CMU football soundly beats Toledo on national television

The football team converted five Toledo turnovers into 28 points en route to a 56-28 win tonight at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Coming into the game, CMU had just eight total turnovers forced — four interceptions and four fumble recoveries — on the season.

Coach Butch Jones said the turnovers set the offense in good position to make plays.

“We stressed so much in our football family about field position,”Jones said. “Field position is everything. I thought it flipped the field position (and) the momentum.”

Sophomore strong safety Dannie Bolden, junior linebacker Nick Bellore, junior defensive tackle Sean Murnane and freshman linebacker Alex Smith each had an interception, and senior defensive end Frank Zombo recovered a fumble that was forced by junior linebacker Matt Berning.

And senior quarterback Dan LeFevour took advantage of the opportunities he was given. For the third time this year, LeFevour had six total touchdowns. He completed 29-of-36 for 341 yards and two touchdowns. He ran for just 19 yards, but had four rushing touchdowns, all from two yards out.

LeFevour now has 45 rushing touchdowns in his career, the most in CMU history.

Jones said Toledo’s defense schemes pointed CMU toward having LeFevour throw more than run.

“It’s all based on what they give us,” Jones said. “They played some man coverage, and our receivers did a good job of defeating man coverage. Dan was able to get them the ball.”

Junior wide receiver Antonio Brown broke the 100-yard mark after a 42-yard touchdown pass from LeFevour — his second touchdown pass — with 4:12 remaining in the third quarter to put CMU up 49-14. He finished with 13 receptions for 129 yards and a touchdown.

“It’s difficult for defenses to defend us … Kito (Poblah), Antonio (Brown) and Bryan (Anderson) are some great threats. Plus, you throw in the running backs and the screen game, (David) Blackburn and Cody Wilson, we have some guys out there that can make some plays. It’s hard to key on just one guy.”

Sophomore running back Bryan Schroeder had his second 100-yard rushing day of his career, finishing with 13 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Junior running back Carl Volny started the game, but Schroeder was the primary back with the most carries by any CMU player but LeFevour (14).

Fast start

Toledo opened the scoring on its opening possession and, after CMU tied the game 7-7, the Rockets took the lead again, 14-7.

“I don’t know if it was the effects of 10 days (off), I didn’t think we started off tackling exceptionally well,” Jones said.

But after taking the lead on the first play of the second quarter, Toledo no longer threatened a CMU defense that was without its top cornerback, senior Josh Gordy.

Junior cornerback Vince Agnew started in place of Gordy, and he platooned the position with redshirt freshman LaVarus Williams. And junior free safety Bobby Seay saw extended playing time in place of senior starter Eric Fraser.

“We lost Eric Fraser in the first quarter … Minus Josh Gordy, Vince Agnew steps up and plays extremely well tonight,” Jones said.

Toledo quarterback Aaron Opelt was held to 128 passing yards before being knocked out of the game in the third quarter by a hit from senior defensive end Frank Zombo. The hit led to Murnane’s interception.

Prior to the game, Toledo was second in the Mid-American Conference in passing offense, averaging 296.3 passing yards per game. The Rockets were held to 222 total passing yards.

“Toledo is always known for a great offense,” Bellore said. “To play pretty well against them I think is very encouraging for our defense and it’s something we can build upon for the last couple games this year.”

CMU had 507 total yards compared to 353 by Toledo.