Despite the return of two of the Central Michigan University football team’s most prolific playmakers, the Chippewas suffered a loss in the 2014 Mid-American Conference opener.

CMU fell to Toledo 42-28 in the team’s Mid-American Conference opener at the Glass Bowl Saturday night.

The loss marked the program’s fifth consecutive loss to the Rockets. Head coach Dan Enos has never beaten Toledo during his five years at CMU.

Returning players Seniors Thomas Rawls and Titus Davis each made notable contributions during the game.

In the first action he has seen since his suspension stemming from an arrest earlier this month, Rawls rushed for 65 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns.

Davis played for the first time since injuring his left knee in CMU’s home opener against Chattanooga. The NFL prospect had six catches for 128 yards against Toledo.

Davis played 30 snaps against Toledo. After the game, he said he felt “about 90 percent.”

“I feel good,” Davis said. “I felt almost like normal. We’ve known what Jesse (Kroll) can do for a while now. Coop has more than one option out there and I think you saw that tonight.”

Sophomore quarterback Cooper Rush had his best statistical outing of the season so far, completing 24 of the 31 passes he attempted, totaling 291 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

But the CMU defense failed to compliment the solid effort the Chippewas put forth on offense.

The CMU defense allowed Toledo’s offensive to rack up 543 yards of total offense including 339 yards through the air.

“I don’t have an answer for it right now,” Enos said. “We didn’t play well back there. We know we have to be better and we certainly will.”

The poor performance against Toledo comes from a defensive secondary unit that picked off opposing quarterbacks six times through CMU’s first two games.

“Their offensive line does a great job. They certainly exposed us today,” Enos said. “The issue was not the no huddle. We’ve seen that before.”

Toledo used an up-tempo style on offense to keep the Chippewas’ linebackers and defensive backs one-step behind.

“As a defense as a whole, as a unit we have got to play better than that. That’s what it comes down to,” said senior defensive back Kevin King. “We kind of have to go back to square one now.”

After taking a commanding 34-14 lead early in the second half, the Rockets allowed Rawls to score a pair of touchdowns, and put CMU back within legitimate striking distance.

But UT quarterback Logan Woodside’s 13-yard touchdown scramble with three minutes remaining sealed the Rockets’ victory.

“That one hurt, man,” King said. “Right now you just have to pull yourself together and try to move on the best you can.”

Wide receiver Jesse Kroll has been targeted by Rush early and often in each of the Chippewas 2014 games. Kroll caught seven passes for 83 yards and two touchdowns on nearly identical fade routs against Toledo.

While Enos said the way CMU’s defense played against Toledo was “very disappointing to (the) entire team,” Davis was reluctant to point the finger at his defensive teammates.

“I think our offense had some problems at times, too,” Davis said. “There were some times that we went three and out and we can’t have that. Of course we gave up some big plays, but I don’t really blame the defense too much.”

The Chippewas take on Ohio University next Saturday in the program’s annual Homecoming Game at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Kickoff against the Bobcats is set for 3:30 p.m.