A battle of mid-major opponents takes place in the opening week of the college football season. The Toledo Rockets look to start a new era on a positive note as they take on the Arkansas State Red Wolves Friday night. The game kicks off at 9:00 pm ET from Centennial Bank Stadium in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The current line shows Arkansas State as a -3.5 point favorite with the over/under set at 64.5 points in this contest.
The Rockets have won all four meetings between the teams. That includes a 37-7 romp at home on September 26, 2015, in the last meeting between the schools. It was the second meeting of the calendar year: Toledo beat Arkansas State, 63-44, in the GoDaddy.com Bowl on January 4, 2015.
Toledo put up their sixth straight winning season in 2015 as they finished 10-2 on the year. It proved to be the end of the Matt Campbell era, who took the Iowa State job in late November. Jason Candle coached the Rockets to a 32-17 win over Temple in the Boca Raton Bowl. He takes over the coaching reins going forward. He has his work cut out filling in for Campbell, who was 35-15 with the Rockets.
Arkansas State rang up their fifth straight winning season in 2015, posting a 9-4 record in Blake Anderson’s second year as head coach. The Red Wolves won the Sun Belt title, knocking off Appalachian State 40-27. Arkansas State ran out of gas in the New Orleans Bowl, losing 47-28 to Louisiana Tech.
Both of these teams are considered to be viable threats for a title in their respective conferences. For a look at what else goes on this week, you can take a look here for all the games.
It may be Candle instead of Campbell as the head coach here but Toledo is still loaded with weapons. The Rockets bring back eight starters on offense and technically, you could call it nine. Logan Woodside, who was 8-2 as a starter in 2014 before missing all of last year, takes over the starting quarterback role. Throw in a pair of running backs in Kareem Hunt and Terry Swanson, each who ran for more than 900 yards last season, and the ground game is solid.
The passing game welcomes back Cody Thompson, who caught 37 balls for 825 yards and five scores. He was third in the nation in yards per catch with a 22.3 yard average. Corey Jones (team high 55 grabs) is dangerous in the slot and on special teams. Toledo also brings back four starters on the offensive line. The defense may take a little time to adjust with three of the defensive line starters from a year ago gone. Only two starters from the secondary return as well. Brian George has to try and find new pieces on the fly in order to get the Rockets up to speed on defense.
Arkansas State put together a winning season and a Sun Belt title last year. It’s going to be tougher sledding for the Red Wolves this year. The Red Wolves bring back 13 starters from last season, six on offense and seven on defense. The issue is that there are key contributors that are missing thanks to graduation. Quarterback Fredi Knighten, who threw for 1,835 yards with 19 touchdowns and nine picks while adding 400 yards plus five scores on the ground, is gone. Running back Michael Gordon (1,068 yards, 9 TD) and leading receiver J.D. McKissic (52 grabs) are also out of the mix. That’s a lot of production to try and replace.
The Red Wolves bring back good talent on defense but they have to tighten up in pass defense. While Arkansas State picked off 26 passes last year, they also gave up at least 300 yards through the air six times. Toledo gashed them for 308 yards through the air last season en route to a 497 yard offensive performance. Arkansas State picked up -14 yards on the ground in that game. Johnston White and Warren Wand have to be effective pounding the ball on the ground. Chad Voytik (graduate transfer from Pitt) or Justice Hansen (transfer from Oklahoma) have to establish themselves in the passing game.
Toledo is 9-0 ATS in their last nine on the road, 3-0-1 ATS in their last four vs. the Sun Belt and 4-0-1 ATS in their last five non-conference games.