Toledo 21, Liberty 19 Boca Raton Bowl What Happened, What It All Means

Toledo 21, Liberty 19: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl what happened, player of the game, and what it all means

Toledo beat Liberty 21-19 to win the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl. What happened, who was the player of the game, and what does it all mean?


Toledo 21, Liberty 19 RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl What Happened, Player of the Game, What It All Means

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RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl What Happened

Toledo overcame a 7-0 deficit by getting the ground game going on a 21-point run, and then hung on late for the Boca Raton Bowl win. Shedro Louis got it all started with a nine-yard scoring run for the Flames, but Thomas Cluckey hit two field goals and QB Dequan Finn ran for a score and threw a short touchdown pass to put the Rockets in the lead for good.

– Liberty made it interesting. Trebon Sibley caught a 29-yard touchdown pass, but the extra point went wide – that mattered. On a trick play, tight end CJ Daniels took a double pass 67 yards for a touchdown in the final minutes, but down 21-19 Liberty had to go for two, didn’t connect, and Toledo was able to grind out the clock.

– The weather mattered. It started raining early on, and that made it come down to getting physical on the offensive line. Liberty owned the tempo early, and then it all flipped as the Toledo offense was able to grind it out the rest of the way. The Flame defense couldn’t get off the field.

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RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Player of the Game

Durrell Johnson, DE Liberty 
In a losing cause, the veteran end got banged up, but he still made nine tackles  seven of them solo – with a sack and five tackles for loss.

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RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Fun Stats

– Toledo RB Jacquez Stuart took over with a physical 23 carries for 111 yards averaging close to five yards per carry.

– Liberty LB Mike Smith made a game-high 16 stops with half a sack and two tackles for loss.The Flames came up with a total of 12 tackles for loss.

– Time of Possession: Toledo 40:03 – Liberty 19:57. The Rockets converted 10-of-17 third down chances. Liberty converted 2-of-8 tries.

RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl What It All Means

This was massive for the Jason Candle era. Not only did his Rockets win the MAC Championship, but it came up with nine wins for the best season since his 11-win run in 2017.

It was also the first bowl win – Candle was 0-4 after winning his first game in the 2015 Boca Raton in an interim status – in the last seven years. His team was getting beaten up early, got more physical, and was able to pull it off in the rain.

It was a brutal end to the season for a Liberty team that looked to be in the mix for a New Year’s Six game as late as November 12th. And then it all collapsed with a four-game losing streak to close. The team did what it could under rough coaching circumstances, but it fought well in this and had a chance to tie it up late.

Even so, it was still the fifth season in five in the FBS without a losing campaign, it was still a fourth straight year with eight wins or more, and while it might have been the first bowl loss in the FBS, it wasn’t a horrible performance. Now it’s on to the Jamey Chadwell era.

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Liberty vs Toledo RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction Game Preview

Liberty vs Toledo game preview, prediction, and breakdown for the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday, December 20

Liberty vs Toledo prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl, Tuesday, December 20


Liberty vs Toledo RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction Game Preview

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Liberty vs Toledo How To Watch

Date: Tuesday, December 20
Game Time: 7:30 ET
Venue: FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Liberty (8-4), Toledo (8-5)
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Liberty vs Toledo RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl 5 Things To Know

RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

Liberty is in a transitional phase. It ended the regular season with a thud after starting 8-1, losing its last three games including an embarrassing 49-14 home whacking from New Mexico State.

Head coach Hugh Freeze bolted for Auburn, and now the program is waiting to get the former Coastal Carolina head man Jamey Chadwell’s era going. Josh Aldridge will be the interim head coach, there are plenty of great parts in place, and there’s still firepower.

Toledo wasn’t perfect, it had a whole lot of turnover problems, and it struggled late in the regular season as it limped into the MAC Championship. One terrific defensive performance against Ohio later in a 17-7 win, and head coach Jason Candle has his second conference title in six season. Now …

He and Toledo need to win a bowl game. Candle stepped in as an interim head man in the 2015 Boca Raton Bowl, and Toledo pulled off the 32-17 win over Temple. That’s been it for the bowl fun going 0-4 since then including a 31-24 Bahamas loss to Middle Tennessee last year. The team was able to keep it close in three of the losses, but that’s not enough – winning this matters.

Liberty has been perfect in the bowls. Hugh Freeze took the Flames to three straight bowls and it won all three, with last year’s LendingTree 56-20 win over Eastern Michigan the most dominant of the group. Again, this season’s bowl version is going through some changes, but the program knows how to get up for these.

If nothing else, the Boca Raton bowls have put on some great offensive shows. They haven’t been all that close – none of the eight were decided by fewer than 15 points – but the winning side hung up 50 points or more four times and 32 or more in the other four.

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Why Liberty Will Win The RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl

The pass rush continues to be devastating.

