Boca Raton Bowl Preview The Toledo Rockets vs. The Liberty Flames
The Boca Raton Bowl History
The matchup between the Liberty Flames and the Toledo Rockets will only be the ninth all-time Boca Raton Bowl. Its first iteration was in 2014. Counting this matchup the bowl will have seen six Conference USA teams (who are 6-0), five Mid-American Conference teams (1-3), four American Athletic Conference teams (0-4), two Independent teams (1-0), and one team out of the Sun Belt Conference (1-0).
The Boca Raton Bowl has shown some very prolific passers in Rakeem Cato of Marshall, BYU’s Zach Wilson, and Bailey Zappe of Western Kentucky. Toledo’s Dequan Finn looks to add his name to that list in this year’s game. Buffalo Bills running back Devin Singletary had a big game in 2017 when he scored three touchdowns giving him 33 on the season that year.
There have been even more premier coaches in the Boca Raton Bowl. Seven Power 5 coaches took a team to this bowl. TCU’s Sonny Dykes brought SMU here, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule brought Temple, Kalani Sitake brought his BYU Cougars, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel brought UCF, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm brought Western Kentucky, Florida State’s Mike Norvell brought Memphis, Iowa State’s Matt Campbell brought Toledo, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin brought Florida Atlantic. Group of 5 stalwarts like Northern Illinois’ Rod Carey, Western Kentucky’s Tyson Helton, and Marshall’s Doc Holliday all brought good teams to the Boca Raton Bowl.
Now Toledo, Dequan Finn, and Jason Candle will battle with Liberty, Josh Aldridge, and Dae Dae Hunter to write a new chapter of history in the 2022 Boca Raton Bowl.
The Liberty Flames
“It’s Liberty…This is about us”❤️🔥
All-American Durrell Johnson decided not to opt out of the Boca Raton bowl and stated his reasons why. #Fanem🔥 #BeatToledo pic.twitter.com/pVYCKnZiut
— A Sea of Red (@ASeaofRed) December 15, 2022
Defensively, the Flames are fantastic at forcing negative plays on their opponents. Led by Durrell Johnson, who just tackles people behind the line, the Flames drive opponents backwards. Johnson has 49 tackles on the year and leads the nation in tackles for a loss with 22.5. He also has eight sacks, a pick, a fumble forced, and three fumbles recovered.
The secondary is led by Robert Rahimi with five interceptions. As a team Liberty just simply makes plays. They have 109 tackles for a loss and nearly one out of every eight tackles they make goes for a loss. They have 41 sacks, 14 interceptions, and 11 forced fumbles.
Offensively, quarterbacks Jonathan Bennett and Kaidon Salter have each passed for over a thousand yards this season for a combined 2,612 yards and 19 touchdowns. They have a true threat to throw it to in Demario Douglas who has 73 catches for 977 yards and six touchdowns. It’s likely he’ll become a 1,000 yard receiver in this game. The big gun for Liberty though is running back Dae Dae Hunter.
Liberty RB Dae Dae Hunter vs BYU
• 213 Rushing yards 1 TD (9.3 ypc)
• 4 rec 31 yards pic.twitter.com/DWkhGvLEMI— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) October 23, 2022
With Dae Dae Hunter, Liberty was 8-1 and their lone loss was by one point to Wake Forest. This included the Flames big wins over BYU and Arkansas. Without Dae Dae Hunter they were 0-3 with losses to UConn, Virginia Tech, and New Mexico State. Hunter had 129 carries for 850 yards and nine total touchdowns in the nine games he played. He’s a difference maker. Just ask BYU.
https://twitter.com/FTBeard7/status/1583938953752719360
The Toledo Rockets
Toledo’s success is begins with their elite quarterback Dequan Finn. Finn is 172 of 291 for 2,127 yards and 22 touchdowns in the air. On the ground he has the second most rushing yards for the team with 608 and the most rushing touchdowns with eight. When passing look for Finn to get the ball to Jerjuan Newton who has 48 catches for 788 yards and nine touchdowns.
Defensively they have a star in the Ohio State transfer, Dallas Gant. Gant is a linebacker that is a tackling machine with 113 on the season. Dyontae Johnson is right with Gant with 103 tackles. Toledo rockets to the ball and will need to, to challenge Dae Dae Hunter.
They are ball hawks as well with 91 tackles for a loss, 32 sacks, and 12 interceptions. This with an offense that averages over 30 points and over 400 yards per game and the Rockets have great balance as a team and that is why they won their division and their conference.
The Prediction
This should be a fantastic matchup. Between two teams who have had program and culture building moments this season. The Rockets winning the MAC West and then winning the Mid-American Championship at Ford Field over the Ohio Bobcats. The Flames beating fellow independent and Christian school, BYU and a big victory of Arkansas of the SEC West.
A factor that will help Toledo is that their leader on their sideline will be the same guy it was all season in head coach Jason Candle. Liberty defensive coordinator Josh Aldrigde is a good coach and has done well with the Liberty defense, but the head coach in his seventh season has the advantage over the head coach in his first game. The Flames three game skid to close the season came because of injuries and the uncertainty around Coach Hugh Freeze. With Aldridge to coach this game and Jamey Chadwell to take over the program some of that uncertainty will be put to bed.
Who else? DAE DAE HUNTER! 😤 @TheDaeDae0 pic.twitter.com/Q24WXAbO3E
— Liberty Mtn Views 🦅🏆 (@LibertyMtnViews) October 10, 2022
The defining factors of this game will be Dae Dae Hunter and Dequan Finn. If Hunter gets going and allows Liberty to dictate the pace of the game and keep Finn and the Rockets offense on the sideline and out of rhythm than the Flames will have an edge to win the Boca Raton Bowl.
Toledo QB Dequan Finn's seven TD game vs. Kent State pic.twitter.com/vIixblJstG
— Colton Denning (@Dubsco) October 16, 2022
If Dequan Finn has a big game, against a great defense then the Rockets have the edge, but Finn will need to do it both through the air and on the ground. The Flames will come after Finn, but Finn has shown during the year that if you come after him he can make you pay. The Flames will get after Finn but he’ll capitalize on their aggressiveness enough to give the Rockets the victory. Toledo wins the Boca Raton Bowl 35-31.
