Toledo Rockets Statistical Leaders

The Running Game

1. Kareem Hunt -- 35 carries, 284 yards, 8.1 ypc, 5 TD's
2. Damion Jones-Moore -- 10 carries, 77 yards, 7.7 ypc, 1 TD
3. Terry Swanson -- 7 carries, 52 yards, 7.43 ypc

Kareem Hunt is picking up exactly where he left off last season when he supplanted the injured David Fluellen and became the Rocket's workhorse in the running game. If you want a reference point for Hunt think of Hosey Williams, but with better feet. Hunt was the Rockets best player by far in the loss to Mizzou on Saturday. When Hank Hughes and the defensive coaches get together with their players this week you can be sure the Hunt will be the guy in the running game who gets his number circled.

The Passing Game

1. Phillip Ely -- 60.3 percent completions, 541 yards, 4 TD's, 1 INT, 143.59 QB rating
2. Logan Woodside -- 60 percent completions, 52 yards, 103.68 QB rating
3. Michael Julian -- 100 percent completions, 23 yards, 293.20 QB rating

Ely won the job in the offseason over Logan Woodside who was the man in relief of an injured Terrence Owens last fall. But Ely was injured in the game against Missouri and is (as of this writing at around 10 PM on Sunday) a big doubt for the game on Friday. If the Rockets have to go with a back up against the Bearcats it would presumably be Woodside who was fine in relief of Ely saturday, but nothing more than that.

1. Alonzo Russell -- 12 receptions, 167 yards
2. Corey Jones -- 8 receptions, 97 yards, 1 TD
3. Alex Zmolik -- 5 receptions, 78 yards
4. Kishon Wilcher -- 5 receptions, 68 yards

Alonzo Russell is immensely talented, as evidenced by this ridiculous catch a year ago. He is also immensely frustrating because he is so talented and so inconsistent. He has had solid numbers this year through I personally found him a bit underwhelming. In fairness the quarterback issues had something to do with that.

Offensive Line Stats

• 229 rushing yards per game
• 6.03 yards per carry
• 7 tackles for loss allowed
• 3 sacks allowed
• 4% sack rate

When I did my preview of the Rockets I said that Toledo would probably have one of the best offensive lines the Bearats would have the privilege of facing this year. After watching two weeks of football I think its time to drop the probably part of that. This is a very good, very experienced front that is going to be the best the Bearcats face unless they wind up in one of the access bowls. Don't sleep on this group.

Tackles

1. Junior Sylvestre -- 9 solo, 8 assisted, 17 total
2. Trent Voss -- 9 solo, 4 assisted, 13 total
3. Chris Dukes -- 9 solo, 2 assisted, 11 total

Junio Sylvestre is having himself a good senior season for the Rockets. He isn't making anyone forget Dan Molls, but he is playing rock solid ball for a team that is in desperate need of stability on the defensive side of the ball. Voss had a good game against New Hampshire but didn't have much of an impact against Mizzou. Thats a line that could be repeated a lot with this defense. They didn't look good against the Tigers at all. And there is this, three of the top five tacklers are defensive backs.

Pressure Stats

1. Orion Jones -- 2.5 TFL, 2 sacks
2. Trent Voss -- 2 TFL, 1 sack, QB hurries
3. Allen Covington -- 2 TFL, 2 passes broken up

The Rockets secondary has issues, but they are not being helped at all by the defensive line. The Rockets are only getting pressure on opposing passers on 14 percent of dropbacks. That has given opposing passers plenty of time and space to pick on Toledo's makeshift secondary. No wonder they are allowing a passer rating of nearly 160

Pass Defense Stats

1. Jordan Haden -- 1 INT, 1 pass breakup
2. Chris Dukes -- 1 INT, 1 pass breakup
3. Trevor Mathis -- 2 pass breakups

The bottom line for Toledo is that they are not impacting opposing passing games at all. Missouri passed at will against their secondary, which is acceptable. New Hampshire did as well which is less acceptable. The biggest problem for the Rockets is that they lost two starters to injuries and have gotten extremely young in the back end of the defense. As a result they are struggling to impact the passing games of their opponents, and their pass rush is not doing enough to offset the drop off in production that almost always comes part in parcel with starting so many young bodies in the secondary.