 ROCKET FOOTBALL |
| ROCKET FOOTBALL |
|
Toledo loses to BC Boston College jumped on the Rockets early and never looked back, scoring on their first 6 possessions of the game. Toledo lost to Boston College 51-26, finishing the season with a 9-5 record. Despite the disappointment of losing in both the MAC Championship and the Motor City Bowl, a 9 win season is pretty good for a team that was supposed to be rebuilding. Marshall tops Toledo Marshall led Toledo 28-10 in the 2nd quarter of the MAC Championship Game before the Rockets decided to wake up. However, despite leading twice in the 4th quarter the Rockets lost to Marshall 49-45. Marshall scored with less than one minute remaining to win the 2002 MAC Championship. Boston College accepted a bid to play against Toledo in the Motor City Bowl on December 26th. Boston College is from the Big East conference. Their biggest accomplishment this year was when they beat Notre Dame, giving the Irish their first loss of the season. Game time for the Motor City Bowl is set for 5:00pm. Rockets Win! The Toledo Rockets outscored Bowling Green 28-0 in the 2nd half, as they blasted to a 42-24 victory. Toledo, 9-3 overall and 7-1 in the MAC, earned a share of the West Division Title and a berth into the MAC Championship Game next Saturday in Huntington, WV. Toledo will defend their 2001 MAC Championship against the Marshall Thundering Herd. Toledo defeated Marshall 41-36 in last year's MAC Championship Game. After the game, the Rockets were invited to play in the 2002 Motor City Bowl in Detroit, MI. Toledo will play against a yet to be determined team on December 26th. Toledo beat Cincinnati 23-16 in last year's Motor City Bowl. With a 9-3 record, the Rockets are just one win away from their 3rd straight 10-win season. Toledo vs Bowling Green The Toledo Rockets will host their arch-rival, the Bowling Green Falcons, this Saturday night at Glass Bowl Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7pm in the 67th meeting between the two schools. Every year the Rockets and Falcons battle it out for the Peace Pipe, a trophy given to the winner of the game. However, there will be more at stake for the Rockets this year. A victory over Bowling Green will give the Rockets the bid into the MAC Championship Game on December 7th. If Toledo loses the game, they will finish in a 2nd place tie with BG in the MAC West. Northern Illinois would then play in the MAC Championship Game. If Toledo wins Saturday night, they will be Co-champions of the West Division with Northern Illinois. Toledo would earn the ticket to the MAC Championship Game because they beat Northern Illinois 33-30 last weekend. The MAC Championship Game will be played in Huntington, West Virginia at 2:30pm on December 7th. If the Rockets make it to the Championship Game, they will defend their title against the Marshall Thundering Herd. So come out to the Glass Bowl to cheer on the Rockets this Saturday night! Rockets to Play UCONN The University of Toledo has announced a deal for a home and away series with the University of Connecticut. UCONN will be coming to the Glass Bowl in 2004, while the Rockets will travel to Connecticut in 2006. UCONN is currently a Division I-A Independent, but they will be joining the Big East Conference in 2005. Rockets Pound Eastern Michigan After defeating Cal Poly 44-16 last week, the Rockets kicked off conference play Saturday night at Eastern Michigan. Eight different Rockets scored touchdowns at Toledo destroyed EMU 65-13. The 65 points were the most by Toledo in a Mid-American Conference game. In fact, it was the 3rd highest total ever by a Rocket football team. Toledo forced 6 turnovers, 5 of them were interceptions. Linebacker David Gardner and backup Rover Keon Jackson had 2 INT's a piece, one of Jackson's was returned 23 yards for a touchdown. The other interception was by starting Whip Patrick Body. Senior QB Brian Jones was 8 of 12 for 166 yards. He had 1 passing and 1 rushing TD. Sophomore QB Cedric Stevens was 3 of 5 for 41 yards, including a 34 yard touchdown pass. True freshman Astin Martin led the rushing attack with 10 carries for 83 yards. Senior Will Bratton had 9 carries for 77 yards and a touchdown. True freshman Quinton Broussard had 14 carries for 69 yards and 2 TD's, while redshirt freshman Trinity Dawson carried the ball 8 times for 68 yards and 1 touchdown. The