Toledo, OH - In one of the wildest, craziest wackiest games ever witnessed in the Glass Bowl, Toledo ran out of time and came up one score short, losing to Northern Illinois, 63-60, at the Glass Bowl Tuesday night.
The loss knocks Toledo (5-4, 4-1 MAC) out of the driver's seat in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference and puts Northern Illinois (6-3, 4-1 MAC) there instead. The Rockets need to win their last three games and hope that NIU loses one if its final three games.
NIU scored the game-winning touchdown with just 19 seconds left, a four-yard touchdown pass from Chandler Harnish to Perez Ashford. The Rockets then drove to the NIU 40-yard line in the waning seconds but ran out of time.
The game was an epic battle of scoring, records and unusual plays. NIU began the game with back-to-back kickoff returns for touchdowns, setting the tone for the contest. Junior WR Eric Page caught nine passes for 150 yards and tied the MAC record for touchdown receptions with five (set by Marshall's Randy Moss). Senior RB Adonis Thomas rushed for 160 yards and two TDs, both of them in the fourth quarter, including UT's last score with 4:16 left that put the Rockets up at the time, 60-56.
The combined 123 points between the two schools set a Glass Bowl record. Toledo had 589 yards of total offense, while NIU countered with 532.
Northern Illinois set the stage for a wild first half when freshman Tommylee Lewis took the opening kickoff two yards deep and bolted down the left sideline for a touchdown of officially 100 yards. Toledo countered with a nine-play drive of 67 yards, tying the score at 7-7 on a 12-yard TD pass from Dantin to Page.
However, lightning struck again as Lewis then took NIU's second kickoff 95 yards for a score to give NIU two touchdowns on its opening two kickoff returns. Lewis' two kickoff returns were the two longest returns ever by a UT opponent in the Glass Bowl and tied the NCAA record for most TDs off kickoffs in a game.
Page scored his second touchdown of the game moments later to tied the score at 14-14, another 12-yarder from Dantin with 7:27 left in the first quarter.
Toledo's defense stopped Northern Illinois on its next possession, but the Huskies took advantage of a roughing the punter penalty to maintain possession and eventually scored on a six-yard pass from Harnish to Nathan Palmer to regain the lead, 21-14. NIU made it 28-14 early in the second quarter when Palmer took advantage of a defensive lapse to haul in a 71-yard pass and waltz into the end zone.
Page scored his third TD of the half, this one a five-yard catch near the pylon to cap a 13-play drive and cut the lead to 28-21. Jeremiah Detmer trimmed the lead even further, 28-24, with a 41-yard field goal with a little over a minute to play in the first half.
The scoring machine kept rolling in the second half as both teams exchanged leads throughout the final 30 minutes. Toledo took its last lead of the game with 4:16 left when Thomas finished off an eight-play drive with a three-yard TD run.
But NIU finished the job with an efficient, nine-play, 66-yard drive, culminating with a Ashford's TD catch with just 19 seconds left.
The Rockets next host Western Michigan in another Tuesday night MAC West Division showdown on Nov. 8.
