Not an abundance of info on Toledo, but found a few nuggets. 

While they are not P5, pretty decent small conference team on paper. Regardless, we absolutely should beat them handily, but they're not an FCS type tune up team.

• Last season
  • Shortened Covid season
  • Toledo was one of a few favorites to win the MAC
  • Two losses. Both by 3pts, and to good MAC teams (including MAC champion Ball State).
• So far this year
  • Beat FCS MEAC Norfolk State 49-10
  • 236 yards passing and 205 yards rushing
• General
  • 21 returning starters
  • Most MAC predictions have either Toledo or Ball State as favorites to win the conference
• Offense:
  • Averaged 35 points a game last season
  • 2nd in MAC in total offense, and first in passing offense
  • Starting experience at every position except QB
  • 3 QBs played, with Bradley getting the most snaps. Wouldn't be surprised to see multiple QBs play this weekend
  • The OL returns all 5 starters including 2 All-MAC
    • Center Bryce Harris 1st Team
    • RT Nick Rossi (AM when Fresh)
  • Junior RB Brant Koback is a 2 year starter who has career stats of 2626 yards and 30 TDs. 
  • Two of their starting WRs were 2nd and 3rd team All MAC
• Defense:
  • Defense assumed to be improving under Jason Candle
  • Returns 5 (4 current, 1 previous) All Conference players
    • Two time All MAC edge Jamal Hines
    • DT Desjuan Johnson
    • LB Dyontae Johnson
    • SAF Tycen Anderson 
    • SAF Nate Bauer
  • Senior CB Samuel Womack has led the MAC in PDUs for the last two seasons and a favorite for All MAC honors this year.
• Special Teams
  • Punter Bailey Flint led the MAC in 2019 for yards per punt

 

Let me know if you'd prefer me to do a separate "Homework Thread", @OKelleyIrish otherwise I'm just going to put stuff on this topic. 

 

 

 

Stats:

https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/2649

 

Box score +

https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401309543

 

 

This guy likes the Toledo defense and running game.

 

Learned that Koback transferred from Kentucky back to Toledo. Had a severe leg injury that kept him from be looked at by Ohio State

 

This is not a typical MAC team that ND has faced in the past (Miami (OH), Bowling Green, Ball State, etc.). This is a very good and experienced team. As OKelleyIrish said, 21 starters returning (would have been 22 but for an injury to a starting LB during fall camp), including several all conference players. They played two QBs last week against Norfolk State and will likely do the same this week against ND. They have a solid rushing attack, which is concerning based on what ND looked like at FSU.

ND will get the win, but I can see this being uncomfortable at the half or even through three quarters. That said, I think ND gets a 2TD+ win. The FSU game was probably a good wakeup call for Freeman and the defense. FSU has talent at RB and WR (more so than everyone thought leading up to the game). If ND simply tackles better and doesn't get too cute schematically (no more 3-4), the defense should perform much better. Toledo will get some yards on the ground and there will likely be some big plays (that's one of the downsides of having an aggressive defensive coordinator), but I think the defense will play much better overall. Hard to see Toledo scoring more than 3 TDs. On offense, I just hope that Coan continues to look as good as he did against FSU. Keep getting Mayer/Williams/Tyree the ball, but definitely want to keep seeing deep shots to Austin and Lenzy. Would like to see Keys and Styles get more involved (Keys had 5 snaps and Styles only 1 snap against FSU). I have to think the running game will be much better, even with Fisher out. FSU's DL could prove to be one of the best ND faces the entire year (probably behind Cincinnati at least). 

I like ND to win 38-20.

 

Above the media talked to 

• Foskey- Loves to rush the passer and drop in coverage. TOLEDO has a solid Left Tackle
• Doerer- Feels more ALIVE when He's kicking. Laser focus ND Stadium wind is hard to read
• Mayer. Addressed two drops: "I took my eye off the ball." On opening TD, it was a busted coverage by FSU. a Flat/Corner Route Combo  
• Bertrand- Mentioned  mentoring Prince Kollie and what an honor it was to play for JD's father. (I need to listen to that again).

They better destroy Toledo and get plenty of reps for the 2nd string and freshmen....

Looking like some gusty wind for the game Saturday. 

1 hour ago, tneun89 said:

This is not a typical MAC team that ND has faced in the past (Miami (OH), Bowling Green, Ball State, etc.). This is a very good and experienced team. As OKelleyIrish said, 21 starters returning (would have been 22 but for an injury to a starting LB during fall camp), including several all conference players. They played two QBs last week against Norfolk State and will likely do the same this week against ND. They have a solid rushing attack, which is concerning based on what ND looked like at FSU.

ND will get the win, but I can see this being uncomfortable at the half or even through three quarters. That said, I think ND gets a 2TD+ win. The FSU game was probably a good wakeup call for Freeman and the defense. FSU has talent at RB and WR (more so than everyone thought leading up to the game). If ND simply tackles better and doesn't get too cute schematically (no more 3-4), the defense should perform much better. Toledo will get some yards on the ground and there will likely be some big plays (that's one of the downsides of having an aggressive defensive coordinator), but I think the defense will play much better overall. Hard to see Toledo scoring more than 3 TDs. On offense, I just hope that Coan continues to look as good as he did against FSU. Keep getting Mayer/Williams/Tyree the ball, but definitely want to keep seeing deep shots to Austin and Lenzy. Would like to see Keys and Styles get more involved (Keys had 5 snaps and Styles only 1 snap against FSU). I have to think the running game will be much better, even with Fisher out. FSU's DL could prove to be one of the best ND faces the entire year (probably behind Cincinnati at least). 

