By Paul Helgren, Associate Athletic Director for Communications
 
So here we go, a fall without Rocket Football. This is my 23^rd season covering University of Toledo Athletics as the school's communications director, and the first fall where I won't be busy on Saturdays. Like everybody else who loves Rocket Football, I won't know what to do with myself on game day. You can only mow the lawn so many times, right?
 
So I decided to join the nostalgia bandwagon and use these free Saturdays to post 12 stories about my 12 favorite Rocket victories, one a week for 12 weeks, one for each of what would have been 12 regular-season games. Some of these games will undoubtedly be among your happier memories too. I will be recapping the games, of course, but also reflecting a little bit on what was going on behind the scenes, with the team, coaches and occasionally my own life. I'm going in reverse order, so I'll start at No. 12 and work my way up to my all-time favorite game. I'm kicking it off with a victory that occurred not too long ago, a bowl game win over Temple that also happened to be the very first game for Jason Candle as head coach.
 
Hope you enjoy these stories. You may have a list of your own that you'd like to share.
 
12. Toledo 32, Temple 17 (2015 Marmot Boca Raton Bowl - Dec. 22, 2015)
2015 Boca Raton Bowl Highlights (video)
 
The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the 32-17 win over Temple at the 2015 Marmot Boca Raton Bowl is the rain. Yes it rained that day. A big, hard-hitting Florida rain. It came down in literal buckets, so much so that by the time the Rockets celebrated their hard-earned victory, the only fans left in the stadium were the water-logged (but happy) Toledo faithful that had made the long trip to southeast Florida.
 
You really can't appreciate this game without talking about what went on in the weeks leading up to it. The Rockets had a great team that season, one of the top two or three Toledo teams since I've been here. The defense was like an all-star team, loaded with battle-hardened seniors like Cheatham Norrils, Orion Jones, Trent Voss, Rolan Milligan, Chase Murdock and Allen Covington. On offense, Kareem Hunt and Terry Swanson formed a dynamic duo at running back, while Phillip Ely put up big numbers at quarterback throwing to guys like Corey Jones, Cody Thompson, Alonzo Russell, Michael Roberts and a freshman by the name of Dionte Johnson. We shocked No. 18 Arkansas early in the season, and then steamrolled our next five opponents. We were arguably the best team in the MAC that season, but the ball didn't bounce our way in close late-season losses to Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. We finished the regular season 9-2 but with two conference defeats we were once again kept out of the MAC Championship Game.
 
A few days after the WMU loss, Head Coach Matt Campbell announced he was taking the head coaching job at Iowa State. Offensive coordinator Jason Candle was moved into the head coaching spot a few days after that. Since most of our assistants left with Campbell for Iowa State, Candle had just three weeks to put together a coaching staff for the bowl game. He managed to assemble a staff that included a couple of coaches who stayed on with the team before leaving for Ames right after the bowl game, as well as a few graduate assistants who were suddenly thrust into the role of position coaches. Candle described the whole experience like "drinking out of a firehose," but he managed it well and somehow it all came together.
 
For bowl week, we stayed at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, one of the swankiest hotels in Florida. The players seemed to be having a good time, and the sunny weather allowed them a little time to relax by the pool.
 
The weather took a turn for the worse on game day, however. It rained hard during the pregame and all the way through the first quarter. It let up for a while in the middle of the game, but the heavens really opened up in the fourth quarter. I've never seen it rain so hard at a football game, before or since.
 
The rain sure didn't seem to bother the Rockets, though. Ely was sharp, throwing for 285 yards and two touchdowns. But the real story was our defense. The vaunted Temple offense was held to just 67 yards in the first half. Jameson Vest kicked a field goal on the last play of the half, and we went into the locker room up, 12-3.
 
Temple's offense came alive in the third quarter, but our defense held firm in the red zone, limiting the Owls to a pair of field goals. The game entered the fourth quarter with Toledo holding a slim 12-9 lead.
 
Temple had the ball to start the fourth quarter but was forced to punt. One the very next play, Ely hit Thompson down the middle and the sophomore galloped for an 80-yard touchdown. After Juwan Haynes intercepted a pass on Temple's next possession, Ely marched the Rockets 74 yards and Hunt punched it in from one yard out to give us a 25-9 lead with 5:46 left to play.
 
Temple made it interesting with a late touchdown and an on-side kick attempt. But Thompson recovered it, and two plays later Hunt broke free for a 41-yard score to seal the victory.
 
The post-game celebration looked like something out of a movie. The rain made everything a soggy mess but it also made for some dramatic post-game images. I'll bet you've seen the iconic photo of the players lifting up Candle in the air with the rain pouring down in the black sky behind him. Coach Candle doesn't usually show his emotions very readily but have you ever seen a happier face on a coach? After all he and his team had gone through – the disappointing losses to NIU and WMU, the coaching change at the end of the season, the scramble to prepare for a bowl game in just three weeks – you can understand why he had such a big smile on his face.
 
It was certainly a head coaching debut to remember and a great way for our seniors to end their careers.