Where are the Toledo football team’s manners?
When it comes to the Rockets’ visits to the biggest stages in college football, they have none.
They might as well be the inspiration for the Allstate Mayhem Man — the kind of guest who kicks their muddy shoes up on the divan, knocks over the Faberge urn, and, worse, puts potato skins in the garbage disposal.
Toledo gives its hosts everything they can handle (and often more).
Just look at its most recent forays to each of the region’s four tallest settings.
The Rockets pasted Penn State 24-6 in 2000, won 13-10 at Michigan in 2008, and, by all rights, woulda, coulda, shoulda beaten Ohio State in 2011 and Notre Dame last year. They were right there in Columbus and South Bend, looking like they would win until the very last minute.
So, no, Toledo isn’t playing these games against the biggest names in the sport just for kicks.
The Rockets want to have their cake — the fat check schools hand them in anticipation of an easy victory — and eat it, too.
Saturday night in Columbus will be no different.
“Growing up in the state of Ohio, you understand, you get it,” Toledo coach Jason Candle said of the aura around Ohio State. “I grew up watching Eddie George and Joey Galloway and all these guys play as well. It will be cool to be there. But once that bus parks, and we go in the locker room, it will be ‘go time’ just like any other time. We're not going to go to the stadium and take 1,000 pictures and post on social media that, ‘Oh, we're excited to be in Ohio Stadium.’ We're going to go play football and compete for 60 minutes.”
And, if history is a guide, they’ll rise to the moment.
But ...
A little context is needed, because all blue-blood challenges are not created equal.
For Toledo, the third-ranked Buckeyes will present one of its biggest — if not the biggest — tests in school history.
Best I can tell, the Rockets have only once entered a game as a bigger underdog, and that was at Ohio State in 1998. They were 37-point underdogs against the then-No. 1 Buckeyes (OSU won 49-0). They’re 31½-point ‘dogs Saturday.
Often as not, Toledo has enjoyed a knack for catching its biggest-name opponents at the right time, including in the games we mentioned up top.
Consider: In 2000, Penn State (5-7) had its worst season in 62 years. In 2008, Michigan (3-9) endured its worst season ever. In 2011, Ohio State (6-7) — in a state of disarray after Tatgate — cratered to its worst season in 64 years. Last year, Notre Dame (11-2) ... OK, the Irish were the outlier, although they did get much stronger as the year went on.
The spreads in those games were big but not outrageous, ranging from 14.5 points at Michigan in 2008 to 18.5 points at Penn State in 2000.
That’s not to take away from Toledo’s performances.
Few expected the Rockets to be so competitive — OK, proving there’s a first time for everything, I called the Notre Dame game last year — and they met the occasion, just as they have so many times over the years.
This century alone, UT’s power-conference pelts also include Pittsburgh, Kansas, Iowa State, Colorado, Purdue, and Arkansas.
Can the Rockets add Ohio State to the list? It’s not impossible. Just saying, but Bowling Green was also a 31.5-point underdog when it stunned Minnesota last year. And, hey, a team from Ohio has beaten the Buckeyes before, as recently as ... 1921, when Oberlin beat them, 7-6.
Still, there are uphill battles and there are Everest games. This is the latter.
Eleven years, five Big Ten championships, and a national title removed from 2011, the Buckeyes are back operating at max capacity.
As much as we can try to pick apart the matchup — and even envision a scenario in which the Rockets’ dominant front seven helps keep it close for a bit — talent generally carries the day, and Ohio State has about as much of it as anybody.
UT hasn’t faced a team with this much top-to-bottom athleticism and skill since the ’98 Buckeyes. (According to the 247 Sports Team Composite ratings, which rates teams based on how the players on their roster were ranked in high school, Ohio State has the third-most talent in the nation, just behind Alabama and Georgia but well ahead of the next-most-loaded program. Notre Dame was 12th last year.)
Keep that in mind Saturday, even as Toledo looks forward to taking its swing.
For the Rockets, this is the opportunity — and test — of a lifetime.
First Published September 13, 2022, 8:27 p.m.
