AMHERST – UMass was clearly at its best very early in the game and coming down the end of the first half Saturday, with its first halftime lead of the season, but the Minutemen couldn't sustain that level over the final two quarters at McGuirk Alumni Stadium.

Toledo gashed the Minutemen with two long scoring runs inside the first five minutes of the second half, overturning its four-point halftime deficit. UMass' lone second-half answer came off the foot of Cameron Carson, with a 49-yard field goal, but the Rockets outscored UMass 24-3 over the final 30 minutes to win comfortably, 41-24.

"The challenges for our players are there. They gave us everything they had," said UMass coach Don Brown. "For the first 35, 37 minutes, we're kind of getting it. There's no lack of effort. Falling short at home, in that game, that's a tough loss. We competed hard but not enough. We're getting better and we're getting closer."

UMass dropped to 1-6 with its next game Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at sixth-ranked Penn State.

Dequan Finn set a Toledo record for most rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. He ran 13 times for 172 yards and a touchdown, while Peny Boone added 129 yards on the ground with a pair of scores. In all, the Rockets piled up 375 rushing yards and 514 yards of total offense.

Kay'Ron Lynch-Adams got UMass started off brightly with a 47-yard TD run straight up the middle just 3:04 into the action. That got the junior transfer from Rutgers started on a career-best 157-yard rushing day. Taisun Phommachanh (20-of-31 passing) threw for 272 yards for the Minutemen with a pair of touchdowns and an interception, and Anthony Simpson caught seven balls for 140 yards with a score.

The Rockets (5-1) answered that early touchdown with 17 straight points. Luke Pawlak booted a 38-yard field goal, Boone went 21 yards for a touchdown and Finn zipped an 8-yard TD pass to Jerjuan Newton, giving the visitors a 17-7 lead.

Only 17 seconds after Newton's score, Phommachanh aired it out for 71 yards to Simpson, who beat defender Nate Bauer down the left sideline. That left it at 17-14 until UMass' next series, an 82-yard drive culminating with Phommachanh's 31-yard strike to George Johnson that put the hosts up 21-17 with 3:02 to go before the half.

"That's the best that I've seen from him," said Brown of Phommachanh. "I think he's getting his confidence back. He moved around in the pocket at a solid level. He can run our team anytime he wants."

UMass lost out on a chance to extend its lead on the final play of the half, when Carson missed wide left on a 58-yard field goal attempt that had plenty of leg. The Minutemen totaled 300 yards of offense in the first half alone, 439 in the game.

Toledo then used short-yardage situations to bust open two big momentum-changing plays. Finn opened the second-half scoring with a 56-yard TD run up the right sideline, immediately after he'd picked up 17 yards on the previous second-and-18 play. That put Toledo ahead 24-21 with 13:53 left in the third. On their next possession, the Rockets once again needed only 67 seconds to get back on the board. On fourth-and-1, Boone bolted up the middle for 49 yards and the score to make it 31-21.

The Minutemen then lost a touchdown on an ineligible-man-downfield call – the second such penalty against them Saturday – that negated Phommachanh's 38-yard pass to Johnson. The earlier ineligible-man call, late in the first quarter, did UMass out of a potential 45-yard connection between Phommachanh and Johnson.

After Carson's 49-yarder brought the Minutemen back to within seven, Finn hit Newton for the second time on the afternoon, a 20-yarder, and Pawlak added his second field goal from 36 yards to close out the scoring. Carson missed a 34-yard field goal try of his own after trouble with the snap and hold.

Juan Lua, one of three new starters in the UMass defensive backfield due to injuries, had a second-quarter interception and a pair of pass breakups.

"(Finn) was the guy that got us. I thought we did a fairly good job in the first half, but in the second half, he had a couple of big runs that kill you," said Brown. "He's a legit player. He'll play on Sundays."