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.