{"id":100773,"date":"2026-09-14T10:07:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T14:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=100773"},"modified":"2026-09-15T15:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T19:12:12","slug":"toledo-dominates-home-opener-over-central-connecticut-state-63-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/09_14_2026\/toledo-dominates-home-opener-over-central-connecticut-state-63-10","title":{"rendered":"Toledo Dominates Home Opener Over Central Connecticut State, 63-10"},"content":{"rendered":"

The University of Toledo wasted little time putting its stamp on the first home game of the\u00a0Mike Jacobs\u00a0era, scoring early and often in a 63-10 victory over Central Connecticut State on Saturday at Glass Bowl Stadium. The victory marked the first for Jacobs as Toledo’s head coach.<\/p>\n

The Rockets overcame an early special teams\u00a0miscue and quickly turned the game into a rout, taking a 14-3 lead after the first quarter and extending their advantage to 35-3 by halftime.<\/p>\n

\"Rocket

Sophomore wide receiver Rico Bond scores in the first quarter on an 85-yard touchdown reception. The Rockets dominated Central Connecticut State, 63-10, in Saturday’s home opener at Glass Bowl Stadium.<\/p><\/div>\n

Toledo fumbled the opening kickoff, giving Central Connecticut State possession at the Rockets’ 8-yard line. But the Toledo defense immediately responded, holding the Blue Devils without a yard to force a field goal. From there, it was all Rockets, piling on touchdowns with three each in the second and third quarters.<\/p>\n

Senior running back\u00a0Connor Walendzak\u00a0put Toledo on the scoreboard with an 8-yard touchdown reception, and the Rockets continued to pour it on from there.\u00a0Walendzak finished with 34 yards on six carries, with a rushing and receiving score, while\u00a0CJ Miller\u00a0rushed for 56 yards on nine carries. Sophomore wide receiver\u00a0Rico Bond\u00a0finished with four catches for 135 yards and an 85-yard touchdown reception, the longest catch of his college career.<\/p>\n

Junior quarterback\u00a0John Alan Richter\u00a0turned in an efficient performance, completing 15 of 24 passes for 252 yards and three touchdowns. He set a career high in passing yards, breaking his previous mark of 227 in 2024 at Buffalo. His biggest play came in the second quarter on\u00a0Rico Bond’s\u00a085-yard touchdown, the longest completion of Richter’s career.<\/p>\n

On Toledo’s opening possession of the third quarter, Richter found junior wide receiver\u00a0Adjatay Dabbs\u00a0for a 4-yard touchdown to extend the lead. Walendzak scored his second touchdown of the afternoon a few minutes later, powering into the end zone from one yard out.<\/p>\n

Toledo held Central Connecticut State to 139 total yards and seven first downs. The Rockets finished with five tackles for loss, one sack and an interception, and held Central Connecticut State to just 4 of 16 (25%) on third downs.<\/p>\n

Junior linebacker\u00a0Julian Fox\u00a0had a team-high eight tackles and sophomore linebacker\u00a0Isaac Zay\u00a0had the Rockets’ interception plus seven stops.<\/p>\n

\"Toledo

Toledo Football Head Coach Mike Jacobs earned a victory in his first home game.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Photo

The annual student run onto the field prior to kickoff as part of the home-opener pregame festivities.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dr.

Dr. Andrew Rhodes, director of athletic bands, conducts the Rocket Marching Band during a performance of the alma mater \u201cFair Toledo.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Rockets

Rockets in the student section of Glass Bowl Stadium enjoy the home-opener blowout.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Rocket<\/a>

The victory marked the first win for Mike Jacobs as Toledo’s head coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":936,"featured_media":100774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,56,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/936"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100773"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100778,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100773\/revisions\/100778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}