Toledo @ UMass preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 25, 2014 ) Massachusetts 35, Toledo 42

Toledo looks to continue its best start in 18 years when it invades New England for a Saturday afternoon matchup with Massachusetts. The Rockets vaulted five spots to No. 20 in the nation following a 63-20 rout of Eastern Michigan and has a nine-game winning streak dating to the final three games of 2014.

Their ranking in the Coaches Poll matches an all-time high - Toledo was also ranked as high as 20th in 1997, when it began 8-0 before losing three of four, a point not lost on coach Matt Campbell. "We're not a finished product. We've got a lot of work to do," Campbell said this week. "I think our kids know that." The seventh-ranked scoring defense (13.2 points) in FBS action has allowed 37 points in three Mid-American Conference wins and will face an unbalanced Minutemen attack that ranks second in the MAC in passing but dead last on the ground with an average of 98 yards. UMass senior Blake Frohnapfel, who threw for a season-low 171 yards with one interception in last Saturday's 15-10 loss to Kent State, had 438 yards and five touchdowns in a wild 42-35 loss at Toledo in 2014.

TV: 3 p.m. ET, ESPN3. LINE: Toledo -14

ABOUT TOLEDO (6-0, 3-0 MAC): While the Rockets' defense has received the bulk of the attention, the offense starred last Saturday at home. Phillip Ely needed less than three quarters to throw for 327 yards and four scores, while the ground game produced 238 yards on just 29 carries. Toledo will hope to remain dominant on the other side of the ball despite the loss of linebacker and leading tackler Jaylen Coleman, who suffered a broken leg against Eastern Michigan.

ABOUT UMASS (1-5, 0-2): After a scoreless second half against Kent State that included four punts and a safety for the Golden Flashes, the Minutemen are back to the drawing board on offense. "They probably need a little [confidence] boost, certainly on offense, after last week," coach Mark Whipple said in his weekly teleconference. "I hope we will, but I thought we would have more confidence on Saturday against Kent State. Maybe we just didn't handle the expectations." Freshman running back Marquis Young was one of the few bright spots, rushing for 68 yards on just nine carries to improve his yards-per-rush mark to 8.3.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Frohnapfel (5,139) needs 323 passing yards to move into third place alone on the school's all-time list.

2. Rockets RB Terry Swanson, who scored the game-winner in the final minute against UMass last year, has 258 rushing yards on 28 carries over the last two weeks.

3. Toledo has not allowed a sack in 206 pass attempts, one of two teams (Air Force) to not allow a sack this year.

PREDICTION: Toledo 31, UMass 13