In the aftermath of Toledo’s decisive 49-23 win over Eastern Michigan, Rockets coach Jason Candle was asked why the 2023 season would be different.
Last year, UT clinched the Mid-American Conference West Division championship in similar fashion, two weeks before the end of the regular season, and then promptly lost its final two games in uninspired, dreadful fashion.
“I don’t know if it will be different,” Candle said. “There was a lack of something because we lost two games. It better not be the same. It's a short week, and we have to go play our rival. At this point of the season, if we’re looking for external motivation, we have a real problem.”
Well, for two quarters on Tuesday, that’s exactly what Toledo had — a problem.
But the Rockets responded in the second half as their dream season was on the line, limiting Bowling Green to three points after halftime.
Now, UT travels to Central Michigan for the regular-season finale on the day after Thanksgiving. Everything remains on the table: a New Year’s Six bowl, a 13-win season, and an 8-0 MAC record. These aren’t goals that Toledo stumbled upon.
“We’re very aware of what we have done this season and what we can still accomplish,” senior wide receiver Jerjuan Newton said. “We’ve been talking about it since winter workouts back in January. We knew the players that we brought back, the caliber that we have. We brought back a lot of faces, and we won the MAC championship. We all had our dreams of going undefeated and leaving a legacy. We lost one game, but that hasn’t stopped us from chasing our dreams of leaving a legacy. Not many teams have won back-to-back conference championships. Our team just wants to win.”
And win they’ve done. Not just a MAC title and a bowl game last season but 10 consecutive wins this year, the longest single-season winning streak since the 1971 team finished 12-0. The Rockets won 12 straight games in 2000 and 2001 and had a 12-game unbeaten streak in 1995 when they finished 11-0-1.
Toledo is on the fringe of the AP top 25 and the coaches poll. More importantly, Toledo’s name has been discussed for a couple of weeks inside the College Football Playoff selection committee room, and the dialogue is lengthening. Currently, it’s a three-horse race between No. 24 Tulane, Liberty, and the Rockets.
“We have to handle what’s in front of us,” Candle said. “There are so many variables, so many things that go into that, so many avenues and paths you could go down. When that time happens — if it happens — we’ll have those conversations. Right now, we don’t have time to focus on anything other than what’s in front of us.”
One win over BG isn’t a total course correction. Toledo has to complete the job with a victory at Central Michigan. It’s almost like a playoff situation for the Rockets, who cannot lose in either of the next two weeks.
“A lot of people here want to go out the right way and finish what we started,” senior linebacker Dallas Gant said. “We just have to take it one game at a time. We have to keep rolling and then we can look up and we’ll have all those things we set for at the beginning of the season in front of us. Everyone knows the magnitude. It adds extra motivation for all of these upcoming games.”
Friday’s game won’t be as simple as just showing up. Toledo needs to come to play. The last time UT won in Mount Pleasant was 2017, as the Chippewas beat the Rockets 49-7 in 2019 and 26-23 in overtime two years ago.
At 5-6, it’s a must-win game for Central to be bowl eligible. However, the Chippewas are limping in with four consecutive losses, and their last win was by seven points over woeful Akron.
“Last year was a learning experience for us,” Newton said. “We know we have to keep going this year. I feel like we definitely relaxed.”
The best thing for Toledo — aside from being an overwhelming favorite — is that it has looked in the mirror and recognized its deficiencies from a year ago and taken the challenge head-on. Those words have to become reality, though, or else it’s all for naught, and a potential program-changing season becomes just another year.
Harsh? Perhaps. But it’s the truth. There’s nothing to remember about a two-loss regular season, except that Toledo couldn’t get it done against a six-loss team in the final game.
“We understand that, but we planned for this,” Candle said. “You want meetings to come to light. You want sayings on walls to come off. You want talk to become action. You want actions to become accomplishments. We started that progression back in January. My gosh, we’re not going to stop now. We’re going to keep buying in and pouring into the things that got us here.”
Alignment is a college athletics buzzword, relating to the university, athletic department, and a particular program. In this case, Toledo’s team is aligned, intent on going through the MAC unscathed.
“The focal point every time is to prepare,” All-American cornerback Quinyon Mitchell said. “We haven’t won anything yet. We have bigger goals. We have to take it one day, one practice, one week, one game at a time.”
First Published November 18, 2023, 5:00 p.m.
