Chippewas Win Fourth Straight, 24-23 at Toledo

Saturday, October 25

Toledo, Ohio

TBA

Central Michigan University

6-2 , 5-0

Toledo

2-6 , 1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Central Michigan

Toledo

10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football

Box Score

TOLEDO, Ohio An opportunistic offense and bend-but-don’t-break defense was the recipe for Central Michigan in a 24-23 Mid-American Conference win at Toledo on Saturday.

The victory, CMU’s fourth straight and fifth in the last six games, keeps the Chippewas (6-2 overall, 5-0 MAC) atop the MAC West Division standings. Toledo (2-6, 1-3 MAC) dropped its second straight conference game following a 13-10 win at Michigan on Oct. 11.

Dan LeFevour completed his first 11 passes and finished 24-of-31 for 242 yards and two touchdowns, both of which ended up in the hands of Bryan Anderson. Ontario Sneed ran for 72 yards and a score on 18 carries and iced the win with a 19-yard gain on a screen pass on third-and-8 with 1:30 remaining.

Toledo drove inside the Chippewas’ 25-yard line on four of its first seven possessions. On three of those four occasions, however, the CMU defense surrendered just a field goal.

Sneed’s 1-yard run and Andrew Aguila’s point-after gave CMU a 24-23 lead with 13:05 remaining. Toledo had two chances to regain the lead in the fourth quarter; the first possession resulted in a three-and-out, and the second saw the Rockets run just four plays before being forced to punt.

CMU held a 32:34-27:26 edge in time of possession for the game, including 11:17-3:43 in the fourth quarter. The Chippewas outgained Toledo 98-38 in the final period.

Alex Steigerwald kicked field goals of 45 and 20 yards on Toledo’s first two possessions to give the Rockets a 6-0 lead.

Following the second field goal, CMU covered 67 yards in nine plays with LeFevour hitting Anderson for a 21-yard score in the final minute of the quarter. Aguila’s PAT gave the Chippewas a 7-6 edge, the first of five lead changes in the contest.

The defense stopped Toledo on fourth-and-1 from the CMU 47 on the ensuing possession, and Aguila converted a 34-yard field goal attempt to give the Chippewas a 10-6 advantage.

Toledo converted three third-down conversions after the kickoff two completions from Aaron Opelt to John Allen and a 4-yard run by Morgan Williams on third-and-3 before DaJuane Collins scored on a 5-yard run to give the Rockets a 13-10 lead with 3:03 left in the first half.

LeFevour and Anderson again connected in the final minute of the half, this time for 22 yards and a 17-13 halftime lead for CMU. Anderson tied CMU’s career touchdown receptions record on the play, while LeFevour tied Charlie Frye for seventh on the MAC’s career touchdown passes list.

Toledo scored on its first two second-half possessions to take a 23-17 lead into the final quarter. The Rockets had a first-and-10 at the CMU 24-yard line on the opening possession of the half, but had to settle for Steigerwald’s third field goal of the day.

CMU turned the ball over on downs, and Opelt threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Nick Moore to give the Rockets the lead. Opelt’s pass deflected off the hands of a CMU defender, Moore snagged the tipped ball out of the air and dove past another Chippewa defender into the end zone.

The Chippewas answered Moore’s score with a 15-play, 68-yard drive that lasted 5:51. CMU was 4-for-4 on third down on the drive; LeFevour threw twice to Brown and once to Anderson and ran for a yard on a third-and-1 to account for the four conversions. A 10-yard throw to Brown on third-and-2 from the Toledo 11 set up a 1-yard plunge by Ontario Sneed. Aguila’s point-after provided the final margin of victory.

CMU was 10-for-16 on third downs in the win. The Chippewas have converted 20-of-31 third downs over the last two games.

Sneed was one of four Chippewas to rush for at least 25 yards in the game. Anderson finished with six catches for 78 yards, while Kito Poblah caught six passes for 45 yards.

Nick Bellore and Bobby Seay had 13 and eight tackles, respectively, to pace the defense.

Opelt completed 16-of-26 passes for 216 yards and a score for Toledo. Moore finished with seven receptions for 105 yards, while Collins rushed for a game-high 94 yards on 19 carries.

The Chippewas wrap up the nonconference portion of the schedule next Saturday at Indiana. Kickoff is set for noon. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.