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Toledo fans were primed for football Friday, but so were the Arizona Wildcats, who left town with a 41-2 win. Photos by Nate Thompson.

Toledos offense was not able to sustain consistent drives throughout the contest.

"We played a good football team," UT head coach Tim Beckman said afterward. "Mike Stoops has done a great job with that program. They're a big, fast football (team). I have to give them credit for that."

Toledo sophomore quarterback Austin Dantin, starting for the fourth time in his young career, completed 14-of-23 passes for 103 yards. Eric Page led UT receivers with four receptions for 43 yards. Junior Adonis Thomas paced the rushing attack with 52 yards on 10 carries.

"We're extremely young at quarterback and (the) wide receiver position," Beckman said. "We stubbed our foot a few times with penalties or a negative play. Their defense cause a lot of that and played very well." "Beckman said.

Leading the charge for the Rocket defense was senior cornerback Desmond Marrow with nine tackles."It felt good just to get back on the field," Marrow said. "I tried to do my best to help us win, but, unfortunately, we came up short."

Arizona held a narrow lead, 7-2, until late in the first half when the Wildcats broke through with two touchdowns in the final three minutes of the half to take a 21-2 lead into the locker room.

"We gave up those two scores at the end of the half and you can't do that. There's no question that hurt us," Beckman said.

The Wildcats scored on their first possession of the third quarter, a one-yard run by Nick Grigsby, and on their first possession of the fourth quarter. That score, a 32-yard reception by Juron Criner, made the score a decisive 34-2.

"Juron is a guy that commands a lot of coverage, and we have to use that to our benefit. He is a spectacular player," Arizona Head Coach Mike Stoops said.

Keola Antolin finished off the scoring with a five-yard TD reception with a little under six minutes to play.

Arizona opened the scoring on its first possession, a nine-play drive that culminated in a nine-yard TD reception pass from Nick Foles to David Douglas. The score remained 7-0 until midway through the second quarter when the Wildcats were flagged for holding in the end zone, resulting in a safety.

A 36-yard TD run by Nick Grigsby with 3:03 to play in the half was followed by an interception by linebacker Derek Earls that gave Arizona the ball back on the Rocket 38-yard line. Six plays later, Foles ran it in from one yard out to make the halftime score 21-2.

The Rockets (0-1, 0-0 MAC) will travel to Ohio next Saturday to face the Bobcats in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.

"We'll watch our film and make corrections and go from there," Beckman said.

Courtesy of UT Athletics