3-2) racked up 610 total yards of offense, largely through the air as the Huskies continually stacked the box to take away the run. Bradley took that challenge in stride, moving the chains 34 times and alleviating pressure on UT’s defense, which got off to a slow start. 

“An away game, coming into their house, they’re a tough opponent, but we just had to stay the course,” said Bradley.

Defensively, the Rockets found their way in the second half after giving up 294 yards of total offense in the first. Toledo held the air raid-heavy Huskie offense to just 88 yards in the second half,and shut them out on the scoreboard.

Toledo safety Tycen Anderson said the defense took a gut-check approach at halftime, and came out inspired to stop NIU from cashing in on the long ball. The Huskies opened it up passing early and often, targeting standout Tyrice Richie, who is second in the nation in catches per game. Richie, after a 100-yard first half, had just 11 yards in the second. 

“If you watch the film from last week, we gave up a couple deep balls, so we knew they were going to attack us vertically,” Anderson said. 

“In the second half, we honed in, the corners locked down, in the slots we locked down, the safeties, we all guarded well in the second half and we really just eliminated those big plays when we were in man-to-man coverage.” 

Toledo struck first, scoring on a 10-play, 80-yard, opening drive. Bradley hit Danzel McKinley-Lewis for a 21-yard score, but the Huskies bounced right back, utilizing a long run by Harrison Waylee at the other end to tie the game. 

Tied at 7 after the first, the Huskies capitalized on Toledo’s first turnover, an interception that was tipped at the line in the red zone, into a long drive that ended in a score and put them up 14-7. 

Despite the early adversity, Bradley wasn’t deterred. Facing 1st-and-10 at his own 2-yard line after a muffed kickoff, the sophomore from Jacksonville led a 98-yard drive that ended in a Bryant Koback touchdown to knot the game at 14. 

Tied at 24 at half, Candle said after talking to his offense, he went to motivate his defense, but approached a group of players who were already fired up to get back out there instead. 

“When I walked over to the grease board, I saw coaches and every defensive player on the trip huddled around like we were about to go play the second half of a Super Bowl,” Candle said. “Our young guys on our football team, our defensive players, are really starting to buy into the plan.” 

Bryce Mitchell and Ronnie Blackmon added long touchdown catches to the slate. 

McKinley-Lewis had 110 yards receiving on the day, while Isaiah Winstead hauled in 106. Koback finished with 65 yards rushing behind Micah Bryant, who ran for 72 and dashed 25-yards to the end zone with two minutes to play to seal the win.

Anderson led the team with eight tackles, while Samuel Womack and Dyontae Johnson had seven each. 

Though the Rockets are eliminated from MAC West title hopes and could miss a bowl again this year, Candle sees growth in his group. Something, he said was evident in their ability to bounce back after tough moments in the game Saturday. 

“This is an inside-out thing, this is not an outside-in thing,” he said. “When our team and our players continue to understand that, good things are going to happen.

“We’re going to be in tough games, that’s just the way it is. ... At times, I didn’t think we were at our best and I thought our guys really rallied around those tough moments and bounced back with their best effort.”

First Published December 5, 2020, 12:30 p.m.