Rockets Dominate Colorado 54-38

The Toledo Rockets hosted the Colorado Buffaloes on Friday night at the Glass Bowl in the first home game under new coach Tim Beckman. Toledo jumped on top of the Buffaloes 30-3 midway through the third quarter, and the Rockets never looked back improving to 1-1 on the season with a 54-38 win.

TOLEDO -- The Rockets improved to 1-1 on the season with a dominating 54-38 win over the visiting Colorado Buffaloes on Friday night at the Glass Bowl. Unlike in the season-opening loss to Purdue last weekend, the Rockets came out of the gates fast. Toledo jumped out to a 30-3 lead near the middle part of the third quarter, then held on late to win Coach Beckman's first home game as the Toledo Rockets coach.

Quarterback Aaron Opelt led the offense for the second straight week by once again putting up numbers worthy of consideration for MAC Player of the Week honors. The senior quarterback completed 15-of-23 for 319 yards and four touchdowns through the air, plus chipped in with 109 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

DaJuane Collins also rushed for 160 yards on just 20 carries, including a 23-yard score, as Toledo racked up over 600 yards of total offense. Freshman Eric Page led the receivers with 138 yards, including a 70-yard catch and run for the score.

Toledo jumped out to a 13-0 lead through the first quarter of play. On the first Rockets possession Aaron Opelt capped an eight play 84-yard drive by finding Danny Noble across the middle for an 8-yard score.

It quickly became 13-0 on the next UT possession. Out of the five-wide formation, Opelt found Page out of the slot over the middle. Page beat the Buffaloes safety to the corner on his way to the endzone, and an insurmountable lead, from 70-yards out.

The two teams exchanged field goals before the Rockets added one final touchdown before the half to increase their lead to 23-3. Opelt took a snap out of the shotgun and found his way up the middle 27 yards for a touchdown.

Toledo opened the second half with another scoring drive, this one ending with a 26-yard toss to Kenny Stafford, but Colorado rallied to pull with 13 points by the end of the quarter. Colorado quarterback Cody Hawkins, who left the game late after a hard hit by Archie Donald late in the game, threw three touchdown passes in the quarter.

Opelt opened the fourth quarter with a 61-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach. Collins rumbled in from 23-yards out minutes later and Toledo held a 54-24 lead. Colorado scored its final touchdown in the closing minutes to pull within 23 on the final scoreboard.

Toledo hosts the Ohio State Buckeyes next weekend at the Cleveland Browns stadium.