In these offensive days, who says that defense doesn’t win championships?
It wasn’t an artistic success, but Toledo used a stingy defense and did just enough on offense to defeat Ohio 17-7 in the Mid-American Conference championship.
Since the advent of the MAC title game in 1997, the 24 points scored by Toledo and Ohio is the lowest total in a championship. Before this, the lowest came in 2009 when Central Michigan beat Ohio, 20-10.
Toledo has made seven appearances in the MAC title game, winning four times. It was Toledo’s first MAC title since 2017, which was the second season under current coach Jason Candle.
Toledo did not have to face Ohio QB Kurtis Rourke, the MAC Player of the Year, who played 11 games but was out with a season-ending knee injury. Rourke threw 25 touchdown passes and four interceptions this season.
Again, Toledo only could play against who lined up against the Rockets, but it would be understating things to say that Ohio missed its starting quarterback.
That said, the Rockets’ defense played out of its mind.
In Rouke’s place, CJ Harris started for Ohio at quarterback and completed 16 of 31 for 163 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. He also rushed for 12 yards on six carries.
Toledo also stymied the Ohio ground game, limiting the Bobcats to 99 yards on 29 carries, just 3.4 yards per carry.
This year Toledo (8-5) was far from dominating, but championships aren’t awarded on style points.
Ohio (9-4) won the MAC East Division with a 7-1 mark, two games ahead of both Buffalo and Bowling Green.
Toledo (8-5) meanwhile tied Eastern Michigan for first place in the West Division with 5-3 records. The tiebreaker was Toledo’s 27-24 win over Eastern Michigan.
In fact, Toledo entered the championship on a two-game losing streak. The Rockets lost 42-35 at home to Ball State. That was the second most points the Rockets allowed this year, surpassed only by a 77-21 loss at Ohio State.
Following that loss to Ball State, Toledo returned to its defensive roots in a 20-14 loss at Western Michigan.
Despite losing, Toledo limited Western Michigan to 2.9 yards per carry and to just 54 yards passing. Western Michigan went 2-for-20 on fourth down and was forced to punt an incredible 14 times. Western Michigan scored one of its touchdowns on a 36-yard interception return, so Toledo allowed just one touchdown, a 63-yard run.
That defense continued dominating in the championship game against Ohio.
Leading the defense was senior linebacker Dyontae Johnson, who had eight tackles and 0.5 tackles for loss in earning the defensive MVP of the game award. Johnson was a second-team all-conference selection.
It’s no surprise that of the five Toledo players who earned first-team All-MAC honors, four came from the defense.
Other than offensive lineman Nick Rosi, the first-team defensive members were senior defensive lineman Desjuan Johnson, junior linebacker Dallas Gant (team-high 113 tackles), sophomore cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, and sophomore safety Maxen Hook.
For the most part this year, the defense was among the best in the MAC.
Toledo leads the MAC in total defense, allowing 331.8 yards per game, and was third in scoring defense, allowing 25.25 points per game. The Rockets also led the MAC in passing defense, allowing 185 yards per game and they surrendered the fewest TD passes, 15.
While the defense often set the tone, Toledo has a strong offense, it just didn’t show in the past two games.
Overall, the Rockets lead the MAC in scoring offense, averaging 32.1 points per game.
The leader is sophomore quarterback Dequan Finn, who missed two November games with an ankle injury. He was the offensive MVP of the championship game, completing 16 of 25 for 154 yards and rushing for another 86 yards.
This season, Finn has thrown 22 touchdown passes, but also 12 interceptions. He has rushed for 608 yards (5.4 avg.) and a team-high eight touchdowns.
Now the Rockets will gear their attention to bowl season. They will face Liberty (8-4) in the Dec. 20 Boca Raton Bowl.
The Rockets look to snap a four-game bowl losing streak. Their last win came at none other than this same Boca Raton Bowl, a 32-17 triumph over Temple in 2015. (A little nostalgia, current Cleveland Browns RB Kareem Hunt rushed for 79 yards and two scores in the win over Temple).
Toledo can only hope that the defense from most of the season and especially the past two games, carries over against Liberty.
