Know the Foe: Toledo

Last week was a step back for first-year head coach Jeff Lebby and Mississippi State but the coach and his team have a chance to get back on track this week with a home tilt against a MAC foe.

Who:  Toledo Rockets (2-0) vs. Mississippi State Bulldogs (1-1)    

Where: Starkville, Miss.; Davis Wade Stadium (60,311)

When: September 14, 6:30 p.m. CT (ESPNU)

Series: First Meeting

The Last Time:  N/A

Coaching:

Very few Group of 5 schools have had the success that Toledo has enjoyed over the course of the last 15 seasons and head coach Jason Candle is a big reason for it.

Candle has been coaching with the Rockets since 2009 and that first season was the worst of his time there. Taking over as the receivers coach in 2010, Candle helped the team to an 8-5 record and the Little Caesars Bowl – a three-win improvement on year one.

Within three years, Candle was the team’s offensive coordinator. His offenses were among the best in the MAC during 2012-15 and he had three seasons of nine or more wins with a 10-2 record in 2015.

After four strong seasons coaching under head coach Matt Campbell, Candle got his big break in 2016 when Campbell left to become the head coach at Iowa State.

Candle has taken full advantage of his opportunity as he’s led Toledo to a 67-35 record over his nine seasons. He’s currently seven wins away from passing Toledo great Gary Pinkel who won 73 games in 10 years at the school.

Since Candle took over as head coach, the Rockets’ 67 wins are the most in the MAC. Their total record is 118-59 since 2010 and they have the second longest bowl streak of any Group of 5 team at 14. Only Oklahoma, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin and Boise State have been to a bowl every year since 2010.

Development has been big for Candle during his career as well. He helped develop Diontae Johnson and Kareem Hunt to become NFL players and he has a total of 11 former players playing in the NFL.

Candle also helped produce a dynamic Power 5 QB in Dequan Finn as the Baylor signal caller spent five years under Candle’s leadership. After throwing for over 2,000 yards three years in a row with 63 touchdowns total to 14 interceptions, Finn transferred. It’s Candle’s job to get similar production out of his new offensive faces this year.

Offense:

This is a much different looking offense than the one that Candle put on the field last year from a personnel standpoint, but the expectations don’t change for the Rockets.

Gleason is replacing Finn at the quarterback position and is originally a Georgia Tech transfer. The new starter has led the team to a good start as they’re the leaders in the MAC and 18^th nationally in points per game at 43.5. Toledo is also eighth in the country in turnover margin at +2 and 19^th in 3^rd down conversion percentage at 37.5%.

This group returns just four starters from last year’s squad and is averaging 227 yards per game through the air with 125 on the ground.

Along with Gleason is an extremely talented and fast running back in the form of senior Jacquez Stuart. The Northwestern transfer has 11 carries on the year for 48 yards and two touchdowns, but he is especially dangerous in the return game.

Last week, Stuart ran a kick back 98 yards for a score and it was the third touchdown on a kick return in his career. That number is second in school history and he can tie the school record with one more trip tot eh end zone.

Gleason is the leader on the team in yards per carry with 6.3 on his eight rushes for 50 yards. He’s also thrown for 377 yards but is just a 49% passer to this point with six touchdowns and zero interceptions.

The receiver group is led by Junior Vandeross III who had 115 of his 152 yards this season come in last week’s game. Vanderoos also has two touchdowns this year.

Senior Jerjuan Newton has six catches for 138 yards and two scores and has 23 career touchdowns at Toledo, good for seventh in school history. He’s 14^th in school history in catches (140) and yards (2,032).

The team also has former Penn State player Jaden Dottin at wide out and Western Michigan’s Anthony Torres at tight end.

The offensive line group is a veteran bunch with four of the five starters being juniors or seniors. Three of them are transfers as senior LT Allen Jones (Prairie View A&M), junior LG Carter Fouty (Air Force) and senior C Jakob James (Ohio State) all played somewhere before Toledo. 6’7 junior RT Garrett Schwiebert gives a big body blocking on the right side and 6’4, 302-pound sophomore Ethan Spoth is the young guy of the bunch.

Defense:

Just like the offense, the defense is breaking in a lot of new faces but having a solid start.

This group also only has four starters returning and they’re currently third in the MAC at 16.5 points a game surrendered. The crew is 25th national in sacks (3.00 per game) and 3^rd down percentage (25.8).

Despite the fact that Toldeo has a lot of new starters, they are exclusively juniors and senior starters.

The entire defensive front out of the 3-3-5 base will be seniors. 6’3, 300-pound Kentucky transfer Cavon Butler anchors things at defensive tackle with 6’4, 310 Darius Alexander and DE D’Andre Ragin.

The linebackers will be Jr. Jeremiah Peters and seniors Dan Bolden and Jackson Barrow. The latter defender had nine tackles last week to tie a career high.

At cornerback, Arkansas Pine-Bluff transfer Andre Fuller will share the field with a familiar face to Bulldog fans in Jadarrius Perkins. A former State lean, Perkins was set to commit to the Bulldogs on Christmas Day of 2020 but delayed his commitment.

Perkins played his college ball at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before ultimately committing to Missouri. After just a month in Columbia, he transferred to Florida to play for Dan Mullen and the Gators and he’s finishing his career at Toledo.

Perkins has three tackles and two pass breakups in the first two games.

In the safety room, junior Emmanuel McNeil-Warren leads the way. The heartbeat of the defense, McNeil-Warren is tied for second in the MAC with 21 tackles this year. Last week he had 14 tackles with a pass breakup and 1.0 sack.

Senior Maxen Hook plays the other safety position with Avery Smith playing Nickel for the Rockets.