 TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
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By Brian Nowicki Something is bothering me. Something is really bothering me. No, it's not the 2-5 record going into tonight's game against Ohio University, nor the 5-7 record last year. Don't get me wrong, I'm disappointed in those records, but that's not it. What's really bothering me is some of the things I have been hearing and reading from fellow Rocket fans. I don't want to offend anyone and everyone is entitled to their own opinion, which is why I am finally stepping forward and talking. It's been a rough year and a half for Rocket fans. After finishing 2005 with a 9-3 record and 45-13 win over UTEP in the GMAC Bowl, the football program has been flooded with a lot of negatives. A promising start with a 45-43 3OT loss at Iowa State in the 2006 season opener was followed with a lot of mistakes and losses that resulted in a 5-7 record and the first losing season since 1993. Then in the off-season there were betting allegations involving former RB Scooter McDougle, which are still hovering around this program with uncertainty. Another season of mistakes and a ton of injuries have put the Rockets at 2-5 going into tonight's game. And true freshman QB DJ Lenehan will be making his 3rd straight start tonight. A QB that was #3 on the depth chart at the beginning of the season but was forced into action when unbelievably both the starter (Aaron Opelt) and the backup (Clint Cochran) got hurt in the same game. This is all hard for Rocket fans to take in. This is a proud football program that is used to not just winning, but winning division and conference titles. This is also a football program that is still capable of winning division and conference titles. It's not going to happen this year, but the talent is there and it could happen next year. So what are the things I am hearing that is bothering me? Well, for one I have heard people say that Amstutz and his staff cannot recruit and haven't won with his recruits. That's completely incorrect. Sure, his first MAC Title was in his first season as coach and with Pinkel's recruits. This included star running back Chester Taylor, who was actually recruited by then Defensive Coordinator Tom Amstutz by the way. However, when Toledo won the MAC West in 2002 and nearly pulled off the victory at Marshall in the MAC Championship game, it was Brian Jones at quarterback for Toledo. Jones was recruited by Amstutz and his staff. Then in 2003 a new quarterback took over for Toledo. One that would re-write the record books and get drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and even start several games as a rookie. That's right. Bruce Gradkowski. Gradkowski was part of the 2001 class, but was not even on UT's radar until after Pinkel left for Missouri and Tom Amstutz and his staff recruited him. That's the same for running backs Trinity Dawson, Quinton Broussard, Jalen Parmele, and DaJuane Collins. DaJuane Collins had over 50 offers which included schools such as Minnesota, Penn State, Purdue, and Boston College. Another recruit from the Amstutz era is Scooter McDougle. Sure, everyone is going to say look at what he did with the betting scandal. Maybe he did do something wrong, but let's remember that charges against him have been dropped and right now there are no new charges against him. And no matter what you want to say about him, he is the main reason that the Rockets won the MAC Title in 2004. You can't deny that. Lance Moore, now with the New Orleans Saints, is another one of Amstutz's recruits. He holds the single season receptions record at Toledo and held the career receptions record before Steve Odom broke it. And Steve Odom is another one of Amstutz's recruits. As was wide receiver Kenny Higgins, who is playing in the AFL2 league. Barry Church may just be the best all around defensive player to ever play at Toledo, and of course he was recruited in the Amstutz era. In fact, the last couple of recruiting classes have had more highly regarded recruits than ever before at Toledo. This last class included several three star rated recruits, including starting QB DJ Lenehan. I've heard the complaint that Toledo is not beating the good BCS teams and are losing games they shouldn't under Amstutz and weren't under Pinkel. Well, again that is not correct. First, Toledo is playing more BCS schools now than under the Pinkel era. In 10 seasons, Pinkel was 4-7 against BCS schools (not counting bowl games), 2-4 on the road and just 2-3 at home. In 7 seasons, Amstutz is 7-10 against BCS schools (not counting bowl games), 2-9 on the road and 5-1 at home. Those wins include games against Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Kansas, and Iowa State. Fact is that Amstutz has a better winning percentage against BCS schools (.412) than Pinkel did (.364). As for Amstutz losing games he shouldn't have, so did Pinkel. In 2000 we were better than Western Michigan and should have won that game. That one loss kept us from winning the MAC West Division and having a shot at Marshall in the MAC Championship game........a Marshall team we beat 42-0 during the regular season. Marshall went on to beat Western Michigan in the MAC Championship game. In 1999 we lost winnable games at home against Eastern Michigan (20-13) and UCF (31-24). In 1998 we lost to a 3-8 Eastern Michigan team 10-7. In 1997 we were 8-0 and ranked 18th in the country when we lost at Ball State 35-3. In 1996 a 24-14 loss to Ball State cost us the MAC Title. Despite an 8-3 record in 1992, we lost to Akron 23-20. Akron was just in their 6th season in Division I-A and first season in the MAC. Isn't it funny how we forget about those losses that we should have won in the past, but those losses under the Amstutz era are still fresh in everyone's mind? The point is that we won some games we probably shouldn't have under Pinkel, and we lost some we should have won. And under Amstutz the same thing has happened. In fact, you could look at any Division I-A (or should I say (FBS) school over the last 15 years and say the same thing. There is a lot of talent on this Rocket football team. Amstutz is a good coach. His hire of Rob Spence back in 2001 was great and is the primary reason for the 3 West division titles and 2 MAC Championships in the 4 years that Spence was offensive coordinator. There are some solid coaches on Amstutz staff. In the last few seasons we have lost some of them to other Universities and to the NFL, but we still have a solid coaching staff. Injuries have hurt this team, no doubt about that. A NFL coach was quoted a couple of weeks ago of saying "I have never seen so many injuries in my life" when asked about having 4 defensive starters out with injury. Well Toledo has 4 defensive starters out for the rest of the year and other have been injured throughout the season. Not to make any excuses for a 2-5 record, but it's hard to consistently win with some of your best defenders on the sidelines hurt. Don't give up on this football program, or Coach Tom Amstutz. Four MAC West division titles, 2 MAC Championships, and four bowl game appearances say a lot. Toledo had 12 consecutive winning seasons and 17 of 18 years with winning seasons before 2006. A couple of losing seasons were bound to happen at some point. They happen to everyone. The players and coaches in this program are good enough to turn this around and they will. Keep supporting the Rockets and keep cheering them on, starting with tonight, and that turn around will be here before you know. 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