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FACTS & STATS: Site: Glass Bowl (26,248) --Toledo, Ohio. Television: ESPN. Home Record: Colorado 0-1, Toledo 0-0. Away Record: Colorado 0-0, Toledo 0-1. Neutral Record: Colorado 0-0, Toledo 0-0. Conference Record: Colorado 0-0, Toledo 0-0. Series Record: First-ever meeting.

GAME NOTES: A couple of teams hoping for a better fate meet up at the Glass Bowl this Friday, as the Colorado Buffaloes clash with the Toledo Rockets in a non-conference affair.

The Buffaloes kicked off their season at home, but that still wasn't enough for them in a tough 23-17 setback to rival Colorado State. It was the second home opening loss under fourth-year head coach Dan Hawkins, whose club is now faced with a quick turnaround considering Colorado's opener took place on Sunday.

As for Toledo, it had even less luck in its opener, dropping a 52-31 decision at Purdue in Tim Beckman's debut as head coach on Saturday. The loss wasn't a big surprise though, as the Rockets have now fallen in four straight season openers and are just 5-13 all-time against Big Ten schools. On a positive note, Toledo is 2-0 all-time when hosting a Big 12 team, picking up wins over Kansas in 2006 and Iowa State in 2007.

This game marks the first-ever meeting between Toledo and Colorado on the gridiron.

The Buffaloes had little success moving the ball in the opener and managed only 251 yards of total offense in the loss to CSU. The ground attack, which averaged a modest 124.5 ypg in 2008, was nonexistent and accounted for only 29 yards on 21 attempts in the setback. Rodney Stewart actually fared well in rushing for 38 yards on just six carries and he paced the team with 622 yards last season. Quarterback Cody Hawkins was pressured all game long and completed 24-of-40 tosses for 222 yards, one touchdown and an interception. The junior gunslinger passed for over 1,800 yards and 17 scores a year ago, so expectations are high for the coach's son. Scotty McKnight, the team's top receiver from last season, hauled in Hawkins' lone touchdown pass and he finished with four catches for 36 yards.

Colorado's defense came out flat last weekend, as CSU was able to rack up 20 points and the majority of its 376 total yards in a decisive first half. The Buffaloes tightened things up after the break and only allowed three points, but it wasn't enough. The defense surrendered 208 yards through the air on only 10 pass completions by CSU, as the unit was obviously hurt by big plays. The unit did record a pair of sacks and turnovers, in addition to holding CSU to a 3-of-14 effort on third downs, so there were some positives to take from the outing. Jeff Smart, who led the team with 118 tackles in 2008, started quickly in 2009 and posted eight stops, an interception and 0.5 sacks last weekend.

The Rockets went down 21-0 to Purdue and in order to try and catch up, they decided to air it out on just about every play. Quarterback Aaron Opelt set a school-record with 67 pass attempts and in the process established personal bests with 41 completions and 423 yards. The senior gunslinger also had three touchdown passes, although he was picked off twice. Stephen Williams was his favorite outlet with a career day of 15 catches for 185 yards and two scores, while Eric Page hauled in a Toledo freshman record 12 catches for 128 yards and a touchdown. It was nice start for Page, but an even better one for Williams, who had 71 catches, 781 yards and eight scores in 2008. The ground game wasn't effective due to the team trailing for the entire game, but DaJuane Collins did find his way to paydirt, carrying nine times for 27 yards.

Toledo's defense simply could not keep up with Purdue's high octane offense, as the unit gave up 535 total yards, including a whopping 315 on the ground. Purdue averaged 8.1 yards per carry and scored four of its seven touchdowns via the run. About the only positive for the defense was that it came up with three interceptions, none of which really altered the game in any significant way. Douglas Westbrook notched the first two picks of his career to pace Toledo, while Jermaine Robinson posted five tackles and the club's lone sack.

The Buffaloes were caught by surprise in their opener and they have very little time to get things together for this bout. Toledo, on the other hand, showed it could move the ball against a bigger program and it had a little extra time to prepare for this one. Opelt played well last week and if he can spread the ball successfully once again, look for Toledo to emerge victorious.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Toledo 31, Colorado 28