While a few concerns may remain the same, there were some pleasant surprises last night.
Defense: I expected improvement on that side of the ball and was not disappointed. Toledo played disciplined defensive football, did not get caught playing out of position, made most of their tackles, and were getting to the ball in a hurry. I've been waiting to see a performance like that for quite some time! Western Michigan's offense will give Toledo's defense a real test, but I was impressed by what I saw last night.
5 of the top 6 tacklers last night were on the front side of the defense. Dyontae Johnson, Terrance Taylor, DesJuan Johnson, and Nate Givhan combined for 18 tackles. That allowed the secondary to do their thing; breaking up passes, blitzing, and coming up with a pick. Interesting stat though. As bad a BG's offense was, Toledo had 0 sacks. Grade B+
Offense: To be honest, when I saw that Peters was the starting QB last night, my enthusiasm dropped. To his credit, he and the entire offense came out early with energy and focus. The passes were on time, BG was getting knocked back, and Toledo looked like they were about to score on every drive. Then, for whatever reason, the offense went flat. I literally fell asleep and woke up late in the 3rd, when it was 28-3. I'm not sure where the energy went on offense, but it disappeared. I'm sure I wasn't the only one, who saw Peter's life flash before their eyes, when the BG defender came unblocked. But hey, Peters finished with 4 touchdowns and 69 yards rushing.
The wideouts looked solid. Mitchell did his thing. Maddox impressed me. He made a spectacular catch that was called back due to a penalty. A lot of people loved Newton (I must have been asleep). Koback and Seymour are a dynamic duo. I thought Seymour looked great. He seemed to be running with great power, vision and purpose last night. Then we all got a little sneak preview!! Stuart and Kelly! Those guys looked lightning quick! We are set at running back for some time. It was nice to Harris back. He may be the best/most valuable player on offense.
With all of that said, I have to give the offense a C+ (Boo to me). I just feel like Toledo could/should have scored more on BG. I know it was the first game of a crazy year, but I want to see a more dominant o-line and the ability to maintain momentum, especially against a lesser opponent like BG.
Special Teams was push for me. I thought it was great to see Bailey Flinn back!! I'm hoping the best for Cluckey. He doinked an extra point, but it was the first game and maybe it was the snap and hold.
What will the future hold? I don't know. On paper, BG is the worst team on the slate, which made for a nice warm-up game. If the defense can continue to play up, it may just buy some time for the offense in the bigger games. I still think Central is the team to beat, but if the o-line can pull to together and there can be improvement on the 12 penalties, they have solid chance. I'm just glad we have football period.
(11-05-2020 10:45 PM)falconplucker Wrote: [ -> ]While a few concerns may remain the same, there were some pleasant surprises last night.
Defense: I expected improvement on that side of the ball and was not disappointed. Toledo played disciplined defensive football, did not get caught playing out of position, made most of their tackles, and were getting to the ball in a hurry. I've been waiting to see a performance like that for quite some time! Western Michigan's offense will give Toledo's defense a real test, but I was impressed by what I saw last night.
5 of the top 6 tacklers last night were on the front side of the defense. Dyontae Johnson, Terrance Taylor, DesJuan Johnson, and Nate Givhan combined for 18 tackles. That allowed the secondary to do their thing; breaking up passes, blitzing, and coming up with a pick. Interesting stat though. As bad a BG's offense was, Toledo had 0 sacks. Grade B+
Offense: To be honest, when I saw that Peters was the starting QB last night, my enthusiasm dropped. To his credit, he and the entire offense came out early with energy and focus. The passes were on time, BG was getting knocked back, and Toledo looked like they were about to score on every drive. Then, for whatever reason, the offense went flat. I literally fell asleep and woke up late in the 3rd, when it was 28-3. I'm not sure where the energy went on offense, but it disappeared. I'm sure I wasn't the only one, who saw Peter's life flash before their eyes, when the BG defender came unblocked. But hey, Peters finished with 4 touchdowns and 69 yards rushing.
The wideouts looked solid. Mitchell did his thing. Maddox impressed me. He made a spectacular catch that was called back due to a penalty. A lot of people loved Newton (I must have been asleep). Koback and Seymour are a dynamic duo. I thought Seymour looked great. He seemed to be running with great power, vision and purpose last night. Then we all got a little sneak preview!! Stuart and Kelly! Those guys looked lightning quick! We are set at running back for some time. It was nice to Harris back. He may be the best/most valuable player on offense.
With all of that said, I have to give the offense a C+ (Boo to me). I just feel like Toledo could/should have scored more on BG. I know it was the first game of a crazy year, but I want to see a more dominant o-line and the ability to maintain momentum, especially against a lesser opponent like BG.
