The University of Toledo Rockets learned their fate and their opponent for the upcoming bowl season today when it was officially announced that UT will face Florida International University in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl on December 26th in Detroit at Ford Field. Coach Tim Beckman met with the press immediately following his squad's scrimmage this afternoon, their 4th of the post-season. Asked for his thoughts, Coach said they're excited, "it's close by, and we should have a great great crowd. We always preach about family around here, ...and now it's a great opportunity because we have so many Ohio and Michigan and Indiana players, their families get to get back to Detroit to see their kids play, so we're really excited to be in the Little Caesars Bowl." Beckman went on that "they're a great opponent. So we know they're a very very good opponent and they've had an outstanding year. And again, Mario's (head coach Mario Cristobol) done a great job with that program. They've done a great job this year. They're co-champions of the Sun Belt, so we know it will be a test...".
Facing off against FIU will provide the Rockets with the opportunity to see an old friend, Offensive Coordinator Scott Satterfield, who left Toledo at the end of last season to take the same position with the Golden Panthers. Toledo has played FIU in each of the last 2 seasons, with each team claiming a win on the other's home field. Naturally, with a change in offensive coordinators, there are likely to be some wrinkles in the Panther offense that weren't there before, but the defense has likely seen much of it before. Beckman said "Scott Satterfield is as good a coordinator as there is in the country, and I know they'll be very well prepared for us. I think they're a different team (than last year) with Coach Satterfield running their offense, so of course it will be a different team. But our players know some of their players from last year and two years ago." Toledo's Archie Donald said "we're going to look at some film and see what we can do to stop them."
One of the benefits of going to a bowl game of course is the additional practices that the NCAA allows bowl teams. "I can't tell you how much these practices help us," said Beckman. "It gets us better, we work on the fundamentals of football, and our young kids get a lot of reps. You can't take that back and will definitely help us prepare for next year." And that led to Coach's next comment about the team's goals: "We need to get there (Ford Field) next year. That's where the championship game will be, so hopefully this will be a little bit of a taste and they'll get the idea of 'hey, let's get back here Dec 2nd next year' ".
Austin Dantin practiced today and may be available for action in the bowl game. The other players who have been out due to injury have not practiced and will likely miss the game. "Austin will have a chance to get back".
Toledo lineback Archie Donald said "I'm happy to get back to it. Florida International...they're a good team. We'll have the film in tomorrow and we'll see how good these guys are. We played them last year and they were a pretty good team. They're going to come at us with a vengeance because we got after them last year. So it's going to be a good one". FIU has played some solid competition this past season, including Texas A&M, Maryland, and Rutgers. The Panthers lost all 3 of those games, but put up a serious fight in all of them. They finished 6-2 and tied for the conference championship. "They're going to come in here ready to fight...we're going to have to get after them and play 60 minutes of football." Asked if he's excited, Archie said "absolutely! First time in a bowl game, this is my 5th season here, it's big for me!"
Dan Molls calls it "a pretty amazing feeling, something that all of us have never experienced before. Just to be in this position, it's great. Hopefully, this is just the starting point to it. We just want to bring the tradition back." No current members of the Rocket team except coaches have any bowl experience to draw on, so the players will be looking to their coaches for guidance in how to handle the bowl game. "Pretty much all of our coaches have been somewhere, so they know. All we can do is listen to what they have to say about it. They know pretty much all there is to know about it, so we just have to go from that. But we're excited. It's a great opportunity us."
For the first time in their history, the Rockets will be practicing for a bowl game in the comfort of an indoor practice facility. Gone are the days when players were outside struggling to stay warm, or dry, or both. Gone are the low-speed practices on the wood floors at the old health-ed building. Now they practice in comfort in the Fetterman Center, on turf much like they'll experience in Detroit. "I don't know what FIU has, but this can only give us an advantage going in", said Molls.
Coach Beckman left immediately following the press conference to go on the road recruiting.
Great coverage Karl!
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