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From wire and UT staff reports
DETROIT - Toledo's attempt to put the finishing touch on a magical season came to a disappointing end as Boston College dominated the Rockets, 51-25, at the Motor city Bowl on Thursday.
Boston College scored on its first six possessions on its way to a 42-18 halftime lead, effectively putting the game away. Quarterback Brian Jones threw for 331 yards but was picked off twice. Wide receiver Carl Ford had a career high 10 receptions but in the end it didn't matter.
"They won the battles in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and that's what won them the game," Toledo coach Tom Amstutz said. "They were very physical, and we weren't able to match that."
The Eagles set a Motor City Bowl record for most points. The previous record was set in Marshall's 48-29 win over Louisville in 1998. It was the most points the Eagles scored since a 55-3 win over Connecticut on Oct. 7, 2000.
Toledo scored the lone touchdown of the second half when Brian Jones connected with Manny Johnson on a 30-yard score with 25 seconds remaining in the third quarter to make it 48-25.
Jones, who set several single-season Toledo passing records this year, completed 27 of 41 passes for 331 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Carl Ford caught 10 passes for 112 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown pass with 24 seconds to go in the second quarter.
"I don't feel like they dominated us, but they got a quick lead and took us out of our game plan," Jones said. "It's hard to win a game when you can't play the type of offense you want."
Down 28-10 with less than six minutes to go in the first half, Toledo gambled, going for it on a fourth-and-1 from its own 40, but Jones' pass fell incomplete.
Boston College took possession, and on the next play, Grant Adams caught St. Pierre's pass across the middle, eluded a defender and raced into the end zone for a 35-10 lead.
A 1-yard TD run by Brandon Brokaw with 1:31 to go in the half made it 42-10.
Boston College set a school bowl record for points in a half, surpassing the 31 points the Eagles scored in the first half of the 1985 Cotton Bowl, a 45-28 win over Houston. They also set a Motor City Bowl record for points in a half.
"That's not something we like in college football, but I thought the Big 12 officiating crew did a great job," O'Brien said. "They told us at halftime that they were going to call it close and throw people out if they had to."
Toledo, coming off a 49-45 loss to Marshall in the MAC championship game, failed to defend its Motor City Bowl title from a season ago. MAC teams had won the previous four Motor City Bowl games.
Toledo cut the Eagles' advantage to 21-10 when Trinity Dawson scored on a 2-yard run with 10:47 remaining in the first half.
Boston College made it 21-3 a minute into the second period when St. Pierre delivered a third-and-8 pass to Joel Hazard, who made a defender miss along the sideline, cut up field and dove into the end zone for a 40-yard score.
Boston College ran almost exclusively on its first scoring drive, which covered 76 yards over 11 plays, culminating in Derrick Knight's 2-yard run.
On their second possession, the Eagles passed on seven of nine plays and took a 14-0 lead on St. Pierre's 17-yard pass to Adams.