Special Teams was push for me. I thought it was great to see Bailey Flinn back!! I'm hoping the best for Cluckey. He doinked an extra point, but it was the first game and maybe it was the snap and hold.
What will the future hold? I don't know. On paper, BG is the worst team on the slate, which made for a nice warm-up game. If the defense can continue to play up, it may just buy some time for the offense in the bigger games. I still think Central is the team to beat, but if the o-line can pull to together and there can be improvement on the 12 penalties, they have solid chance. I'm just glad we have football period.
my view is pretty similar
defense B+ great to see linebackers filling holes like linebackers and safeties attacking guys in open space. looked like a much better coached unit and we have a good amount of fast mid sized guys. i don't know how we hold up against a really good oline, but we looked much improved. womack is a great story, undersized kid walks on and becomes one of the best playmakers in the nation. i mean, he may never make it to the NFL but at the MAC level he has an amazing knack for closing and breaking up passes. noted that maxen hook, a true frosh, played a lot and while he got run over once or twice looked like he had a great feel for the game and will be a good piece for a while.
offense C+ what i saw was a unit that looked very good early with quick passes and basic runs, but hit the wall when dumont went down. it looks like we will have both starting tackles out for the season (berg too) and that will make it hard to beat good defenses. once dumont went down the run game stuttered. not sure how much of that is coincidence-i only watched the game once and didn't study the line play, but losing an agile tackle and replacing him with a slow power guy is gonna hurt your spread run blocking. saw some folks criticizing koback but i thought he looked good. loved how seymour ran and the young kids are gifted. newton looks like the next true star receiver. of course, receiver play depends on the qb and peters strength seems to be the smart quick read and accurate short throws. so, i guess we'll see a lot of plays to the slots and backs and not a lot down field. as good as he was on shorter throws, he was pretty awful downfield. rosi had the only bad drop, but he's usually pretty sure handed so i wouldn't overreact to that.
special teams D flint didn't look like the same punter and the kicking game was a little shaky. plus, we fumbled a punt return.
coaching i don't really grade on a game. the kids play. coaches can prepare them properly and they play bad one game and coaches can do nothing special but the players rise to the occasion the next time. over a season i think he can measure coaching out better, but clearly the defense looked sharper.
Go Rockets!
My thinking is stuck on how inexperienced and young the opponent. I'm leaving search for positives and negatives for when we play a D1 college football team.
(11-06-2020 12:59 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]My thinking is stuck on how inexperienced and young the opponent. I'm leaving search for positives and negatives for when we play a D1 college football team.
It's tradition to open with an FCS team at home
(11-06-2020 06:50 AM)UofToledoFans Wrote: [ -> ] (11-06-2020 12:59 AM)eastisbest Wrote: [ -> ]My thinking is stuck on how inexperienced and young the opponent. I'm leaving search for positives and negatives for when we play a D1 college football team.
It's tradition to open with an FCS team at home
It's usually a good FCS team.
Did they ever reveal what the injury was to Dumont? I'm assuming he had a broken leg and is done for the season based on the comments from the guys calling the game. Air cast while riding on a cart off the field is never a good sign. When the color guy says "it was an ugly scene", I get an image of Joe Theisman or Alex Smith - and more recently Dak Prescott. Not good to lose a starter on the o-line in the first game of the year. But last year we lost Harris 2 weeks before the first game.
(11-06-2020 08:13 AM)Boca Rocket Wrote: [ -> ] (11-06-2020 12:56 AM)pono Wrote: [ -> ] (11-05-2020 10:45 PM)falconplucker Wrote: [ -> ]While a few concerns may remain the same, there were some pleasant surprises last night.
Defense: I expected improvement on that side of the ball and was not disappointed. Toledo played disciplined defensive football, did not get caught playing out of position, made most of their tackles, and were getting to the ball in a hurry. I've been waiting to see a performance like that for quite some time! Western Michigan's offense will give Toledo's defense a real test, but I was impressed by what I saw last night.
5 of the top 6 tacklers last night were on the front side of the defense. Dyontae Johnson, Terrance Taylor, DesJuan Johnson, and Nate Givhan combined for 18 tackles. That allowed the secondary to do their thing; breaking up passes, blitzing, and coming up with a pick. Interesting stat though. As bad a BG's offense was, Toledo had 0 sacks. Grade B+
Offense: To be honest, when I saw that Peters was the starting QB last night, my enthusiasm dropped. To his credit, he and the entire offense came out early with energy and focus. The passes were on time, BG was getting knocked back, and Toledo looked like they were about to score on every drive. Then, for whatever reason, the offense went flat. I literally fell asleep and woke up late in the 3rd, when it was 28-3. I'm not sure where the energy went on offense, but it disappeared. I'm sure I wasn't the only one, who saw Peter's life flash before their eyes, when the BG defender came unblocked. But hey, Peters finished with 4 touchdowns and 69 yards rushing.
