Florida International Edges Toledo: 5 Things To Take from Little Caesars Bowl

The Little Caesars Bowl was a game that will go down as an instant classic.  The bowl was back and forth throughout the second half, after many thought it was over.  FIU came back and won, 34-32.

The nation witnessed it as well due to the Sunday Night Football game being postponed.

Here are a few things we learned Sunday night when FIU defeated Toledo.

James Evens is a Purdue student and Basketball/Football Featured Columnist for the Boilermakers, along with being a Writing Intern at Bleacher Report.    Follow him on Twitter or like him on Facebook.

The Toledo Rockets led most of the game until 7:34 left in the fourth quarter when T.Y. Hilton caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Wesley Carroll.

Toledo then went down seven points and eventually came back to score a touchdown to get within one point, when quarterback Terrance Owens ran it in from 14 yards away. 

The Rockets coach Tim Beckman made a gutsy call to go for two in which he said after the game, "We played to win, and that's what we are going to do at Toledo."  The Rockets converted on the conversion to put them up one.  That is when FIU came back and hit a game-winning field goal.

It was a true heartbreak for the Rockets, and one has to feel for their team and coaching staff.

Tim Beckman said after the game, "Any game hurts when you lose, the team put their heart and soul on the line."

Big plays really were the story of this game.  In this game alone, there was an 87-yard touchdown run by Adonis Thomas, a 74-yard run by Darriet Perry and an 89-yard kickoff return by T.Y. Hilton.

Big plays really determined the outcome of this game and made it a wild one to watch.

Momentum really is the key to most college football games, and this game was no different.  Following the game, FIU coach Mario Cristobal said, "It was a game of momentum."

The big plays allowed for many swings in the game and created a very exciting bowl game for the masses to witness. 

This is one thing that really hurts every football team. Turnovers killed the Rockets at the Little Caesars Bowl.  They had four turnovers compared to FIU's one.

After the game, when Beckman was asked if that last play lost the game or if the rest of the sloppy performance led to the loss, he had this to say, "The turnovers, they just made more plays than us."

After watching this football game, it is is evident that both of these teams are here to stay in the bowl scene.  

Both teams are very young and are led by great coaches.  With both teams participating in this thriller, it just shows why we love bowl games so much.