Football Preview: Toledo a threat with pass offense
The CMU football team returns from a 10-day layoff to Kelly/Shorts Stadium and Mid-American Conference play at 8 p.m. today against Toledo.
The night game against the Rockets is CMU’s first conference game since playing Bowling Green on Oct. 24.
Toledo comes into Mount Pleasant having dropped its last two conference games after beginning 2-1.
CMU, which lost 31-10 to Boston College — its first loss since the season opener on Sept. 5 against Arizona — still holds a perfect conference record through five games.
The team feels no ill effects from the long break, said junior linebacker Matt Berning.
“We’ll come out a little more hungry,” Berning said. “We all sat around on Saturday and watched other teams going to work and you think, ‘That’s usually us.’ So we’re all excited to come back home.”
Toledo also is coming off of a 10-day break, and CMU coach Butch Jones looks past the team which lost its last two to one that is going to be a tough opponent and possesses statistically the MAC’s best offense.
“They’re in the upper echelon of teams in the country in (terms of) their pass offense,” Jones said. “And they’re a team that possesses a lot of weapons.”
The Rockets’ main passing weapon is senior quarterback Aaron Opelt, who has thrown for 1,863 yards and 15 touchdowns with six interceptions in seven games.
Seven of those touchdowns were thrown to wide receiver Eric Page, who averages 101 receiving yards per game (909 receiving yards total).
“I think (Opelt’s) a really good quarterback and I don’t think he gets the respect he deserves,” said junior linebacker Nick Bellore. “Last year, he really tore us up, I thought. But we don’t really think of them as combos. Obviously, that’s his favorite target but, they have a lot of other weapons out there that can hurt you, so we can’t really focus on Page too much.”
Opposite of Page, Stephen Williams has caught 60 passes for 885 yards and five touchdowns. But Toledo running back DaJuane Collins will keep CMU’s defense honest. He has 733 rushing yards and eight touchdowns.
Opelt had missed two games this season after an injury to his throwing shoulder, but Bellore and the Chippewas expect him to be prepared and to spread the ball around.
On offense, Jones said it is going to be critical that the team executes defensively, as the Rockets will show the Chippewas a number of different looks.
“They produce so many different things schematically that we have to make sure that we’re fundamentally sound,” he said. “In our blitz pick-up schemes and our one-on-one matchups in man coverage, it’s going to be critical that we execute, because they’re talented.”
