DEKALB, Ill. — There is scant evidence of a University of Toledo win in the final box score of Saturday’s 60-minute slugfest at Northern Illinois.
The Rockets recorded just 286 yards of offense and were outgained by more than 100 yards. Northern Illinois had 25 first downs to Toledo’s 15. UT was 2 for 15 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down.
And the Rockets only scored 13 points.
Turns out it was more than enough in a game that felt like a throwback to the 1970s, with UT and NIU combining for 13 punts and eight turnovers on downs, in a 13-6 Rocket victory.
Toledo’s defense held the Huskies on downs on their final three possessions, a final flex of the muscles that let the rest of the Mid-American Conference know the Rockets are still contenders.
“This is my favorite game I’ve ever played in,” said senior linebacker Dan Bolden, who finished with nine tackles.
Northern Illinois found sporadic success on offense, mostly running the football, especially on scrambles by quarterback Josh Holst. For the most part, however, Toledo’s defense was lights out — NIU was a combined 6 for 27 on third and fourth down, and UT had seven tackles for loss.
The Rockets only allowed 149 yards in the second half, as NIU’s second-half drive chart featured four punts and three turnovers on downs.
“Our defensive staff did a great job putting a great plan together,” Toledo head coach Jason Candle said. “Northern throws so many different personnel groupings at you, so many different things that make it really hard to prepare in a seven-day block. But there was great buy-in from our players, great attention to detail, absolute tough effort on third downs and fourth downs, and critical down at distances.”
Dynamic NIU running back Antario Brown, who torched Notre Dame and North Carolina State, returned after a one-game absence because of an injury, rushing for only 53 yards on 13 carries. Backup Gavin Williams had consecutive 100-yard performances in place of Brown. The Rockets limited him to 78 yards on 16 carries on Saturday.
One of the biggest plays came late in the fourth quarter when safety Maxen Hook broke through the NIU offensive line to stuff Holst on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak, putting the Huskies in a position where everything had to go right in the final minutes.
“We knew the sneak was coming just because they lined up in that formation,” said Hook, who had a game-high 13 tackles. “Just told the guys up front to get low, wedge it. They blew it up, stuffed him right in the line. Then he was trying to find a hole, and I just ran around the back edge and just pulled him down.”
The game’s lone touchdown came in the second quarter on a 52-yard strike from John Alan Richter to Jerjuan Newton. It gave Toledo a 7-3 lead it never relinquished.
In his first career start, Richter completed 15 of 28 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown. He was sacked twice but did not turn the ball over. The Georgia native led an 88-yard third-quarter scoring drive, the longest of the season.
There is no update on when Tucker Gleason will return.
“That was awesome,” Richter said. “We should have scored a lot more touchdowns. We got down there and couldn’t finish. [Winning] was an awesome feeling.”
Junior Vandeross III caught a game-high seven passes for 64 yards. Newton had three catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. In the past three games. Newton has 18 receptions for 350 yards and four touchdowns.
The Toledo offensive line was better, giving up four tackles for loss, including two sacks. But the Rockets rushed for 134 yards and averaged nearly four yards per carry, a massive improvement over recent weeks.
Connor Walendzak had 78 yards and Sevaughn Clark ran for 48 yards on 11 carries. They combined for six runs of seven or more yards.
“We had to take care of the football, which we did a good job of,” Candle said. “I wish we’d have been better in situational ball, but our defense really stepped up in some key moments and made some key stops.”
An unsung hero was punter Emilio Duran, who averaged 41.1 yards on eight punts, forcing six fair catches. He pinned the Huskies inside the 20 five times and inside the 10 once.
Place-kicker Dylan Cunanan was 2 for 2 on field goals, stretching his streak of made kicks to eight.
“It’s equal phases, right?” Candle said. “You’ve got offense, defense, special teams in the kicking game. There are going to be moments where, in these conference games, these things get really tough down the stretch. Teams are very familiar with one another. The little details are going to be the separating factors.”
This is UT’s first three-game winning streak over Northern Illinois since 2002-04 and it hadn’t won three consecutive games in DeKalb since 2002, 2004, and 2006.
The Rockets are in a six-way logjam at second place in the MAC, along with Bowling Green, Miami, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, and Ohio. Western Michigan (3-0) is the only undefeated team.
The cacophony of noise emanating from the visitors’ locker room in Huskie Stadium verified how consequential Saturday’s victory was for the Rockets. They were coming off a dismal loss at Buffalo. A second loss would have been catastrophic for their MAC championship hopes.
And then came NIU, a pest for the past two decades, consistently playing spoiler for Toledo. Then, on a Saturday that required toughness by the barrel, the Rockets did not and would not wilt.
“I think I counted pregame on the injury report, if you looked at our [depth chart] in preseason camp, there were seven starters not playing football today,” Candle said. “Next-man-up mentality. You keep going, you keep battling. You can’t say that after a loss because that’s the coach making excuses. But you win the football game and you give credit to the guys that are backup players that go in and do a really good job when they have their opportunity. It doesn’t get any easier.”
The Battle of I-75 is next Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
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