The victory was . . .
"It was a really good performance by our team in all three phases," said head coach Jason Candle. "We were a little shaky in the first half with our consistency and it kind of felt like it was our first game coming off the bye week.
"We got it together at halftime and played a strong 30 minutes in the second half. The crowd was awesome tonight and was a really great representation of Rocket Week for our city and university. Our kids really benefited from the atmosphere and energy in the stadium tonight."
Guadagni, who suffered a concussion in Toledo's 38-24 loss at Kentucky two weeks ago, completed passes to nine different players and threw for touchdowns of 8, 11 and 43 yards. Guadagni's favorite target was junior tight end Drew Rosi, who caught a career-best five passes for 84 yards and one touchdown. Toledo's offense racked up 538 yards of offense, 348 in the air and 190 on the ground.
Toledo's defense kept the Racers in check all night, forcing two turnovers and holding them 331 total yards, just 93 of which came in the second half. The Rockets' defense came up big when it counted, too, holding Murray State to 4-of-15 on third down and 0-of-3 on fourth down.
First Quarter
Murray State drove down to the Toledo 28-yard line on its first possession but was stopped on downs when Jordan Fisher stopped a short pass for no gain on fourth-and-six. Moments later, MSU had a chance to get on the scoreboard but Zaden Webber's 45-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright. The Rockets got on the board first when freshman Evan Davis nailed a 40-yard field goal with 3:21 left in the quarter.
Second Quarter
Toledo struck on the first play of the second quarter on an eight-yard pass from Guadagni to redshirt freshman Devin Maddox to give Toledo a 10-0 lead. Moments later, Guadagni hit junior tight end Drew Rosi for an 11-yard strike to increase the lead to 17-0. The drive was set up by a 66-yard bomb from Guadagni to Bryce Mitchell to the MSU 11-yard line.
Third Quarter
Toledo took advantage of a Samuel Womack interception, extending the lead to 24-0 on a 43-yard TD pass from Guadagni to Desmond Phillips. Murray State missed another chance to score when a 45-yard field goal attempt was blocked by David Hood. On the very next play the Rockets made it 38-0 on a 55-yard bomb from Carter Bradley to Danzel McKinley-Lewis.
Fourth Quarter
Toledo added to its lead with a 42-yard TD run by freshman Micah Kelly to make it a 45-0 game.
Next
The Rockets travel to Colorado State next Saturday. The game is slated to start at 10:15 ET and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
(Courtesy of UT Athletics)