Toledo fumbles at goal line to give RedHawks first win

OXFORD, Ohio — After a 99-yard drive led by their third-string quarterback on UT's final possession, the Rockets fumbled at the goal line giving Miami (OH) their first win of the season on Saturday, 31-24.

Junior quarterback Alex Pettee drove Toledo down the field with just over seven minutes remaining after the departures of injured quarterbacks Aaron Opelt and Austin Dantin, but a fumble by sophomore tight end Danny Noble bounced out of bounds in the end zone, giving the RedHawks a touchback with just 1:01 remaining. The win was Miami's first of the season, pushing their record to 1-8 (1-4 Mid-American Conference).

"[We have to] make sure that these players understand that when you're trying to build a program this is not acceptable," Toledo Head Coach Tim Beckman said.

"You've got to hold on to the football. It wouldn't have been a problem if you just hold on to the football and score."

The loss for Toledo drops their record to just 4-5 on the season (2-3 MAC) and puts their goals of reaching a bowl game in serious doubt.

"It kills [our chances] big time," senior running back DaJuane Collins said.

Noble, who also had a personal-foul penalty on the final drive, fumbled for the first time this season on UT's final play.

"We all kind of talked to him and told him that's unfortunate that it happened, it could've happened to any of us," Collins said. "We know he works extremely hard and we know how good of a player he is, so we told him he's just got to come out ready to work next week."

Opelt returned to the field for the first time since suffering a bruised right shoulder on Oct. 10 against Western Michigan. The senior quarterback completed just 7-of-14 passes for 79 yards with one touchdown and one interception and was removed from the game on two different occasions. The first occurrence was a coaching decision in favor of Dantin, who also returned from injury this week and was removed after the second quarter after reaggravating a high right ankle sprain suffered on Oct. 17 against Northern Illinois. Opelt was also removed with just 7:52 remaining on UT's final drive in favor of Pettee, after it was determined he could not continue.

"Aaron could not go," Beckman said. "He and the doctors made the call."

"It was too bad [Aaron] couldn't go at the end of the game," said Pettee, who completed 6-of-8 passes for a team-high 87 yards on his only drive. "You could just tell the way he was carrying himself that he wasn't feeling right."

Senior wide receiver Stephen Williams and freshman Eric Page led the Rockets' offense. Williams caught nine passes for 137 yards, while Page grabbed six for 81 yards and two touchdowns (one rush), but it was still not enough to lead Toledo to victory.

"I think this hurt more than anything," Williams said. "We were hungry for a win and we should've been ready to play any team in that predicament… it hurts."

Toledo leaned on their rushing attack, which ran for 242 yards against the RedHawks including a career-high 107 yards by sophomore Adonis Thomas. Collins rushed 19 times for 82 yards and one touchdown.

"When you have a good game you always want to come out on top," Thomas said. "We came close but it really doesn't matter if you almost won, it just matters if you won."

Miami jumped out to an early seven-point lead after Opelt had his second pass attempt of the game intercepted for a touchdown by freshman Wes Williams.

Toledo tied the game with just under one minute remaining in the first quarter after a one-yard plunge by Collins after a RedHawks' fumble. Senior safety Barry Church forced the fumble after sacking MU freshman quarterback Zac Dysert, one of his eight tackles on the game. Junior linebacker Archie Donald recovered the fumble and tallied a team-high 10 tackles, the fifth time in the last six games he has reached double digits in stops.

Dysert led the RedHawks down the field on the following drive, going 67 yards to regain the lead, capped off by a 10-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Andrew Cruse. Dysert completed 31-of-51 passes against the Rockets for 344 yards and one touchdown, while also rushing 13 times for 87 yards and two scores. He finished four yards short of his career-high in passing yards that he set last week against NIU.

Before the end of the half, Dysert scored his first rushing touchdown from three-yards out to cap off an 80-yard drive, and the RedHawks kicked a 55-yard field goal with just over 30 seconds remaining to give MU a 24-7 lead at halftime.

Opelt returned after the half and cut the Miami lead to 10 after a 14-yard touchdown pass to Page just over two minutes into the half.

Following a missed field goal, Toledo added three points of their own after senior kicker Alex Steigerwald connected from 26-yards out to bring the Rockets within one touchdown at 24-17.

"We came out in the second half on fire but it shouldn't take us two quarters to realize we're in the football game," Williams said. "We're surrounded with playmakers and we ran the ball pretty good. We just took too long."

Toledo's defense could not hold down the RedHawks as Dysert led Miami 76 yards and scored on a 23-yard rush to extend the lead to 31-17.

The Rockets answered again as they scored their 17th points of the third quarter after a 15-yard reverse by Page to cut the lead to 31-24 with 31 seconds remaining.

Toledo's defense forced a punt on two occasions in the fourth quarter, but the second pinned UT at their one-yard line with seven minutes left. Pettee entered the game for his first possession and led the Rockets to the MU nine-yard line before the completion to Noble resulting in a fumble out of bounds in the end zone. The play was originally ruled a touchdown but was changed to a touchback for Miami after a review from the booth. Miami used the ensuing four plays to run out the remaining 61 seconds to earn their first victory of the season.