Rocket’s collapse

The University of Toledo’s football team Mid-American Conference Championship dreams came to an end with a 35-30 home defeat against Western Michigan on Friday in the Glass Bowl.

Toledo (9-2, 6-2 MAC) was led by junior running back Kareem Hunt who rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown. He also recorded three catches for 22 yards.

Sophomore wideout Cody Thompson was senior quarterback Phillip Ely’s favorite deep threat all season and this game was no different. Thompson had just two catches but for 96 yards.

Ely had a tough night throwing just 16-33 finishing with 280 yards and two touchdowns. Toledo finished the game with 481 yards of total offense but struggled finishing off drives.

The defense had a hard time slowing down the Bronco’s explosive offense. Western gained 416 total yards of offense. Junior quarterback Zach Terrell led the attack with 243 passing yards and two touchdowns.

His favorite target was junior wideout Corey Davis who racked up 139 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Davis also corralled in WMU’s season long 76-yard touchdown reception.

The Rockets trailed early after going three and out on their first possession. On Western’s first place from scrimmage Terrell found junior Daniel Braverman for a 54 pick up taking the Broncos down to the 16-yard line. Just two plays later second string duel threat QB Tom Flacco, Joe Flacco’s little brother, rushed it in from 17 yards out.

On the extra point attempt, WMU faked the field goal and converted it to go up 8-0 with 12:24 in the first quarter.

The Rockets responded with a 10-play, 68-yard drive capped off with a three-yard touchdown pass from Ely to senior TE Alex Zmolik for his first touchdown of the season. The Rockets elected to kick the extra point and cut the Bronco lead to 8-7.

On the ensuing possession, Western drove 60 yards in 8 plays before the UT defense came up with a stop at the UT 14 on third down.

Derrick Mitchell came on to convert a 65-yard field goal to give the Broncos an 11-7 lead late in the first quarter.

On third and two from the WMU 35, Western’s freshman running back Jamauri Bogan ran up the middle before being stripped by UT’s junior DB DeJuan Rogers to give the Rockets the ball back with great field position from the Broncos 28 yard-line.

The very first play following the fumble Hunt scampered 28-yards to the house to give the Rockets their first lead of the afternoon. Vest’s extra point made things 14-11 with 8:07 remaining in the first half.

However, the Broncos needed just two plays to regain the lead. Terrell found Davis on a wide receiver screen and he did the rest taking it 76-yards to extend WMU’s lead 18-14.

The Rockets answered the big play with one of their own. Ely found Thompson deep down the middle of the field for a 56 completion before he was brought down at the Western one-yard line. Sophomore tailback Terry Swanson would walk it into the end zone two plays later to retain the lead 21-18 with 5:06 left in the half.

Toledo was able to stop WMU at their own 15 on third down forcing a punt with the chance to get the ball back with good field position. On the punt the ball hit the arm of Russell and bouncing into the arms of Michael Henry.

Western would capitalize off the UT turnover with a 30-yard touchdown pass from Terrell to Davis for their second connection of the night. On the play, the refs threw a flag for offensive pass inference but later picked up the flag due to the pass not crossing the line of scrimmage.

The Broncos took a 25-21 in an explosive first half in the Glass Bowl.

The Rockets kick-off sailed out of bounds to start the second half, giving Western the ball at their own 35 yard-line.

The Broncos marched down the field getting inside the UT ten-yard line in just two plays. Toledo came up with three stops at the two-yard line forcing coach XX to use a timeout on fourth down with a fourth and goal from the one-yard line.

The Rockets defense could not come up with the stop and WMU jumped out to a 32-21 lead early in the second half.

Toledo had a chance to cut into the lead but their drive stalled out at the two-yard line with Hunt on the sideline on third and goal. Vest connected on the 24-yard field goal attempt to cut the Bronco lead 32-24 at the end of third quarter.

The Toledo defense did its job to get the ball back into the hands of the offense forcing Western into another three and out.

On third and long from midfield, Hunt took the screen pass from Ely 30 yards down to the UT 19 but a targeting penalty was called on Russell negating the pick up and leading to Russell being ejected with over 10 minutes left in the game and deflating the energy from the UT sideline.

UT punted the ball away, giving Western a chance to extend their lead and they would do just that.

WMU needed 7 plays to go 59 yards before settling for a 38-yard field goal attempt that Andrew Haldeman nailed right between the uprights.

On the ensuing possession the Rockets drove all the way down to the WMU 14 before being faced with a fourth and nine and forced to attempt a 30-yard field goal attempt but Ellis muffed the snap and was brought down in the back field.

Toledo’s defense forced Western into a quick three and out giving the ball back to the offense needing a miracle to come back.

But after the punt, Ely connected with Thompson for 40 yards and then to freshman Jon’Vea Johnson for a 35-yard touchdown to give the Rockets life and cutting the WMU lead to 35-30 with just 1:08 left in the game.

However, the Rockets failed to recover the onside kick ending any hopes of a fourth quarter miracle.

UT will wait until Sunday, Dec. 6, after Championship weekend to find out what bowl game they will play.