DETROIT -- A broken hand and separated shoulder were not enough to stop Bruce Gradkowski from lifting Toledo to the Mid-American Conference championship. Gradkowski threw three of his four touchdown passes to Lance Moore, leading the Rockets to a 35-27 win over Miami (Ohio) in the MAC title game Thursday night.
When Gradkowski hurt his shoulder on the first drive, he missed only one play. He injured his throwing hand late in the second quarter, and X-rays taken at halftime showed his hand was broken. But he returned to toss three scoring passes in the second half. "There was no way I wasn't coming back," said Gradkowski, who was 18-of-24 for 251 yards with four touchdown passes and one interception. "Nothing was going to keep me out of this game."
Moore had five receptions for 118 yards and caught three touchdown passes for the third time in his career. The Rockets responded when they found out the extent of Gradkowski's injuries. "Everyone was like, 'Wow.''' Moore said. "It just made everyone want to play even harder because we're healthy and he's out there with a broken hand and a bad shoulder."
The banged-up Gradkowski joined some impressive company. For the fourth year in a row, a quarterback threw four touchdown passes in the MAC title game. Ben Roethlisberger did it last year for the RedHawks, and Byron Leftwich did it for Marshall the two previous years. "If he did that with a broken hand, that's a really gutsy performance," Miami coach Terry Hoeppner said.
Toledo (9-3) will return to Ford Field to face Connecticut on Dec. 27 in the Motor City Bowl. The RedHawks (8-4) will play in either the Silicon Valley Classic or the Independence Bowl.
The Rockets trailed 14-7 at halftime and rallied with three TDs in the third quarter. Toledo went ahead 35-20 early in the fourth on Moore's third score. Miami pulled within eight points when Josh Betts followed up a 57-yard pass to Michael Larkin with a 13-yard TD pass to Josh Williams with 4:13 left. Toledo sealed the win with two third-down conversions on the final drive to win the MAC title game for the second time in five appearances.
The MAC had its championship game on a neutral field after the previous seven were hosted by one of the finalists. The announced crowd was 22,138 at the home of the Detroit Lions.
Toledo's Steve Odom made six catches for 78 yards and a score. Scooter McDougle provided balance for Toledo's offense with 167 yards rushing on 35 carries, a MAC title game record, but sprained his knee late in the game. Betts was 20-of-33 for 304 yards with three TD passes and two interceptions. His 3,255 yards passing trails only Roethlisberger's single-season record at Miami. "I'm not sure much changed in the second half," Betts said. "We just had two turnovers. We knew we couldn't do that against a team like that."
Larkin had nine receptions for 131 yards and a score. Larkin extended his NCAA record streak with at least one catch to 49 games. After leaving the game late in the second quarter with a hand injury, Gradkowski's felt good enough to throw a 22-yard pass, on a flea-flicker play, to Moore midway through the third quarter.
The game-tying score came two plays after a converted fourth-and-3 and followed Betts' first interception. Betts threw another interception on Miami's next drive and Keon Jackson returned the tipped pass 31 yards for a score, giving the Rockets a 21-14 lead. The RedHawks answered with an 84-yard scoring drive, capped by Ryan Busing's 8-yard catch in the back of the end zone. Anthony Jordan blocked the extra point. Toledo pulled away on its next two possessions with 28- and 29-yard scoring passes to Moore.
