Toledo's mistakes costly in Boise St. loss

TOLEDO, Ohio – Two ranked opponents, too many mistakes again for Toledo.

Seemingly overmatched against No. 4 Boise State, the Rockets were hanging tough against the Broncos until they started dropping passes and turning the ball over in the 40-15 loss.

Boise State's Kellen Moore had something to do with it too.

Moore had 455 yards passing and five touchdown passes in a nearly flawless performance.

The Rockets dropped a sure touchdown pass in the first half and fumbled inside the Broncos' 10-yard line in the third quarter.

"You can't turn the football over in the red zone, you can't have nine penalties," Toledo coach Tim Beckman said.

"They definitely exploited the things we were not doing well."

The Rockets (1-2) twice were within the Broncos' 11 when they lost the ball.

Running back Adonis Thomas agreed with his coach that there were too many mistakes.

"The thing that really hurts about both of these losses is that we beat ourselves both times," Thomas said. "It just goes to show us that if we eliminate a lot of those mistakes, how good of an offense we could be."

It was especially bitter coming after a 27-22 loss to No. 17 Ohio State last Saturday.

In that one, Toledo allowed a touchdown on a punt return, missed a field goal and botched another one. Still, the Rockets were 17 yards away from a potential winning touchdown when an incompletion on fourth down ended their chances.

This one wasn't that close.

Moore was throwing with ease, spreading his passes to nine different receivers.

Just before the half, Moore connected on six consecutive passes, including a 1-yard throw into the corner of the end zone to Tyler Shoemaker for a 20-6 lead.

Austin Dantin and Terrance Owens again shared time for Toledo at quarterback.

But it was Owens who seemed to have the most success.

He completed 17 of 31 passes for 201 yards.

The Broncos' defensive line never let either quarterback get comfortable with a relentless rush.

Defensive tackle Chase Baker picked off an Owens' pass that was tipped at the line.

"There's nothing you can really do about that," Owens said. "It's real tough because those are just blown opportunities. We have got to make those plays. If we make those plays during the game we could be talking about something else right now."

Boise State's defense also did a good job limiting Toledo's Eric Page to eight catches for 69 yards. He caught 12 passes for 145 yards a week ago at Ohio State.

Toledo had never lost at home against a Top 25 team in four previous games. Boise State, though was the highest-ranked team to ever play in Toledo's Glass Bowl.