Robert Hearons: Rockets ran gauntlet this season

IC Photo File

RJ Hearons

As the old saying goes, it’s not over until the fat lady sings.

That’s an adage that the University of Toledo football team was on the wrong end of this season. The big girl broke her silence around halftime of the Rockets’ final regular season game, a blowout 55-16 win over Eastern Michigan on Black Friday.

For Toledo, the final nail in the coffin was once again the Northern Illinois Huskies as they capped off their regular season with a victory over Western Michigan earlier Friday afternoon.

For a fifth-straight year, NIU is bound for Detroit as the Mid-American Conference West Division participant in the MAC championship game.

For a fifth-straight year, all the Rockets can do is watch the action on television.

But while UT’s dreams of a championship may be over for the season, Toledo’s players should be commended for making the most of a nightmare season.

To say that the Rockets were bit by the injury bug might be the understatement of the year.

Before the end of UT’s first game, they had lost both starting cornerbacks. To make matters worse, the Rockets also lost third-string cornerback Jordan Martin for multiple weeks and cornerback Trevon Mathis fell during the Bowling Green game with an abdominal injury.

But a thin secondary that ranked second-to-last in the country was only where the injury issues began.

Four different players stepped in at quarterback this season, including senior Dwight Macon, who is actually listed as a wide receiver.

Three of those players — including Macon — all played in a single game, Toledo’s sole conference loss of the season against Northern Illinois.

The quarterback that started the season was junior Phillip Ely. He lasted less than two games before an ACL tear on a non-contact play ended his year. Sophomore Logan Woodside replaced Ely to great effect, but a leg injury he suffered at Kent State forced a quarterback carousel in Toledo’s early-November matchup with NIU.

It was a tough loss that can only be described as abnormal. The craziest part is that even with a wide receiver playing signal caller, the Rockets came dangerously close to defeating the Huskies.

Macon entered the game only attempting seven passes for 62 yards in his collegiate career. He topped that with one pass of 69 yards for a touchdown, finishing 8-of-11 for 140 yards.

Add 97 yards and two scores on the ground and Macon became a serious problem for NIU.

The Rockets finished their season with seemingly half the roster unable to suit up and play.

That’s an exaggeration, but only slightly. With all things considered, the fact that the fat lady didn’t sound off until halfway through the Rockets’ final regular season game speaks volumes.

Toledo finished the regular season with an 8-4 record (7-1 in MAC). The four losses were against teams that finished with a combined record of 32-16, including a Missouri Tiger team that won the SEC West for the second consecutive year and will be competing in the SEC Championship game this Saturday.

Excluding the Huskies, UT won and lost every game they should have.

Toledo remained in the race until the very end, even with such an injury-hampered roster. Where many football teams would have folded and called it a rebuilding year, the Rockets hung tough and kept the dream alive.

Fat lady or no fat lady, the season was far from a nightmare.