Rockets had 303 yards rushing and 510 yards in total offense. Toledo is averaging 54.5 points per game, while only giving up 14.5 points per game. Next up for the Rockets are the Minnesota Golden Gophers out of the Big Ten Conference. Toledo (2-0) travels to Minnesota (2-0) for a 2:30pm start next Saturday. Last year Toledo beat Minnesota 38-7 at the Glass Bowl. Toledo's 10th Opponent - Western Michigan By John Grubius (BroncosIllustrated.com) The 2001 season was not a good season for the Broncos. The Broncos entered the season with high hopes and a tough schedule. They finished the season with their first losing season since 1996, with a record of 5-6. Full Story! Toledo's 12th Opponent - Bowling Green It's known as the "Battle of I-75" - Toledo vs Bowling Green. For Northwest Ohio fans it is as big as the Ohio State/Michigan rivalry. The UT/BG rivalry dates back to 1919. It was Toledo's 3rd season of football and Bowling Green's first. The Rockets came away with a 6-0 victory. There have been blowouts and close games. They even fought to a 0-0 scoreless tie in 1929. Full Story! Weekly Picks Contest Rocketfootball.net and The Sports Gallery, Inc. are proud to announce our 2002 Weekly Picks Contest. The contest will begin the first week of the season, not counting preseason games like the BCA Classic, and will feature 10 games each week. Most of the games will feature Mid-American Conference teams. A weekly list of standings will be kept, but no awards will be given out on a weekly basis. However, the overall winner at the end of the season will receive a $50 gift certificate redeemable at The Sports Gallery, Inc. or online at their website. For more information on the contest - Click Here! Toledo's 11th Opponent - Northern Illinois Toledo has won its last 8 games against Northern Illinois, dating back to the 1990 season. Since the Huskies rejoined the MAC in 1997, Toledo is 5-0 against them. However, this season could be the Huskies best chance to beat the Rockets in years thanks to 18 returning starters from last year's team. Full Story! Former Players Update Now seems like a good time to update everyone on some former UT players and their progress in the Pros. But before we do that, rocketfootball.net would like to send our condolences to the family of Mel Triplett. If you have not already heard, Mel passed away on Thursday, July 25th. Mel Triplett played running back for Toledo from 1951-1954 and then played in the NFL from 1955-1962. Mel's grandson, Keith Triplett, is a junior on the University of Toledo's men's basketball team. For updates on Chester Taylor, Mel Long Jr, Tavares Bolden, and more Click Here! MAC Media - Rockets 2nd in West Members of the MAC media have selected the Toledo Rockets to finish in 2nd place in the MAC's West Division this fall, behind rival Bowling Green. The Falcons received 25 first place votes and 283 total votes. Toledo received 13 first place votes and 266 total votes. Marshall is the overwhelming favorite to win the MAC's East Division, and the MAC Championship Game. For more information about MAC Media Day, check out the article on the MAC's Official Website - MAC Media Day! Toledo's 9th Opponent - Central Michigan Toledo has enjoyed a 7 game winning streak against the Central Michigan Chippewas since 1995. The Rockets have outscored the Chips 225-92 in that span. When Central Michigan visits the Glass Bowl on November 9th Toledo will probably be favored to win again, but this is not a team to take lightly. Full Story! Toledo's 8th Opponent - Miami When the University of Toledo and the Miami Redhawks meet at the Glass Bowl on October 26th, it will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1998. Miami won that game 28-14. Full Story! Toledo's 7th Opponent - UCF When Toledo travels to Orlando on October 19th, UCF will be adding another chapter to their history. The game will be the Golden Knights first Mid-American Conference home game, after playing on the road against Marshall and Western Michigan. Central Florida leads the all-time series against Toledo 2-0, with wins in 1997 (34-17) and 1998 (31-24). Full Story! Toledo's 6th Opponent - Ball State When the Ball State Cardinals face the Toledo Rockets at the Glass Bowl on October 12th, Toledo will have two things in their favor; it will be homecoming for Toledo and the Rockets will be looking for