The wideouts looked solid. Mitchell did his thing. Maddox impressed me. He made a spectacular catch that was called back due to a penalty. A lot of people loved Newton (I must have been asleep). Koback and Seymour are a dynamic duo. I thought Seymour looked great. He seemed to be running with great power, vision and purpose last night. Then we all got a little sneak preview!! Stuart and Kelly! Those guys looked lightning quick! We are set at running back for some time. It was nice to Harris back. He may be the best/most valuable player on offense.
With all of that said, I have to give the offense a C+ (Boo to me). I just feel like Toledo could/should have scored more on BG. I know it was the first game of a crazy year, but I want to see a more dominant o-line and the ability to maintain momentum, especially against a lesser opponent like BG.
Special Teams was push for me. I thought it was great to see Bailey Flinn back!! I'm hoping the best for Cluckey. He doinked an extra point, but it was the first game and maybe it was the snap and hold.
What will the future hold? I don't know. On paper, BG is the worst team on the slate, which made for a nice warm-up game. If the defense can continue to play up, it may just buy some time for the offense in the bigger games. I still think Central is the team to beat, but if the o-line can pull to together and there can be improvement on the 12 penalties, they have solid chance. I'm just glad we have football period.
my view is pretty similar
defense B+ great to see linebackers filling holes like linebackers and safeties attacking guys in open space. looked like a much better coached unit and we have a good amount of fast mid sized guys. i don't know how we hold up against a really good oline, but we looked much improved. womack is a great story, undersized kid walks on and becomes one of the best playmakers in the nation. i mean, he may never make it to the NFL but at the MAC level he has an amazing knack for closing and breaking up passes. noted that maxen hook, a true frosh, played a lot and while he got run over once or twice looked like he had a great feel for the game and will be a good piece for a while.
offense C+ what i saw was a unit that looked very good early with quick passes and basic runs, but hit the wall when dumont went down. it looks like we will have both starting tackles out for the season (berg too) and that will make it hard to beat good defenses. once dumont went down the run game stuttered. not sure how much of that is coincidence-i only watched the game once and didn't study the line play, but losing an agile tackle and replacing him with a slow power guy is gonna hurt your spread run blocking. saw some folks criticizing koback but i thought he looked good. loved how seymour ran and the young kids are gifted. newton looks like the next true star receiver. of course, receiver play depends on the qb and peters strength seems to be the smart quick read and accurate short throws. so, i guess we'll see a lot of plays to the slots and backs and not a lot down field. as good as he was on shorter throws, he was pretty awful downfield. rosi had the only bad drop, but he's usually pretty sure handed so i wouldn't overreact to that.
special teams D flint didn't look like the same punter and the kicking game was a little shaky. plus, we fumbled a punt return.
coaching i don't really grade on a game. the kids play. coaches can prepare them properly and they play bad one game and coaches can do nothing special but the players rise to the occasion the next time. over a season i think he can measure coaching out better, but clearly the defense looked sharper.
Go Rocket!
National Rankings:
Total Offense #7
Scoring Offense #18
Red Zone Offense #1
Rushing Offense #3
Passing Efficiency #20
Great assessment! I agree that the Durmont injury seem to be a big factor in the Offense going into sleep mode in the second quarter. What happened to Berg? On the Defensive side of the ball.... Man it was nice seeing our players attacking the ball. We played fast and aggressive. And the kids really seemed to understand their responsibilities. Good coaching and scheme matters! Next week will be a much bigger test. Offensively, we seem to have a lot of nice skill players.. I thought Candle did a good job of spreading the ball around. I didn't like that he went away from Seymore, when he was running hard. Can't do that. He needs to keep riding the hot hand at Running Back. The young RBs look like studs and may deserve some more touches earlier in the game. Nice complementary talents compared to Seymore and Koback. Can be a DC's nightmare trying to develop a game plan to stop these 4. I could see a nice screen game package with those two. Kind of wish we ran an offense more like Alabama, with play action pass game, and taking more vertical shots down field. Qb just misses too many wide open recievers. We would have scored an easy 50 if he hits those. Those missed will come back to haunt us in more competitive game. Hopefully his accuracy on those deep balls improves as season progresses.
looked good, varsity game Wed,