Game 12 (Toledo) Thoughts

[catdaddyp]

QB:

Finley was on point most of the night and threw some phenomenal passes. However (and as usual) he did have a few passes that could have been picked. Most of his incompletions were either drops, slightly out of reach, or intentionally thrown away.

Bullock was effective as a runner and completed two passes. His emergence in conference play had a significant impact on our offense.

 

RB:

Simmons was held out, so Kellom carried the load and came out of the game for only 2 snaps. It was the second straight week of concerted effort to run the ball, as we ran 34 times vs 23 pass attempts. Kellom had 21 of those rushes and also scored the go ahead TD on a reception in OT.

 

WR:

Did anyone think Norton would play every snap, go without a catch, and we’d win? Toledo was determined to eliminate Norton from the gameplan, which gave other receivers one-on-one opportunities. Granger had two impressive catches, including a sliding grab. Polk also had a few big ones.

 

TE:

The tight ends were utilized only once in the passing game, but played a major role as blockers.

 

OL:

Similar to most of the season, pass blocking was solid and run blocking could have been better. Blanchard and James were excellent at OT. Thomas filled in at RT, after James went down, and was adequate. Williams, Davis, and Morris played every snap on the interior.

 

DL:

The DL struggled all night to put pressure on Toledo’s QB. That said, Nunnally came through in a big way on the final play of OT. We gave up 176 yards on the ground, which is almost right at our average in conference play.

Most of the snaps at DT went to Moore, Kapongo, and Brockington. Murphy and Madden each saw at least 18 snaps. 

Dall and Richards played over 20 snaps a piece backing up Nunnally and Adler. Cheatom also saw some action.

 

LB:

Fish, Summers, and McCoy took all the snaps at linebacker. As Fish’s play has fallen off a bit down the stretch, Summers has exploded onto the scene. Summers finished with 19 total tackles. McCoy came off the bench and finished with 17 total tackles. We did have some trouble tracking the TE in coverage during the second half.

 

DB:

It was a mixed bag for our DBs. Tackling was excellent - the best it’s been all year. Pass coverage was a challenge for portions of the game, but that can’t all be placed on the DBs. Without much of a pass rush, they had to cover for an extended period of time. That’s hard to do against anyone and especially difficult against some of the receiving options Toledo has.

Golden-Nelson, Reed, and White took all the snaps at CB. 

It was the usual rotation at safety with P. Lewis and Anderson starting, and D. Lewis sliding over from NB to back them up.

 

ST:

Special Teams were truly special. It was hard to tell, but I think Adler got a hand on two of Toledo’s missed FGs. Book was a weapon for us again, consistently flipping field position. Jackson put every kickoff in the endzone.

 

Coaching:

It wasn’t perfect by any means, but the staff saved their best for last.

I loved the commitment to the run game. Even though it was tough sledding at times, it forced Toledo’s defense to push up and gave the passing game room to work. Toledo has the best non-P4 secondary we’ve seen and the run game helped offset some of their aggressiveness. 

The defense was clearly designed to not let anything over our heads and to force Toledo to string together long drives. We gave up a ton of yardage (465) and allowed Toledo to eventually shoot themselves in the foot. 

 

 

What a way to end the season. Toledo probably has more talented depth than us at just about every position, yet this team gave it all they had and pulled out a victory. We needed Toledo to help us by goofing up a few times, but our effort gave us a chance to be in position to win. We are at the corner and can potentially turn it….finally. This program really isn’t far off. This season, we had enough talent to compete with our MAC peers and did not get blown out in a non-P4 contests. Our biggest loss was by 20 to Ohio and we actually had them on the ropes for a portion of that game. Another strong recruiting class, coupled with development of returning players, will put this program in a position it has not been in for a long time.

 

 

 

QB:

Finley

Bullock

 

RB:

Kellom

M. Williams

 

WR:

Golden

Rush

 

WR:

Granger

Polk

 

WR:

Norton

 

TE:

Newell

Cravaack 

 

LT:

Blanchard

Shor

 

LG:

Morris

 

C

T. Williams

 

RG:

K. Davis

 

RT:

James

D. Thomas

 

 

DE:

Nunnally

Cheatom

 

DE:

Adler

Dall

Richards

 

DT:

Moore

Brockington

 

DT:

Kapongo

Murphy

Madden

 

LB:

Fish

McCoy

 

LB:

Summers

McCoy

 

NB:

D. Lewis

Greenwood

 

CB:

Reed

White

 

CB:

Golden-Nelson

White

 

S:

P. Lewis

D. Lewis

 

S:

J. Anderson

D. Lewis

 

 

Best Players on Offense:

QB - Finley

WR - Granger

RB - Kellom

LT - Blanchard

RT - James

 

Best Players on Defense:

LB - McCoy

DE -Nunnally

S - P. Lewis

CB - Golden-Nelson

CB - White

Edited November 27, 2024 by catdaddyp

[GP1]

The win reminds me of a saying I heard once. "Determination is more important than discipline." Determination separates noon players from 1:00-4:00 players. A lot of players look great and disciplined during warm-ups, but when the game starts, they aren't good enough. 

 

We're they perfect, no, but I saw an Akron team that didn't just do the fundamentals well (Toledo is a good fundamentally sound team also) but was determined in the results of the fundamentals. For example, I mentioned to Mrs GP1, the luckiest woman in the world, that Akron was tackling well. Akron wasn't just putting themselves in position make tackles, they actually made the tackles. They made the blocks to get extra yards. They fought for extra yards with determination. The final play showed determination.  

 

Some may call determination something like a competitive spirit or having heart. Whatever it is, Akron had it until the end and won the game. Winning is not easy. Akron played MAC contender level good the past two weeks. They just need to play with that determination every week. 

[zipsfan33]

Did anyone notice that #11 and a coach had a shoving match on the sidelines?  Joemo came over and spoke to #11 and then the player and coach hugged it out.   Anyone notice?   I'm thinking it was mid 4th quarter. 

[NeoZip]

34 minutes ago, zipsfan33 said:

Did anyone notice that #11 and a coach had a shoving match on the sidelines?  Joemo came over and spoke to #11 and then the player and coach hugged it out.   Anyone notice?   I'm thinking it was mid 4th quarter. 

It was on Toledo’s last touchdown. Looked like miscommunication and Reed had a couple PI’s beforehand. I didn’t see them shoving but having an emotional discussion. Joe talked to him and when White got hurt, Reed went back in and Joe gave him a point of confidence.