A bucket of Gatorade was dumped on head coach Jason Candle.

Championship hats were passed around like Halloween candy. The Boca Raton Bowl trophy was held proudly high into the South Florida night.

The scene that unfolded following the University of Toledo’s season-ending 21-19 win over Liberty was one of elation, as the Rockets capped a 9-5 record with their first bowl victory in seven years.

Upon closer inspection, the year could have been even better. UT lost four games by a combined 23 points. As Candle took an honest assessment of 2022, evaluating where the Rockets could win more games, the answer became clear: special teams.

“It’s one-third of the game, and it’s becoming more and more critical,” he said. “You don’t have to look any further than the last decade of games in our conference and how small the margin for error is. It comes down to a play or two, and a lot of times, that involves the kicking game.”

In losses to San Diego State (17-14), Buffalo (34-27), Bowling Green (42-35), and Western Michigan (20-14), Toledo missed two field goals; forced three touchbacks on 17 kickoffs; averaged just 37.3 yards on 19 punts, with two finishing inside the 20; and allowed 21.4 yards per kick return.

The Rockets ranked 130th (out of 131) in punting, 127th in kickoff returns, 83rd in kickoff coverage, 56th in field goals and punt returns, and 54th in punt coverage.

Only nine teams allowed more kick returns of 30-plus yards, and UT blocked just one punt/kick all season.

Pro Football Focus ranked Toledo second-to-last in the country in special teams.

“You’re so protective of finding any advantage that you can,” Candle said. “The head coach has to put a major emphasis on special teams.”

And that’s exactly what he’s done by hiring Stanton Weber as Toledo’s special teams coordinator.

In four seasons working with special teams units -- two at Kansas State and two at South Carolina -- Weber has helped produce staggering results.

“I loooove special teams,” he said, with emphasis.

In his first season with Kansas State’s specialists, the Wildcats broke the single-season record for kickoff return average (29.5 yards), with a school-record-tying four touchdowns. In 2020, Kansas State blocked the first punt of the game in each of the first three games, leading the country in blocked punts. The Wildcats had four punt returns over 40 yards in a single game, including two returns for touchdowns. They finished the season second with 22.1 yards per return.

Last season, Weber was a special teams analyst at South Carolina, which ranked No. 1 nationally in special teams efficiency, according to ESPN. The Gamecocks were first in field goals, fourth in kickoff returns, seventh in punt returns and punting, 18th in kickoff coverage, and 25th in punt coverage.

They blocked six kicks/punts on the season. Central Michigan and Notre Dame were the only schools that had more blocks.

South Carolina only allowed one punt return of 20-plus yards and two kickoff returns of 30-plus yards.

“Hiring a guy that can dedicate all of his time and energy to special teams, we will see the benefit of that,” Candle said. “I’m excited about Stanton. I think he has a really bright future. He obviously has a championship pedigree. Accountant by trade. Very cerebral. Very smart. Very detailed. Very organized. He helps in a lot of facets.”

Weber has learned under Sean Snyder, Pete Lembo, and Shane Beamer, arguably the three most respected special teams minds in college football.

Beamer’s dad, Frank, won 238 games over 29 seasons at Virginia Tech on the strength of “Beamer Ball,” a phrase that translated into difference-making special teams. Under Beamer, the Hokies blocked an astounding 136 kicks and scored 55 special teams touchdowns.

Weber’s ascension has been equivalent to receiving a Ph. D. in the complex world of special teams.

“I’ve always been around a fan base as well as coaching staffs and players that absolutely thought special teams was critical and put a lot of investment into it,” Weber said. “If you’re willing to gain an edge there, you can. The scope is larger from the best to the worst in special teams (compared to offense and defense), so the ones who do emphasize it gain an edge.”

There’s a recent history of Toledo’s best players making an impact on special teams — Ka’dar Hollman, Reggie Gilliam, Tycen Anderson, Sam Womack, Cody Thompson. All five were unheralded players who made a difference and ended up being drafted in the NFL or signed as free agents.

“The teams that are able to create that buy-in across the board, the starters almost demand that they can play (on special teams),” Weber said. “There’s no desire by them to say, ‘Oh, I want to be protected.’ They say, ‘No, you’re going to put me on special teams because it will help the team.’”

In an era with bloated coaching staffs that feature double-digit analysts at the Power Five level, almost every resource is dedicated to finding an advantage on offense or defense. Even South Carolina, which puts a premium on special teams, only had a special teams coordinator and an analyst assigned to the unit.

Punts in particular can live up to their moniker of being the most important play in football. Field position is controlled by a punter’s foot and the coverage unit’s tackling ability. Even more critical is a blocked punt, which leads to a victory nearly 90 percent of the time.

According to Weber, there’s a psychological component to blocked punts that demoralizes the opponent.

“The best way to get your point across as a football coach is video, period,” Weber said. “You can have something glossy, or speak well, or have something well written, but the fact of the matter is, if you put something you were a part of on a screen, it’s as convincing as anything.”

Weber has numerous punt blocks from Kansas State and South Carolina from which to choose.

“There is rock solid statistical data that says if you win the hidden yardage game you have a significant increase in win percentage,” Candle said.

“We owe it to our players to do everything we can as a coaching staff to try and take a step forward. When you identify and pick apart your season, you want to identify the weaknesses and address them. We exhausted all options and resources to put our players in the best position possible to be successful.”

First Published April 6, 2023, 5:18 p.m.