One of the great skills in coaching is the ability to motivate a team when there’s little to play for, whether real or perceived.
In late October, Toledo was 3-4 and the preseason objective of winning the Mid-American Conference West felt like a fantasy.
Every season, teams quit when adversity strikes and conference championships become unattainable. The opposite occurred with Toledo, which played its best football in the month of November.
It all started with a beatdown of Western Michigan on Oct. 23, carrying over into the final month as the Rockets closed the regular season on a three-game winning streak.