Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Toledo
Toledo Rolls Past CMU, 52-28, In MAC Football Opener
9/22/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 22, 2001
MOUNT PLEASANT-- It was the Chester Taylor show in Mount Pleasant as Mid-American Conference favorite Toledo rolled to a 52-28 victory over Central Michigan in the MAC opener in Mount Pleasant on Saturday.
Taylor tied a school and Kelly/Shorts stadium record by scoring five touchdowns in the winning effort. The tailback carried 22 times for 164 yards and four TDs and caught one pass for a 43-yard TD. Taylor had touchdown runs of 44, 37, 19 and two yards.
The Rockets scored quickly taking the opening possession 61 yards for a touchdown. The four-play drive was capped off by a 43-yard pass from Tavares Bolden to Taylor.
UT took a 14-0 lead on another Taylor touchdown with 6:16 left in the first quarter. This one a 44-yard run.
Central Michigan had its special team hero, James King, do his magic again by blocking his sixth punt of the season setting up a Chippewa score. Central started that drive on its own 49 yard line and on the second play, QB Derrick Vickers hit tight end Tory Humphrey for a 50 yard touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7, early in the second quarter.
The high-powered Rocket offense was too powerful for the Chippewa defense though. The Rockets gained 462 yards of total offense with 293 coming on the ground and 169 via the air. CMU gained 398 yards of offense, 118 rushing and 280 passing.
Toledo added another two scores in the second with Bolden hitting Carl Taylor for a 28-yard TD and Taylor scoring a 19-yard rushing touchdown.
Toledo kicker Todd France hit a 31-yard field goal with 24 seconds left in the second half but Central Michigan would storm right back.
Dante McKnight returned the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to the CMU 38 yard line. With time winding down, Vickers hit Willie Hill on a 47-yard pass that Hill had to fight away from the Toledo defender. Vickers then hit Hill on a fade pattern in the end zone on the next play with only five seconds remaining on the clock.
Toledo enjoyed a 31-14 lead at the half.
UT added three touchdowns in the third quarter, a two-yard run by Taylor, a 52-yard run by Bolden and a 37-yard run by Taylor.
Central Michigan scored twice in the final quarter. Backup quarterback Derek Gorney hit Hill for his second TD of the game on a 20-yard passing play. Terrence Jackson added a nine-yard rushing score with 50 seconds remaining.
Bolden was 13-for-22 for 169 yards and two touchdowns for UT. He also rushed seven times for 76 yards and a score. Manny Johnson was the target of four of Bolden's passes for 53 yards.
Vickers completed 20-of-34 passes for 220 yards and two scores. He was picked off twice and sacked twice. Hill grabbed six passes for 104 yards and the two TDs.
Robbie Mixon rushed 20 times for 73 yards and Terrence Jackson carried 11 times for 37 yards and a TD.
Finley Carter and Darvin Lewis each had eight tackles to lead the Chippewa defense.
Central Michigan travels to Buffalo next weekend while Toledo hosts Northern Illinois.
Notes and Quotes
* Toledo running back Chester Taylor had a career-high five touchdowns against Central Michigan. The five TD's ties the Toledo school record and the Kelly/Shorts Stadium record. CMU's Brian Pruitt had the last five-touchdown effort in 1994 against Toledo.
* Central Michigan's James King blocked another punt against Toledo. He has six on the season and needs only two more to tie the NCAA record for blocked punts in a season. He has blocked a punt in all three games this season, including an NCAA single-game record-tying four at Michigan State. Four of King's blocked punts resulted in or set up Central Michigan scores.
* Four of the game's scoring plays were 40 yards or more. Six of the scoring drives were less than one minute.
* The attendance of 27,413 is the ninth-largest crowd in stadium history. It's the second biggest since enlarging the stadium in 1998.
* Central Michigan's Willie Hill caught his first career touchdown, Terrance Jackson rushed for his first career score and quarterback Derek Gorney threw his first career TD.
* Central Michigan has outscored its opponents in the fourth quarter in each of its games this season.
Central Michigan head coach Mike DeBord:
"I thought the difference was that our team didn't make tackles. Chester Taylor is the best football player I've seen. He made the difference in the game."
"I thought our kids continued to fight and they didn't give up. We are a young team but that's no excuse."
"We need to go to Buffalo and win. And if any of our players don't expect to do that, then they will not be there. "
"We were able to throw well today and Derrick Vickers did a good job. That was our plan and we were doing well. We just got ourselves in a bad situation because of Toledo's great running back. "
"You can't turn the ball over and expect to win against great teams and Toledo is a great team. "
"Toledo has 22 seniors and there will come a day when we will be a senior-led team."
"I've never been patient and I don't ever want to be. If you're patient then you make excuses to lose and I don't want to do that. We have a talented team and I want to win now. "
Toledo head coach Tom Amstutz:
"I thought Chester Taylor set the tempo for us. We showed versatility with the run and the pass. "
"We had some big plays, a lot of good runs and catches and I thought we mixed it up well. It gave Chester Taylor a chance to run the ball. "
"Give a lot of credit to Central Michigan's James King. We prepared for him all week and he still got a punt block on us. He has a great gift and I hope he blocks a lot more this season. "
"I thought the defense did a good job early on. It made some big plays for us and gave us some opportunities to score. I'm proud that every defensive player got to play but give Central Michigan credit, it played hard in the fourth quarter."
"Our offense did some good things today. It showed a lot of promise and hopefully we can build on some things that it did. Chester Taylor had a big day but that's expected of him. Our defense played well enough to control the game but we're going to have to work on some things that CMU did to hurt us. "
