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TOLEDO, OH. – It didn’t take long for those assembled at the Glass Bowl Saturday night to realize the Western Michigan Broncos came ready to play. Barely more than five minutes into the game, Western Michigan held a 20-0 lead. When the final whistle blew several hours later, WMU owned an important 58-26 road win.
The matchup was a big game for both teams, with each hosting another MAC West heavyweight the following week. Western Michigan (3-3 overall, 2-1 MAC) gets Central Michigan, while Toledo (3-3, 1-1) faces Northern Illinois.
As for WMU’s early play against Toledo, it was something between a “blitzkrieg” and “shock and awe.” The Broncos scored touchdowns on six of seven offensive possessions during the first half.
The lone non-touchdown drive short-circuited when Toledo’s Mark Singer recovered a fumble at the WMU 31. The Rockets, trailing 20-3, drove to WMU’s eight-yard line. However, consecutive penalties on the hosts pushed them back to the 23, and they ended up settling for an Alex Steigerwald field goal.
Western Michigan answered Toledo’s two field goals with three second quarter touchdowns. Brandon West scored on a 15-yard run at 14:49 and ran another in from 19 yards out at 4:59. In between, Juan Nunez pulled in his second TD reception of the game on a two-yard pitch from Tim Hiller.
Western Michigan led 41-6 before Toledo was able to score its first touchdown with eight seconds remaining before intermission. By that time, Rockets quarterback Aaron Opelt was out of the game due to a shoulder injury.
“I came down on it wrong on a run,” Opelt said. “I couldn’t make the throws I needed to make (after that), so I knew something was wrong…. I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (Sunday). We’ll wait to see the results…. I’ll do everything I can to get back.”
Opelt’s injury put Austin Dantin, a freshman from Tallahassee, Fla. at the helm, and he responded by connecting on 17-of-28 for 160 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
“Austin Dantin did a good job running the offense and doing the things we asked him to do,” Toledo head coach Tim Beckman said. “We need to work on our base offense and make sure Austin’s getting better.”
Toledo’s offense picked up 28 first downs in amassing 449 yards in the loss. The hosts also maintained possession for 37:23.
West’s 70-yard touchdown run on the second play of the third quarter served notice that the Broncos were still hungry. West, a 5-10, 185-pound senior, had 153-yards rushing, three touchdown runs, and also threw a 12-yard TD pass to Nunez.
John Potter’s 37-yard field goal preceded a pair of Toledo TD receptions (Stephen Williams, 18 yards and Matt Shumaker, eight yards). Genis Thompson's 29-yard run and the Potter PAT completed scoring.
“I thought our defense was really good. They scored two late touchdowns, but besides that, we did a good job shutting them down,” Broncos coach Bill Cubit said.
Western Michigan, which came in averaging 342. 4 yards of offense per contest, rolled up 534 yards against the Rockets. “They just pounded the ball down our throats,” Toledo safety Barry Church said after the game. “Their offensive line was great, and they had a good game plan. We came out kind of flat. It’s embarrassing and it’s ridiculous. When you come out flat, that’s what happens.”
“I was concerned coming into tonight on how well we would be able to run the ball,” Cubit said. “I thought we ran it well, and I also thought Tim (Hiller) was outstanding.”
Hiller, who entered Saturday fourth in the MAC with an average passing production of 244.8 yards per game, completed 16-of-26 for 270 yards and three touchdowns in the win. He was not intercepted.
“Credit has to go to (Western Michigan). They did what they needed to do to be successful,” Beckman said. “We have to build off of this game – learn from it and make sure we get things corrected…. Our destiny is still in front of us.”
NOTES:
- One of the few negative areas for WMU on the evening was penalties. The Broncos were flagged nine times for 79 yards. Toledo drew four flags for 38 yards.
- Morgan Williams paced Toledo’s ground attack with 97 yards on 17 carries.
- Opelt came into Saturday’s game leading the MAC with 14 touchdown passes.
- Hiller has tied the WMU school record with 87 career touchdowns. He is also the active MAC leader in touchdown passes and is tied (with former WMU QB Tim Lester) for third on the all-time TD pass list.
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