VanDelaySports.com > MAC Football > Letter to the Toledo Blade

Lacking Confidence

Here we go again…

Saturday’s night thumping by the Purdue Boilermakers left me reminiscing to 2004 when Toledo started their season off by giving up 63 points consecutively to Kansas and Minnesota.

It chalked up another blowout suffered at the hands of a BCS opponent.

To a certain degree, this is embarrassing for the program. Look, nobody enjoys getting blown out, especially at home. But, continually losing by wide margins to middle of the road BCS schools unquestionably damages your reputation and credibility as a Division I program especially one that has to battle Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame for local support.

Now, I am not dogging Purdue here. They have a nice team with tremendous speed and great athletes. They were the better team Saturday night and it showed.

But this was not USC, Ohio State, or Florida where prestige alone would make Saturday night’s result seem as expected. Games against Kansas, Purdue, and Minnesota should be competitive where the expectations are to win and not just keep it respectable.

In other words, Saturday night would be easier to swallow if the competition was above and beyond your talent level. Yes, blowouts do occur frequently in college football. Yes, Purdue plays in the Big 10 and generally recruits better athletes.

But, don’t tell me that Toledo had no business being in that game. The Rockets have beaten Penn State and Purdue before. The game could have been won, especially in front of your home crowd.

It just begs to question what is going on with this program. Is there a lack of discipline? Is there a lack of control? Or did too much youth on Toledo’s sidelines put them in such a disadvantage?

We all know about the "point-shaving" debacle along with other off-the-field issues including academic problems that has seemingly obliterated Toledo’s depth chart at several positions. This is not about laying the blame on Coach Amstutz; far from it. However, it will bring out some of his detractors, the ones who will tell you that he “runs a dirty program,” or that he “fails to discipline his players.” That’s unfair.

But, when you see a team consistently drop passes, get called for penalties, and show poor fundamental tackling, “discipline” questions begin to arise. This was a major problem in 2006 and it has no business still being discussed in 2007.

Now, in no way am I giving up on this team. There is still a lot of football left this season.

But, realistically with this schedule the Rockets could start the season 0-5. Road games at Kansas and Central Michigan along with Iowa State and Western Michigan at home will be awfully tough. Add in a healthy mix of freshmen and sophomores with little game experience and this could be a rebuilding year for the Midnight Blue and Gold.

Nevertheless, don’t hit the panic button yet. The Rockets have talent on both sides of the ball and a running game that could get through any defense. Last year showed that this team can stay with anyone.

I just shutter as to what September 1st does for attendance and the casual fan who wears a Buckeye, Wolverine, or Fighting Irish jersey to the game. We may hate their allegiances, but this school needs their support to stay alive. The casual fan rarely looks at the whole season or understands what you have accomplished as a program. It’s merely “what have you done for me lately.”

And as of now, it’s “not a whole lot.”

But, a win Saturday against the Chippewas brings a whole lot of confidence back to the Glass City.