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Toledo Football: 3 takeaways from 2018 Bahamas Bowl loss to FIU

By Connor Muldowney

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - SEPTEMBER 23: Head coach Jason Candle of the Toledo Rockets calls for a two point conversion after scoring a touchdown against the Miami Hurricanes during fourth quarter action on September 23, 2017 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Miami defeated Toledo 52-30. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - SEPTEMBER 23: Head coach Jason Candle of the Toledo Rockets calls for a two point conversion after scoring a touchdown against the Miami Hurricanes during fourth quarter action on September 23, 2017 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Miami defeated Toledo 52-30. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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The 2018 Bahamas Bowl is in the books and Toledo football was unable to take home its first bowl victory since 2015 with a win over FIU. What’d we learn?

After an 11-3 campaign in 2017 which concluded with a MAC title, Toledo took a step back in 2018, going just 7-5 in the regular season, but the Rockets were rewarded with a vacation to the Bahamas and a matchup with FIU.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a vacation against a tough Panthers team which was able to get the best of the Rockets, 35-32.

Toledo looked to have all momentum to start the second half with a quick touchdown to take a 17-14 lead, but the Panthers scored the next 14 points and then added another to put the game away for good with under five minutes left.

This is the first three-game bowl losing streak in school history for the Rockets.

What’d we learn from Toledo’s performance in the 2018 Bahamas Bowl?

3. Defense didn’t quite come to play

It’s not that Florida International ran up and down the field and put up big points on the Rockets, it more so that it didn’t make the necessary stops in the second half when it held a 17-14 lead, allowing 14 straight points on questionable defensive plays.

Even at the end of the first half, Toledo was luck to trail by just four as opposed to 11 as the Panthers of FIU completed a long pass with just 22 seconds left which was brought back due to illegal touching. If not for the receiver stepping out of bounds on his own, the Rockets would have had no momentum heading into the second half.

The secondary was so-so, but the front-seven struggled to stop FIU’s run game which surpassed 200 yards. Moreover, on fourth-and-6 with the game on the line, the Rockets weren’t able to stop a pass play which ended the contest.

Toledo allowed an average of 430 yards per game and 30.5 points on the season, so this was just more of the same — a disappointing defensive performance overall.

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