Toledo Rockets at Kentucky Wildcats

Dowdell leads Kentucky to 24-16 season-opening win over Toledo

Dowdell’s 79-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter gave the Wildcats the boost they needed to fend off the Rockets in the fourth quarter.

“It was a big hole,” Dowdell said. “My eyes were really big, and I was like, I've got to go.”

Kentucky quarterback Zack Calzada, a seventh-year transfer, threw for 85 yards and scored a rushing touchdown in the first quarter. Calzada is one of 55 new players on the Wildcats’ roster, including 27 that were added via the transfer portal during the offseason.

"I don’t think (the players) are satisfied, but we will take the victory at any time,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “I thought we did some good things early in the game in particular. Defense was playing very good.

"Offensively, I felt like we were going to get in a rhythm and we hurt ourselves. There’s things that we did to shoot ourselves in the foot that we have to get corrected, but we overcame those bad plays and won the game.”

Dowdell, a Nebraska transfer, and Seth McGowen, also a transfer (New Mexico State), combined for 207 yards rushing. Kentucky finished with 305 yards of offense.

Toledo's Tucker Gleason threw for a game-high 270 yards. He threw for one score and rushed for another in the fourth quarter.

The takeaway Kentucky: The Wildcats won their fifth consecutive season opener, with three of the last four victories against teams from the Mid-American Conference. The Wildcats opened the 2019 season with a 38-24 win over the Rockets in the first meeting between the two teams. Kentucky, which struggled with penalties last season, had three for just 30 yards in the opener. The Wildcats had two fourth-down stops, including a goal-line stand at the 4-yard line in the first half.

Toledo: The Rockets, preseason favorites to win the MAC title that had 13 votes in The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll, had a sack in the end zone in the first half for a safety. Toledo finished with 329 total yards, 24 more than Kentucky.

Tops in tackles Kentucky's Alex Afari, a converted linebacker, finished with a career-high 13 tackles, including nine solos, one sack and a pair of tackles for a loss. He had a clinching tackle on a goal-line stand in the first half.

“I feel like we did a great job of stopping the run, but got to tighten up the little things in the pass game and not leave our DBs dry,” Afari said. “We've still got room to improve.”

Chip returns Toledo running back Chip Trayanum, who played at Kentucky last season, carried the load for the Rockets and finished with 42 rushing yards on seven carries.

“I saw him before the game and after,” Stoops said. “I’m very happy for him and proud of him. He’s an absolute fantastic young man and a good player and tough to bring down.”

Up next Kentucky hosts No. 21 Mississippi while Toledo hosts Western Kentucky next Saturday.