TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo's Terry Swanson scored two of his three rushing touchdowns in the third quarter as Toledo extended a three-point halftime lead to 10 points and Northern Illinois University was unable to mount a late comeback, falling to the Rockets, 27-17, Thursday night at the Glass Bowl. 
 
With the loss, NIU falls to 6-3 on the season and 4-1 in the MAC.  Toledo improves to 8-1, 5-0.  NIU lost to Toledo in the Glass Bowl for the first time since 2009. 
 
"We lost to a good football team tonight," said NIU Head Coach Rod Carey.  "That being said, we made too many mistakes and hurt ourselves. The offense didn't do enough and the defense had a hard time getting off the field on third down."
 
NIU totaled 430 yards, including 185 on the ground, and converted on 8-of-17 third downs.  Toledo averaged 7.4 yards per play, though, and totaled 527 yards.
 
Swanson gained 116 yards on 29 carries to account for all but 50 of Toledo's 166 rushing yards.  Quarterback Logan Woodside completed 23-of-31 passes for 361 yards through the air but did not have a touchdown pass. Diontae Johnson caught 10 passes for 166 yards and Jordan Fisher added six catches for 102 yards.
 
"That's a good quarterback, he made some good throws in tight coverage," Carey said.  "A few times we lost our eyes." 
 
After Swanson scored his third touchdown on a one-yard run with 4:02 to play to give Toledo a 24-14 lead, the Huskies had a chance to make it a three-point lead when Jackson Abresch broke through untouched to block a Bailey Flint punt, giving NIU the ball on the Toledo 10-yard line early in the fourth quarter.  The Huskies blocked a punt for the second straight game.
 
But the Huskies were able to gain just three yards and settled for a Christian Hagan 25-yard field goal to close the gap to 24-17. 
 
"That was disappointing," Carey said.  "We got the block, we needed to punch it in for the score. "
 
Toledo extended the lead back to 10 on its next drive, going 57 yards in 11 plays before the drive stalled at the NIU 17.  From there, Jameson Vest made his second field goal of the night from 34 yards with 8:58 to play.
 
The Huskies moved the ball into Toledo territory on its next two possessions, but Childers' fourth-down pass was intercepted on the first drive and Hagan missed from 47 yards out on the second. 
 
On the night, Childers completed 23-of-43 passes for 235 yards with two interceptions and ran for 49 yards on 15 carries with a touchdown.  Marcus Jones led the Huskies with 80 yards rushing on 14 carries while Tre Harbison had eight carries for 15 yards and his first career score. Shane Wimann caught a career high six passes for 31 yards.
 
"We've got to hit those [deep] shots," Childers said.  "That's the difference between us and them tonight."
 
The Rockets took advantage of Childers' first interception, that came with NIU driving inside the Toledo 40-yard line with six minutes to play in the second quarter.  UT drove to the NIU six-yard line before Woodside was tackled for loss on third and goal by Jawuan Johnson, forcing Toledo into a Vest 23-yard field goal with 1:04 left in the half as Toledo went into halftime with a 10-7 lead.     
 
The score remained tied at seven through most of the second quarter as both teams started drives on their own one-yard line.  Toledo made it interesting as they went from their one to the NIU 10 on an 89-yard pass completion.  One play later, though, Woodside fumbled on his way into the end zone and the ball was recovered by Mycial Allen to thwart one scoring opportunity. 
 
The teams played to a 7-7 tie in the first quarter.  Toledo took the opening kickoff and drove 81 yards in eight plays and 2:53 to take an early 7-0 lead.  Swanson scored on a four-yard rush as Woodside connected on passes of 30 and 24 yards on the drive.
 
NIU tied the game in the final three minutes of the first quarter with a drive that began on its 30. Childers completed passes to Spencer Tears, Christian Blake and Shane Wimann to bring the Huskies to the Toledo 28. On third and three, Blake took the ball and passed to Childers for 10-yards and a third-down conversion. Harbison picked up 11 yards on two carries to the seven-yard line.  When three plays yielded six yards, NIU went to Harbison on fourth and goal and the redshirt freshman used a second effort to get into the end zone for his first career touchdown.
 
NIU plays its next two games at Huskie Stadium as they welcome Ball State on Thursday, November 9 at 6 p.m. for the Battle of the Bronze Stalk on Military and Heroes Appreciation Night.  The following Wednesday, NIU takes on Western Michigan on Senior Night at Huskie Stadium. 
 
Tickets to both games are on sale now at NIUHuskies.com or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225) Monday through Friday. Ticket prices start for as little as $10 for two great games of NIU Football. 
 
-- NIU --