Rockets defense was No. 5 in country

The 2022 college football season ended Monday night with a thud.

Georgia’s 65-7 disembowelment of TCU was the most lopsided national championship game, making for an anticlimactic finish after two all-time classic semifinals.

Thus begins the offseason, a time to speculate wildly, a period of eternal optimism at all 131 FBS programs, and don’t forget the season that never ends: recruiting.

We’re going to take a step back and review Toledo’s 9-5 Mid-American Conference and Boca Raton Bowl championship season through the eyes of Pro Football Focus, one of the most sought and respected grading systems in the sport.

Toledo (83.9): The Rockets graded out as the No. 46 team in the country, ahead of Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Texas Tech.

The season-long grades don’t just reveal which teams have the best players, it also shows which teams are well-coached. UT’s placement and 83.9 grade, less than one whole point lower than TCU, Kansas State, and Ole Miss, indicates that the program is on the right track and expectations for 2023 should be double-digit wins.

Defense (92.7): The Vince Kehres-led Toledo defense graded out as the nation’s No. 5 unit, behind Iowa, Michigan, Texas State, and Illinois. The UT pass coverage ranked sixth and the run defense was eighth.

Toledo ranked 18th in total defense (326.2 yards per game), 12th in pass defense (183.0 yards), 57th in rush defense (143.2 yards), and 55th in scoring defense (25.1 points).

Quinyon Mitchell (92.3): The All-American cornerback graded out as the No. 5 defensive player in the country, with high marks for coverage (fourth) and run defense. Mitchell ended the season with a nation’s-best 25 passes defended, three more than the second most, and he had five interceptions, two behind Buffalo’s Marcus Fuqua and Middle Tennessee State’s Decorian Patterson.

Pass blocking (45.2): The clear weakness of the 2022 Toledo football team was the offensive line and, in particular, pass blocking. The Rockets graded out 117th nationally. The passing offense was No. 75 and UT’s 28 sacks allowed ranked 71st. Nick Rosi was by far the best pass-blocking offensive lineman, with a grade of 77.9. It’s an area Toledo needs to improve on in 2023 to fully maximize its offensive firepower.

Contact Kyle Rowland at: krowland@theblade.com, or on Twitter @KyleRowland.