University of Toledo Athletics

Toledo vs. Eastern Michigan
Nov. 8, 2023

• Toledo’s win clinched an outright MAC West Division title with two games left in the regular season. The Rockets will play the East Division champion in the MAC Championship Game at Detroit’s Ford Field on Saturday, Dec. 2.
• This is Toledo’s second straight MAC West Division crown and 13^th overall, moving the Rockets past Northern Illinois for the most division crowns of any MAC school.
• This will be Head Coach Jason Candle's third trip to the MAC Championship Game since assuming the head coaching position at Toledo in 2016. His Rockets won the MAC Championship Game in 2017 and 2022.
• The defending MAC champion Rockets will be attempting to win back-to-back league titles for the first time since winning three straight MAC crowns from 1969 through 1971.
• The last MAC school to win consecutive MAC championships was Northern Illinois in 2011 and 2012.
• Toledo also clinched the MAC West title with two games left in the season in 2022.
• Toledo last played in consecutive MAC title games in 2001 and 2002. Both games were against Marshall, with Toledo winning in 2001 and the Thundering Herd coming away with the victory in 2002.
• Toledo is 9-1 for the first time since 2015.
• The Rockets have won nine straight games for the first time since 1983. That team started out 9-0 before dropping its last two games of the season.
• The last time Toledo won more than nine consecutive games was in 1971, when it went 12-0 to finish off the famous 35-game winning streak.
• Toledo is 6-0 in MAC play for the first time since 1997.
•  The Rockets closed out the home portion of their season with a perfect 6-0 record, their first undefeated home season since 2017 and just the second since 2004. 
• Junior quarterback Dequan Finn completed 23-of-27 passes, setting a season high in yardage (407) and tying his season best in TD passes (3). He completed his first six passes and was 14-of-17 by halftime.
• This was the second 400-yard passing game for Finn. The other was a 461-yard performance in a 52-49 win over Eastern Michigan on Nov. 2, 2021.
• Peny Boone’s 52 yards rushing gives him 1,042 for the season, becoming the 19^th Rocket to crack the 1,000-yard mark for rushing in a season.
• Boone (116 yards) and Jerjuan Newton (108) became the first pair of Rockets to gain at least 100 receiving yards since the 2017 MAC Championship Game (Dec. 2) when Diontae Johnson (Johnson (118) and Jon’Vea Johnson (103) combined for 221 yards vs. Akron.
• Junior cornerback Quinyon Mitchell had an interception and broke up one pass, giving him 42 breakups for his career and tying Samuel Womack (2017-21) for the all-time Toledo standard.
• Junior Vandeross caught two TD passes. He had one career scoring reception entering tonight’s game.
• Tight end Dalton Andrews caught his second TD pass of the season, which is also his career total.