Page 34 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012

34 2012 OUTLOOK

2 Rocket Notebook

ROCKETS FINISH 9-4, MACWEST DI-VISION CO-CHAMPS

Toledo concluded the 2011 season with a 9-4 record, its most wins since a 9-3 record in 2005. UT tied Northern Illinois for the MAC West Division title with a 7-1 record, but the Huskies rep-resented the West in the MAC Cham-pionship Game because they won the tie-breaker over UT by virtue of their 63-60 victory on Nov. 1.

With the victory over Air Force, Toledo is now 9-3 all-time in bowl games.

TERRANCEOWENSSHINESASSTART-ING QB

Junior QB Terrance Owens had a great sophomore campaign in 2011. But it was as a starter in the fnal three games that Owens really shined. Owens came of the bench in To-ledo’s frst 10 games, splitting time evenly with Austin Dantin. But when Dantin missed the fnal regular-season tilts due to injury, Owens stepped up and put up huge numbers. That furry continued inUT’s victory over Air Force in the Military Bowl. In those three games, all victories, Owens completed a staggering 79.5 percent (70-of-88) of his passes for 752 yards, seven touch-downs with no interceptions.

Owens made his frst start of the season vs. CMU on Nov. 18 and com-pleted 24-of-32 passes for 275 yards with two TDs. Owens, who started the fnal four games under center in 2010, equaled his career high in comple-tions, set against CMU last season. Against Ball State on Nov. 25, Ow-ens completed his frst 14 passes of the game, ending up 27-of-32 for 267 yards and four TDs.

And in the Military Bowl vs. Air Force on Dec. 28, Owens connected on 19-of-24 passes for 210 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.

OWENS, DANTIN AMONG NATION’S MOST ACCURATE PASSERS

Terrance Owens and Austin Dan-tin ranked sixth and 21st, respectively, in the nation in passing efciency. To-ledo is the frst football team to have two passers in the top 25 in passing efciency in the same season. Owens and Dantin also ranked frst and fourth in the MAC in passing efciency. Owens was 166-of-230 (72.2%) for 2,022 yards and 18 TDs with three in-terceptions for a 169.24 rating. Dantin was 122-of-188 (64.9%) for 1404 yards and 15 TDs and four picks for an ef-ciency rating of 149.70.

FRESHMAN GREG MANCZ EARNS NATIONAL RECOGNITION

Right guard Greg Mancz was named 2011 frst-team Freshman All-America by Yahoo! Sports and third-team Freshman All-America by Phil Steele Publications.

Mancz was a key part of a UT of-fense that ranked eighth in nation and frst in MAC in scoring (42.2), and 10th nationally and frst in MAC in total of-fense (481.3). Toledo’s line also ranked tied for sixth in nation and frst in MAC in fewest sacks allowed (10).

ROCKETS AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS

The Rockets were among the na-tional leaders in numerous statistical categories in 2011. Among them: • Eric Page ranked in the top 25 nation-ally in four categories: second in recep-tions (9.6/game), ffth in all-purpose yardage (172.6), 19th in punt return average (10.9) and 25th in receiving yards (90.9).

• Terrance Owens ranked ffth in pass-ing efciency (169.2), 15 spots ahead of Austin Dantin (149.7), who ranked 21st.

• AdonisThomas ranked 17th in rushing yards per game (107.1).

• DesmondMarrow tied for ffthwith 18 passes defended (15 breakups, three

interceptions).

• As a team, the Rockets ranked eighth in scoring ofense (42.2), 10th in total ofense, (481.3), eighth in passing ef-fciency (160.4), tied for sixth for fewest turnovers (14), third in turnover margin (+1.2), tied for sixth for fewest sacks al-lowed (10) and tied for sixth in red-zone conversions (92.5%).

LEADERS OF THE MAC

Toledo ranked No. 1 in the MAC in scoring ofense, total ofense, pass-ing efciency, punt returns, turnover margin, third-down conversion and red-zone conversion in 2011.

DAN MOLLS BACK IN TOP FORM

Linebacker Dan Molls made quite an impact following his return to the lineup on Oct. 22. He fnished the sea-sonwith 70 tackles, and ranked third in the MAC with 10.0 tackles per game. Molls was named MAC West Di-vision Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Northern Illinois game on Nov. 1, racking up a season-high 17 tackles.

A week later against WMU, Molls tied for the team lead with 11 stops, adding two fumble recoveries, one tackle-for-loss and one breakup. Molls was credited with 11 tackles vs. CMU on Nov. 18, and nine tackles and a fumble recovery vs. BSU on Nov. 25. He led UT with 12 tackles in the Military Bowl before coming out in the third quarter with a concussion. Molls had missed six games with a leg injury before returning to the starting lineup vs. Miami on Oct. 22. He was a third-team All-MAC selection in 2010 when he was 10th in the na-tion with 143 tackles.

DETMER PERFECT FROM 50

Placekicker Jeremiah Detmer was 5-of-6 on his feld-goal attempts in his freshman season in 2011. Hemade two kicks of at least 50 yards, both as time expired at the end of the frst half.