Williams: Repeat or redemption?

Today the University of Toledo football team heads to Chicago, Illinois, to play Northern Illinois University. The football game will be held at Guaranteed Rate Field (home of the Chicago White Sox baseball team), and it will be the first football game ever played in the stadium. This game will also be another chance for the Rockets to finally beat the Huskies, a feat that has not been accomplished since 2009. What is it about the Huskies that make them so hard for us to beat? It seems as though every season, despite our successes, NIU is Toledo’s kryptonite. Is this a curse for the Rockets winning 14 games in a row against the Huskies from 1990 to 2004? Is there something in the water? Or in the Gatorade?
The truth is that for many years the Huskies have simply been better than the Rockets. From 2010 to 2014, the Huskies finished their regular season with a better overall record. In 2010, the Huskies ranked in the AP Poll at a high of 22 and in 2012 and 2013 the Huskies came in with an even better ranking of 16. Toledo has only placed in the AP Polls in one of those seasons: In 2012, when Toledo had their highest ranking of 23 out of the top 25 teams ranked.
This is not to say these meetings were not well-fought and highly competitive, except for in 2010, where the Huskies defeated the Rockets by a margin of 35 points. Looking past that game however, the margins of victories have been much smaller.
In 2011, the game was decided by just three points after a thrilling offense-filled game. That year’s meet-up saw the teams combined plays of 1,121 yards and set a Mid-American Conference record for most touchdowns scored in a game (17 total). The game was incredible, with NIU kick returner Tommylee Lewis returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in just the first quarter. Along with this incredible stat, UT quarterback Austin Dantin connected with legendary wide receiver Eric Page for five total touchdowns. But despite all this offensive firepower, the Rockets still lost the game after a Husky touchdown with 19 seconds left, which secured the game for the Huskies.
The only game in the past seven years where the Rockets were the clear favorites heading into the game was last year’s matchup. In 2015, Toledo came into the game ranked number 24 in the AP Polls, while NIU was unranked. Most of the game was led by then first-year Husky quarterback Ryan Graham, who had only had competed in two games and had just two completions under his belt. Graham entered the game in the middle of the second quarter, after the starter suffered a leg injury. Despite the inexperience and general nerves Graham had to overpower, the Huskies still pulled off the upset. This loss also dashed Toledo’s hope for a prestigious New Year’s Day bowl game.
This year will be different. Or at least it should be. Toledo is coming into the game as a heavy favorite and ESPN has given the Rockets a 74.2% chance to win. Individual performances are much stronger for the Rockets this year. Quarterback Logan Woodside is beating the Husky quarterback in yards and touchdowns. 26 more touchdowns to be exact. Kareem Hunt is leading the NIU starting running back by a total of 282 yards. Cody Thompson is also leading top Husky receiver Kenny Golladay by 107 yards and 2 touchdowns, despite Golladay having 18 more receptions on the season so far. The Rockets also lead the Huskies in almost every team stat possible. Points per game? Toledo. Total yards? Toledo. Yards allowed? Toledo. The Rockets even have a harder strength of schedule.
By all means, Toledo should easily take this game, but will fate have other plans? Does NIU beating Toledo belong in the same category of certainty as death, taxes and a 3-1 lead being blown no matter what? The logical answer for this is no, the stats say otherwise, and stats don’t lie! But stats also gave Donald Trump a less than one percent chance of becoming the Republican nominee when his campaign started, so let’s just pray to the football gods to spare us from the ever powerful force that is superstition and bring home a Toledo win.
Sam Williams is a freshman majoring in communication and is the IC sports editor.