The University of Toledo football team defeated Akron 48-21 at the Glass Bowl Saturday, Oct. 21. The win improves the Rockets’ record to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in Mid-American Conference play.
Fourth-year quarterback Logan Woodside threw for 304 yards and five touchdowns on the day, including three in the first quarter.
“I think we did a great job,” Woodside said. “The receivers did a great job of getting open for us today, our offensive line did a great job for us and we ran the ball really effectively, which opened up some of the passing game. I think whoever is open, that is who I’m going to throw it to, and it doesn’t really matter.”
Woodside spread the ball around and completed passes to 10 different receivers in the game. Third-year receiver Jon’Vea Johnson led the receiving corps with five catches and two scores. Fourth-year running back Terry Swanson led the charge on the ground with 123 yards on 20 carries.
“All credit to those guys, whether it’s the running backs, tight ends or receivers, they are all doing a great job, and I’m going to continue to push them because we are going to need all of them down the stretch,” Woodside said.
Toledo’s defense contained Akron to just 333 yards of total offense, with only 119 in the first half. Second-year safety Kahlil Robinson led the Rocket defense with nine tackles. Third-year defensive end Olasunkami Adeniyi had four tackles, a tackle for loss and two QB hurries.
“The coaches really emphasized that this past week,” Adeniyi said. “We kept working on it practice, working on our pass rush. We just have to get to the quarterback and affect him and help our defensive backs out.”
Toledo marched down the field on the opening drive, going 60 yards in seven plays, which was capped by a 24-yard touchdown catch by Johnson.
The Rockets struck again when second year receiver Desmond Phillips caught a Woodside pass down the sideline for a 40-yard touchdown. It was the first TD reception of Phillips’ career and increased the Toledo lead to 14-0 with 3:12 left in the first quarter.
Toledo’s defense kept the momentum going on a diving interception by first-year cornerback Justin Clark at the Akron 36-yard line. Three plays later, Woodside hit second-year receiver Danzel Mckinley-Lewis for a 13-yard touchdown.
Akron scored their first touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, a 25-yard flea-flicker pass cut the lead to 21-7. The Rockets responded with a 40-yard field goal by third-year kicker Jameson Vest to make the score 24-7 with 10:23 left in the first half.
Toledo sealed the game in the third quarter when Woodside hit Jon’Vea Johnson and Diontae Johnson for a touchdown each. Akron scored twice in the fourth quarter to narrow the lead. First-year running back Shakif Seymour capped the scoring for the Rockets with a 15-yard TD run with 1:40 left in the game.
“I think that the defense is coming together at the right time,” UT head coach Jason Candle said. “They have been a cohesive group. We are playing a lot of guys in the front seven, and there are three or four safeties that are rotating in quite a bit. So there’s a lot of guys that have played and played well. If you can continue to limit touchdowns in the red zone and you can continue to create turnovers, you are going to have success.”
The Rockets head to Ball State next for a Thursday night game in Muncie, Indiana Oct. 26. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
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