2011 Games of the year: Toledo versus Western Michigan

Toledo 66, Western Michigan 63              

A week after losing in one of the wildest games of 2011 in a 63-60 game versus Northern Illinois, Toledo decided to up the scoring in a 66-63 win over Western Michigan.

In the opening stanza, both Western Michigan quarterback Alex Carder and Toledo quarterback Terrance Owens threw for two touchdowns tying the game at 14 with :53 left in the 1st quarter in the Glass Bowl. Toledo's Dan Molls decided that 14 points per team in the first quarter wasn't enough returning a fumble 24 yards to give Toledo a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Western Michigan returned the favor with Doug Wiggins returning an interception 20 yards to knot the game back up at 21 with 9:36 left in the first half. Two and a half minutes later Carder found Josh Schaffer for a 64-yard touchdown that gave Western Michigan the lead once again.  With 4:22 left in the first half, Morgan Williams ran the ball in for a 24-yard touchdown that tied the game again at 28.

Neither team was able to score again before halftime with the Broncos missing a field goal attempt and the Rockets throwing their third interception of the first half. Both teams went into the locker room with 28 points in this high flying affair.

PIcking up right where they left off, Western Michigan was in the end zone again with only :54 off the clock taking a 35-28 lead. Toledo took over for the next 11 minutes with three touchdowns (1-yard rush, 2-yard rush, and 42-yard pass) and took a 14-point lead at 49-35 with 4:04 left in the third quarter. Not to be outdone, the Broncos again found paydirt with a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jordan White with 3:22 left in the 3rd quarter cutting the Toledo lead to 49-42 with another quarter left to play.

Not even 2 minutes into the final quarter, Western Michigan struck again with Carder running it in from the 1-yard line and tying the game up at 49. Again, Toledo went on a streak, this time scoring two touchdowns (3-yard run and 42-yard run) within 3 minutes and 9 seconds of one another and this time took a 63-49 lead with only 5:21 left in the game.

Carder led the Broncos downfield yet again and this time threw for an 8-yard touchdown to Chleb Ravenall to pull Western Michigan within 7-points at 63-56 with only 3:20 left in the game. Toledo responded with a 39-yard field goal that put the lead back at double digits with Toledo leading 66-56 with 1:51 left in the game. 7 plays later, Carder found the endzone again with a 9-yard pass to Jordan White cutting the lead to 66-63 with only 1:01 left. With a failed onside attempt and no timeouts, the Bronco rally fell short with Toledo winning 66-63 in the Glass Bowl.