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Rockets fall 37-30 to Iowa State

Toledo takes game to last possession, fails to walk away with victory over the Cyclones

Blake Bacho, Sports Editor

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AMES, Iowa - As the old saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

As the University of Toledo football team can attest to following a 37-30 loss to Iowa State Saturday, close certainly doesn’t count in college football.

“We’ve got to learn how to finish,” said sophomore wide receiver Corey Jones. “There were some plays in the red zone where we kicked field goals and I believe we should have scored. That was it.”

Toledo (4-3, 3-0 in MAC) took the contest with the Cyclones (2-4, 0-3 in Big 12) to the very last possession, but the Rockets did not see a lead the entire second half.

The closest UT came was a 23-23 tie early in the fourth quarter, which Iowa State responded to with a pair of late touchdowns.

“Their coach had a good strategy for us in the second half and it worked out in their way,” Jones added.

In the first half of Iowa State’s homecoming matchup with the Rockets, whatever the coaching strategy ISU’s Paul Rhodes had was not working. The Cyclones took the passing game away, but Toledo’s offense found success with their tried-and-true ground game.

A four-headed Toledo rushing attack managed 161 total yards over a first half in which sophomore quarterback Logan Woodside only completed seven throws – all to Jones – for 38 yards.

Rockets’ freshman running back Terry Swanson led the way with 106 first-half yards, 14 of which came off a touchdown scramble with 10:48 left in the second quarter that put UT up 10-6.

Swanson finished with 125 yards on the ground, two scores and another 22 yards through the air against Iowa State.

“We for sure have to be able to run the ball,” Woodside said. “We work on that every day. Terry had a great game again today, we’re real confident and we are real happy to have him.

“We’ve got to keep giving it to him and feeding it to him and that will set up the play action pass.”

Woodside may have not done much through the air during the first half, but he definitely contributed to the Rockets’ rushing attack. Toledo’s sophomore signal caller finished the game with 42 rushing yards of his own, 28 of which came off four carries in the first two quarters.

Woodside eventually added to his other stat lines, ending the game 22-of-36 passing for 189 yards and a score and he even tried his hand at blocking during a reverse to Jones in the third quarter.

UT’s defense kept ISU out of the end zone throughout the first half, holding the Cyclones to a trio of field goals. Senior placekicker Jeremiah Detmer created, and then padded, Toledo’s lead with three field goals of his own.

“What we were able to do in the football game is take what they gave us,” said UT head coach Matt Campbell. “I thought we did that very well. I didn’t think we ever panicked in the game. We did a really good job taking what the defense gave us.”

None of what Toledo did was enough to catch up to an Iowa State offense that caught fire during the second half.

“They just went at a faster tempo, kept attacking the perimeter with the bubble plays,” said UT senior linebacker Ray Bush. “Basically sticking to what they did in the first half.”

Cyclones’ quarterback Sam Richardson completed a 23-yard pass to wide receiver Tad Ecby for ISU’s first touchdown of the game to cap their first drive of the third quarter.

Richardson set a school record for completions in a single game, finishing 37-of-53 with 351 yards, three touchdowns passing and 31 yards rushing. He handed off to running back Martinez Syria at the one-yard line on Iowa State’s second drive of the third quarter for the Cyclones’ second touchdown of the day, giving ISU a 23-13 lead over the Rockets.

“They are a physical team, we are physical too though,” Bush said of Iowa State’s offense. “I feel if we just wrapped them up, we wouldn’t have missed tackles. We would just fall off and they would just tumble into the end zone.”

Woodside completed a shovel pass to sophomore running back Marc Remy to bring Toledo within a touchdown of Iowa State at the end of the fourth quarter, but a failed onside kick allowed the Cyclones to kneel their way to their second victory of the season.

“When we’re playing really well, we do a good job of playing team football,” Campbell said. “It’s not offense or defense, I just think our guys wore down a little bit in the second half on the defensive side of the football.

“There were a couple plays that could have gone either which way, a couple of [the] penalties and we’ll have to take a look and see what those were. We’ll just have to look and see if that’s what it is and if it is we will have to a better job coaching it.”

Toledo now heads into a bye week and will return to action on Saturday, October 25, for a 2 p.m. homecoming game with UMASS.

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Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.
Rockets fall 37-30 to Iowa State