TOLEDO, Ohio - The Northern Illinois University football team was held to three points and 203 yards of offense in a 42-3 loss to the Toledo Rockets at the Glass Bowl Wednesday night.

"Credit to Toledo for going out and dominating the football game," said head coach Thomas Hammock following Wednesday night's game. "We did not match Toledo's physicality and we didn't play well in all three phases to have a chance to win. Their offensive and defensive lines controlled the game."

The Rockets entered the game ranking third in the nation in total defense, fourth in passing defense and 10th in scoring defense. NIU threw for 141 yards in the game with redshirt-freshman Rickey Taylor Jr. (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice) catching three passes for a career-high 69 yards.

Toledo (5-4, 3-2 MAC) got off to a fast start when Trayvon Rudolph returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, giving the Rockets a 7-0 lead. The Huskies got on the board with a 12-play, 42-yard drive that culminated in a 50-yard Andrew Glass (Wheeling, W.Va./Kent State) field goal, his longest of the season, to make the score 7-3. Josh Holst (Marengo, Ill./Marengo) converted a 3rd-and-9 with a 14-yard pass to DeAree Rogers (Lexington, S.C./Lenoir-Rhyne) to the Toledo 49. NIU nearly had the drive stall at midfield before a Toledo penalty on 4th-and-3 kept the drive alive.

After trading punts twice, the Rockets extended their lead early in the second quarter. A 23-yard pass from quarterback Tucker Gleason to Terrell Crosby Jr. got Toledo to the NIU two yardline. Gleason punched it in with a two-yard touchdown run to give the Rockets a 14-3 lead with 11:01 to go in the half. The Huskies went three plays and out on their following possession. Toledo went up 21-3 on a nine-play, 68-yard drive in 4:23 culminating in a Chip Trayanum five-yard touchdown run. The Rockets tacked on one more touchdown in the first half to take a 28-3 halftime lead.

NIU (2-7, 1-4 MAC) had a chance to get on the board to start the second half. A 41-yard pass from Holst to Taylor Jr. got the Huskies to the Toledo 20 yardline. Glass tried a 43-yard field goal but missed to end a 49-yard drive that took 3:23 off the clock. Toledo's Kenji Christian scored two touchdowns in the second half to make the final score 42-3.

The Rockets amassed 443 yards of total offense and were 9-for-14 on third down while holding NIU to 2-for-16. Gleason threw for 309 yards and two touchdowns, snapping NIU's 34-game streak of holding its opponent under 300 yards passing.

Quinn Urwiler (Mooseheart, Ill./North Dakota) had double digit tackles for the eighth time this season, leading all players with 13. Filip Maciorowski (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard West) added 11 tackles and a tackle for loss.

"We have an opportunity to get back on the practice field and get better," Hammock said. "Our seniors have three games left and we have the right character in the building to get better from this."

NIU is back on the road on Wednesday, Nov. 12 to face the UMass Minutemen. Kickoff is at 6 p.m. CT with the game telecast on ESPNU and broadcast locally on 94-9 WDKB.

—NIU—