revenge. Last year Ball State ended the Rockets winning streak at 12 games with a 24-20 victory. Full Story! Toledo's 5th Opponent - Pittsburgh The Pittsburgh Panthers won their last six games of the 2001 season, en route to a 7-5 record and Tangerine Bowl victory over North Carolina State. However, the Panthers have lost several key players from last year's team, including WR Antonio Bryant and QB David Priestley. Full Story! Toledo's 4th Opponent - UNLV The only time Toledo and UNLV met in football was in the 1984 California Bowl. UNLV won that game, but later had to forfeit because of playing illegal players. UNLV will come to Toledo this year as part of a home and home series that will have Toledo traveling to UNLV next year. Full Story! Toledo's 3rd Opponent - Minnesota The Minnesota Golden Gophers were stunned after last year's lost to Toledo, a 38-7 defeat at the Glass Bowl in front of 34,950 screaming fans. That game set the tone for their season, finishing with a 4-7 overall record and 2-6 record in the Big Ten. This year they will be looking for revenge, as the Rockets travel to Minneapolis on September 14th. Full Story! Message Board Partnership RocketFootball.Net is proud to announce a new parternership with the NCAA Bulletin Board System (www.ncaabbs.com) and our web site. We will now use the NCAAbbs Toledo message board as our official message board. This move will give you additional features, compared to the message board we were using before. The NCAAbbs has separate, but linked message board communities for every major and mid major in Division I-A football. There are also chat rooms, including one specifically for the Mid-American Conference. If you are not already registered to post on the NCAAbbs, you will need to register. Your registration on the old message board will not work on the NCAAbbs. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we believe that you will enjoy the new message board community a whole lot more. Toledo's 2nd Opponent - Eastern Michigan The Toledo Rockets will start their 2002 Mid-American Conference campaign on the road on September 7th against the Eastern Michigan Eagles, a team that has struggled in recent years. Their last MAC Championship was in 1987, but it has been a rough road since. In 2001, EMU went 2-9 overall and 1-6 in the MAC. Toledo beat Eastern Michigan 28-7 last year in Toledo, OH. The Rockets held EMU to just 110 yards of total offense in the game. Full Story! Toledo's 1st Opponent - Cal Poly This is the first of twelve installments focusing on the Toledo Rockets 2002 football opponents. A new team will be posted each week, taking us up to the final week before the Rockets opening game. The Toledo Rockets will open the 2002 football season on August 29th against the Cal Poly Mustangs. The game, scheduled for a 7:00pm start at the Glass Bowl, will be Toledo's first look at Cal Poly. Full Story! Special Teams! The last section of our preview of the Toledo Rockets 2002 football team focuses on special teams. Toledo has lost one of their best kickers of all-time to graduation. However, their top kick returner and their punter are back in 2002. Full Story! Big 10 Signs Deal with Motor City Bowl The Motor City Bowl and the Big Ten Conference have agreed to a 4-year contract pitting the MAC against the Big Ten in the Bowl Game. The contract will pit the #7 team out of the Big Ten against a selection out of the MAC. The Motor City Bowl alternates each year with the GMAC Bowl on first pick out of the MAC. Full Story! The Rocket Defensive Line The last section of our preview of the Toledo defense focuses on the defensive line. Toledo lost last year's entire starting defensive line to graduation, so experience and depth will be a big question this fall. Full Story! The Rocket Linebackers Toledo plays a Multiple 4-4 defense that is designed to attack to the ball and cause turnovers. A big part of that defense is the inside linebackers, rover, and whip positions. Today we will look at this group, led by senior co-captains David Gardner and Tom Ward. Full Story! The Rocket Secondary Last year Toledo's defense started the season very good. Minnesota and Temple managed just 7 points each against the Rockets. But a poor performance against Ohio U. (41 points) started a shaky finish for the defense in 2001. Despite all this it was fitting that the Rockets would