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TOLEDOROCKETS.NETYour source for information on Rocket Football! |
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By Brian Nowicki My favorite Spaghetti Western film is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The start of the 2007 University of Toledo football season has been as messy as my two year old daughter eating spaghetti. OK, maybe not that messy, but you get the theme. So let's start out with the good. In the film, Clint Eastwood plays the part of the "Good" gunslinger who, despite a very meek outlook halfway through the movie, eventually rides off into the sunset. Sophomore QB Aaron Opelt is that gunslinger. He threw for a career high 334 yards and 2 TD's, while also getting a rushing touchdown and not turning the ball over at all in UT's last game at Central Michigan. And his supporting cast of sophomore wide receiver Stephen Williams (6 receptions for 157 yards and 1 TD) and junior wide receiver Nick Moore (4 receptions for 28 yards, 1 Td, and one 47 yard TD pass) helped the Rocket offense score 32 points and rack up 482 yards of total offense against the Central Michigan Chippewas. The Rockets also scored 24 points and had 326 yards of total offense in the season opener against a very good Purdue football team. And to think that coming into the season most of us expected the offense to be the weak spot on this team. And before I shift away from the offense I just have to mention the running back duo of senior Jalen Parmele and sophomore DaJuane Collins, who have combined for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns through two games thus far. But hold on.......we're not done with the "Good" just yet. Aaron Opelt and the Rocket offense might be Clint Eastwood, but senior punter Brett Kern is Clint Eastwood #2. He is averaging a whopping 50.1 yards per punt after 12 punts in 2007. Also, five of his twelve punts have been downed inside the opponent's 20 yard line. He was the MAC West Division Special Teams Player of the Week in the opening week when Toledo played Purdue. Aaron Opelt has a gunslinger of an arm and Brett Kern has a booming leg. Now for the bad. The Rockets' kick and punt coverage have a Lee Van Cleef (The "Bad" in the movie) aroma about them. Opponents are averaging 35.1 yards per kick return against Toledo, with one going for a touchdown. What's worse is that Rocket kickoffs are only travelling an average of 49.5 yards. When kicking off from your 30 yard line that means the other team is catching the kick at about the 20 yard line and returning it to the UT 45 yard line on average. That is just bad! Opponents are averaging just over 20 yards per punt return too. With that kind of punt coverage it is a good thing Brett Kern is booming his punts over 50 yards each time! OK, you knew it was coming. It is now time for the ugly. In the movie, a lesser known Eli Wallach stars as the ugly. In real life, a lesser known Rocket defense is struggling to stop the opposition. Injuries have hurt this defense really bad this year, forcing lesser known players into prominent roles and the outcome has been ugly. First the statistics. Purdue managed 488 yards of total offense and 52 points against Toledo. The biggest number was the 244 yards rushing by a Purdue team known for throwing the football. Central Michigan managed 462 yards of total offense and 52 points against Toledo. Again a high number of rushing yards, 218 yards on the ground, by a team known for throwing the ball. What really makes it ugly is the fact that these teams were moving the ball at will. In the 4th quarter against the Rockets, CMU was getting 8-10 yards per play against an obviously tired and outplayed defense. And more evidence of ugliness is the fact that Toledo had just one tackle for loss against CMU, and have just three tackles for loss for the season. The ugliness is understandable though. Senior DE Sean Williamson, senior FS Tyrrell Herbert, senior CB Nigel Morris, and sophomore CB Desmond Marrow all missed the entire Central Michigan game with injuries. Sophomore CB Walter Atkins played very little in the game because of injury, and redshirt freshman CB Greg Harris left the game early on with an injury and didn't return. That is six players on defense that would normally see significant playing time if not start. In the Central Michigan game, true freshman walk-on Myshan Pettis started at free safety for Toledo. Pettis is a local kid from Rogers High School, and played very well for a true freshman making his first collegiate start, but the fact that he started that game and is expected to start at Kansas tomorrow night just shows you how much the injuries are hurting Toledo. Looking at the depth chart for the kansas game, we have true freshman walk-on Myshan Pettis starting at one cornerback spot with junior Andre Redd backing him up. Redd has played wide receiver throughout his four years at Toledo, redshirted in 2004, and has been moved to cornerback because of the injuries. Redd hasn't played cornerback since high school in 2003. The other cornerback position has sophomore Walter Atkins back from injury (thank God) and starting, with true freshman Anthony King backing him up. King, Canyon High School in California, received a scholarship from Toledo over the summer after a couple of previous players were ruled ineligible to play this season. Starting at free safety is redshirt freshman Joe Shuler, with sophomore Chris Murphy backing him up. Murphy was at wide receiver this spring, but moved back to the secondary this fall with all the injuries and personnel losses the Rockets have had. Sophomore Barry Church will start at strong safety with true freshman walk-on Darion McGuire backing him up. Sophomore Lester Richmond will start at rover with true freshman Drey'Lon Pree backing him up. Church, Richmond, and Atkins are the only three guys with real defensive experience out of the eight players on the two-deep for the secondary. Five of the eight are freshman, with four of them being true freshman. That right there is enough to spell U-G-L-Y when playing against teams with the offensive fire power of Purdue, Central Michigan, and Kansas. Ah yes, this brings us to Kansas. The Jayhawks beat Central Michigan 52-7 in their season opener. Yes, the same Central Michigan that beat Toledo 52-31 last weekend. Kansas also beat SE Louisiana 62-0 last weekend. Averaging 57 points per game is impressive. Not turning the ball over even once to go along with it is even more impressive. Something tells me that Toledo is right in the middle of the film.....yes this is where it gets really ugly. In the film, Wallach drags Eastwood through the desert and the Good (Clint Eastwood) nearly dies. This game Saturday against Kansas could get really ugly. But have no fear Rocket fans. As the film went on the Good and the Ugly find a way to co-exist and in the end the Good even leaves a small share of the fortune for the Ugly, before he rides off into the sunset. The Rockets'season can have the same effect with more and more aspects of the game turning into positives and riding off into the sunset (bowl game or MAC West Championship and MAC Championship Game appearance). I know it is hard to imagine a bowl game or MAC West Division Title right now, but after starting the 2004 season with losses to Minnesota (63-21) and Kansas (63-14) not too many people could have guessed that the Rockets would ride off into the sunset with a 35-27 victory over Miami University in the MAC Championship Game. And unlike 2004, the Rockets will get better as more starters recover from injuries and get back onto the field. Keep the faith Rocket fans, and if you are a true fan of spaghetti westerns you might just want to watch the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly just one more time to look for the similarities. Have a question or comment for Brian? Email |