The offense might have slipped late, and the team completely lost its focus, but it’s still bringing one of the nation’s most dangerous defensive fronts that leads the nation in tackles for loss and is fourth in sacks. That’s a huge problem for Toledo.

The Rocket offensive line isn’t awful in pass protection, but it allows close to seven tackles for loss per game. That’s a concern, and the bigger one is a case of the turnovers that almost crushed the end of the regular season.

Toledo didn’t turn it over in the MAC Championship win over Ohio, but before that it gave it away 16 times in the previous five games.

That’s all fine, but what’s the problem with Liberty? There were a whole lot of injures, but the passing game still managed to finish with 200 yards or more in ever game but a win over Akron, the rushing attack is good enough to get to 200, and …

Why Toledo Will Win The RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl

Liberty has bigger turnover problems than Toledo.

The Rocket miscues came in a late flurry, but Liberty has cranked out a steady stream of screwups with two or more in nine of the 12 games. They haven’t always been lethal – the mistakes are baked into the cake – but the defense doesn’t come up with a ton of takeaways.

At the very least, Toledo probably won’t get hurt if it starts giving the ball away, especially if its secondary can come up with its usual pick or two.

Offensively, the Rockets need to run well. They have a good group to work into the rotation, QB Dequan Finn is dangerous no matter what he does, and the team is 5-0 when running for 225 yards or more.

What was Liberty’s biggest problem over the rough last stretch? The run defense went bye-bye – allowing almost 600 yards and 11 touchdowns in the last three games.

RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History

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WKU vs Appalachian State: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction, Game Preview

WKU vs Appalachian State: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch, lines, and why each team might or might not win.

WKU vs Appalachian State: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, December 18


WKU vs Appalachian State: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl How To Watch

Date: Saturday, December 18
Game Time: 11:00 am ET
Venue: FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL
Network: ESPN, Live stream on ESPN+
Records: Appalachian State (10-3), WKU (8-5)

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WKU vs Appalachian State RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Preview

If you’re looking for defense, wait for one of the other five bowl games over the rest of the day. It’s an early morning Saturday game that should crank up the offense and big plays right away with two of the most interesting attacks in college football.

WKU had a stagnant attack last year, so head coach Tyson Helton imported the stars from the transfer portal to make his offense go from okay to amazing, leading the nation in passing offense and finishing No. 2 behind Ohio State in scoring. Star offensive coordinator Zach Kittley might be off to do the same thing at Texas Tech, but the WKU offense should still roll.

The O goes fast, fast, fast and scores in bunches, but there’s no controlling the clock and – as UTSA showed in its win in the Conference USA Championship – the Hilltopper defense isn’t exactly a brick wall. QB Bailey Zappe and company will have to bomb their way to a win.

Appalachian State lost the Sun Belt Championship, but the offense is balanced behind a great offensive line. Unlike WKU, the team has no problems controlling the clock and owning the pace. The only negative here for the Mountaineers is actually one of their biggest positives – the defense is built around stopping the run, and WKU doesn’t use the ground game.

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RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Players To Know

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BYU vs UCF: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Prediction, Game Preview

BYU vs UCF: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl prediction and game preview. BYU vs UCF: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Broadcast Date: Tuesday, December 22 Game Time: 7:00 pm Venue: FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL Network: ESPN – All of the CFN Fearless …

BYU vs UCF: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl prediction and game preview.


BYU vs UCF: RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl Broadcast

Date: Tuesday, December 22
Game Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: FAU Stadium, Boca Raton, FL
Network: ESPN

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BYU (10-1) vs UCF (6-3) Game Preview

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Three Reasons Why You Should Watch The RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl

At least in terms of branding, this has the best shot at being the strongest bowl until well after Christmas. UCF isn’t the UCF of past seasons, but it’s still a dangerous team with the second-best passing offense in college football. BYU might have lost a thriller to Coastal Carolina, but it’s been dominant throughout the rest of the season, has a first round NFL quarterback in Zach Wilson, and it needs this to prove that, yeah, it really was that good.

UCF was spoiled with back-to-back New Year’s Six seasons, but it was still able to roll Marshall – who had never lost a bowl under head coach Doc Holliday – in last year’s Gasparilla, and this bowl season a win would do wonders going into the offseason. The team had to deal with a slew of opt-outs, but it still made it through the slate clean. The three losses? Tulsa, Cincinnati, and a 50-49 shootout at Memphis.

In a relatively down year, UCF lost three games each by eight points or fewer. The last time the Knights lost by more than eight points was December 17, 2016 in a 31-13 loss to Arkansas State in the Cure Bowl.

It was all but over. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake followed up a 4-9 season with a mediocre 7-6 run in 2018, and then his Cougars started out 2-4 last year. He was done, that was it, and then … a five-game winning streak changed everything.

The season ended with two losses, but the returning team was loaded, it came out with a total destruction of Navy, and had one last Wilson pass been able get stretched out into the end zone against Coastal Carolina, it would be in a New Year’s Six game. This would easily be the strongest win of the season.

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