The Toledo Rockets rallied for a wild and gutsy 24-23 win over Central Michigan in their season finale on Saturday at the Glass Bowl.
Sophomore quarterback Carter Bradley overcame four turnovers (three interceptions and one fumble) when he drove the Rockets 83 yards for the winning score. UT trailed 23-17 with 6:27 left when Bradley engineered a clutch and lengthy drive (4:54) that ended with a sharp throw to Jerjuan Newton for the winning score — a 28-yard TD strike.
The Toledo defense, which surrendered 362 yards, stepped up with a game-clinching stop as the Rockets picked the perfect time to get their first turnover of the game — a fumble forced by Terrance Taylor that Jamal Hines recovered near midfield.
Toledo finished the challenging season, which was shortened due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a 4-2 record. The Rockets clinched a share of second place in the MAC West Division with Western Michigan (4-2).
“Our guys really answered the bell, even if it wasn't pretty at times,” coach Jason Candle said. “We were able to persevere down the stretch. I'm really proud of our guys.”
Here are four observations from the game:
1. Toledo focused heavily on getting the ball in the hands of talented running back Bryant Koback.
The 6-foot and 205-pound junior running back touched the ball 29 times. The Springfield High School graduate ran the ball 24 times for a game-high 123 yards. He also had a team-high five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown out of the backfield.
Koback, who moved into the school's list of top 10 all-time rushers, posted the seventh 100-yard performance of his career and second of the season. Koback caught a 15-yard TD pass that tied the game at 7 and then sealed the win with a 27-yard run on third-and-17 in the waning seconds.
“He's a great student and I love everything about him,” Candle said. “The humility is the foundation of who he is. He is easy to root for.”
2. QB Carter Bradley showed some guts, resiliency — and inexperience.
Bradley, who took over the starter's role for the second straight game in relief of the injured Eli Peters, completed 18-of-33 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns.
But the 6-foot-3 and 210-pound Jacksonville native also struggled at times. Bradley threw back-to-back picks on consecutive possessions in the second quarter, including one into heavy traffic. He threw another interception in the third and also fumbled at the start of the fourth quarter.
“I probably won't sleep tonight because of those three throws,” Bradley said after the game. “But I have great players around me and watching them do their thing is unbelievable.”
Candle revealed that Bradley had suffered an injury when he led the Rockets to a convincing 41-24 win at Northern Illinois on Dec. 5 as he threw for 432 yards and three TDs. He did not practice until Thursday.
Carter was under duress for much of the game behind a depleted UT offensive line and was sacked six times. Facing a third-and-22, Bradley perfectly placed a 28-yard TD pass into the hands of Newton to put Toledo ahead with 1:33 to play.
“Carter was a warrior,” Candle said. “He took some shots and he kept getting back up. Credit his resilience and toughness.”
3. The UT defense bent but did not break before sealing the game.
The Rockets finished the season with the best defense in the MAC, allowing a conference-best 362.2 yards against and the third-best scoring defense in the conference (allowing 24.3 points per game).
Junior linebacker Dyontae Johnson, who led the team with 10 tackles on Saturday, finished 13th in the MAC in tackles per game (7.8). Junior defensive end Desjuan Johnson added eight stops with 2.5 tackles for loss.
The Chippewas tied the score on their first play from scrimmage in the second half, a 68-yard TD run by Lew Nichols. But the Rockets backed up their offense by limiting the Chippewas to two field goals in the third quarter after UT had turned the ball over.
The defense gave up 13 points and 215 yards in this second half. But the Rockets limited CMU to just three points off of the offense's four turnovers.
4. The players, coaches, and staff members were grateful just to have a season.
The ever-present cloud of the coronavirus pandemic first threatened to end the season before it could even get started. But UT followed every safety protocol to a “T” in order to be one of the few teams in all of college football to actually play every game on its schedule.
“I don't think the outside world has any idea what these guys have gone through,” Candle said. “To even get six football games in … nobody could tell you how this would go. They had the normal class load. They had someone jamming a Q-tip in their nose four times a week. You have false-positive tests. You have some positive tests. It's a roller coaster every day. That's not easy for 18 to 22-year-old kids. They continued to buy in. I'm very proud of our guys who continued to fight. There were a couple of times that they could have turned and went the other way. That game at Western Michigan was an emotionally draining loss. Our guys could have bagged it and went the other way. We kept going and they kept doing what they said they were going to do.”
Bradley called the opportunity “indescribable.”
“When you look back three months ago, we didn't know we were having a season,” Bradley said. “I know guys in that locker room feel truly blessed just to have a season.”
First Published December 14, 2020, 2:30 p.m.
