Rockets become bowl eligible with costly 30-20 victory over Kent State Tuesday night

When Matt Campbell met with media following the Rockets’ 30-20 victory Tuesday night over Kent State, Toledo’s head football coach did not look like a man celebrating his teams’ newly earned bowl eligibility.

Considering what was lost in UT’s fifth-straight win, it’s hard to blame Campbell for being melancholy.

The Rockets (6-3, 5-0 in MAC) remain the only undefeated squad in Mid-American Conference play after beating the Golden Flashes (1-8, 0-5 in the MAC), but UT may have to move forward without sophomore quarterback Logan Woodside and senior center Greg Mancz, as both were sidelined with injuries during the second half.

With both players’ availability for next week’s matchup at Northern Illinois now in question, the Rockets’ latest win was easily their most costly victory of the season.

“Really a game of ups and downs in this football game,” Campbell said. “I was proud of our kids. ­We had some unfortunate things happen to us from an injury standpoint during the game and I thought our kids really weathered the storm.

“We had some mistakes tonight that we haven’t had, but I thought we were really able to overcome and put the game away.”

Before injuries ground Toledo’s offense to a halt, the Rockets were in complete control of the cold wet battle with the Golden Flashes. Woodside went 16-of-25 for 202 yards and a trio of touchdowns before a Kent State defender collided awkwardly with him during the third quarter.

Mancz’s injury also happened during a collision – in his case, a knee-to-knee blow between him and another Golden Flash defender.

“[Woodside] didn’t look great, but I think we will know a whole lot more tomorrow about his status,” Campbell said. “[Mancz], same thing. I think we are just going to have to wait and see for the next day to see where those two are from a health standpoint.”

Even clearly at less than 100 percent, sophomore running back Kareem Hunt finished the game with 141 rushing yards, and his lingering ailments look to be the least concerning injuries of the night for the Rockets moving forward.

After Woodside’s departure, redshirt freshman Michael Julian replaced Toledo’s sophomore signal caller in the huddle, finishing 2-of-7 for a one-yard loss.

Kent State also made a quarterback change during the contest, benching sophomore Colin Reardon in favor of redshirt freshman Nathan Strock.

Strock inspired the Golden Flashes, throwing for 67 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for another 71 yards and bringing Kent State within ten points of the Rockets with 13:15 left to play.

“He made some big plays with his feet,” Campbell said of Strock. “That goes back to us having the ability to do a really good job. It wasn’t anything he did other than he made some really good plays, but I think it was the changeup that it kind of brought to the game plan.”

The majority of Strock’s rushing production came from one carry, a 65 yarder that set up Kent State’s first touchdown of the night.

“[Strock] was just more of a run threat than the other quarterback,” said sophomore defensive tackle Treyvon Hester. “When he was pulling the ball and running around the corner and all that, it was just confusing because we didn’t know he was a big run threat like that.”

Toledo’s stable of rushers helped ease the loss of Woodside, with Hunt and freshman Terry Swanson contributing the bulk of the yardage. Swanson finished the night with 77 yards off of 17 carries.

The Rockets’ defense silenced Kent State’s comeback with 27 seconds left on the clock, when junior defensive end Trent Voss forced the third Kent State turnover of the game by intercepting a pass from Strock.

It was a defensive finish sorely needed after what Toledo suffered on offense, especially the potential loss of a second starting quarterback this season.

The Rockets were already without junior Phillip Ely, who tore his ACL during Toledo’s early-season matchup with Missouri.

“You’re always expecting it,” Campbell said of the rash of injuries. “If you’re not, you’re foolish. You’ve got to realize that, you’ve got to know that those things are going to happen and you’ve got to have the ability to adapt.

“I’ll be honest with you: some guys might have been nervous that [Julian] got in the game, but I wasn’t. There is a kid that some might have said by the end of spring practice was as good a quarterback as any we’ve had in a long time.

“We’re going to let this situation filter itself out. If [Julian] is the guy playing, then I think we all feel really confident in him being our quarterback.”

With or without Woodside and Mancz, Toledo will next travel to Northern Illinois for a MAC West showdown on Tuesday, Nov. 11. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m.