win the 2001 Motor City Bowl thanks to the defense breaking up a late 4th quarter pass in the end zone. Today we start our look at the Rockets defensive side of the ball, with the secondary. Full Story! The Rocket Receivers Donta Greene, Carl Ford, and Manny Johnson have been catching passes for Toledo since they were freshmen in 1999. The trio now enter their final year at UT with big expectations. This is a look at these three veteran seniors and the rest of the wide receivers and tight ends for Toledo in 2002. Full Story! The UT Running Game UT is looking for a new star at running back. There are several players that will have something to say about it before it is all said and done. Today we will take a quick look at Trinity Dawson, Webster Jackson, William Bratton, Adam Cuomo, and incoming freshmen Astin Martin and Quinton Broussard. Read More! A Look at the Rocket Quarterbacks This is the first in a series of stories looking at the Toledo Rockets football team, postion by position. Each week a new story will be posted detailing the key and potential players at each position. We start with the position that is the most important on offense, and for Toledo there are a lot of questions that will need to be answered at this position. Read More! UT Adds New Coaches The University of Toledo has filled their vacant coaching positions with Jimmy Williams and Garrick McGee. Jimmy Williams played linebacker in college for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was a first round draft pick in the 1982 NFL Draft. He played twelve seasons in the NFL. Nine of those seasons were with the Detroit Lions, one with the Minnesota Vikings, and two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Last year was his first season as the Defensive Line coach at Division II power, Grand Valley State. Grand Valley State finished 13-1 last season, with their only loss coming in the Division II National Championship Game. At the age of 42, this will be Mr. Williams' first coaching job at the Division I-A level. He will replace Paul Randolph as the Defensive Line coach for UT. Jimmy will have his hands full in his first season at Toledo. Six players from last year's Defensive Line were seniors and graduated. Returners at DL will include Don Gaines, Frank Ofili, Chaz Williams, and Didier Ormejuste. Incoming freshman Lantz Juedy has the potential to play this fall, if he impresses the coaching staff in August. The question will be depth at this position. Garrick McGee played quarterback in college for the Oklahoma Sooners. Since then McGee has moved on to coaching, spending the last two seasons as the Offensive Quality Control coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the NFL. Garrick was the Wide Receivers coach at Northern Iowa in 1999, before accepting the position with the Jaguars. Mr. McGee, at the young age of 28, will be replacing Dino Dawson as the Wide Receivers coach at Toledo. McGee will have a lot to work with at Wide Receiver. Returning players include Donta Greene, Carl Ford, Manny Johnson, Lance Moore, Chris Williams, and Corterris Reese. Incoming freshmen Perry Ivery, Frederick Wilson, and Junior College transfer Chad Mickelson may also see playing time, however, Ivery and Wilson may be redshirted. |
UT Signs OL from Texas UT Head Coach, Tom Amstutz, has signed an offensive lineman from the same high school in Texas that RB Quinton Broussard attended. Jesse Anderson, 6-4 287 lbs. - 5.1 40, was an all-conference and all-district selection his senior year at Colony High School. Anderson played all of the offensive line positions in high school, but excelled at center. Anderson has experience at snapping out of the shotgun formation, which will be a plus in Toledo's spread offense. |
|
2002 Football Recruits After defeating Marshall in the MAC Championship game and then winning the Motor City Bowl, it is no surprise that this year's recruiting class is one of the best that Toledo has ever put together. Some of these players have the potential to be "Great Ones", but of course only time will tell. Don't be surprised to hear the name Quinton Broussard, Astin Martin, Cedric Stevens, Perry Ivery, Frederick Wilson, or Jamar Landrum next fall. We believe those players to be at the top of the list from this year's recruiting class. For a complete list of the recruits that have signed Click Here! |