Michigan Weekend Preview: Toledo

Michigan will close out their regular season by taking a quick jaunt down to the Glass City to take on first-year MCLA program Toledo. A win in this game (which is all but guaranteed) wraps up the third undefeated regular season in the past four years for the Wolverines.

Toledo

Saturday 7PM, The Glass Bowl
Record: 1-7 (0-2 CCLA East)
Rankings: 86 (Computer).
Common Opponents: @ Pittsburgh (L 1-11), Ohio (L 3-12).

Schedule

The Rockets haven’t accomplished a whole lot in their first year in the MCLA, with a couple wins over non-MCLA D1 teams (Bowling Green and MCLA D2 Oakland), and their only true win over CCLA West squad Ball State – albeit by an 18-7 score.

In their two games against common opponents with Michigan, both of whom are conference divisional opponents, Toledo was killed by both, whereas Michigan was on the other end of a pair of beatdowns. Shockingly, the Wolverines impressed, and the first-year MCLA team did not.

In their other games, Toledo has fallen to Central Michigan, West Virginia, Miami, Western Michigan, and Purdue. All of those games were on the road. In fact, only the two scrimmages and the divisional contests against Ohio and Michigan were at home this season.

Personnel

Seeing as how the Rockets have only broken double-digit scoring in four games, it’s no surprise that they don’t have a lot of standout offensive performers. 7 players are over 1 PPG, and only 2 are over 2 PPG. The leading scorer is senior midfielder Adam Howell, but the next three are freshmen – Toledo should improve dramatically in year two of MCLA ball.

Their defensive unit, on the other hand, is pretty experienced. Juniors Dan Bryan and Cory Jarosi are joined by senior Hector Mendez on the starting unit. They are also the top three players in the team in ground balls (aside from the Rockets’ faceoff specialists).

Speaking of those faceoffs, the Rockets have been searching for a solution there most of the season – they’ve tried 8 different players there – and seem to have found a consistent option in redshirt junior Alex Soto-Edwards. Per the MCLA’s stats, he’s only winning 44.4% of his draws, but he’s taken the most.

In goal, a pair of sophomores have played about the same amount, with Kerry Schwable seeming to get a little bit more action. The stats aren clearly not right, since neither keeper is listed as having a GAA in double-digits, even though the team is allowing 12.5 goals per game.

Predictions

This should unfold a lot like the Ohio game. The Wolverines will be better in basically every respect, but have no interest in embarrassing an obviously-weaker opponent, especially one in its first year of MCLA ball. Like most game against weaker opposition this year, the subs should start getting into the game by the second quarter as Michigan cruises to a 20-3 victory.