David Briggs: 'Rip up all the negativity' as Toledo wins critical MAC opener

Sep. 26—MUNCIE, Ind. — In homage to Ball State alumnus David Letterman, I would make a list of the top 10 reasons why Toledo needed a win in its Mid-American Conference opener here Saturday.

But I'm not sure it would be enough.

With their season in the early balance, the Rockets had the just-win-baby answer they needed in a satisfyingly ugly 22-12 victory at Ball State.

The stories declaring Toledo dead?

"Rip 'em up. Rip 'em up," a smiling Jason Candle told Blade Sports Writer Kyle Rowland and me as he walked off the field. "Rip up all the negativity."

Indeed, step off the ledge, UT fans.

Just maybe, the Rockets' no-show loss to Colorado State last week was the aberration, not their inspired trip to South Bend.

(Perspective: Here's betting Colorado State isn't near as bad as we thought and Notre Dame is better. Consider Saturday, when the Rams led 14-7 at halftime of an eventual 24-14 loss at No. 5 Iowa, and the 12th-ranked Irish liquidated No. 18 Wisconsin 41-13).

In any case, the Rockets on Saturday looked like a team capable of winning the wide-open MAC.

It just might be with an unfamiliar new blueprint, which is to say with a lights-out defense and a light-bulb revelation in backup quarterback Dequan Finn.

Whatever issues Toledo might have — and every team has its share — the D and "DQ" erased all of them.

Start with Finn, the rubber-burning dual threat who made his strongest case yet that the Rockets' two-quarterback system should be no more.

On a day in which starter Carter Bradley was up and down and Toledo's run game was down then up, Finn was the electrifying constant. He raced for a 70-yard touchdown on his first and last (?!?!) drive of the first half and continued to give the Cardinals fits in his three series in the second half, including the clock-bleeding final two. (Toledo had 241 of its 444 yards with Finn in the game.)

While I'm hardly out on Bradley, Finn needs to go from closer to starter. We'll see.

As for the defense, what more is there to say?

Now that the Rockets haven't ceded a touchdown in the past two games, it might be time to conjure a nickname, especially for the defensive line. The midnight blue people eaters (whoops, already taken?) spent the second half — in which Ball State had all of 64 yards — pushing the hosts halfway to Indianapolis.

It really was a sight to behold, and confirmation that this defense can take Toledo anywhere it wants to go in the MAC.

"It's a line-of-scrimmage game," Candle said. "And that'll be true for the next 100 years of football. As much fun as it is to watch sideline-to-sideline, throwing passes all over, and high-flying offenses, it still comes down to winning games in the trenches. If you want to play in November and December, you have to be able to do that. Those guys on defense are really playing together."

That's not to suggest any of this was a picnic.

The second quarter perfectly captured the roller-coaster experience. After Finn's touchdown run put Toledo ahead 14-6 and the Rockets forced and recovered a fumble on Ball State's next possession, what happened next is not suitable for a family newspaper.

The guy who recovered that fumble? Senior linebacker Jonathan Jones raised the ball above his head and spiked it like Gronk, all but begging for a screaming-mad earful from Candle and a 15-yard penalty from the officials. Both parties obliged.

Toledo then went back to Bradley and the visiting team went three and out. Actually, make that four and out, because, incredibly, on 4th-and-1 at the UT 31, Candle kept the offense on the field. Yep, you read that right. At its own 31 ... with the defense playing well ... and no run game to speak of (UT had 17 rushing yards in the first half outside of Finn's run) ... Candle dialed up a shotgun handoff.

The move was roundly first-guessed, and, no, it didn't work.

"Analytics says go get the first down, so we tried to go get the first down," Candle said. "It's a gut feeling. In this type of game, you don't want to sit back and wait. You want to go play and try to win the football game."

I forgot to ask Candle, "If the analytics told you to jump off a bridge ... " Either way, they were clear about what would happen next: Ball State scored (after an offsides penalty negated a missed field goal).

But I digress.

Just when fans wondered if the Rockets had their heads cut off, they answered.

And I mean everyone, including Toledo's offensive line, which started pushing bodies around, too. (The Rockets' dormant run game took off for 185 yards in the second half.)

It was exactly the response you would expect from a proud and veteran football team, and just the response the Rockets delivered.

Think this game was important to them? You should have felt the walls of the visitors' locker room rattle as its inhabitants roared the Toledo fight song.

"You heard it," Candle said. "That's not fake. You can't hide that. You can't sugarcoat that. We just beat a really good football team. We just beat everyone's favorite to win the conference on their home field. That's a great feeling.

"There's a lot of momentum there and something to springboard and build off of. But if we disrespect the process and don't have really good practices next week, we'll be sitting here with our heads down. We gotta get back to work, get this one put to bed, and move on to the next one."

Well said.

The Rockets didn't let a loss beat 'em again. Now, it's time to make sure one good win doesn't, either.

First Published September 25, 2021, 9:02pm