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Northern Illinois at Toledo
Nov. 16, 2005
Toledo, OH (Glass Bowl)

Toledo's loss snapped the nation's third-longest home winning streak at 17 games. The last team to defeat the Rockets at home was Miami, which came away with a 27-13 win in 2002. UT's setback also snapped an 11-game overall win streak against the Huskies, including 14 in a row in the Glass Bowl.

UT is now 14-13 all-time on national TV and 9-9 under Head Coach Tom Amstutz.

The Huskies outscored the Rockets, 28-3, in the second half to erase a 14-7 deficit at the intermission. That was only the third time in 36 games under Amstutz that UT lost a game when leading at halftime.

Senior QB Bruce Gradkowski completed 41.2 percent (14-of-34) of his passes for 168 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. It was the first time in Gradkowski's career he completed less than half of his passes. His previous low was 50.0 percent (6-of-12) vs. Connecticut in the last year's Motor City Bowl.

The Rockets finished with 166 total yards passing to mark the second time this season they were held under 200 yards. Their season low is 163 at Fresno State on Sept. 27. UT entered tonight's game averaging 221.7 yards passing per game.

Toledo turned the ball over a season-high five times, including three interceptions. The Rockets entered the game ranked second in the MAC at +1.3.

Senior RB Trinity Dawson topped the century mark for the fifth time this season and finished with 104 yards on 24 carries. Dawson has exactly 1,000 yards on the season is the 13th Rocket to reach the 1,000-yard barrier in a single season and first since 2001 (Chester Taylor, 1,620 yards).

Junior ILB Mike Chamberlain returned to the starting lineup and led the Rockets with a career-best 13 tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss.

Senior ILB Anthony Jordan topped the 10-tackle mark for the fourth-straight game and fifth time this season, finishing with exactly 10 stops, including a sack. Thomas now leads UT with 91 tackles on the season and is second with 9.0 tackles for loss.

The Rockets were held off the scoreboard in both the second and third quarters to mark the first time this season that they went consecutive periods without points. The last time this occurred was at Minnesota in the first game of last season, a span of 22 games.

Sophomore P Brett Kern booted a season-long 59 yard punt in the second quarter. Kern finished with four punts for a 40.0 average.

Senior CS Keon Jackson set a personal-high notching his fourth interception of the season and 10th of his career in the second quarter. Jackson totaled three interceptions during both his freshman and junior seasons.

Senior PK Jason Robbins booted a 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and is a perfect 11-of-11 in FG attempts on the season.

In the second quarter, neither Toledo nor Northern Illinois tallied points. That was the first time this season that both UT and its opponent were held scoreless in the same period.

Toledo kicked a 22-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to finish off a season-tying best 16-play drive. The Rockets also tallied a 16-play drive vs. Western Michigan, which resulted in a 26-yard TD pass from Bruce Gradkowski to Steve Odom, in the second game of this season.