I like ND to win 38-20.

Yup. One of the favorites to win the MAC. 

Still, ND should win handily, but I agree the 1H might be uncomfortable.

Skimmed their recruiting classes on 247 the last 5 periods, and they have zero 4 star guys. Mostly 3 star guys with some lower ranked mixed in. 21 returning starters provides the cohesion though, and seems as though they've developed well.

My fear to an extent is us going super conservative/vanilla. 

Just now, OKelleyIrish said:

Yup. One of the favorites to win the MAC. 

Still, ND should win handily, but I agree the 1H might be uncomfortable.

Skimmed their recruiting classes on 247 the last 5 periods, and they have zero 4 star guys. Mostly 3 star guys with some lower ranked mixed in. 21 returning starters provides the cohesion though, and seems as though they've developed well.

My fear to an extent is us going super conservative/vanilla. 

You know, being where we have been the past three years. This used to be one of those games that could sneak up on you. I think NDis too deep anymore that that shouldn’t happen and won’t. 

10 minutes ago, coltssb said:

You know, being where we have been the past three years. This used to be one of those games that could sneak up on you. I think NDis too deep anymore that that shouldn’t happen and won’t. 

Every time I think it won't happen.... something happens lol...

I really don't see us taking a dump though. Not after the FSU scare.

But I can see us going uber conservative early, and it being closer than it should be. We've just got too many horses, and too much size/speed advantage not to break through. 

One of my biggest hopes, is that we take a step forward on the OL. The only one that played well last week IMO was the freshman, and he looks to be out. Haven't seen anything official but he's not on the depth chart, and saw one report it might be 5-6 weeks. Carmody scares me a bit, but I'll give him more slack than the 4 starters who all looked pretty bad. 

Not as worried about the run D. FSU had/has one of the best running games in the nation going back to last season. I have a feeling the front 7 will look a lot better in that area. If not, we'll need to make so LB shuffles. 

 

 

 

 

go this in my email. Says Toledo QB Bradley is the son of the NFL's Gus Bradley

Toledo coach on ND

Talks two QBs: Bradley(passer) Finn(Rusher)

 

 

Probably a boring domination 45-24 something like that.

17 hours ago, OKelleyIrish said:

Every time I think it won't happen.... something happens lol...

I really don't see us taking a dump though. Not after the FSU scare.

But I can see us going uber conservative early, and it being closer than it should be. We've just got too many horses, and too much size/speed advantage not to break through. 

One of my biggest hopes, is that we take a step forward on the OL. The only one that played well last week IMO was the freshman, and he looks to be out. Haven't seen anything official but he's not on the depth chart, and saw one report it might be 5-6 weeks. Carmody scares me a bit, but I'll give him more slack than the 4 starters who all looked pretty bad. 

Not as worried about the run D. FSU had/has one of the best running games in the nation going back to last season. I have a feeling the front 7 will look a lot better in that area. If not, we'll need to make so LB shuffles. 

I think we’ll see improvement overall from week one to two. If we do t then we are who we thought we were-bad. 
But I did like the fact the defense did cause havoc. I liked how they “had” guys boggled up. They just needed to finish it. I went back and watched the first half. That game is over if they don’t let that run happen and they actually tackled better. 
Also, there were two drives that just went nowhere that helped motivate that crowd. 
But I think Coan is the right man for the job and I think the defense cleans up better. I agree with Teuen. This game may be close for three quarters but never a moment where we’ll feel they are going to lose. 
Toledo is a good veteran team and those guys usually don’t make mistakes. Usually…

9 hours ago, coltssb said:

I think we’ll see improvement overall from week one to two. If we do t then we are who we thought we were-bad. 
But I did like the fact the defense did cause havoc. I liked how they “had” guys boggled up. They just needed to finish it. I went back and watched the first half. That game is over if they don’t let that run happen and they actually tackled better. 
Also, there were two drives that just went nowhere that helped motivate that crowd. 
But I think Coan is the right man for the job and I think the defense cleans up better. I agree with Teuen. This game may be close for three quarters but never a moment where we’ll feel they are going to lose. 
Toledo is a good veteran team and those guys usually don’t make mistakes. Usually…

I think I did a great job tempering my own expectations for the year lol. 

I pretty much expected struggles on D the first 3-5 games with the new scheme. With the hope we'd get things fine tuned before we played Wisconsin and the following 4 teams. The havoc is great, and I think a lot of us expected that. Just need to fine tune things over the next 2.5 weeks. I do believe BK when he said most of it was execution. Just by my eye, lots of gap confusion. Like @FaithInIrishForever has pointed out, also concerned a bit with LBs. I think we need to shuffle a bit, especially with the injuries. 

I did not think Coan would come out on fire like that lol.... I was almost certain that Kelly would bring him along slowly. I know we had to throw late to win, but I did not expect us to begin the game with some many back to back passes. Not sure it's sustainable, but it looked great game 1. And I really enjoyed the play calling at times pushing the ball down field with purposeful deep calls. 

I think Toledo might hang 1H. I don't see them hanging much longer. Our size and speed will at some point put things out of reach. 

Decent high level overview/preview of the game

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/toledo-rockets-vs-notre-dame-fighting-irish-prediction-picks-2021