After a promising start to the 2009 season for the UT football team, the Rockets have struggled in recent weeks, losing three out of their past four games and falling out of contention for the Mid-American Championship.
In their “new era” under first-year head coach Tim Beckman, Toledo (4-5, 2-3 MAC) has shown signs of improvement from last year’s 3-9 squad. The Rockets return most of their starters from last season and have increased their offensive output by more than 110 yards per game, averaging a league-best 440 yards this season. The Rockets also played tough at Purdue before upsetting Colorado and handing Northern Illinois their lone conference loss.
Unfortunately, not everything for UT has been promising. The defense continues to contend for the title of “worst in the nation” as the unit ranks 117th out of 120 teams, giving up an abysmal 37 points per game, including the 95th ranked rushing (177.78 ypg) and 99th passing defense (247.11 ypg). After hiring Beckman, who has held a coaching role on defense for a team in every season since 1990, the Rockets’ production has been nothing short of disappointing. On Monday, Beckman said watching the defense’s play is “killing him” and promised to take a larger role in the defense beginning next week. That means less time running the special teams, which already consists of the 97th ranked kick return unit (19.8 yards per return) and 118th net punting average of just over 30 yards per punt, both of which have consistently put their struggling defense in tough positions throughout the year.
The defense’s struggles are even more astounding considering the individual talent of players on that side of the ball, most notably senior safety Barry Church and junior linebacker Archie Donald. While UT does rely on a lot of youth, including three freshmen in the secondary, the defense has shown that they can play at a high level but are extremely inconsistent.
Church attempted to take control of the team after the embarrassing 58-26 loss at home to Western Michigan by guaranteeing the unit would not come out flat the rest of the season. The defense was up to the challenge against a talented NIU team, holding the Huskies to just 19 points, led by Church who recorded 12 tackles and two blocked kicks, one on a potential game-winning field goal. Unfortunately, the Rockets again failed to sustain that high level of play and back up Church’s guarantee, allowing 71 points the next two weeks. Church has kept up his end of the bargain, recording 29 tackles in those three games while also recording a sack and three blocked kicks, and is on his way to being named first-team All-MAC for the fourth-consecutive season.
This brings up the question of effort. Beckman steadfastly denies it as a problem but this team is consistently underperforming from their talent level. They’ve showed that they can play at a high level, yet they continue to put the offense in insurmountable holes. This was shown last week at Miami (OH). The RedHawks hit the field and simply wanted the game more than UT did, which is unacceptable against an 0-8 opponent. The Rockets showed this same attitude earlier this season against an 0-4 Ball State squad, escaping after a miracle 51-yard touchdown pass in the waning moments for the victory. While it’s encouraging to see that Toledo has the ability to fight back late in games, they need to play up to their potential in the beginning of the game, instead of playing down to their competition.
Injuries at quarterback have hurt Toledo, so much in fact that freshman wide receiver Eric Page took snaps at quarterback in practice running the full offense this week. While Page is young, Toledo needs to stop holding him back and use their biggest offensive weapon as cleverly as they can, especially with the injuries hampering their signal callers.
The Rockets are clinging to hopes of a bowl game if they can finish off the season with three-straight victories, but even that is a stretch. Toledo has shown no reason to believe that they could win three-consecutive games against any MAC teams, let alone three including road games against the league’s top team in Central Michigan and a quality Bowling Green squad.
With the end in sight, Toledo’s young players will have to step up for the Rockets to have any shot at becoming a bowl team. Riding the likes of Church, Donald, Page and senior wide receiver Stephen Williams as they have all season just isn’t enough for this team to win out, especially with the concerns at quarterback. If other players can’t elevate their play, the Rockets will have to wait until next season to try and reach their first bowl game in the Beckman era.
— Zach Davis is the Sports Editor and a senior majoring in communication. He contributes to Scout.com and provides a weekly NCAA football Top-10 poll for UWire.com.
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